Saturday, May 8, 2010
TRUE FEDERALISM: ELDER STATEMAN MAKE CASE FOR IBB.
On the pages of daily and weekly media publication in the country today are numerious ill-rated attentions seeking press releases and publication directing one media wave or the other.
In the midst of all these political and undemocratic noise, Nigeria youth and women groups who believe in the Nigerian Project and are committed to loyally demonstrate same through active participation in democratic processes are almost distractged from the exercise of their God-given franchise.
On this position a delta state based political elder stateman, Dr. (chief) Godwin Iwegbue, has risen to change the tide of false flow of bad political blood, he has joined the crop of other national elder statemen who make passionate appeal to Nigerians to give a second reasoning reflection on the numerious media attacks on the personality of General Ibrahim Babamosi Babangida, fondly called IBB, since IBB declared his intention to contest the 2011 presidential elecetions.
Dr. Iwegbue described as ‘sponsored threats’ all the political threats and darts charged towards IBB, and expressed his shock, despair and most funny, his amazement over the sorry state of many a great National intellectuals, renowned democrats, politicians and religious leaders who have witlessly and without recourse to the fundamental rights of every Nigerian (of which IBB is one) to aspire for election into any democratic position, have joined the band-wagon of those who in his words he described as “men and women who are prepared to kick start a revolution and perhaps destroy Aso-rock villa, if IBB should pick a PDP ticket.
The political elder stateman drew a sharp contrast between the IBB that ruled Nigeria from 1985-1993 as a soldier in Khaki and the new IBB, who with greater experience 17 years after is now a democrat with a vision to take the nation to greater heights.
Dr. Iwegbue stressed that IBB’s 17 years of sabbatical silence created enough time for him to reflect on the challenges facing Nigeriaon both economic and political fronts, thus such reflection led to IBB’s conclusion that if the issues at stake ( true federalism, devolution of power, creation of state police, resource control, etc) are fully put into practice, Nigeria will be taken to the next level of development.
The elder stateman extended an open invitation to the leadership, friends and memebership of Campaign Network for IBB (CNI); National Solidarity Association (NSA); Concerned Women For IBB (CWI) and Nigerian Youth Earnestly Desire IBB (NYED-IBB) to continuously mobilize more Nigerian electorates at the grassroot levels for a hurricane-like support for IBB, stating that such move will not only help us realize the development and growth of this nation but also add positive and lasting value to the life of the ordinary Nigerian, who believe in the Nigerian Project.
In the midst of all these political and undemocratic noise, Nigeria youth and women groups who believe in the Nigerian Project and are committed to loyally demonstrate same through active participation in democratic processes are almost distractged from the exercise of their God-given franchise.
On this position a delta state based political elder stateman, Dr. (chief) Godwin Iwegbue, has risen to change the tide of false flow of bad political blood, he has joined the crop of other national elder statemen who make passionate appeal to Nigerians to give a second reasoning reflection on the numerious media attacks on the personality of General Ibrahim Babamosi Babangida, fondly called IBB, since IBB declared his intention to contest the 2011 presidential elecetions.
Dr. Iwegbue described as ‘sponsored threats’ all the political threats and darts charged towards IBB, and expressed his shock, despair and most funny, his amazement over the sorry state of many a great National intellectuals, renowned democrats, politicians and religious leaders who have witlessly and without recourse to the fundamental rights of every Nigerian (of which IBB is one) to aspire for election into any democratic position, have joined the band-wagon of those who in his words he described as “men and women who are prepared to kick start a revolution and perhaps destroy Aso-rock villa, if IBB should pick a PDP ticket.
The political elder stateman drew a sharp contrast between the IBB that ruled Nigeria from 1985-1993 as a soldier in Khaki and the new IBB, who with greater experience 17 years after is now a democrat with a vision to take the nation to greater heights.
Dr. Iwegbue stressed that IBB’s 17 years of sabbatical silence created enough time for him to reflect on the challenges facing Nigeriaon both economic and political fronts, thus such reflection led to IBB’s conclusion that if the issues at stake ( true federalism, devolution of power, creation of state police, resource control, etc) are fully put into practice, Nigeria will be taken to the next level of development.
The elder stateman extended an open invitation to the leadership, friends and memebership of Campaign Network for IBB (CNI); National Solidarity Association (NSA); Concerned Women For IBB (CWI) and Nigerian Youth Earnestly Desire IBB (NYED-IBB) to continuously mobilize more Nigerian electorates at the grassroot levels for a hurricane-like support for IBB, stating that such move will not only help us realize the development and growth of this nation but also add positive and lasting value to the life of the ordinary Nigerian, who believe in the Nigerian Project.
COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF A TWO DAY ZONAL SENSITIZATION SEMINAR ON DESTINATION INSPECTION SCHEME FOR SOUTH EAST IMPORTERS AND STAKEHOLDERS, AT ONITSHA, ON 5TH MAY, 2010.
The convening of the zonal sensitization seminar was at the instance of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr. Ochi Achinivu, ostensibly to build capacity for our importers and other stakeholders, to enhance service delivery in the Destination Inspection Scheme. The seminar, in the South-East Zone took place from 4th to 5th May 2010. At the end of the seminar the following communique were issued:
· The vibrant importers and other stakeholders of the destination inspection scheme in the south-east Nigeria welcome and appreciated Federal Government’s effort at convening the sensitization seminar at an appropriate time like this. Consequently, they called on Government to make the event a bi-annual one, if only to achieve full enlightenment and mobilization.
· That the federal ministry of finance should involve the importers, authorized banks, freight forwarders, licensed custom agents and other stakeholders in planning and preparation for future seminars to enable mass mobilization of members to participate.
· Seminar frowned at the continued ban by the Federal Government on importation of textiles even when the local industry is moribund and Government is doing very little to prop them up. Seminar therefore called on government to remove the ban on importation of textile until such a time the domestic manufacturing companies assume serious production and can produce what is needed like silk, wool and linen materials.
· Seminar called on Government to direct the Nigerian Custom Service to strictly adhere to the policy of limiting patrol team operations to within 40km radius from the border areas, rather than extending to the hinterland.
· On custom reforms, the seminar noted the need to “RE-BRAND” the service to enable the achievement of true reforms that will improve national revenue collections.
· Importers and other stakeholders at the seminar called on the Federal Government to ensure that import tariffs are stable over an appreciable time instead of the frequent changes or reviews being experienced in the polity.
· Seminar appealed to the Federal Government to urgently upgrade, complete and commence operation at the onitsha sea port, in view of the high level sea-related commercial activities undertaken by South East business class. The presence of a Sea Port here will turn out high revenue and employment opportunities for Nigerian youths.
· Seminar observed the unnecessary disparity in freight costs between southern and western ports, and called for the unification and administration of a single freight cost structure, beneficial to the economy and the importers, in particular.
· In subsequent seminars for importers and other stakeholders, efforts should be made to apprise importers of the nature of imports allowed by Government.
· Importers are of the view that the lifespan of form “M” , now called electronic form “M”, should be reviewed upwards to 12 (twelve) months from the operating 6 (six) months.
· Seminar called for the harmonization of activities of port inspection agencies, like SON, NAFDAC, NDLEA, etc in order to avoid job duplication and achieve cost reduction.
· The Federal Government was called upon to intervene in the operation of Terminal operators who outrageously charge importers, thereby increasing open market prices of goods or materials.
· Federal Government to review port charges downwards since the ports are now concession.
· Seminar called for a 2nd dry port in the south east region to be cited at Onitsha, due to high volume activities.
· Seminar observed the improper dredging of the River Niger and called on Government to direct the contractors to discontinue dredging and dumping dredged sand into the same river.
· The vibrant importers and other stakeholders of the destination inspection scheme in the south-east Nigeria welcome and appreciated Federal Government’s effort at convening the sensitization seminar at an appropriate time like this. Consequently, they called on Government to make the event a bi-annual one, if only to achieve full enlightenment and mobilization.
· That the federal ministry of finance should involve the importers, authorized banks, freight forwarders, licensed custom agents and other stakeholders in planning and preparation for future seminars to enable mass mobilization of members to participate.
· Seminar frowned at the continued ban by the Federal Government on importation of textiles even when the local industry is moribund and Government is doing very little to prop them up. Seminar therefore called on government to remove the ban on importation of textile until such a time the domestic manufacturing companies assume serious production and can produce what is needed like silk, wool and linen materials.
· Seminar called on Government to direct the Nigerian Custom Service to strictly adhere to the policy of limiting patrol team operations to within 40km radius from the border areas, rather than extending to the hinterland.
· On custom reforms, the seminar noted the need to “RE-BRAND” the service to enable the achievement of true reforms that will improve national revenue collections.
· Importers and other stakeholders at the seminar called on the Federal Government to ensure that import tariffs are stable over an appreciable time instead of the frequent changes or reviews being experienced in the polity.
· Seminar appealed to the Federal Government to urgently upgrade, complete and commence operation at the onitsha sea port, in view of the high level sea-related commercial activities undertaken by South East business class. The presence of a Sea Port here will turn out high revenue and employment opportunities for Nigerian youths.
· Seminar observed the unnecessary disparity in freight costs between southern and western ports, and called for the unification and administration of a single freight cost structure, beneficial to the economy and the importers, in particular.
· In subsequent seminars for importers and other stakeholders, efforts should be made to apprise importers of the nature of imports allowed by Government.
· Importers are of the view that the lifespan of form “M” , now called electronic form “M”, should be reviewed upwards to 12 (twelve) months from the operating 6 (six) months.
· Seminar called for the harmonization of activities of port inspection agencies, like SON, NAFDAC, NDLEA, etc in order to avoid job duplication and achieve cost reduction.
· The Federal Government was called upon to intervene in the operation of Terminal operators who outrageously charge importers, thereby increasing open market prices of goods or materials.
· Federal Government to review port charges downwards since the ports are now concession.
· Seminar called for a 2nd dry port in the south east region to be cited at Onitsha, due to high volume activities.
· Seminar observed the improper dredging of the River Niger and called on Government to direct the contractors to discontinue dredging and dumping dredged sand into the same river.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Old boys can bring back lost glories of St. Patrick’s College, Asaba….Obi (Engr.) Konwea
Obi (Engr.) Ngozichukwuka Konwea, the National president of St. Patricks Old Boys Association of Nigeria, has stated that only through the concerted efforts of the old boys of the college will meaningfull development get to the college.
Other speakers at the meeting buttressed the same issue and suggested the way forward as well as their preparedness to support the leadership of Obi (Engr.) Konwea for a sustainable development of the college.
Obi (Engr.) Konwea is the newly elected National President of the association, his new office was a highly welcome development from all members of the assocoiation, as Obi Konwea is a household name in the association, his election was seen by all memebers as a sign of great things to come to the association.
Octogenarian Celebrates In Style Amidst Family, Friends and Old boyz
Attaining the Golden age of 80 Years is not an easy feat, hencew the children of Mr. R.N. Chukwunyem, thought it wise to throw a great party for their hard working father, in whom the grace of fatherhood rest in abundance.
It was a great day as the leadership and members of the St. Patrick's old boys Association of Nigeria graced the event in their numbers.
Family and friends in their numbers came to feel and celebrate with the man of the moment, gifts, food and drinks freely exchanged hands and in the fashion and at an atmosphere of love and merriment all felt the longing of 80years to come.
what a great event.
Jonathan Goodluck Must Take Note of This Greek Tragedy
Daniel Elombah
The Greek tragedy has been a long time in the making. Decades of reckless spending has saddled Greece with debts it cannot afford. The economy is a basket case and the financial markets have had enough. Greek debt is rated as “junk” and the cost of borrowing has soared as those lenders still prepared to deal with Greece demand ever higher returns. The Nigeria Acting President must take note of this Greek tragedy.
Last week the Federal Government announced they have borrowed US $915 million from the World Bank to finance an expected deficit in the 2010 budget. This is contained in the highlights of the budget signed by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan.
