Mike who was appointed in 2007, hails from Rivers state, is an alumnus of the Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies and was at one time, Lagos State Police Commissioner and DIG Operations before he was made DIG Works.

An astute administrator, Mr. James K. Opadiran holds a B.Sc degree in Geography from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1972). He also studied Operational Research and Systems Analysis at ASTON University, Birmingham, United Kingdom where he obtained an M.Sc degree in 1982. These include certificates obtained from various other institutions both within and outside the country.

Prior to joining NIPSS in 2004, he was the Director of Studies and Head, Economic and Financial Management Studies Department at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Topo, Badagry.

Mr. J.K. Opadiran is a fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Management Consultants and has served the Federal Government in various capacities.

He was a Delegate/Team Member, The Roundtable on Public Service Reform Process in Nigeria organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat, London, in collaboration with the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, in London, 2003. He was also the Consultant/Facilitator, Public Sector Ethics Pilot Project for Ministries and Extra-Ministerial Departments organised by Transparency International in Collaboration with the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Abuja, in 2001. Again, he served as the Project Leader, Nigeria ASYCUDA Project executed under the aegis of ECOWAS, in 1997-1999, in addition to several other national assignments.

Born 8 January 1946, Mr Opadiran hails from Omupo in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. He is married to Mrs Rebecca Olusola Opadiran and they are blessed with children and grand-children.

He has served in Senior positions in government, as an Adviser to the President of Nigeria; the Private Sector, as Chief Operating Officer for Volkswagen of Nigeria, and in academia.

He is the author of several Management and Public Policy books including the Award Winning Managing Uncertainty: Competition and Strategy in Emerging Economies. His academic background covers a range from Policy Economics, Business Administration, and Political Science to Mass Communication.

As an entrepreneur he has founded or co-founded companies that are active in fields including financial services, ICT, and media.

Terry Waite (Terence Waite), 1939-, British church official. An adviser to Robert Runcie , the Archbishop of Canterbury, he successfully negotiated the release of British hostages in Iran (1981) and Libya (1985).

His later efforts to free U.S. hostages in Beirut were unsuccessful and were compromised by his association with Lt. Col. Oliver North, and he was kidnapped (Jan., 1987) by Shiite Muslims during talks there. Waite was released in Nov., 1991.

Abati’s approach of using dialogue, narrative, essay and satire to deal with serious national issues has made his columns captivating to many readers. Most of his articles are laced with humour and this makes readers to be carried along. What exactly informed his style of writing?

Abati had a First Class Honours degree in Theatre Arts at the University of Calabar and won the Vice Chancellor’s prize as the overall best graduating student of the university in 1985 among several other prizes for academic excellence.

At the University of Ibadan where he did his masters and Ph.D in Theatre Arts, he distinguished himself as a university scholar between 1987 and 1990. He completed his Ph.D at the age of 24 within just two years, specialising in Dramatic Literature, Theory and Criticism.

He also did a journalism programme as Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow, College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park, United States between 1996 and 1997. And in 1997, he earned an LL.B (Hons) from the Lagos State University, Ojo. The training in these three fields has immensely impacted on his writings.

As a scholar who taught a course on the aesthetics of laughter in the university, Abati finds it easy to use humour to convey his message in a dramatic and impactful manner.

As a columnist, Abati is motivated by happenings within the society and because there is never a dull moment in Nigeria, he finds the task of writing on topical issues very exciting. He is quite aware that columnists are agenda-setters who use the newspaper platform to provide leadership by assisting the public in formulating their own reaction to issues.

Over the years, Abati has won several awards for his well-informed commentaries and professional excellence both nationally and internationally. They include: The Cecil King Memorial Prize for Print Journalist of the Year, 1998; The Diamond Award for Media Excellence for Informed Commentary, 1998; Fletcher Challenge Commonwealth Prize for Opinion Writing, 2000; and Diamond Award for Media Excellence for Informed Commentary, 2000.

