IN the first part of my contribution, we looked at Nigeria’s oil revenue, 1970 to 2006, and summarised the revenue streams as follows:
“Gross oil revenue in the 29 years, from 1970 to 1999 3.0 “Gross oil revenue in the next 7 years (from 2000 to 2006) 20.8
Total 23.8 .

We saw that our cumulative oil revenue in the 29 years, from 1970 to 1999, was only N3 trillion; while a whopping N20.8 trillion was received in the next seven years, from 2000 to 2006!

ON assumption of office as the acting Inspector- General of Nigeria Police, Alhaji MD Abubakar said of the police he is to lead: “Our men are deployed to rich and influential individuals and corporate entities that we lack manpower to provide security for the common man; our investigation departments cannot equitably handle matters unless those involved have money to part with. Our police stations, state Criminal Investigation Departments and operation offices have become business centres and collection points for rendering returns from all kind of squads and teams set up for the benefit of superior officers.”

THE vanity and transience of our mortal struggles. I have just confirmed from my egbon in Abuja that the reported deaths of Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State,General Owoye Azazi and four others in a Naval Helicopter crash in Bayelsa State is indeed true.

AS the race for who occupies the seat as the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) heightens ahead of the election on January 8, 2013, it is becoming obvious by the day that the former (BOT) chairman and now chairman board Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Tony Anenih is the right man for the job for numerous incontrovertible reasons no matter what some people might think. It could be recall that before the die-minute suspension of the election into the chairmanship of the board sometimes towards the end of last year to allow for greater participation of interested contenders for the plum seat, the odds had already favoured Anenih, a man seen by majority members of the board as a seasoned leader with vision.

IT is not in doubt that the clock is ticking away on the tenure of the incumbent governor of Anambra State of Nigeria and the end game is on. It is not a dream that Obi dreams to pick his successor and not a figment of anyone’s imagination that the voters in Anambra State, backed by the principle of democracy do not desire it so. It is not a piece of propaganda that Obi is pushing this personal view of his which he is entitled to with all the fibre in his muscles and all the armoury in his arsenal including ,trust me, Anambra State funds.

AS this year closes, one cannot but reflect more intensely that if Chief Festus Sam Okotie-Eboh were to still alive, he would have been one hundred years old, having been born in1912 which is one hundred years ago. He was assassinated in 1966 which was 46 years ago when he was only 54 years of age. By that age, the impact he had already made in the building of the nation had been monumental in each of the several sectors of his endeavours.

WHEN Mr. Mike Omeri took over the reins of leadership at the National Orientation Agency (NOA) on January 17, 2012, he made it very clear that one of his primary concerns or vision was “to transform the Agency along with its various units and organs into a proactive, knowledge based and activity driven organisation, able to rise up to evolving challenges in our national space”. Eleven months down the line, Nigerians continue to testify to the fact that the Agency under his watch has kept faith with this thrust.

FEW DAYS ago, the LASTMA patrol team caught me as I did an illegal U-turn in front of Glendora book store at Falomo roundabout; I had not seen the “No U-Turn” sign and for added measure the LASTMA officials had hidden themselves at the back of a concrete pillar and in front of the book store. It was roughly 4pm in the afternoon and I was ordered to pull over into the bus stop slot. I had left the house to get diesel, just 50 litres.

Jacob Balarabe pondered over the matter for a very long time before he decided to discuss it with his friends.

LIVING in a country where any critical observation attracts negative or sometimes shadow chasing responses, a less courageous person may be cowed from expressing his views when it comes to ecclesiastical matters. But, since Nigeria is a fundamental member of our interconnected world, I will like to share some of the contents of a story I read some years ago with my fellow compatriots.

WHEN I wrote in a recent short online piece that there is nothing like Christmas in Christianity, I did not realise it would generate the very pleasing response it got. There I said that Christmas is Roman Catholicism and that it came wholesale from Babylon and is it about Tammuz (also called Dumuzi) ‘demonized’ as Baal by Satan, and which Tammuz was born on 25th of December and celebrated same day in ancient Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian until Rome brought it to the ‘church’ masking it with ‘Jesus’ to lead many astray.

WE are in that special season once again, a season of joy, of peace, of great tidings. A season when we celebrate the birth of Christ the King, the redeemer of mankind! Jesus is the reason for the season.

ABOUT two weeks ago, I saw a well packaged television commercial announcing an impending chieftaincy title in honour of Alhaji Dr. Bamanga Tukur. For a self made man who had risen to prominence by hard work, UGO-ONE-NA-ONNE OF ANIOCHA (the unlimited feathers of achievement) is a fitting title for Tukur’s stature. The national Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP is indeed a man of many parts and I was happy that Anioma people chose such a respectable public figure to honour with a reputable title.

THE end is yet to come over the issue of which zone will produce the next governor of Anambra State come 2014. Since Governor Obi’s avowed interest to support any credible candidate from Anambra North for that office everything else has been in flux. Newspapers are awash with varied interpretations of the unambiguous statement. A mishmash of reactions, spawned on the on-line media, sought to portray the man as undemocratic and high-handed.

IN remaking our constitution, we may be excessively concerned with the nitty-gritty of the process, the details of what should be in and what should be out, in the political calculation of who has won or lost or the implied trade-off therein that we may lose the soul of the exercise, the over arching message of a constitution to the citizens and the underlying mindset that creates both the national dream and the goods. The constitution should represent our common aspiration, our dream of a glorious, just, equitable and peaceful nation in which everyone has a stake now and its future.