On Thursday, April 22, 2010, The Nigerian Minister of Finance, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said that media reports that the federal government was to borrow about U S$ 950 million to finance the 2010 budget were 'absolutely wrong'. Mr. Aganga told journalists after witnessing the signing of the 2010 budget by Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan that the government would not borrow to fund the budget.
Instead, he said, the deficit in the budget would be financed through other sources of revenue, including the sales of some assets and about US$ 500 million bond to be raised from the international market.
Yet while Aganga was lying through his teeth, Jonathan was drafting a badly mangled letter to the deputy Senate president asking the Senate to approve “the 2010 External Borrowing Plan of the Federal Government”.
The Senate wasted no time to give Dr Goodluck Jonathan the approval to borrow the sum of N138.165bn ($915 million) from the World Bank, “part of which would be used to finance the 2010 budget”.
Though the senate approval was unanimous, some members of the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, cautioned that the utilization of the loan must be properly monitored.
It is unconscionable for the government to deceive the public on what their real intentions are.
The last time we checked “”floating bonds” as touted by Aganga constitute a form of “debt equity” and is a fancy economics terminology for a form of “borrowing with a corporate or Govt guarantee”. There are interest’s charges as well, although usually fixed.
A concerned Nigerian, Joe Igietseme asked the government to “quit all these sophistries and legerdemains that dribble the public around the whole place; but in the end the PEOPLE SUFFER! People should know what they are getting into. Honest leadership rather than manipulative and confusing leadership is the best principle to lead Nigeria out of her present mess.
Nigeria's foreign debt has risen slightly since Nigeria left the Club of Paris of international creditors four years ago, but internal debt has soared. Foreign debt rose marginally by 447 (million) US dollars since Nigeria left the Paris Club, the debt management office (DMO) said, referring to the group of creditor countries.
"Between 2006 when Nigeria exited the Paris Club debts and December 2009, the external debt stock increased from 3.5 billion USD to 3.947," the office said."The increase of 447 million dollars arose mainly from net disbursements, on existing World Bank concessional loans," it said. But the amount of domestic debt rose significantly from 1.75 trillion naira in 2006 (11.64 billion dollars) to 3.2 trillion naira in 2009, or 11.76 percent of gross domestic product.
Applicable critical limit for countries in Nigeria's economic peer group is 40 percent, the statement said.
Recent positive ratings of the Nigerian economy by Standard and Poor's and Fitch rating agencies suggested Nigeria's positive economic outlook for the year 2010. But sharp rise in domestic debts and more reliance on external borrowing can threaten this positive rating.
The IMF is said to be considering raising the value of its €45 billion rescue package to Greece. The IMF delegation is in Berlin to persuade the German government to commit to a bail-out. Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's has now downgraded Greece's credit notes to junk bond status. Such agencies are all too fallible, having got so much wrong in the run-up to the credit crunch, but on the matter of Greece they reflect a general view: its economy is bust.
Athens has called in the European Union and International Monetary Fund but the proposed 45 billion euro bailout is being delayed by political infighting in Germany. So a meeting of eurozone leaders to approve the rescue package will not take place until May 10 once the German elections are out of the way. That leaves European markets at risk. Even big Countries like Britain are at risk of large sovereign debts.
Delay in approving help for Greece leaves Europe’s Pigs — Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain — at the mercy of the bloodthirsty financial markets for the best part of two weeks. Even if the bailout is approved, and arrives in time for Greece to repay €8.5 billion of debt on May 19, questions remain over how it will tackle its problems thereafter.
I repeat; Nigeria’s Acting President must take note. The credit crunch is spreading — from households, to banks to countries. Entire regions are at risk. Sovereign debt is the new sub-prime.
In asking for Senate approval, Jonathan claimed “that Nigeria is in dire need to fund the huge infrastructure deficit critical to rapid development and the highly concessionary credit facilities offered by Multilateral Agencies to which Nigeria belongs and commits substantial resources as affiliation fees, has been identified as an inevitable source to compliment the budgetary allocations as appropriate”.
Yet, barely 24 hours after the Federal Government announced they have borrowed US $915 million from the World Bank to finance an expected deficit in the 2010 budget, the Federal Government announced they will open a separate account for the windfall from oil price this year. The windfall is expected from excess earnings outside the $67 per barrel of oil benchmark for the budget.
We note that at Nigerian production quota levels set at 2.25 million bpd, The Country earns $150.75m per day at the budget earnings of $67 per barrel of oil benchmark for the budget.
Today, with the price of oil hovering around $83pb, that could mean Nigeria earnings of $36m windfall is expected from excess earnings per day.
That could mean the sum going into the separate account for the windfall from oil price this year could amount to $13.14billion in 2010 and the Accountant-General of the Federation has been mandated to open the special account to lodge the windfall.
Under this scenario, why should The Federal Government under Acting President Goodluck Jonathan borrow $1bn from World Bank?
Jonathan also said “The World Bank Portfolio of the facilities totalling $915 million out of which $179 million would be drawn in fiscal 2010 is of particular essence as it would be deployed to Urban Water and Transport. Human Capacity Development and Power infrastructure projects across the country”.
In other words, out of the $915 million loan, $179 million (N27.02bn) will be used to fund the 2010 budget while the remainder would be used to tackle infrastructural challenge in the area of power, roads and other critical sectors.
With the history of money borrowed from the World Bank going into private pockets, some Nigerians simply believe they are borrowing the $1b to have more $$ to share- to build the PDP war chest in preparation for the 2011 election.
Significantly during debates, Senators, Ahmed Lawan and Mohammed Mohammed, both of the ANPP who though supported the approval of the senate for the Federal Government to access the loan, were sceptical about its proper utilisation.
Senator Lawan said, “In as much as I support the loan, I want to know what exactly those projects that the money will be used for. I think it will also be proper for the government to tell us the communities that will benefit from the loan in the rural areas development scheme”.
We recall that we exited our debt burden with the Paris and London Clubs after shelling out over $13bn of reserves. Worse still, no one could identify the successful projects, if any, that the previous loans had funded.
It was against this unsavoury background that the Senate Committee on appropriation, rightly objected in December 2008 to Senate approval for a fresh loan application for $500bn by President Umaru Yar’adua.
The Senate Committee headed by Senator Omisore, called for caution in incurring such ‘foreign’ debt and regretted that even after the re-emergence of non-military rule, in 1999, NASS had never until now been brought into such loan process as required by the constitution.
In support of the veracity of this observation, we recall the loans unilaterally consummated by the former President from the Republic of China for the power sector and the reengineering of the Nigerian Railways.
Sadly on Wednesday, 21/1/2009 The Senate brushed aside the initial opposition from their ranks to approve President Yar 'Adua’s request for $500m naira denominated bond from the international capital market. Thus, the government obtained Senate approval to borrow the naira equivalent of $500m, which would be repaid at the current naira exchange rate in 2019!
In view of the devaluation of the naira, the naira equivalent may have increased to N75bn by then.
According to Les Leba, “If the economy continues to be mismanaged and our export earnings are as usual stolen by treasury looters or frittered away on white elephant projects, it would be fair to assume that we may actually be repaying a capital sum of over N150bn in ten years, if our naira depreciates by about 100% to N300/$1. This may not be an unusual depreciation, if we recognize that the naira was barely N80/$1 up to 1998”!
On the domestic front, we also recall the rapid accumulation of local debts particularly through bond issuance by almost N2000bn within four years. There is practically nothing to show for these loans, and it seems that these loans were incurred specifically for non-tangible purposes with dubious and immeasurable yardsticks!
The mind boggles as to what ends the huge sums of monies borrowed funds were actually applied!
Jonathan said the money was needed because Nigeria was in dire need of funds to finance an infrastructure deficit, which he said is critical to rapid development.
But these borrowings certainly could not be for funding federal budget deficits, as our revenue from all sources at current oil prices exceeded our expenditure.
As noted above, while the Federal Government announced they have borrowed US $915 million from the World Bank to finance an expected deficit in the 2010 budget, the Federal Government also announced they will open a separate account for the windfall from oil price this year. Who is fooling who?
Moreover, Nigeria currently has more than $42 billion dollars in foreign reserve. So, why borrow $1 billion dollars and become indebted again that would soon accumulate interest?
With the sordid history of dedicated accounts in the country starting from IBB’s Gulf windfall and OBJ’s ECA account from which 16 billion dollars was looted through IPP projects, why don’t we rather use the excess earnings outside the $67 per barrel of oil benchmark for the budget to fund the budget rather that borrowing from the World bank?
Why does the Federal Government of Nigeria need to borrow and be indebted to the World Bank again?
One can only imagine that the funds were simply stored idly in CBN vaults or accounting records in spite of annual interest payments of between 12 – 17% for such borrowings, just for the joy of it, only if that were so.
On Wednesday, 21/1/2009, the Senate Committee on Appropriation in a spirited attempt to do the right thing noted as follows in its response to the Executive request: “…the ultimate goal for the implementation of any public sector programme or project is to enhance the welfare of the citizenry. The purpose by FMF, therefore, focused on the means, rather than the ultimate end of any capital flow. Such sweeping statements have led the nation into unbridled procurement of externally-sourced loans, only to regret thereafter”
The net benefit of this market-based loan must be convincingly articulated. FGN needs to demonstrate concisely the extent to which the procurement of the loan would enhance the welfare of the citizenry.
As noted earlier, the nation has never prudently utilized external loans for the public sector, since the loan procured in 1957 for the construction of the national rail network. FMF should, therefore, demonstrate the fundamental institutional improvements towards achieving the stated benefits of this and other forms of external borrowing.
“Research evidence has adjudged the debt sustainability criteria being employed by FMF/DMO as misleading and lacking any theoretical underpinning. It is also geared towards a nation’s perpetual dependence on loans rather than real development.
Recourse to borrowing for development financing should be a stop-gap measure, and not a perpetual life support facility.
On the claim that the loan is needed to “finance an infrastructure deficit”, the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) places much emphasis on Public Private Partnership (PPP) as a major source of development financing. Leba said “The continued emphasis on external borrowing by the public sector negates this orientation, and calls to question our real commitment towards evolving a private sector-led market-oriented national economy”
No rational person would thumb their nose at debt accumulation if the funds so acquired are applied to critical infrastructural projects for public welfare enhancement; but a situation where there is nothing to show for past loans, and with no verifiable façade of discipline or accountability in the use of public funds, it would be folly to expect that the application of the current $915 million and indeed any other loan whether domestic or external would be to the benefit of Nigerians.
Regrettably, the matter is already foreclosed by the Senate; it is not clear if the House of Representatives will stand up on the side of the people, and also ask why the CBN is selling billions of our dollar reserves to Bureau de change every month, while we go borrowing $915 million with cap in hand, from the international capital market!
Finally, Jonathan said the he is borrowing for infrastructural development around the country, but as far as anybody knows, the man has a few months left in office. He should be tidying things up, NOT increasing our debt load.
The Greek tragedy has been a long time in the making. Decades of reckless spending has saddled Greece with debts it cannot afford. The economy is a basket case and the financial markets have had enough. Greek debt is rated as “junk” and the cost of borrowing has soared as those lenders still prepared to deal with Greece demand ever higher returns. The Nigeria Acting President must take note of this Greek tragedy.
Last week the Federal Government announced they have borrowed US $915 million from the World Bank to finance an expected deficit in the 2010 budget. This is contained in the highlights of the budget signed by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan.
On Thursday, April 22, 2010, The Nigerian Minister of Finance, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said that media reports that the federal government was to borrow about U S$ 950 million to finance the 2010 budget were 'absolutely wrong'. Mr. Aganga told journalists after witnessing the signing of the 2010 budget by Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan that the government would not borrow to fund the budget.
Instead, he said, the deficit in the budget would be financed through other sources of revenue, including the sales of some assets and about US$ 500 million bond to be raised from the international market.