Abati who was a university teacher between 1985 and 1996 found it very easy to transit from the academia to journalism because both as a student and lecturer, he was consistently contributing articles to virtually all the leading Nigerian newspapers. From 1989 to 1991, he was contributing editor, Hints and Channele, both Lagos based romance magazines. He also freelanced during the period for The Guardian, Daily Sketch, Democrat, Nigerian Tribune and Daily Times. Between 1994 and 1995, he was contributing editor, Hearts, a romance magazine which he assisted in setting up. For eight months he maintained two columns under a pseudonym.

But before Abati went into journalism on a full-time basis, he was having a promising career in the academia. He was a graduate assistant, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Benin, 1985-1986 where he served as a member of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC. While pursuing higher degrees at the University of Ibadan between 1986 and 1990, he was a teaching assistant in the “Premier University.” Immediately after the completion of his Ph.D in 1990, he was appointed Lecturer II at the Department of English, Ogun State University.

She is medically qualified with post graduate membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. She underwent her higher specialist training as a psychotherapist and was Consultant Psychotherapist at the Maudsley Hospital for five years, where she is an Honorary Consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

She worked for one year full time with the Medical Foundation for the care of victims of torture, leading to published research on post traumatic stress disorder. She has expertise in the assessment and treatment of disordered personality in the context of forensic psychiatry.

Dr Van Velsen is co-editor of a Practical Guide to Forensic Psychotherapy, Associate Member of the British Institute of Psychoanalysis and on the Register of the British Confederation of Psychotherapists. She is also a member of the Forensic Executive at the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

She has a special interest in the representations of psychiatry and violence in film

Ayobamidele Abayomi Ojutelegan Ajani, the son of Pa Jacob Abiodun and Gladys Momodu, was born on May 16 1960 in the ancient town of Ile Ife, Nigeria.

Alex Ekwueme Foundation, a non-profit and non-governmental organisation, will be holding its inaugural International Summit on March 31at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

According to the Director General of the foundation, Dr. Duke Igwilo, “Terrorist kidnapping and hostage-taking is now a critical issue in Nigeria. Having grown phenomenally since the mid 1990s, it is now a source of significant safety and security concerns across the country and adversely affecting the country’s economy by greatly undermining foreign investment.”

The foundation positions itself at the forefront of resolving this bane upon the country by holding an international summit, bringing together key organisations and individuals within a structured forum to find a sustainable resolution to the phenomenon.

The summit aims to identify and highlight the pattern of hostage taking, kidnapping and local terrorism in the country, raise public awareness about the growing phenomenon, strengthen the capacity of national security and public safety agencies to deal with the problem and strengthen the capacity of the country’s legal framework to deal with the aspect of local terrorism.

Using keynote presentations, case study analyses and interactive panel discussions, the summit will, among others, bring about effective strategies and policies for businesses and government agencies to adopt, study global current developments in the practice and expert opinions to provide solutions for Nigeria, review the experiences of kidnap victims to gain an understanding of its effects on individuals.

Alex Ekwueme Foundation was established to promote the ideals, values and principles of Dr. Alex Ekwueme, former Vice-President of Nigeria. The foundation aims to ensure that such ideals as honesty, fostering peace, compromise, transparency in public service and respect for democratic principles are secured in perpetuity.

It is a cheerful news that elder statesman and former Vice- President, Dr Alex Ekwueme, has at last, settled for a foundation.

The Alex Ekwueme Foundation, a non-profit and non-governmental organisation, according to media reports, will be holding its inaugural International Summit on March 31, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

The foundation, it was disclosed, would have its thrust on how to douse the ire of militancy, which has developed to dangerous dimension, in the country.

According to the Director-General of the Foundation, Dr. Duke Igwilo: “Terrorist kidnapping and hostage-taking is now a critical issue in Nigeria. Having grown phenomenally since the mid-1990s, it is now a source of significant safety and security concern across the country and adversely affecting the country’s economy by greatly undermining foreign investment.”

Igwilo said the foundation would position itself at the forefront of resolving this bane by holding an international summit, bringing together key organisations and individuals within a structured forum, to find a sustainable resolution to the phenomenon.

