WITH the way the Boko Haram ins urgency is playing out, it is apt to ask the question once again: How prepared are we for this battle? It is not a matter of mouthing it, we must let our actions speak.

ON my way home from work on Monday, the bloody day in Nyanya, Abuja, a lot of depressive thoughts went through my mind as we encountered a huge traffic jam on our route, a major road in the city.

THE initial response of the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, to the death of 21 young job applicants, including four pregnant women, at the Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment test, at different stadia in the country epitomized the government of Goodluck Jonathan.

THIS is indeed not a good time for Lagos State University (LASU), the only university owned by the Lagos State government. For three years running, the university has been facing various crises ranging from students’ discontent to decaying infrastructure. The university seems to be in serious decline by all yardsticks.

THERE is no gainsaying the fact that Federal Government through its National Universities Commission, NUC, is doing its best by way of checks and balances, effective supervision and quality control of all universities in Nigeria particularly the private ones.

JUST before I picked my pen to write a piece about the recent blast in Abuja, I was greeted with the news that about the 100 or 200 school girls had been abducted in a village in Borno State. It is quite unfortunate that Nigeria’s situation has got to this alarming level where virtually all aspects of life are calling for urgent attention. Nonetheless, the issue of insecurity is the most important as you can seek employment, good roads, electricity and other basic amenities of life, only if you are alive and well. In this vein, my heart goes out to all the victims of the insurgency and their families and I pray that God should bring an end to these inhuman activities.

SINCE he became governor of Lagos state in 2007, Babatunde Raji Fashola has largely avoided unnecessary controversies. Rarely did he engage in those acrimonies that usually distract his colleagues, which many believe accounts for his unwavering focus on issues of governance. Even when his predecessor-turned-godfather turns the heat on him, as he regularly does, Fashola keeps a cool mien. The result, you must concede to him, is that he has performed above average. However, for some inexplicable reasons, Fashola is now turning that legacy upside down by jumping into unnecessary controversies.

DESPITE the security challenges facing the nation, Nigerian Christians have vowed to celebrate the resurrection of the proginator of the Christian faith, Jesus Christ who was crucified on Good Friday and rose again from dead on Easter Day as they join the rest of the world to mark Easter.

Many Christians worldwide celebrate Easter with special church services, music, candlelight, flowers and the ringing of church bells. Easter processions are held in some countries as they view Easter as the greatest feast of the Church year.

Politics is about development and not shouting on pages of newspapers.” This was the declaration of the highly-elated President Goodluck Jonathan during his two-day official visit to Katsina State recently. One can easily deduce two things from the statement. The first impression is that despite all the propaganda against Governor Ibrahim Shema-led administration, without reaction of any form from the state governor, the President saw many things on ground to disprove it. The adage, which says ‘seeing is believing,’ has been proved in Katsina.The second interpretation of the President’s statement is that ‘it is the empty drum that makes the loudest noise.’

Permit me to begin this contribution with some basic truisms: Firstly that God is great and that He alone forges the destiny of nations and rules in the affairs of men. Secondly that He is faithful and true and that He alone is worthy of our fear and of our praise. Lest despair and despondency set in, it is right and proper to always remember this and to continue to reiterate these truisms given the horrific things that we are witnessing on a daily basis in our country today. This is a season of brutality, sadness and fear.