Yet while Aganga was lying through his teeth, Jonathan was drafting a badly mangled letter to the deputy Senate president asking the Senate to approve “the 2010 External Borrowing Plan of the Federal Government”.
The Senate wasted no time to give Dr Goodluck Jonathan the approval to borrow the sum of N138.165bn ($915 million) from the World Bank, “part of which would be used to finance the 2010 budget”.
Though the senate approval was unanimous, some members of the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, cautioned that the utilization of the loan must be properly monitored.
It is unconscionable for the government to deceive the public on what their real intentions are.
The last time we checked “”floating bonds” as touted by Aganga constitute a form of “debt equity” and is a fancy economics terminology for a form of “borrowing with a corporate or Govt guarantee”. There are interest’s charges as well, although usually fixed.
A concerned Nigerian, Joe Igietseme asked the government to “quit all these sophistries and legerdemains that dribble the public around the whole place; but in the end the PEOPLE SUFFER! People should know what they are getting into. Honest leadership rather than manipulative and confusing leadership is the best principle to lead Nigeria out of her present mess.
Nigeria's foreign debt has risen slightly since Nigeria left the Club of Paris of international creditors four years ago, but internal debt has soared. Foreign debt rose marginally by 447 (million) US dollars since Nigeria left the Paris Club, the debt management office (DMO) said, referring to the group of creditor countries.
"Between 2006 when Nigeria exited the Paris Club debts and December 2009, the external debt stock increased from 3.5 billion USD to 3.947," the office said."The increase of 447 million dollars arose mainly from net disbursements, on existing World Bank concessional loans," it said. But the amount of domestic debt rose significantly from 1.75 trillion naira in 2006 (11.64 billion dollars) to 3.2 trillion naira in 2009, or 11.76 percent of gross domestic product.
Applicable critical limit for countries in Nigeria's economic peer group is 40 percent, the statement said.
Recent positive ratings of the Nigerian economy by Standard and Poor's and Fitch rating agencies suggested Nigeria's positive economic outlook for the year 2010. But sharp rise in domestic debts and more reliance on external borrowing can threaten this positive rating.
The IMF is said to be considering raising the value of its €45 billion rescue package to Greece. The IMF delegation is in Berlin to persuade the German government to commit to a bail-out. Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's has now downgraded Greece's credit notes to junk bond status. Such agencies are all too fallible, having got so much wrong in the run-up to the credit crunch, but on the matter of Greece they reflect a general view: its economy is bust.
Athens has called in the European Union and International Monetary Fund but the proposed 45 billion euro bailout is being delayed by political infighting in Germany. So a meeting of eurozone leaders to approve the rescue package will not take place until May 10 once the German elections are out of the way. That leaves European markets at risk. Even big Countries like Britain are at risk of large sovereign debts.
Delay in approving help for Greece leaves Europe’s Pigs — Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain — at the mercy of the bloodthirsty financial markets for the best part of two weeks. Even if the bailout is approved, and arrives in time for Greece to repay €8.5 billion of debt on May 19, questions remain over how it will tackle its problems thereafter.
I repeat; Nigeria’s Acting President must take note. The credit crunch is spreading — from households, to banks to countries. Entire regions are at risk. Sovereign debt is the new sub-prime.
In asking for Senate approval, Jonathan claimed “that Nigeria is in dire need to fund the huge infrastructure deficit critical to rapid development and the highly concessionary credit facilities offered by Multilateral Agencies to which Nigeria belongs and commits substantial resources as affiliation fees, has been identified as an inevitable source to compliment the budgetary allocations as appropriate”.
Yet, barely 24 hours after the Federal Government announced they have borrowed US $915 million from the World Bank to finance an expected deficit in the 2010 budget, the Federal Government announced they will open a separate account for the windfall from oil price this year. The windfall is expected from excess earnings outside the $67 per barrel of oil benchmark for the budget.
We note that at Nigerian production quota levels set at 2.25 million bpd, The Country earns $150.75m per day at the budget earnings of $67 per barrel of oil benchmark for the budget.
Today, with the price of oil hovering around $83pb, that could mean Nigeria earnings of $36m windfall is expected from excess earnings per day.
That could mean the sum going into the separate account for the windfall from oil price this year could amount to $13.14billion in 2010 and the Accountant-General of the Federation has been mandated to open the special account to lodge the windfall.
Under this scenario, why should The Federal Government under Acting President Goodluck Jonathan borrow $1bn from World Bank?
Jonathan also said “The World Bank Portfolio of the facilities totalling $915 million out of which $179 million would be drawn in fiscal 2010 is of particular essence as it would be deployed to Urban Water and Transport. Human Capacity Development and Power infrastructure projects across the country”.
In other words, out of the $915 million loan, $179 million (N27.02bn) will be used to fund the 2010 budget while the remainder would be used to tackle infrastructural challenge in the area of power, roads and other critical sectors.
With the history of money borrowed from the World Bank going into private pockets, some Nigerians simply believe they are borrowing the $1b to have more $$ to share- to build the PDP war chest in preparation for the 2011 election.
Significantly during debates, Senators, Ahmed Lawan and Mohammed Mohammed, both of the ANPP who though supported the approval of the senate for the Federal Government to access the loan, were sceptical about its proper utilisation.
Senator Lawan said, “In as much as I support the loan, I want to know what exactly those projects that the money will be used for. I think it will also be proper for the government to tell us the communities that will benefit from the loan in the rural areas development scheme”.
We recall that we exited our debt burden with the Paris and London Clubs after shelling out over $13bn of reserves. Worse still, no one could identify the successful projects, if any, that the previous loans had funded.
It was against this unsavoury background that the Senate Committee on appropriation, rightly objected in December 2008 to Senate approval for a fresh loan application for $500bn by President Umaru Yar’adua.
The Senate Committee headed by Senator Omisore, called for caution in incurring such ‘foreign’ debt and regretted that even after the re-emergence of non-military rule, in 1999, NASS had never until now been brought into such loan process as required by the constitution.
In support of the veracity of this observation, we recall the loans unilaterally consummated by the former President from the Republic of China for the power sector and the reengineering of the Nigerian Railways.
Sadly on Wednesday, 21/1/2009 The Senate brushed aside the initial opposition from their ranks to approve President Yar 'Adua’s request for $500m naira denominated bond from the international capital market. Thus, the government obtained Senate approval to borrow the naira equivalent of $500m, which would be repaid at the current naira exchange rate in 2019!
In view of the devaluation of the naira, the naira equivalent may have increased to N75bn by then.
According to Les Leba, “If the economy continues to be mismanaged and our export earnings are as usual stolen by treasury looters or frittered away on white elephant projects, it would be fair to assume that we may actually be repaying a capital sum of over N150bn in ten years, if our naira depreciates by about 100% to N300/$1. This may not be an unusual depreciation, if we recognize that the naira was barely N80/$1 up to 1998”!
On the domestic front, we also recall the rapid accumulation of local debts particularly through bond issuance by almost N2000bn within four years. There is practically nothing to show for these loans, and it seems that these loans were incurred specifically for non-tangible purposes with dubious and immeasurable yardsticks!
The mind boggles as to what ends the huge sums of monies borrowed funds were actually applied!
Jonathan said the money was needed because Nigeria was in dire need of funds to finance an infrastructure deficit, which he said is critical to rapid development.
But these borrowings certainly could not be for funding federal budget deficits, as our revenue from all sources at current oil prices exceeded our expenditure.
As noted above, while the Federal Government announced they have borrowed US $915 million from the World Bank to finance an expected deficit in the 2010 budget, the Federal Government also announced they will open a separate account for the windfall from oil price this year. Who is fooling who?
Moreover, Nigeria currently has more than $42 billion dollars in foreign reserve. So, why borrow $1 billion dollars and become indebted again that would soon accumulate interest?
With the sordid history of dedicated accounts in the country starting from IBB’s Gulf windfall and OBJ’s ECA account from which 16 billion dollars was looted through IPP projects, why don’t we rather use the excess earnings outside the $67 per barrel of oil benchmark for the budget to fund the budget rather that borrowing from the World bank?
Why does the Federal Government of Nigeria need to borrow and be indebted to the World Bank again?
One can only imagine that the funds were simply stored idly in CBN vaults or accounting records in spite of annual interest payments of between 12 – 17% for such borrowings, just for the joy of it, only if that were so.
On Wednesday, 21/1/2009, the Senate Committee on Appropriation in a spirited attempt to do the right thing noted as follows in its response to the Executive request: “…the ultimate goal for the implementation of any public sector programme or project is to enhance the welfare of the citizenry. The purpose by FMF, therefore, focused on the means, rather than the ultimate end of any capital flow. Such sweeping statements have led the nation into unbridled procurement of externally-sourced loans, only to regret thereafter”
The net benefit of this market-based loan must be convincingly articulated. FGN needs to demonstrate concisely the extent to which the procurement of the loan would enhance the welfare of the citizenry.
As noted earlier, the nation has never prudently utilized external loans for the public sector, since the loan procured in 1957 for the construction of the national rail network. FMF should, therefore, demonstrate the fundamental institutional improvements towards achieving the stated benefits of this and other forms of external borrowing.
“Research evidence has adjudged the debt sustainability criteria being employed by FMF/DMO as misleading and lacking any theoretical underpinning. It is also geared towards a nation’s perpetual dependence on loans rather than real development.
Recourse to borrowing for development financing should be a stop-gap measure, and not a perpetual life support facility.
On the claim that the loan is needed to “finance an infrastructure deficit”, the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) places much emphasis on Public Private Partnership (PPP) as a major source of development financing. Leba said “The continued emphasis on external borrowing by the public sector negates this orientation, and calls to question our real commitment towards evolving a private sector-led market-oriented national economy”
No rational person would thumb their nose at debt accumulation if the funds so acquired are applied to critical infrastructural projects for public welfare enhancement; but a situation where there is nothing to show for past loans, and with no verifiable façade of discipline or accountability in the use of public funds, it would be folly to expect that the application of the current $915 million and indeed any other loan whether domestic or external would be to the benefit of Nigerians.
Regrettably, the matter is already foreclosed by the Senate; it is not clear if the House of Representatives will stand up on the side of the people, and also ask why the CBN is selling billions of our dollar reserves to Bureau de change every month, while we go borrowing $915 million with cap in hand, from the international capital market!
Finally, Jonathan said the he is borrowing for infrastructural development around the country, but as far as anybody knows, the man has a few months left in office. He should be tidying things up, NOT increasing our debt load.
Overdraft Billionaires
Babajide Kolade-Otitoju
When the Forbes 2009 list of the world's richest persons was released in March, two Nigerians, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President/CEO Dangote Group, and his estranged friend, Femi Otedola, President/CEO of Zenon Petroleum and Gas, as well as Chairman/CEO of African Petroleum were conspicuous on the list.
While Dangote was ranked 261 in the world, Otedola was ranked 601. Dangote was estimated to be worth $2.5billion, while Otedola's estimated worth stood at $1.2 billion. They emerged as two of only four black persons to make the list.
When, however, on 18 August, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, released a list of big time debtors whose failure to service their debts put five Nigerian banks in trouble, Dangote and his friend featured prominently as other Nigerian billionaires like the self-styled whizzkid, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, Mr. Joseph Arumemi-Johnson, former Delta Governor, James Ibori, Azeez Arisekola Alao and Peter Ololo among others. Sixty of the debtors were arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, while some were ordered to report to the commission's office to explain themselves. Jimoh Ibrahim, Chairman of Global Fleet, demanded an audit of his account with Oceanic International Bank. Ibrahim, who was accompanied to the EFCC office by his lawyer, Femi Falana, said: âm a clean businessman; I have nothing to fear. He claimed that while the bank said he was owing N8 billion, the actual balance is N4.8b. The bank, he claimed, had agreed to reconcile his accounts, accusing it of making excess charges on his account. Arumemi-Johnson, Managing Director of Rockson Engineering, one of the companies listed to be owing Intercontinental Bank to the tune of N36.989billion, disclosed that power projects being handled by his company will be further delayed by the CBN’s “haste†in releasing the list without cross-checking with the debtors. He claimed that some of the banks inflated the figures with ulterior motives. Arumemi-Johnson said he was owing N14.4billion and not N36.9billion, as stated by CBN.
