Since the inception of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, 41 years ago, a lot has happened to make people argue for and against its relevance and benefits to the Nigerian youth. The history of the NYSC is indeed replete with momentous events.

THE war against insurgency in Nigeria has sadly been reduced to President Goodluck Jonathan’s war. Those who could command public opinion to weigh in against the spread of the Boko Haram sect and terrorism in Northern Nigeria have ostensibly kept mute or talking in a manner deriding President Jonathan and his government; some are even out-rightly making encouraging remarks to create inertia of social forces that have continued to reinforce the insurgency in the parts of the country.

Having said that, Nigerians need to understand that the number one way we can protect ourselves and others from BH and their IED attacks is to be alert to our immediate surroundings. It is an effective tool if individuals are alert for, and to report, anything that is out of the ordinary in their daily routine.

I HAVE always believed that for us to move forward, we must reduce our challenges to simple terminology; the simpler the analysis, the easier to carry the masses along. Unfortunately, our experts are all grounded in the Bretton Wood ideology: the more we try to understand, the more complex the solutions. For example, why can’t we bring the naira at par with the United States dollar? Some might say it is not possible given the present day circumstances, but if we remember correctly in 1978, the dollar was even less than the naira at 65 kobo to one dollar.

WHEN Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, daughter of the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, wrote a vitriolic letter to her father some time ago reminding him that he does not own Nigeria, many of us thought she was a bit too harsh on the old man. Iyabo had, in very strong words, dismissed the former president as a megalomaniac and a hypocrite. It is not that Iyabo said anything new that the public does not know about her father. Even then, some of us thought that coming from a daughter – estranged or beloved – that was way too harsh. But in recent times, Obasanjo himself is beginning to justify his daughter’s public expression of her opinion of her father.

AWASH in the great tide of politics, we must not forget why politics can be a noble endeavor. It leads to governance. When done correctly, governance can reform a nation and improve the lot of the people. In the hands of the ignorant and the mean, governance cast abundant misfortune upon a nation and upon the welfare of its citizens.

RECENTLY Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state decried the sudden non-appearance of the names of over one million voters in Lagos State from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s voters register. But responding to the discrepancy noticeable in the new voters register vis-a-vis that of 2011, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, for Lagos State ascribed it to changes between the 2011 Post-AFIS voter register and the extant voters register after the Post-Business rule voter register criterion is applied.

ON November 12, 2008, Adams Eric Aliyu Oshiomhole, was sworn in as Governor of Edo State. It was a special moment for the state and its people for several reasons. Remarkably, it was the culmination of the resilience of the people, who voted and stood by him when anti-democratic forces tried to rob him of the mandate they gave willingly to him, and the judiciary that resisted machinations of the powers-that-be to give a verdict in favour of a popular choice.

WITH the primaries of the major political parties around the corner, there continues to be serious trading and speculations about who will get automatic tickets and who may not.

BY JUDE IDUGBOE I spent some time following the recent debate in the House of Representatives on the bill to halt what is viewed as a stranglehold on the pay-TV sector of the broadcast industry. The bill, which passed second reading at the House two weeks ago, was sponsored by  Mrs. Aisha Dahiru-Modibbo. It seeks an […]