Decorum was thrown to the wind yesterday as a debate on the "State of the Nation" gave way to chaos, pitting honourable members of the House of Representatives against one another.
IN 1890, the French statesman Jules Francois Camille Ferry wrote, "an irresistible movement is bearing the great nations of Europe towards the conquest of fresh territories. It is like a huge steeplechase into the unknown...whole continents are being annexed...especially the huge black continent so full of fierce mysteries and vague hopes."
The award panel of the Mohammed Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership decided that it has no nominee this year worthy of the prize. This means there will be no winner for 2009 from among the shortlisted candidates. The panellists did not deem any of the nominees worthy enough for the princely $5 million prize.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has finally broken its silence on allegations by its former boss, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, that he lodged $15million bribe money from former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori, with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
A majority of sixty-eight members of the Pan- African Parliament (PAP) have adopted the motion to exert pressure on the government of the Kingdom of Morocco to release the seven human rights activists that were "abducted upon their return from visiting their families in the Saharawi refugee camps."
No fewer than 400 returnees from the ceded Bakassi Peninsula have arrived Nigeria with gory tales of inhuman treatment meted to them by the Cameroonian gendarmes.
I wrote in this column last week why the world football governing body, FIFA, cannot publicly condemn the shortcomings at the on-going Under 17 World Cup.
On the eve of the climate change summit in Copenhagen this December, momentum for action still falls far short of that needed to avert catastrophe. Africa will suffer consequences out of all proportion to its contribution to global warming, which is primarily caused by greenhouse gas emissions from wealthy countries.
Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole has said that for effective and conducive business environment that would bring about economic development, the state would replicate the new Ikeja Military cantonment ultra-modern market in Lagos.
So says the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary wholly owned by NNPC that is responsible for the marketing and distribution of petroleum products on behalf of the corporation.
Two giants, Africa's leading integrated telecoms operator, Globacom Limited, and the world's richest club, Manchester United of England, have signed a five-year sponsorship contract.
A coalition of leading environmental pressure groups in Nigeria who met recently in Abuja to study the development initiative of US billionaire Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), land grabs and non-ecological agriculture have recommended that Africa should not be a dumping ground for unverified technologies such as genetically modified crops.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is working on a plan to make banks report suspicious cash transactions by politically exposed persons (PEPs).
THE major shareholders, investors and other stakeholders in the eight troubled banks are making moves to reclaim them, vowing to co-operate with the Central Bank installed managements there.
As the Yar'Adua administration comes under pressure due to its consistent criticism by All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate in the last elections, General Muhammadu Buhari, there are indications that the government is taking its own pound of flesh by withdrawing Buhari's utility vehicle and stopping his pension.