Dansa Oil and Gas Limited, with links to Dangote, was listed by the CBN as owing Intercontinental Bank N8.8 billion, while Dangote Industries owes Oceanic Bank N2.5 billion. Two companies owned by Otedola owe a total of N19.05 billion. While Zenon owes Union Bank N6.2 billion, AP owes Afribank N12.8 billion.
Nigerians were generally shocked that prominent billionaires were on the list. For example, Oba Otudeko, who stepped down as President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, used his position to secure N1.6 billion from Oceanic Bank for his Honeywell Group.
Similarly, Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, who is both the Chairman of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria and Director-General of NSE, caused the company to owe Union Bank N30.8 million, which was used in acquiring the troubled Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, NITEL. The company failed to service the loan. However, Okereke-Onyiuke argued that she did not take the loan in her personal capacity and that the company was in the process of divesting its 50 per cent stake in NITEL, with the desire to use part of the proceeds to clear the debt.
Other prominent names on the first list rolled out by the CBN were Mr. Lulu Briggs, Controller of MTS Wireless Communications, who is owing Union Bank N9.8 billion; Annie Okonkwo and Ifeanyi Araraume, both former senators. Okonkwo, through his Reliance Telecommunications, owes Oceanic Bank N801 million, while Araraume is owing FinBank N158 million. Abulazeez Arisekola Alao, the Ibadan-based businessman, owes Intercontinental Bank N4billion. Khalifa Isyaku Rabiu, who runs IRS Airlines, and Alhaji Ahmadu Chanchangi were also on the list, which also has Great Ogboru, who was accused of bankrolling the 1990 coup against the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.
A roll-call of some of the oil companies indebted to the banks include Ascot Offshore Nigeria Limited owned by Henry Imasekha. It owes Intercontinental Bank N44.87 billion. Mid-Western Oil and Gas Company promoted by Onnojite Okoloko and Adams Okonen, owe Oceanic Bank N23.86 billion. Fredrick Akinruntan's Obat Oil and Petroleum Company also owes Oceanic Bank N4.47 billion. Other major debtors to the bank are Circular Global International, owned by Namashetu Abdullahi, N12.8 billion; Imad Oil and Gas by Bashir Adamu and Abba Dasuki, N10.10 billion; and Rahamahiya Oil and Gas controlled by Abdulrahman Bashir, which owes Intercontinental and Oceanic Bank N41.4 billion. Oando plc, headed by Mohammed Magoro, a retired Major-General, owes N7.1 billion.
With the EFCC threatening the affected debtors with prosecution, many of them have been rushing to pay their debts, so much so that the commission recovered N25.5 billion in less than a week. This is, however, a far cry from the N747 billion they jointly owe.
One of the most scandalous revelations that emerged was how former Delta State governor James Ibori used Delta State's N820 million units of shares in Oceanic Bank to secure N44.6 billion loan for Ascot, a private enterprise, from Intercontinental Bank.
Also Ibori, and Mike Orugbo, his associate, borrowed about $200 million from Oceanic Bank to finance their take-over of the National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria. He borrowed another $200 million to finance the purchase of Wilbross Nigeria Limited, an oil servicing firm. He did it through Ascot Offshore.
Just last week the EFCC released a fresh list of debtors, which revealed that customers owe the latest five banks audited about N400 billion.
Bank PHB topped the list of the debt-ridden banks with N170 billion non-performing loans. Its subsidiary, Spring Bank, had N95.5 billion in non-performing loans. Equitorial Trust Bank, ETB, has a N46 billion bad loans portfolio, while Unity Bank and Wema Bank are owed N36.5 billion and N36 billion respectively.
Three of the five bank chief executive officers were sacked before the latest list was released. They are Ike Oraekwuotu of ETB, Francis Atuche of Bank PHB and Mr. Charles Ojo of Spring Bank. They were replaced by CBN-appointed management.
Other notable Nigerians whose names or companies were listed are Alhaji Muhammed Buba Marwa, Nigeria’s Ambassador to South Africa; Jimoh Ibrahim and Professor Pat Utomi. Marwa’s defunct Albarka Airlines owes over N1 billion; Jimoh Ibrahim, N3.3 billion; Transcorp, N16.6 billion; Conoil, N19.86 billion; Dangote Industries plc, N1.96 billion; Premium Seafoods Limited, N3.32 billon; Globe Motors, N3.03 billion; Baywood Limited, owned by Chief Chris Ibe and Professor Pat Utomi, N2.74 billion.
Among the dignitaries that owe Spring Bank substantial amounts are Otunba Oyewole Fasawe, a director of the bank who owes a total of N9, 284,331,037.52 in three accounts. Fasawe, through Netlink Digital Television with Account No 1601001010341 owes N4, 821,168,438.27; Mofas Shipping Nig-A/C2, 1601001010688 owes N3, 053,633,054.57 and through Transvari Services limited with A/C No 1601001010387, N1,409,529,544.68.
The Chairman of the bank, Chief Kola Daisi, also owes a total of N4,121,200,911.36 through two accounts. He owes the bank through National Sports Lottery with A/C Nos 0721001006025 and 1441801000046. Chief Tony Anenih and Osahon Asemota through Mettle Energy and Gas Limited, owe N2,065,661,421.09 with A/C No 0161601000897.
Chris Baywood Ibe and Prof Pat Utomi are owing N2,743,349,386.22 through Baywood Continental Limited with A/C No 0011001024030. Also Segun Osinuga, director of the bank owes N2, 556,930,297.06 through WATYEM-DKS Enterprises with A/C No 1511001000102.
In the case of ETB, the bad loans credited to 45 customers amounted to a whopping N46,154, 945,774.89 as at 30 June 2009. Majority of the customers, all corporate bodies, gave legal mortgage, stock hypothecation, and assets debenture as collateral. Conoil plc is the highest debtor to the bank with a total loan of N19.866 billion, which is not supported by any collateral. Next to Conoil is a certain BYSJ Project Account with a debt of N5.972 billion. Premium Sea Foods Limited and Globe Motors Limited are the third and fourth biggest debtors of the bank with N3.321 billion and N3.031 billion respectively. Dangote Industries Limited, Hotel Excel Limited, Formosa Bottling Company Limited, Michelle Nigeria Limited and Igbinedion University are also huge debtors to the bank.
Dangote Industries is indebted to the tune of N1.968 billion, Hotel Excel N1.244billion, Formosa Bottling Company N1.027 billion, Michelle Nigeria Limited N1.021 billion and Igbinedion University N841.987million. The total non-performing loan owed to Wema Bank amounted to a whopping N36.07 billion. TRANSCORP has the highest non-performing loan of N16,627,468,744.02, followed by Mrs. Josephine Oluwadamilola Kuteyi, with a non-performing loan amounting to N8,457,489,072.87. Others are Jimoh Ibrahim through his Global Fleet, which owes N3billion; Odua Investment Limited with a total non-performing loan of over N3.7 billion.
To some Nigerians, the fact that the second list of debtors released by the CBN also features some of those mentioned in the first list shows that beyond their denials they are indeed big time debtors responsible for the debt overhang that is pulling down Nigerian banks and impacting negatively on the economy. Yet, some of them are known for the lavish lifestyle they live and the penchant for squandering money, sometimes needlessly. For example, Femi Otedola donated N1 billion to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party for the building of its proposed national secretariat. He also had to be forced, through litigation and threat of a wind up of his company, to pay Access Bank billions of naira his company, African Petroleum owed it, just some months back.
Could it be that many of Nigerian billionaires are simply unwilling to pay their debts? This may be true to some extent, but the truth is many of them invested in stocks and such investments went bad suddenly. Some of them could have diverted the funds secured from banks into other uses, thereby finding it difficult to pay back.
They sometimes connived with bank staff, who took a sizeable percentage of such loans and hoped that the loans would be written off.
In a recent newspaper interview, Lagos lawyer, Bamidele Aturu expressed that some of the debtors could be just unwilling to service their debts. He recalled the case of a millionaire based in Akure, the Ondo state capital, who despite entreaties by a bank he was owing bluntly refused to pay, until the bank mobilised commercial motorcycle riders to picket his house.
His relations, apparently terrified came out pleading with the motorcyclists, also known as Okada to spare them, as they never knew their breadwinner was indebted to any bank. The man, according to Aturu, was eventually forced to part with over N100 million that day. It is thought that many of the debtors borrow money, set up companies with the goal of taking bank loans without a desire to pay back. Even the CBN governor corroborated this during a recent interview with TheNEWS, asking for an amendment to the relevant laws to make things difficult for such negatively inclined debtors.
Meanwhile, experts estimate that the toxic debt by Nigerian banks stands at $10 billion. Meanwhile, Globacom chairman, Mike Adenuga says he has injected N150b into his bank, taking it out of the well reported capital inadequacy.
But the Nigerian banks continue to limp as a result of bad debts. In its last quarter result, Zenith Bank, one of those cleared after the apex banks last round of audit, reported it had written off N26.1billion in bad debt, while UBA had similarly written off N41billion. TheNEWS learnt that other banks will be forced to write off huge debts in the coming days.
Speaking on the development to AFP last week, CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said he would not sit back and watch Nigerian banks fail. We have reached a point where enough is enough, Sanusi said, arguing that the whole crisis was caused by a combination of shareholders greed and reckless management.
For a country like Nigeria, stability, including financial, is very important. If we maintain stability, we can attract foreign investments said Sanusi.
On the famous special goal to take Nigeria into the top 20 of world economies in 2020, Sanusi Lamido said: In terms of could it happen? the answer is yes. In terms of Has the government so far shown the capacity to execute? the answer is no.
My personal view is that there is a need to recognise that government should outsource the implementation of this subjective and should insist more on PPP (public-private partnership), he said.
If you are credit worthy, you can owe. But if you don't service your credit or you don't pay your debts, it shows that you are not credit worthy, said an analyst. How really credit worthy are Nigeria's rich and powerful?
So many of them, as far as evidence can go, are merely overdraft billionaires highly dependent on government for patronage and banks for the money they spend.
When the Forbes 2009 list of the world's richest persons was released in March, two Nigerians, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President/CEO Dangote Group, and his estranged friend, Femi Otedola, President/CEO of Zenon Petroleum and Gas, as well as Chairman/CEO of African Petroleum were conspicuous on the list.
While Dangote was ranked 261 in the world, Otedola was ranked 601. Dangote was estimated to be worth $2.5billion, while Otedola's estimated worth stood at $1.2 billion. They emerged as two of only four black persons to make the list.
When, however, on 18 August, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, released a list of big time debtors whose failure to service their debts put five Nigerian banks in trouble, Dangote and his friend featured prominently as other Nigerian billionaires like the self-styled whizzkid, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, Mr. Joseph Arumemi-Johnson, former Delta Governor, James Ibori, Azeez Arisekola Alao and Peter Ololo among others. Sixty of the debtors were arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, while some were ordered to report to the commission's office to explain themselves. Jimoh Ibrahim, Chairman of Global Fleet, demanded an audit of his account with Oceanic International Bank. Ibrahim, who was accompanied to the EFCC office by his lawyer, Femi Falana, said: âm a clean businessman; I have nothing to fear. He claimed that while the bank said he was owing N8 billion, the actual balance is N4.8b. The bank, he claimed, had agreed to reconcile his accounts, accusing it of making excess charges on his account. Arumemi-Johnson, Managing Director of Rockson Engineering, one of the companies listed to be owing Intercontinental Bank to the tune of N36.989billion, disclosed that power projects being handled by his company will be further delayed by the CBN’s “haste†in releasing the list without cross-checking with the debtors. He claimed that some of the banks inflated the figures with ulterior motives. Arumemi-Johnson said he was owing N14.4billion and not N36.9billion, as stated by CBN.
