BEING a non-Catholic, I have not always followed nor even read papal encyclical until now. And was it an enormous surprise? The 184 page Pope Francis encyclical was a very powerful piece: extremely well written and with the authority of a great leader. It has great wisdom; it is sensitive, insightful, and lucid even when discussing very scientific and technical subjects.

THE tragedy of our socio-political reality is that clowns and pretenders now see themselves as the new agents of history. This sad commentary is further exacerbated by our convoluted socio economic quagmire which affords these persons and visionless lackeys the opportunity to pontificate and perhaps enjoy a joke or two at our expense.

THE seeming insensitivity being shown by the President Muhammadu Buhari over the unconstitutional appointment of Amina Zakari is too early an indication of impunity, for a popularly elected government that promised to stop impunity in the conduct of the affairs of state.

As Nigeria’s economy continues to grow and diversify, lucrative investment opportunities for property investors are arising, not just in the luxury segment, but also in mass housing and commercial developments. Investor’s confidence in the Nigerian economy has also attracted significant foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the real estate sector.

WITH the new found power of the electorate to determine the outcome of elections in Nigeria, the race for the 2019 elections have effectively begun – that is, if the perception of Prof. Attahiru Jega’s election is truly free and fair.

I WILL start this response using the Yoruba adage; agba kii wa loja ki ori omo tuntun wo, which pre supposes that elders are stabilising forces for the peace of society. It gives pre eminence to the role of elders in guaranteeing stability and peaceful co-existence of various components of the society.

IT was one year last week since the demise of activist, lawyer and politician Bamdele Aturu at the young age of 49. Whilst it was easy for me those days to yearly write about one of my godfathers, late Air Commodore Anthony Ikazoboh when he was murdered in 1999, it has not been easy for me to write any tribute about late Bamidele Aturu for the singular reason that has to do with Yoruba tradition on the age difference between the living and the dead, vis-a vis tribute, eulogy or dirge.

I HAVE watched carefully, with high expectation, but also with a tinge of regret, certain national developments since you were sworn-in as the democratically elected President of Nigeria on May 29, 2015. People have accused your government of lethargy.

There is intellectual recession in Nigeria. It is high time we conducted an intellectual audit of tutors in our higher institutions of learning. Is it refutable, as someone recently argued, that ‘half-baked’ graduates are produced by ‘half-baked’ lecturers; that a mango seed can only produce a mango fruit, certainly not an orange? When you have a system where a lecturer appears at the beginning of a semester, dumps the scheme of work or course outline on the class and reappears about a week or two to the semester examination to give ‘areas of concentration’ to the students or allow cash and sex to determine their grades, then you are bound to have ‘half-baked’ graduates.

“A problem shared is half solved”. This is a popular statement, but does it bring immediate solution?