RECENTLY, I read in the Vanguard of Nigeria that following a condolence visit of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to the Sultan of Sokoto, the Nigerian Pro-Democracy group demanded the resignation of President Buhari.

FOR more than a decade of his political odyssey in the struggle for Nigeria’s presidency, people of various political background stayed the course, not so much for his famed integrity but in the belief that President Muhammadu Buhari has the political will and grit to fundamentally shake up the country’s outlook, liberate it from conventional thinking and decisively transform the dominant mindset, which has sustained a precarious and unproductive trajectories of our post-colonial history.

THE German playwright, Bertolt Brecht, notably declared: “Unhappy the land in need of heroes.” And too much emphasis cannot be laid on the role of heroes in shaping the destiny of nations. Like Aeneas whom Virgil credits with founding the Roman nation The Aeneid, and Christopher Columbus credited with the discovery of America, and José Marti regarded as a founding father of the Cuban nation, and Kemal Ataturk recognised as the father of modern Turkey, heroes, in history and legend, have been known to play critical roles in establishing, shaping and reshaping nations, and infusing their peoples with pride as the offspring or descendants of remarkable ancestors or living men – and women. And any land without them should truly feel improvised, as Brecht suggests.

“Our programmes are structured to ensure that a pregnant woman does not die due to her inability to access quality services during pregnancy and childbirth, that a child is not lost from preventable diseases, that communities are not overburdened with endemic diseases, and that community linkages are harnessed and promoted.” – Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State.

IN the next few days, President Muhammadu Buhari, will commission NNS UNITY, the newly acquired Offshore Patrol Craft, OPV, from China.

A group saddled with advocacy for Advancement, Development and sustenance of Democracy in Nigeria, Wailing Wailers, has, Tuesday, asked the Federal Government, the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, and Telecommunication companies to abort the planned increment of tariff on data services in the country.

The emblazoned preamble of the Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution along with Section 2(1) which rhetorically provides “Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state to be known by the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” is clearly symptomatic of oneness.

IN the next few days, President Muhammadu Buhari, will commission NNS UNITY, the newly acquired Offshore Patrol Craft, OPV, from China. This is the second China-built OPV to join its sister OPV, NNS CENTENARY earlier commissioned. Both of them are expected to join the fight against all forms of illegalities in the national offshore oil and gas installations.

BY calling for war between Urhobo and Ijaw over a communal clash between Isaba and Aladja, Chief Omene has desecrated both the directional codes of Urhobo culture and the ethics of the engineering profession.

WITH less than 100,000 qualified medical doctors to a population of about 180 million, oil-rich Nigeria has one of the worst doctor to patients ratio in the world. This explains, in part, why Nigeria is among the seven countries with the lowest life expectancy in the world, averaging just 54 years. For perspective, countries like South Sudan and Afghanistan, ravaged by war in recent years, have higher life expectancy rates than Nigeria.