Dansa Oil and Gas Limited, with links to Dangote, was listed by the CBN as owing Intercontinental Bank N8.8 billion, while Dangote Industries owes Oceanic Bank N2.5 billion. Two companies owned by Otedola owe a total of N19.05 billion. While Zenon owes Union Bank N6.2 billion, AP owes Afribank N12.8 billion.
Nigerians were generally shocked that prominent billionaires were on the list. For example, Oba Otudeko, who stepped down as President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, used his position to secure N1.6 billion from Oceanic Bank for his Honeywell Group.
Similarly, Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, who is both the Chairman of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria and Director-General of NSE, caused the company to owe Union Bank N30.8 million, which was used in acquiring the troubled Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, NITEL. The company failed to service the loan. However, Okereke-Onyiuke argued that she did not take the loan in her personal capacity and that the company was in the process of divesting its 50 per cent stake in NITEL, with the desire to use part of the proceeds to clear the debt.
Other prominent names on the first list rolled out by the CBN were Mr. Lulu Briggs, Controller of MTS Wireless Communications, who is owing Union Bank N9.8 billion; Annie Okonkwo and Ifeanyi Araraume, both former senators. Okonkwo, through his Reliance Telecommunications, owes Oceanic Bank N801 million, while Araraume is owing FinBank N158 million. Abulazeez Arisekola Alao, the Ibadan-based businessman, owes Intercontinental Bank N4billion. Khalifa Isyaku Rabiu, who runs IRS Airlines, and Alhaji Ahmadu Chanchangi were also on the list, which also has Great Ogboru, who was accused of bankrolling the 1990 coup against the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.
A roll-call of some of the oil companies indebted to the banks include Ascot Offshore Nigeria Limited owned by Henry Imasekha. It owes Intercontinental Bank N44.87 billion. Mid-Western Oil and Gas Company promoted by Onnojite Okoloko and Adams Okonen, owe Oceanic Bank N23.86 billion. Fredrick Akinruntan's Obat Oil and Petroleum Company also owes Oceanic Bank N4.47 billion. Other major debtors to the bank are Circular Global International, owned by Namashetu Abdullahi, N12.8 billion; Imad Oil and Gas by Bashir Adamu and Abba Dasuki, N10.10 billion; and Rahamahiya Oil and Gas controlled by Abdulrahman Bashir, which owes Intercontinental and Oceanic Bank N41.4 billion. Oando plc, headed by Mohammed Magoro, a retired Major-General, owes N7.1 billion.
With the EFCC threatening the affected debtors with prosecution, many of them have been rushing to pay their debts, so much so that the commission recovered N25.5 billion in less than a week. This is, however, a far cry from the N747 billion they jointly owe.
One of the most scandalous revelations that emerged was how former Delta State governor James Ibori used Delta State's N820 million units of shares in Oceanic Bank to secure N44.6 billion loan for Ascot, a private enterprise, from Intercontinental Bank.
Also Ibori, and Mike Orugbo, his associate, borrowed about $200 million from Oceanic Bank to finance their take-over of the National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria. He borrowed another $200 million to finance the purchase of Wilbross Nigeria Limited, an oil servicing firm. He did it through Ascot Offshore.
Just last week the EFCC released a fresh list of debtors, which revealed that customers owe the latest five banks audited about N400 billion.
Bank PHB topped the list of the debt-ridden banks with N170 billion non-performing loans. Its subsidiary, Spring Bank, had N95.5 billion in non-performing loans. Equitorial Trust Bank, ETB, has a N46 billion bad loans portfolio, while Unity Bank and Wema Bank are owed N36.5 billion and N36 billion respectively.
Three of the five bank chief executive officers were sacked before the latest list was released. They are Ike Oraekwuotu of ETB, Francis Atuche of Bank PHB and Mr. Charles Ojo of Spring Bank. They were replaced by CBN-appointed management.
Other notable Nigerians whose names or companies were listed are Alhaji Muhammed Buba Marwa, Nigeria’s Ambassador to South Africa; Jimoh Ibrahim and Professor Pat Utomi. Marwa’s defunct Albarka Airlines owes over N1 billion; Jimoh Ibrahim, N3.3 billion; Transcorp, N16.6 billion; Conoil, N19.86 billion; Dangote Industries plc, N1.96 billion; Premium Seafoods Limited, N3.32 billon; Globe Motors, N3.03 billion; Baywood Limited, owned by Chief Chris Ibe and Professor Pat Utomi, N2.74 billion.
Among the dignitaries that owe Spring Bank substantial amounts are Otunba Oyewole Fasawe, a director of the bank who owes a total of N9, 284,331,037.52 in three accounts. Fasawe, through Netlink Digital Television with Account No 1601001010341 owes N4, 821,168,438.27; Mofas Shipping Nig-A/C2, 1601001010688 owes N3, 053,633,054.57 and through Transvari Services limited with A/C No 1601001010387, N1,409,529,544.68.
The Chairman of the bank, Chief Kola Daisi, also owes a total of N4,121,200,911.36 through two accounts. He owes the bank through National Sports Lottery with A/C Nos 0721001006025 and 1441801000046. Chief Tony Anenih and Osahon Asemota through Mettle Energy and Gas Limited, owe N2,065,661,421.09 with A/C No 0161601000897.
Chris Baywood Ibe and Prof Pat Utomi are owing N2,743,349,386.22 through Baywood Continental Limited with A/C No 0011001024030. Also Segun Osinuga, director of the bank owes N2, 556,930,297.06 through WATYEM-DKS Enterprises with A/C No 1511001000102.
In the case of ETB, the bad loans credited to 45 customers amounted to a whopping N46,154, 945,774.89 as at 30 June 2009. Majority of the customers, all corporate bodies, gave legal mortgage, stock hypothecation, and assets debenture as collateral. Conoil plc is the highest debtor to the bank with a total loan of N19.866 billion, which is not supported by any collateral. Next to Conoil is a certain BYSJ Project Account with a debt of N5.972 billion. Premium Sea Foods Limited and Globe Motors Limited are the third and fourth biggest debtors of the bank with N3.321 billion and N3.031 billion respectively. Dangote Industries Limited, Hotel Excel Limited, Formosa Bottling Company Limited, Michelle Nigeria Limited and Igbinedion University are also huge debtors to the bank.
Dangote Industries is indebted to the tune of N1.968 billion, Hotel Excel N1.244billion, Formosa Bottling Company N1.027 billion, Michelle Nigeria Limited N1.021 billion and Igbinedion University N841.987million. The total non-performing loan owed to Wema Bank amounted to a whopping N36.07 billion. TRANSCORP has the highest non-performing loan of N16,627,468,744.02, followed by Mrs. Josephine Oluwadamilola Kuteyi, with a non-performing loan amounting to N8,457,489,072.87. Others are Jimoh Ibrahim through his Global Fleet, which owes N3billion; Odua Investment Limited with a total non-performing loan of over N3.7 billion.
To some Nigerians, the fact that the second list of debtors released by the CBN also features some of those mentioned in the first list shows that beyond their denials they are indeed big time debtors responsible for the debt overhang that is pulling down Nigerian banks and impacting negatively on the economy. Yet, some of them are known for the lavish lifestyle they live and the penchant for squandering money, sometimes needlessly. For example, Femi Otedola donated N1 billion to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party for the building of its proposed national secretariat. He also had to be forced, through litigation and threat of a wind up of his company, to pay Access Bank billions of naira his company, African Petroleum owed it, just some months back.
Could it be that many of Nigerian billionaires are simply unwilling to pay their debts? This may be true to some extent, but the truth is many of them invested in stocks and such investments went bad suddenly. Some of them could have diverted the funds secured from banks into other uses, thereby finding it difficult to pay back.
They sometimes connived with bank staff, who took a sizeable percentage of such loans and hoped that the loans would be written off.
In a recent newspaper interview, Lagos lawyer, Bamidele Aturu expressed that some of the debtors could be just unwilling to service their debts. He recalled the case of a millionaire based in Akure, the Ondo state capital, who despite entreaties by a bank he was owing bluntly refused to pay, until the bank mobilised commercial motorcycle riders to picket his house.
His relations, apparently terrified came out pleading with the motorcyclists, also known as Okada to spare them, as they never knew their breadwinner was indebted to any bank. The man, according to Aturu, was eventually forced to part with over N100 million that day. It is thought that many of the debtors borrow money, set up companies with the goal of taking bank loans without a desire to pay back. Even the CBN governor corroborated this during a recent interview with TheNEWS, asking for an amendment to the relevant laws to make things difficult for such negatively inclined debtors.
Meanwhile, experts estimate that the toxic debt by Nigerian banks stands at $10 billion. Meanwhile, Globacom chairman, Mike Adenuga says he has injected N150b into his bank, taking it out of the well reported capital inadequacy.
But the Nigerian banks continue to limp as a result of bad debts. In its last quarter result, Zenith Bank, one of those cleared after the apex banks last round of audit, reported it had written off N26.1billion in bad debt, while UBA had similarly written off N41billion. TheNEWS learnt that other banks will be forced to write off huge debts in the coming days.
Speaking on the development to AFP last week, CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said he would not sit back and watch Nigerian banks fail. We have reached a point where enough is enough, Sanusi said, arguing that the whole crisis was caused by a combination of shareholders greed and reckless management.
For a country like Nigeria, stability, including financial, is very important. If we maintain stability, we can attract foreign investments said Sanusi.
On the famous special goal to take Nigeria into the top 20 of world economies in 2020, Sanusi Lamido said: In terms of could it happen? the answer is yes. In terms of Has the government so far shown the capacity to execute? the answer is no.
My personal view is that there is a need to recognise that government should outsource the implementation of this subjective and should insist more on PPP (public-private partnership), he said.
If you are credit worthy, you can owe. But if you don't service your credit or you don't pay your debts, it shows that you are not credit worthy, said an analyst. How really credit worthy are Nigeria's rich and powerful?
So many of them, as far as evidence can go, are merely overdraft billionaires highly dependent on government for patronage and banks for the money they spend.
IBORI IS NOT THE THIEF, BUT, THEY ARE THEIVES AND OFFICIAL CRIMINALS
VERY FUNNY TO HEAR PEOPLE TALK ABOUT IBORI THIS MUCH, IBORI IS NOT A SMART GUY AND CON NOT ON HIS OWN ALONE STOLE SO MUCH MONEY. IBORI GOT MOST OF HIS VOTES FROM ANIOMA AND HIS GOVERNOR COUSINE ALSO THE SAME. I NOW ASK THIS : WHY DID ANIOMA POLITICIANS BENT ON MAKING SURE IBORI CAME THE SECOUND TERM? WHY DID OKOWA, VICTOR OCHEI, CHIEF IWEREBOR FROM AGBOR, NKEM OKOFU AND EVEN THE OLD MAN DEPUTY GOVERNOR (1999-2007) SO MUCH WORK TO MAKING SURE ODUAGHA CAME AS GOVERNOR? WHY WAS THE PDP PRIMIARIES IN OGWUASHI UKWU SO MUCH MESSED OUR ANIOMA ASPIRANTS? WHY DID THE ANIOMA DELEGATE VOTED AND WORKED AGAINST THEIR BROTHER ASPIRANTS? WHAT WERE THEIR INTEREST? HOW MUCH WERE THEY PAID? HAVE ANIOMA BEEN ABLE TO ASK THIS SELFISH POLITICIANS WHY THEY DID SO? CAN A CHIARMAN OF A LGA FOR JUST 4 YEARS BE SO RICH AS THE IMMEDIATE PAST LGA CHIRAMAN ANIOCHA SOUTH? HOW CAN CONTRACTS BE AWARDED TO A COMMITTEE MEMBER IN A HOUSE BY THAT SAME COMMITTEE HE IS A MEMBER? AND WHY ARE THEY NOW STILL THE ARROW HEAD OF ODUAGHA MUST COME BACK? WHY NOT ALLOW POLITICIANS FROM HIS (ODUAGHA) DISTRICT TO CAMPAIGN FOR HIM? A LOT OF EVIL AND MANIPULATIONS HAS BEEN DONE THERE. THE LAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECION IN ANIOCHA NORTH WAS CONDUCTED IN PRIVATE HOMES, I WAS THERE AND KNOW THIS. SO IBORI IS NOT THE THIEF, HE IS NOT BRILIANT ENOUGH TO DO THAT ALONE. BUT OVER TIME, VERY SOON AND SOONER THAN WE EXPECT THE TRUTH SHALL SET ALL OF US FREE, THAT WILL BE WHEN WE KNOW THE TRUTH, SAY THE TRUTH AND DO THE TRUTH. IBORI WAS ONLY USED BY POLITICIANS TO GATHER WEALTH AS HE (IBORI) IS NOT A SMART GUY TO KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO DEAL WITH SMART PEOPLE.
