AS the nation basks in the euphoria of the inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan and states governors, it is mix feeling for the parents of “NYSC 10” – the ten National Youths Service Corps, NYSC, members who were butchered like animals by rioters in some Northern states of the country in the aftermath of the crisis which trailed the April 16, 2011 presidential election.

THE trunk (federal) roads in the South West on which I have travelled frequently since late 2004 are worse today than they were in October/November 2004. Electricity supply is more epileptic in Lagos State and Ondo State today than was the case in late 2004. (Those are the two states where I spent most of my time during the period).

DECADES before the assumption of office of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 6, 2010, the country was reputed for perennial scarcity of petroleum products especially petrol.

I HAVE not hitherto bothered to comment publicly on the apparent anguish in the South East or among South Easterners over the recent sharing of principal political offices or positions in the country. In the last few weeks, I have heard some of my fellow South Easterners utter all manner of vain, self-serving and even unprintable retorts on the subject-matter.

THE challenge would have been met square and there would have been better results as far as government performance was concerned. A recent World Bank report confirms unequivocally that corruption is responsible for instability, violence and underdevelopment and that a weak government or a government with weak institutions cannot fight corruption effectively.