AS an ardent reader of a column written by a former Southeast governor published every Saturday in a national newspaper allegedly owned by the former governor, the first thing I do Saturday morning is log on and read the column.

Clean up the business — In the months (or even years) before the sale process begins, it is essential to take a long, hard, look at all aspects of the business. In the interests of boosting profitability: Consider whether margins could be lifted; Can non-business expenses be reduced at the expense of long term relationships? Can expenditure with a long term payback, such as advertising, be deferred? Non-business or surplus assets should be disposed of.

THE unabating threat to the body fabric of the nation plumbed new depths last Friday with the carnage wreaked in the ancient city of Kano, northern Nigeria.

I AM sad and troubled for our nation. I just cannot sleep when I consider the amount of innocent blood that has been spilt in the 24 hours before I wrote this piece.

If you think the title of this story is “religious intolerance” in Nigeria then you have been swayed by recent stories from the international media. You –and they—are wrong. Much of the international press covering the unrest and violence in Nigeria recently has been inaccurate, irresponsible and even dangerous. Nigeria is “on the brink”, many claim because of conflict between Muslims and Christians.

While defending its recent attack on Christian places of worship, a self acclaimed leader of the dreaded jama’atu ahlus sunnah lid da’awati wal jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram said the attacks were a revenge for killing of Muslims in some parts of Nigeria. Sadly, the same militant group has in the past claimed responsibility for killing some Muslim clerics as well as bombing mosques in some parts of Northern Nigeria

AS stated in my previous statement after the mass killing at St.Theresa on Christmas day and now the bloodiest attack in Kano with almost 200 deaths recorded so far by the Boko Haram group, we all must at this point move beyond mere condemnation to taking collective decisive steps as a people and collaborate with security agencies to bring this national shame and threat to our existence to a halt.

WHILE the killings of Southerners, Yorubas and Northern Christians continue unabated in the North, there is a recognizable systematic effort to locate the perpetrators among the victims or at least to obfuscate the source of culpability for the on-going mayhem.

BILLIONS of naira can be generated by the agency as regulatory allowance annually. This is done in many developed countries. The Legislation will fine-tune all necessary details, especially concerning the mode of collecting the regulatory allowance and the range of products the allowance would cover.

SINCE the enthronement in 1999 of General Olusegun Obasanjo as the President of Nigeria, there has been a steady drumbeat of violence against Christians by Hausa-Fulani Moslems in Northern Nigeria. Some historical data are in order here.

ENENCHE Okogwu, the Channels Television journalist, slain in the line of duty last Friday in Kano, was unwavering in his love for the country as encapsulated in his facebook page.

THE nation is, no doubt, smarting from a six-day (January 9-13 and 16) shut-down by the organised labour and civil society organisations due to the sudden removal of fuel subsidy which was announced by the Federal Government on January 1, this year, through the instrumentality of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

I ALSO recall that in preparation for Aburi Conference, some of them submitted memorandum. The position of the Eastern Region at that time was that there should be a loose confederation in the absence of true nationalism.

THE Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke has joined his colleagues to announce the State budget proposals for 2012. This time around, the Governor has pledged commitment to dogged adherence to budgetary provisions, rather than pursue implementation of programmes that could be described as alien to the budgets.

THE proposed rally by the youths of Edo state, under the aegis of “Edo is in Safe Hands”, in support of Comrade Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s bid for a second term, does not appear to have gone down well with a few politicians in the state.