BETWEEN IWU AND INEC
EMMA OKWUAHABA
Nigerians have not heard the last from controversial former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Maurice Iwu, who bluntly refused yesterday to handover the commission’s affairs to another officer despite his sudden sack by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday evening. Later in the day, Iwu was also snubbed by Jonathan, who refused to see him when he appeared at the Acting President’s office to protest the order for him to disengage from INEC five weeks before his tenure expired.
There was noticeable apprehension at INEC’s headquarters yesterday as staffers wore anxious faces over the silent power struggle going on over its headship. Sources at the commission said Iwu complained about some “ambiguities” in the letter asking him to immediately proceed on leave.
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had directed that Iwu hand over to the most senior INEC National Commissioner, who will take charge until a substantive chairman is appointed. Daily Trust however learnt that the most senior commissioner that could have taken over, Barrister Victor Chukwuani from Enugu State, also received a letter on Wednesday evening directing him to proceed on pre-disengagement leave with immediate effect. Chukwuani’s five-year tenure elapses in June.
However, there were indications that INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Information and Publicity, Barrister Phillip Etomike Umeadi (Jnr.) had assumed the headship of INEC, because six mobile policemen and three other plain cloth security agents were seen guarding his once easily-accessible office at INEC headquarters.
Several INEC management staffers who spoke to our reporters yesterday also said they were not favourably disposed to Umeadi’s taking over of the leadership of INEC. They described Umeadi as “arrogant and someone who does not tolerate dissenting opinion.”
Professor Iwu had arrived at INEC headquarters in the morning yesterday and summoned a close-door meeting with its top management staff, including Umeadi and the third national commissioner, Mr Solomon Adedeji Soyebi.
A senior INEC officer familiar with yesterday’s events told our reporter that Iwu refused to hand over because there were some grey areas to be clarified.
He said, “Prof. Iwu cannot hand over. The statutes of the commission are not like that of the ministries. There is no seniority among the national commissioners, so the chairman (Iwu) went to see the Acting President on who to actually hand over to. Also Chukwuani’s letter was not copied to Iwu as expected.”
Professor Iwu’s spokesman Andy Ezeani refused to speak to our reporter yesterday, saying he had nothing to say on any issue, but INEC’s Director of Public Affairs Emmanuel Umenger told reporters that Iwu told them at the meeting that he was leaving the commission and that he was preparing his hand over notes.
“We met with Prof. Iwu; he appreciated and commended us for working with him. He told us he is leaving and preparing his handing over notes,” Umenger said.
However, soon after that meeting, Iwu locked up his office, pocketed the keys and drove straight to the Aso Rock Villa. Asked to explain why Iwu locked up his office, the senior INEC official said “asking Iwu to go on leave is different from dismissing him. Iwu still has the constitutional mandate of his tenure till June.”
Iwu’s position was supported yesterday by the Rights Monitoring Group (RMG), which faulted the directive for Iwu to depart and said Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s order was an abuse of the 1999 constitution.
RMG’s National Coordinator Olufemi Aduwo told our reporter that “Prof. Iwu’s appointment is guaranteed by the constitution like the governors and even the president. Why ask him to go on leave? We hope the Acting President will also proceed on terminal leave in April 2010.”
Iwu arrived at the Presidential Villa at about 2pm yesterday, hoping to see with the acting president, but he was told to see the Principal Secretary to the acting president, Mike Ogiadomhe. Daily Trust gathered that Iwu presented a letter to Ogiadomhe for onward transmission to Jonathan. Though neither Iwu nor the Presidency revealed the contents of the letter he submitted to Ogiadomhe, a competent source said it protested the order for him to leave INEC before his tenure ends in early June. The former chairman argued that his tenure was guaranteed by the constitution and that the Acting President’s order was illegal.
Iwu, who looked unruffled in his well tailored suit, refused to speak to newsmen who ambushed him on his way out of the Presidential Villa. He entered his car and zoomed off. Reports had it that his travelling documents had been seized by security agencies with an instruction that he must not travel out of the country.
Professor Iwu was appointed to a five-year term by the Obasanjo regime in 2005. Under him, INEC conducted the 2007 general and presidential elections, unanimously condemned by local and foreign observers as the worst in the world’s history. Last month, some youths alleged to be hired staged a demonstration in Abuja urging the government to reappoint Iwu, who they said is the best person to deliver credible polls in Nigeria. However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) together with several human rights and civil society groups staged a large counter demonstration urging the government to quickly sack him.
Nigerians have not heard the last from controversial former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Maurice Iwu, who bluntly refused yesterday to handover the commission’s affairs to another officer despite his sudden sack by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday evening. Later in the day, Iwu was also snubbed by Jonathan, who refused to see him when he appeared at the Acting President’s office to protest the order for him to disengage from INEC five weeks before his tenure expired.
There was noticeable apprehension at INEC’s headquarters yesterday as staffers wore anxious faces over the silent power struggle going on over its headship. Sources at the commission said Iwu complained about some “ambiguities” in the letter asking him to immediately proceed on leave.
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had directed that Iwu hand over to the most senior INEC National Commissioner, who will take charge until a substantive chairman is appointed. Daily Trust however learnt that the most senior commissioner that could have taken over, Barrister Victor Chukwuani from Enugu State, also received a letter on Wednesday evening directing him to proceed on pre-disengagement leave with immediate effect. Chukwuani’s five-year tenure elapses in June.
However, there were indications that INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Information and Publicity, Barrister Phillip Etomike Umeadi (Jnr.) had assumed the headship of INEC, because six mobile policemen and three other plain cloth security agents were seen guarding his once easily-accessible office at INEC headquarters.
Several INEC management staffers who spoke to our reporters yesterday also said they were not favourably disposed to Umeadi’s taking over of the leadership of INEC. They described Umeadi as “arrogant and someone who does not tolerate dissenting opinion.”
Professor Iwu had arrived at INEC headquarters in the morning yesterday and summoned a close-door meeting with its top management staff, including Umeadi and the third national commissioner, Mr Solomon Adedeji Soyebi.
A senior INEC officer familiar with yesterday’s events told our reporter that Iwu refused to hand over because there were some grey areas to be clarified.
He said, “Prof. Iwu cannot hand over. The statutes of the commission are not like that of the ministries. There is no seniority among the national commissioners, so the chairman (Iwu) went to see the Acting President on who to actually hand over to. Also Chukwuani’s letter was not copied to Iwu as expected.”
Professor Iwu’s spokesman Andy Ezeani refused to speak to our reporter yesterday, saying he had nothing to say on any issue, but INEC’s Director of Public Affairs Emmanuel Umenger told reporters that Iwu told them at the meeting that he was leaving the commission and that he was preparing his hand over notes.
“We met with Prof. Iwu; he appreciated and commended us for working with him. He told us he is leaving and preparing his handing over notes,” Umenger said.
However, soon after that meeting, Iwu locked up his office, pocketed the keys and drove straight to the Aso Rock Villa. Asked to explain why Iwu locked up his office, the senior INEC official said “asking Iwu to go on leave is different from dismissing him. Iwu still has the constitutional mandate of his tenure till June.”
Iwu’s position was supported yesterday by the Rights Monitoring Group (RMG), which faulted the directive for Iwu to depart and said Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s order was an abuse of the 1999 constitution.
RMG’s National Coordinator Olufemi Aduwo told our reporter that “Prof. Iwu’s appointment is guaranteed by the constitution like the governors and even the president. Why ask him to go on leave? We hope the Acting President will also proceed on terminal leave in April 2010.”
Iwu arrived at the Presidential Villa at about 2pm yesterday, hoping to see with the acting president, but he was told to see the Principal Secretary to the acting president, Mike Ogiadomhe. Daily Trust gathered that Iwu presented a letter to Ogiadomhe for onward transmission to Jonathan. Though neither Iwu nor the Presidency revealed the contents of the letter he submitted to Ogiadomhe, a competent source said it protested the order for him to leave INEC before his tenure ends in early June. The former chairman argued that his tenure was guaranteed by the constitution and that the Acting President’s order was illegal.
Iwu, who looked unruffled in his well tailored suit, refused to speak to newsmen who ambushed him on his way out of the Presidential Villa. He entered his car and zoomed off. Reports had it that his travelling documents had been seized by security agencies with an instruction that he must not travel out of the country.
Professor Iwu was appointed to a five-year term by the Obasanjo regime in 2005. Under him, INEC conducted the 2007 general and presidential elections, unanimously condemned by local and foreign observers as the worst in the world’s history. Last month, some youths alleged to be hired staged a demonstration in Abuja urging the government to reappoint Iwu, who they said is the best person to deliver credible polls in Nigeria. However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) together with several human rights and civil society groups staged a large counter demonstration urging the government to quickly sack him.
Waziri proposes death penalty
NOAH EBIJE
The Executive Chairman, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) Mrs. Farida Waziri has said that the war against corruption in the country may not be won unless death penalty is introduced to eliminate corrupt Nigerian officials.
Speaking yesterday in Kaduna as Guest Speaker on the 10th anniversary of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Waziri pointed out that if the rising cases of corruption by top Nigerian leaders was not effectively tacked, the country would end up a failed nation.
Although the EFCC boss admitted that not all Nigerian leaders are corrupt, she however, added that the corrupt ones outnumbered the incorruptible, stressing also that the fight against corruption is doomed if Nigerian leaders lack the political will to help in tackling the menace.
She also expressed the opinion that revolting against corrupt leaders would have been another alternative, but quickly jettisoned the idea. She said with the level of poverty in the land, crowd could easily be rented without knowing who were ready to fight a genuine cause.
According to him, “Two things came to my mind on the way out of corruption in Nigeria, it is either we want to revolt which is hopeless because of the way things are going in the country.
With poverty in the land, you can rent a crowd because people have been out of school, and there is no job. Such people can do anything for you, so the issue of revolution is not there.
“But if there is death sentence as it is in China is introduced here, that is the only thing that can tackle corruption.
“I must first reiterate my position that corruption is the biggest killer disease in Nigeria. It is because of corruption that the populace does not have access to health care. It is because of corruption that the populace does not have access to the basics of life. It is because of corruption that there is no power and the economy is in shambles.
Waziri also lamented the social lifestyle of Nigerian leaders especially governors and Local Government chairmen and blamed ACF for failing to fight corruption.
The Executive Chairman, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) Mrs. Farida Waziri has said that the war against corruption in the country may not be won unless death penalty is introduced to eliminate corrupt Nigerian officials.
Speaking yesterday in Kaduna as Guest Speaker on the 10th anniversary of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Waziri pointed out that if the rising cases of corruption by top Nigerian leaders was not effectively tacked, the country would end up a failed nation.
Although the EFCC boss admitted that not all Nigerian leaders are corrupt, she however, added that the corrupt ones outnumbered the incorruptible, stressing also that the fight against corruption is doomed if Nigerian leaders lack the political will to help in tackling the menace.
