The great English Philosopher John Locke in one of his philosophical outings opined that “New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.” Still alluding to the principles of learning from experience, the Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Gustar Jung cautioned: “a man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions, has never overcome them.”

In less than five months, three vital statistics that boldly affirm Enugu State’s steady rise as an economic powerhouse has emerged. A recent report issued by the National Bureau of Statistics listed Enugu as one of just six states in the country that recorded the highest net gains in full-time employment between the third quarter and second quarter of 2017 and 2018. The figure as released by NBS were as follows: Lagos (added 740,146 net full-time jobs); Rivers (235,438); IMO (197,147); Ondo (142,514); Enugu (122,333); and Kaduna (118,929).   

With the television broadcast industry undergoing a transition from analogue television to the initial test-running of digital television (DTT) in 1998, there was a huge expectation globally that a more refined digital television would be within the reach of all and sundry. Pay television service-via satellite- had, a few years before, debuted in Nigeria and had introduced to the public a new television viewing experience marked by top-class programming and considerably better audio-visual quality than what they were used to.

With the prices of oil tumbling drastically to $48.86 per barrel in October 2015, after which it slid further to $44.82 the following month and $37.80 in the last month of the year, the signs were bold signs that Nigeria was facing a major economic crisis.

It is common sense to imagine what the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) would have achieved in the last two years under its present Executive Management Committee if it had a functional and responsible board of directors in place. Or to put it appropriately, if the Labour Minister, Chris Ngige, did not display the stubbornness of Okija shrine priest by trying to play god when he personalised the issue of who should head the board of NSITF—a situation that delayed the inauguration of the board since it was appointed.