Mr. Chidi Onyia Emmanuel is the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Solid Mineral Development. In this interview with Kennedy Mbele, Onyia, who assumed office barely six months ago, discloses plans by the state government to drag construction giant, Julius Berger, to court for failing to reclaim their mining site, contrary to a contract agreement, Mining Act and Mining Regulations of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and, indeed, global best practice. The Commissioner identifies the Federal Government’s total control of the mining sector as a major factor affecting the industry and reiterates the need for mutual respect amongst investors, host communities and states. Excerpts:

Adeniyi Kunnu, a researcher and public affairs analyst, was a lecturer at Lagos State University, LASU. In this interview, Kunnu is of the view that there is no way the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, would have paid N585 million government money into a private account without the paperwork carrying the signatures of at least five other top officials of the ministry, saying they too have questions to answer on the scandal roiling the ministry.

The latest attacks in Jos, which claimed scores of lives, were just another of the bloody protracted conflicts that have defied solution in Plateau State. With about 54 ethnic groups, the state comprises Christian groups – among them, Afizere, Anaguta, Berom, Irigwe, Ngas, Tarok and Ywom — on one hand, and on the other hand, Muslim Hausa/Fulani, whom the former commonly regard as “settlers” and “usurpers.” Stoked by political standing and religious sentiments, clashes between these heterogeneous groups often had to do with mutual animosity, manipulation of information and struggles for self-determination, control over land resources and chieftaincy affairs. As the arid lands across northern Nigeria, as is in most parts of northern Africa, continue to creep outwards, coupled with the shrinking of the Lake Chad basin, the abundance of fertile green land keeps diminishing, pushing Fulani pastoralists down south for forage and into clashes with farmers over grazing rights.

President of the Association of Science Laboratory Technologists of Nigeria, ASLTON, Mr  Omorilewa Ayorinde Oyewale, in this interview, fingers quackery, border porosity

Honourable Justice Dattijo Muhammad’s valedictory speech created a storm in the polity after the now retired Supreme Court Justice observed…