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