FRANCIS Ottah Agbo is the Special Adviser, Media Relations to Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State. So what, you might ask. After all he is qualified and has consistently demonstrated his capabilities as a frontline journalist, image maker and reliable friend of the Countryman Governor over the years and had stood by the governor through thick and thin.

NIGERIA’S long years of military rule brought about militarised leadership in the country. It was an era better imagined than experienced. With the return of democratic governance in 1999, it was obvious that the country has returned to the path of freedom, equity, fairness, rule of law, period elections and constitutionalism.

In my opinion, recent events in the United States point to a very telling reality: Republican leaders do not understand reverse psychology.

Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow. William Pollard.

Nigerians hardly agree or indulge themselves in collective appreciation of the performance of any public officer. It is like a cherished culture of endless criticism, the people hate to relinquish.

TWO great sons of Nigeria provide the line for today’s piece. The first is the late Prof. Chinua Achebe who said that there is a moral obligation, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless, while the next is Prof. Wole Soyinka who is convinced that the greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

Two things prompted this write-up: just last week, I travelled to Kano to collect my result, certifying me as a graduate of mass communication with 4.07 as my cumulative CGPA and the second best graduating student, secondly, the world happiness report released by the United Nations sustainable Development Solutions Network. The survey ranked countries based on their abilities to provide basic necessities of life for their citizens thereby making them happy .The report published on several news outfits ranked Denmark the “ Happiest Nation, Burundi, the least happy” and Nigeria 103rd least happiest in the World.

NOMADIC Fulani herdsmen have become a much-resented group across the country. The resentment has intensified as they have clashed with farming communities across the country. In the Middle Belt, however, it is no longer accurate to call the attitude resentment, just as it is no longer accurate to describe what is happening as a clash. It is a sustained massacre, and it has engendered an attitude that is approaching hatred – the kind of hatred that one reserves for someone who threatens one’s very existence.

VERY soon, the rains will start pouring down. In Lagos, the rainy season is dreaded. Being an island surrounded by various bodies of water from the Lagos lagoon to different beaches scattered around the state, Lagos’ peculiar geographical status has far reaching flooding implications on the metropolis. Its topography which makes it essentially a low lying terrain up to 0.4 percent below the sea level is another critical issue. Naturally, this brings about a huge flooding challenge.

IT felt like a dream for many of the winners who were in the expansive hall of the premium Chinese restaurant in Ikeja, Lagos, that Friday morning. Every winner was with, at least, three loved ones – family and friends – eagerly awaiting their grand prizes, all-expense paid trip to Dubai, commercial capital of the United Arab Emirate (UAE), in line with the reward for winners in the just concluded season 3 of the Airtel Redhot Promo.