“The summit aims to identify and highlight the pattern of hostage taking, kidnapping and local terrorism in the country, raise public awareness about the growing phenomenon, strengthen the capacity of national security and public safety agencies to deal with the problem and strengthen the capacity of the country’s legal framework to deal with the aspect of local terrorism.

“Using keynote presentations, case study analyses, and interactive panel discussions, the summit will, among other approaches, bring about effective strategies and policies for businesses and government agencies to adopt; study global current developments in the practice and expert opinions to provide solutions for Nigeria; review the experiences of kidnap victims to gain an understanding of its effects on individuals.”

The foundation that was established to promote the ideals, values and principles of Ekwueme, aims to ensure that such ideals as honesty, peace, compromise, transparency in public service and respect for democratic principles are secured in perpetuity.

At a time like this, Nigeria needs such genuine foundations that will seek ways and proffer solutions that will stamp out social and ethnic vice that have bedeviled the growth of this country.

All that is needed now is to ensure that the foundation will live to actualise the vision and ideals of the architect/businessman- turned politician, which must have informed the founding of the humanitarian organisation.

Like a bad dream, kidnapping which was first unleashed in Port-Harcourt on February 18 2006 by militants to press home their demands has now assumed a frightening proportion in various parts of the country. Not even the serenity and safety of Abuja is spared. Kidnapping has now become a veritable tool in the hands of hoodlums for making money.

It is distressing that kidnapping for ransom has become a burgeoning business in many parts of Igbo land. In the last three weeks Anambra, Enugu, Abia and Imo States have been hotbeds of commercially-motivated kidnapping.  In a bid to increase the ransom payable after the kidnap, the kidnappers now specialize in kidnapping monarchs and traditional rulers of big towns, high profile business tycoons and politicians, children and relatives of wealthy politicians.

Recently, a couple was kidnapped immediately after their wedding in Anambra State.  Prominent citizens of Anambra State who have been kidnapped recently include His Royal Highness (HRH) Igwe Mbamalu Okeke of Abagana, HRH Igwe J.C Nkwocha of Alor, Dr. Anayo Edemobi, a sibling of Professor Dora Akunyili.

In Enugu State, Igwe Uche Nwachime in Nkanu was abducted and later killed. The proprietor of Gold Riveri Hotel Enugu was kidnapped and later released upon the payment of a N5 million ransom. In Abia State the chairman of Enyimba Football had been kidnapped. Justice Awa U. Kalu was shot in a failed kidnapping bid. Some of the citizens of Imo State who were kidnapped recently include Mr. Celestine Ngaobiwu, a member of the Imo State House of Assembly and two sons of the Speaker of the Imo House of Assembly.

Needless to say, kidnapping is a daily occurrence in the Niger Delta. With Abuja of all places joining the kidnapper’s map, there is the fear that the hoodlums may overrun the country. The fear becomes real because of lack of an effective and reliable security machinery to stop the kidnappers. Many people in the South-East now live in perpetual fear of kidnappers. It has curtailed the freedom of movement of the people. For example, some prominent citizens from the South-East now travel to their respective villages with full mobile police escorts. What a miserable life! If living in one’s own village can now be classified as dangerous living, then life in itself is not worth living.

We therefore call on the Federal government to move quickly to stop this criminal way of making money before it gets out of hand. The government should see the increasing scourge of kidnapping in the country as an emergency situation which calls for an emergency solution.

Happily the governments of Rivers, Anambra, Enugu and Imo States are about enacting laws making kidnapping a capital offence punishable by life jail in their respective States. Already the Abia State government has done so. While we commend the efforts of these State governments, we call on all the three tiers of government to tackle the problem from the roots. We agree the current socio-economic challenges of the country should not be an excuse for criminality, and condemn kidnapping in all its ramifications, but it should also not be an excuse for governments to turn the blind eye to its possible causes. The problems of joblessness, idleness and poverty in the land are some of the root causes of kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria. Many of the abductors are mostly jobless youths, including even graduates. If these jobless youths were gainfully employed they probably would have stayed off the crime of kidnapping.