VGA NAIJA

  The G-5 PDP governors.

  A s you reflect on 2017 and think about what you would like to achieve in 2018, make sure that you do not overlook the important role that your personal well-being plays in your ability to achieve your goals. In particular, take time to think about your quality of life and the soundness of your personal relationships. There is always room for personal growth in these areas, and there are many steps you can take to optimize your enjoyment of life in 2018. Below are five ways to make positive changes in the new year.

    The Breaking News is that Nigeria, our own dear native land, is breaking. We keep segmenting or fragmenting as the “Atomistic Society” which Professor Ayandele said is “always at war with itself”. Is the cause that of leadership or citizenship? Whatever it is, the salvation of our nation is the common business of us all. In the famous, succinct, but paraphrased words of Thomas Paine: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot (in Nigeria) will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap (our fatherland), we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be so strange in...

                               The memory of how Akwa Ibom State, between 2011 and 2015 A.D, was ruled and ruined, is indelibly registered in my sub-conscious. Our own dear native land, my beloved fatherland, was in disorder. Carrying of coal (our money) to New Castle (already wealthy people) or throwing of our commonwealth into the abyss was order of the day. Kidnapping, rape, intimidation, despoliation, destruction, devastation, wasting of human lives and materials, insult upon injury! What a chaos, what a damage, what a plundering or profligacy, what a wreckage! And what exactly gave birth to all these? Nothing but unbridled selfishness and greed; nothing but the hay-wired or topsy–turvy political ambition of one unconscionable, insensitive, vain, thriftless, heartless man. Kai! The fruitless, terrible and unforgettable years of Godswill Obot Akpab...