She also expressed the opinion that revolting against corrupt leaders would have been another alternative, but quickly jettisoned the idea. She said with the level of poverty in the land, crowd could easily be rented without knowing who were ready to fight a genuine cause.
According to him, “Two things came to my mind on the way out of corruption in Nigeria, it is either we want to revolt which is hopeless because of the way things are going in the country.
With poverty in the land, you can rent a crowd because people have been out of school, and there is no job. Such people can do anything for you, so the issue of revolution is not there.
“But if there is death sentence as it is in China is introduced here, that is the only thing that can tackle corruption.
“I must first reiterate my position that corruption is the biggest killer disease in Nigeria. It is because of corruption that the populace does not have access to health care. It is because of corruption that the populace does not have access to the basics of life. It is because of corruption that there is no power and the economy is in shambles.
Waziri also lamented the social lifestyle of Nigerian leaders especially governors and Local Government chairmen and blamed ACF for failing to fight corruption.
Soyinka, party leaders snub Oshiomhole
Okechukwu Nnodim
The highly publicised ‘One man, One Vote’ rally organised by the Edo State government to promote democracy ran into trouble yesterday when Wole Soyinka, and leaders of the Action Congress, including Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, and party chairman, Bisi Akande, staged a public walkout.
The boycott was carried out to protest the presence of former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, and Senate President, David Mark, who were at the rally.
Earlier, the former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tunubu; National Publicity Secretary of Action Congress, Lai Muhammed; the party’s governorship candidates in Osun and Ogun States, Raufu Aregbesola, and Kayode Fayemi; and party secretary, Usman Bugaje had flown out of Lagos to the Benin rally around 10:00am while Mr Fashola and his team joined the event shortly after.
However, two hours after the plane that took Mr Fashola to Benin took off, it returned to the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, followed by a private jet with Mr Soyinka on board. The men had refused to remain at the rally grounds, thus shunning an event attended by the Edo State governor and AC member, Adams Oshiomhole; Bayelsa State governor and representative of the Acting President, Timpreye Sylva; Mr Babangida; and most of the governors of the South-south.
Explaining why they had to turn their back on the event, Mr Bugaje told journalists that participating in the rally would be tantamount to his party endorsing the presidential ambition of Mr Babangida, who is not an AC member.
He also said it was not possible for the party’s delegation to have remained in Benin to attend a rally with a senate president who destroyed the report of Mohammed Uwais’ electoral reforms panel.
“We went to Edo for a rally on “one man, one vote,” meaning a rally on electoral reform, so that we can press home the point that we cannot afford to continue with the kind of electoral system that we have seen. That we must have a free, fair, credible and transparent election. But when we went, we found out that a stage had been set for one of the presidential aspirants on a platform, which is not our party and we thought our participation will mean some kind of endorsement, which we were not prepare to do.
“Secondly, and perhaps much more importantly, the fact is that the guest of honour as we saw in one of the dailies inside the plane, was the Senate President, David Mark. This is the same senate president who literally supervised the destruction of the Uwais report that went to the National Assembly. In other words, this was the man who supervised the mutilation, and destruction of the hope that this country had for a better electoral system. We cannot see how such a man can be the special guest of honour in a rally, which is all about free, fair and credible election after he has destroyed the report that virtually provided for free, fair and credible election.
“So, with all these contradictions, we discovered that the place was not for us and, therefore, we withdrew, excused ourselves, we wished them well and see how things unfold and we will let you know what our views are.”
Mr Soyinka, in reply to reporters’ questions, said: “Let me just put it this way, this is the last straw (pointing to a newspaper ). I saw this and this is the last straw, the guest of honour (David Mark).
That is all I will say to you right now. I think the people that gave me a ride will have a lot more to say (referring to Mr Tinubu and the AC delegation). The special guest of honour, for me, is Oro pesi je, as they say.” (Oro pesi je’ literally means ‘the matter is beyond comments.’) Mr Bugaje said attending such an event was antithetical to the beliefs of his party.
“Nigerians are already wise enough to see through some of these tricks and gimmicks. I don’t think anybody will be deceived by that kind of crowd, that this is the kind of crowd that gathers for electoral reform,” he said. “Nearly all the dignitaries that are elected officers there were the very beneficiaries of this corrupt, mutilated electoral system that was supervised by Maurice Iwu and how can these people really be there in the forefront in a rally which is all about free, fair and credible election?”
The highly publicised ‘One man, One Vote’ rally organised by the Edo State government to promote democracy ran into trouble yesterday when Wole Soyinka, and leaders of the Action Congress, including Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, and party chairman, Bisi Akande, staged a public walkout.
The boycott was carried out to protest the presence of former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, and Senate President, David Mark, who were at the rally.
Earlier, the former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tunubu; National Publicity Secretary of Action Congress, Lai Muhammed; the party’s governorship candidates in Osun and Ogun States, Raufu Aregbesola, and Kayode Fayemi; and party secretary, Usman Bugaje had flown out of Lagos to the Benin rally around 10:00am while Mr Fashola and his team joined the event shortly after.
However, two hours after the plane that took Mr Fashola to Benin took off, it returned to the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, followed by a private jet with Mr Soyinka on board. The men had refused to remain at the rally grounds, thus shunning an event attended by the Edo State governor and AC member, Adams Oshiomhole; Bayelsa State governor and representative of the Acting President, Timpreye Sylva; Mr Babangida; and most of the governors of the South-south.
Explaining why they had to turn their back on the event, Mr Bugaje told journalists that participating in the rally would be tantamount to his party endorsing the presidential ambition of Mr Babangida, who is not an AC member.
He also said it was not possible for the party’s delegation to have remained in Benin to attend a rally with a senate president who destroyed the report of Mohammed Uwais’ electoral reforms panel.
“We went to Edo for a rally on “one man, one vote,” meaning a rally on electoral reform, so that we can press home the point that we cannot afford to continue with the kind of electoral system that we have seen. That we must have a free, fair, credible and transparent election. But when we went, we found out that a stage had been set for one of the presidential aspirants on a platform, which is not our party and we thought our participation will mean some kind of endorsement, which we were not prepare to do.
“Secondly, and perhaps much more importantly, the fact is that the guest of honour as we saw in one of the dailies inside the plane, was the Senate President, David Mark. This is the same senate president who literally supervised the destruction of the Uwais report that went to the National Assembly. In other words, this was the man who supervised the mutilation, and destruction of the hope that this country had for a better electoral system. We cannot see how such a man can be the special guest of honour in a rally, which is all about free, fair and credible election after he has destroyed the report that virtually provided for free, fair and credible election.
“So, with all these contradictions, we discovered that the place was not for us and, therefore, we withdrew, excused ourselves, we wished them well and see how things unfold and we will let you know what our views are.”
Mr Soyinka, in reply to reporters’ questions, said: “Let me just put it this way, this is the last straw (pointing to a newspaper ). I saw this and this is the last straw, the guest of honour (David Mark).
That is all I will say to you right now. I think the people that gave me a ride will have a lot more to say (referring to Mr Tinubu and the AC delegation). The special guest of honour, for me, is Oro pesi je, as they say.” (Oro pesi je’ literally means ‘the matter is beyond comments.’) Mr Bugaje said attending such an event was antithetical to the beliefs of his party.
“Nigerians are already wise enough to see through some of these tricks and gimmicks. I don’t think anybody will be deceived by that kind of crowd, that this is the kind of crowd that gathers for electoral reform,” he said. “Nearly all the dignitaries that are elected officers there were the very beneficiaries of this corrupt, mutilated electoral system that was supervised by Maurice Iwu and how can these people really be there in the forefront in a rally which is all about free, fair and credible election?”
North’s stranglehold to power over, Says Aliyu
Emeka Mamah
AGAINST the backdrop of perceived lost of power by the North occasioned by the ill-heath of President Umaru Yar’Adua and the possibility of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan contesting the 2011 polls, the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, NGF and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Aliyu Babangida, has urged northerners to wake up to the stark realities of the situation on the ground and stop taking things for granted.
This came as Dr. Jonathan blamed the problems of the country on the people’s attitude to corruption cases.
The Acting President, obviously referring to the shielding of the former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, by his kinsmen from arrest by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, decried a situation whereby Nigeria hailed the rich among us irrespective of how their wealth was acquired.
He was represented on the occasion by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.
Also, the Senate President, Senator David Mark, said although Nigeria has its problems, it cannot yet be said to be a failed state.
“Nigeria has a lot of deficits, but I do not think we are a failed state and I do not think we should condemn ourselves.
“I think we are doing well and even those countries that are successful, they still have problems and those close to us are not ashamed to come and borrow money from us in spite of everything. Nigeria is a great country,” Mark, who was represented by Senator Jibril Aminu said.
However, Muazu said the area should negotiate with other ethnic groups as the era when the geographical North lorded it over to other ethnic groups and regions in the country was over.
He spoke at the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, at the Arewa Hall, Kaduna, yesterday.
The chairman spoke as the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, who was the lead lecturer on the occasion, warned ethnic groups or sections against thinking that they had the “monopoly on exclusivist and fissiparous tendencies or totally imbued with inclusivity and centrifugal tendencies” in the country.
Akinyemi, whose topic was on “fighting corruption and social conflict to achieve development,” noted that $480 billion had been lost to corruption in the last 39 years in Nigeria.
EFCC Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, noted that, “inevitably, the failure of the country to manage its social conflicts and development issues has meant that it cannot effectively tackle corruption” just as the former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said he encouraged the formation of ACF while in office because of the sharia crises then.
Waziri said: “Nigeria lacks the political will to fight corruption outside the Federal Executive Council (FEC) level,” adding that EFCC has over 300 cases pending in various courts with some of the cases having lasted over five years.
She likened the several sectarian conflicts in the country to corruption.
“The kind of sectarian conflicts and violence within Nigeria today would have been unimaginable in the 60’s and 70’s.
“Does anyone need proof that it is because of the high level of corruption that violence breaks out at the slightest of opportunities?
“People are so highly strung and deprived of the basics of life that they become willing tools in the hands of puppeteers.
“It is not surprising that the army of young people who are used for violence are unemployed”, she added.
But, Gov. Babangida said, “as Nigerians of northern extraction, should we be more concerned with the euphoria, sensationalism and sentiment of having a President from the North or a President that can deliver the goods and services for the improved well-being of Nigerians?
“Shouldn’t we, therefore, begin to articulate our concerns and needs and judge candidates by what they can deliver to us rather than where they may come from?
“We must begin to be rational and negotiate wisely with a view to tackling the development challenges facing us, once and for all- excruciating poverty, decay in the educational system, infrastructural gaps, almajiri (begging) syndrome and youth restiveness among others.
“The era of lording it over others or simply thinking ‘we have it’ has passed.
“We should not continue to take things for granted in the political equation of this country. I believe we should focus attention squarely on how the average Nigerian can experience a decent life like his counterparts in other parts of the world in the 21st century.
“Many of the sensational issues that we preoccupy ourselves with are not necessary and should not take so much of our time, energy and resources, when others are moving on positively”.
According to him, the greatest problem facing the country today was fighting corruption, and urged Nigerian leaders to curtail their greed and insatiable thirst for material acquisition and concentrate on serving the people and delivering to them, the basic necessities of quality life.
Among eminent Nigerians who attended the anniversary celebration include; former vice President, Atiku Abubakar, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, Senator Roland Owie, Senator J. K. N. Waku, Prof. Joe Irukwu, former national President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Col. Issa Kachako (rtd), the National Publicity Secretary of ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani and Senator Jibril Aminu.
AGAINST the backdrop of perceived lost of power by the North occasioned by the ill-heath of President Umaru Yar’Adua and the possibility of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan contesting the 2011 polls, the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, NGF and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Aliyu Babangida, has urged northerners to wake up to the stark realities of the situation on the ground and stop taking things for granted.
This came as Dr. Jonathan blamed the problems of the country on the people’s attitude to corruption cases.
The Acting President, obviously referring to the shielding of the former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, by his kinsmen from arrest by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, decried a situation whereby Nigeria hailed the rich among us irrespective of how their wealth was acquired.
He was represented on the occasion by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.
Also, the Senate President, Senator David Mark, said although Nigeria has its problems, it cannot yet be said to be a failed state.
“Nigeria has a lot of deficits, but I do not think we are a failed state and I do not think we should condemn ourselves.
“I think we are doing well and even those countries that are successful, they still have problems and those close to us are not ashamed to come and borrow money from us in spite of everything. Nigeria is a great country,” Mark, who was represented by Senator Jibril Aminu said.
However, Muazu said the area should negotiate with other ethnic groups as the era when the geographical North lorded it over to other ethnic groups and regions in the country was over.
He spoke at the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, at the Arewa Hall, Kaduna, yesterday.
The chairman spoke as the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, who was the lead lecturer on the occasion, warned ethnic groups or sections against thinking that they had the “monopoly on exclusivist and fissiparous tendencies or totally imbued with inclusivity and centrifugal tendencies” in the country.
Akinyemi, whose topic was on “fighting corruption and social conflict to achieve development,” noted that $480 billion had been lost to corruption in the last 39 years in Nigeria.
EFCC Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, noted that, “inevitably, the failure of the country to manage its social conflicts and development issues has meant that it cannot effectively tackle corruption” just as the former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said he encouraged the formation of ACF while in office because of the sharia crises then.
Waziri said: “Nigeria lacks the political will to fight corruption outside the Federal Executive Council (FEC) level,” adding that EFCC has over 300 cases pending in various courts with some of the cases having lasted over five years.
She likened the several sectarian conflicts in the country to corruption.
“The kind of sectarian conflicts and violence within Nigeria today would have been unimaginable in the 60’s and 70’s.
“Does anyone need proof that it is because of the high level of corruption that violence breaks out at the slightest of opportunities?
“People are so highly strung and deprived of the basics of life that they become willing tools in the hands of puppeteers.
“It is not surprising that the army of young people who are used for violence are unemployed”, she added.
But, Gov. Babangida said, “as Nigerians of northern extraction, should we be more concerned with the euphoria, sensationalism and sentiment of having a President from the North or a President that can deliver the goods and services for the improved well-being of Nigerians?
“Shouldn’t we, therefore, begin to articulate our concerns and needs and judge candidates by what they can deliver to us rather than where they may come from?
“We must begin to be rational and negotiate wisely with a view to tackling the development challenges facing us, once and for all- excruciating poverty, decay in the educational system, infrastructural gaps, almajiri (begging) syndrome and youth restiveness among others.
“The era of lording it over others or simply thinking ‘we have it’ has passed.
“We should not continue to take things for granted in the political equation of this country. I believe we should focus attention squarely on how the average Nigerian can experience a decent life like his counterparts in other parts of the world in the 21st century.
“Many of the sensational issues that we preoccupy ourselves with are not necessary and should not take so much of our time, energy and resources, when others are moving on positively”.
According to him, the greatest problem facing the country today was fighting corruption, and urged Nigerian leaders to curtail their greed and insatiable thirst for material acquisition and concentrate on serving the people and delivering to them, the basic necessities of quality life.
Among eminent Nigerians who attended the anniversary celebration include; former vice President, Atiku Abubakar, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, Senator Roland Owie, Senator J. K. N. Waku, Prof. Joe Irukwu, former national President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Col. Issa Kachako (rtd), the National Publicity Secretary of ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani and Senator Jibril Aminu.
Revealed, Why El Rufai Returned to Nigeria
EMMA OKWUAHABA
Highly placed sources in Nigeria’s seat of power say there is an agreement between El-Rufai and Jonathan that facilitated his return to Nigeria yesterday, saying, "El rufai expects to be made a vice-president".
“They promised El-Rufai that the case against him would be dropped because Yar’adua pushed his trial as a case of political vendetta. Then El-Rufai is still pushing for a Jonathan Presidency and for himself to be Vice President”, the source said.
Asked what El Rufai did to merit such reward, the source said, “El-Rufai did the most to ensure that Jonathan took over. He provided the intelligence input that gave Jonathan the courage to assume office as Acting President”.
When asked what political capital El Rufai will bring to the table in a Jonathan/El rufai presidential candidacy, the source said “In this El-Rufai's role is to rally the Northern young Turks to Jonathan's side and at least divide the North”.
Highly placed sources in Nigeria’s seat of power say there is an agreement between El-Rufai and Jonathan that facilitated his return to Nigeria yesterday, saying, "El rufai expects to be made a vice-president".
“They promised El-Rufai that the case against him would be dropped because Yar’adua pushed his trial as a case of political vendetta. Then El-Rufai is still pushing for a Jonathan Presidency and for himself to be Vice President”, the source said.
Asked what El Rufai did to merit such reward, the source said, “El-Rufai did the most to ensure that Jonathan took over. He provided the intelligence input that gave Jonathan the courage to assume office as Acting President”.
When asked what political capital El Rufai will bring to the table in a Jonathan/El rufai presidential candidacy, the source said “In this El-Rufai's role is to rally the Northern young Turks to Jonathan's side and at least divide the North”.
Will Greed Kill Nigeria?
EMMA OKWUAHABA
To a people addicted to the tragic luxury of self-delusion, truth hurts badly. But then, truth always refuses to go away. It lingers around to perpetually taunt and haunt those that loathe and despise its face. Now, the truth we can no longer afford to deny today is that anybody, in fact, any animal can rule Nigeria. I mean that even a baboon can be Nigeria’s president or governor. It is that simple! All it will take, after all, is for the baboon to get a Maurice Iwu to rig him in and then learn the simple art of stuffing dirty bags with dirty naira notes and delivering them at the appropriate quarters and at the appropriate time, and Nigeria is his to pillage and desecrate as he likes any day!
And if he is lucky enough to be blessed with the kind of morally challenged characters presently encumbering our political space, and the tragically light-minded National Assembly headed today by David Mark and his cousin, Dimeji Bankole, he can as well wrap the entire country up, confidently put it away in one of the folds of his wife’s wrapper and retire to an oxygen bed for a long, refreshing sleep. And the heavens will not fall!
Instead, supposedly sane and rational human beings would unleash their revolting selves on the citizenry, with convoluted, toxic arguments about how Nigeria would immediately cease to exist if the baboon suddenly picked offense and retrieved Nigeria from where it was rotting away and gave it back to the Nigerian people. It is not a new malaise, mind you. Mr. Alao Aka-Bashrun, the esteemed former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) stated it more elegantly many years ago when he said that even if some armed robbers got together and seized power in Nigeria that he knew some of his colleagues who would immediately rush in with their CVs to seek to “serve” in the regime of those bandits. A country whose political elite is driven mainly by self-serving considerations rather than ennobling altruism is a country that that will go nowhere. And that is why Nigeria is yet to demonstrate any signs that it is going anywhere.
There is something called self-esteem, and it is very sad that it remains grossly in short supply in Nigeria, especially in the pool from which Nigeria is, most unfortunately, drawing its irredeemably greedy rulers. Time was when all a leader wanted was to leave a glorious name and sterling legacy behind. But the set we have been stuck with for sometime now does not appear to care about such things. Call them thieves to their faces, and they would not even blush. All that excite them are the fat accounts and choice properties they have criminally accumulated across the world. And when they advance any opinion, one searches in vain for the slightest hint of conviction and principles. Sadly, such terms, it would seem, are totally alien to their entire worldview. They appear driven by only the expected immediate gain to be carted away, and clearly lack the capacity to even appreciate that Nigeria needs to remain there till tomorrow for them to even find something more to steal.
How a society became so unlucky as to leave its destiny in the hands of mostly dregs and scum in its midst is one dilemma that might engage the most learned sociologists and experts on behavioural studies for ages? When then would Nigeria’s reclamation commence? Can the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, be relied upon to represent the beginning of the much awaited recovery?
Nigeria always fills any sane and decent person with unqualified sadness and even despair. At no time in our history has a country been so badly diminished by raw greed.
As I watched in utter disgust the series of poorly scripted and unsightly drama periodically unleashed on the polity by a bunch of ultra selfish and unpatriotic entities led by Mrs. Turai Yar’Adua to discourage any attempt by Nigeria to get on its feet again after being horribly crippled by her husband’s lamentable lack of vision and gross inertia even long before his evacuation for medical resuscitation; as they undertook several desperate moves to destabilize the country by instigating ethnic and religious tensions just to maintain their stranglehold on the country’s resources, it was just unbelievable that men and women empowered by law and paid from the public purse to put a halt to the whole nauseating nuisance were sitting passively and watching helplessly, as the hideous activities of an irresponsible few threatened the peace and stability of the country and further diminished it before the rest of the world. In which civilized country can such bunch of low creatures dare to stretch impunity beyond its malleable limit like that and get away with it? These are some of the factors that deepen the enduring feelings of hopelessness and despair in Nigeria!
Now, were there no persons and institutions empowered by law in Nigeria to investigate the sources of the alleged limitless resources with which the crude, dangerous desperation flaunted by those fellows was being generously funded? There were suspicions that the slush fund flowing around like polluted rivers had ensured the silence and passivity of those who ought to do something. And so the nauseating dramas kept being enacted to the shame and embarrassment of all of us. There were also several ungodly alliances that we were told must be maintained at the expense of the country and its long-suffering masses. What a tragedy! For goodness sake, how long shall we continue to hide under the debasing excuse that this is a badly run country where anything is permissible, and where decency and development would continue to remain elusive to a long suffering people? When shall we lay claim to a better testimonial? How long shall a country greatly endowed like Nigeria remain grossly diminished before those it ought to be better than?
No doubt, the consequences have been enormous. Because of the kind fellows we allow to take charge of our affairs in this country, there is decay everywhere, because they lack the capacity to appreciate the need to build enduring features for posterity. The only language they understand is grab-and-plunder, which has caused the country to bleed profusely and die gradually. Consequently, Nigerians are fleeing their country in droves daily as if it is involved in a very devastating war. In all manner of countries they are being subjected to all manner of unimaginable humiliations and debasing deportations.
Did you hear that Nigerians are also now being deported from Sudan, of all places? How low can a country sink before it decides to seek self-rediscovery? Which day will the timid majority resolve to confront the tiny gaggle of defeatable thieving minority and rescue the country from their cursed hands? When shall we all stand up and bellow a big ‘No More!’ to their hellish determination to never even minimize their mindless plunder of the country’s resources?
Public officers and rich Nigerians now send their children to schools in Benin Republic, imagine that? Our rulers have deemed it fit to watch the schools here to rot away, while they carted away the funds that could have turned the institutions in Nigeria into international centres of excellence.
I felt deflated the other day while attending a forum at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, when I found out that Americans, Britishers, Chinese and people from diverse nations of the world were proudly studying there. In 1993, I met an America Professor of Economics who proudly announced to me that while he studied for his Masters Degree at the University College, Ibadan, (UCI) in 1958, he stayed at Kuti Hall. I wonder if he can advise any American child today to get near that same Kuti Hall he spoke so glowingly about, or encourage the child of his worst enemy to attend a Nigerian University.
While a friend and I took a walk around midnight on a Saturday at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, we felt so safe, despite the several trees in the well landscaped and beautified compound that lent the school its serenity, but which could also provide cover for cultists to strike. As we stood on a walkway, about eight American youths hopped across, chattering, laughing and feeling so much at home and happy with themselves.
Children of countless Nigerian government officials are enrolled in this school, generating huge funds for Ghana with which it offers divers scholarships to its own citizens. These prodigal rulers would prefer paying all the money to Ghana than improving and making our own schools qualitative and safe so that youths from several parts of the world can also come to Nigeria (as used to be the case) to study.
Nigeria has enough resources to buy up the entire Ghana. No doubt, Ghanaians do not have the drive and innovativeness of Nigerians. Under sincere and honest leaders whose eyes and hearts are not focused only on the treasury, nothing can stop Nigeria from becoming one of the greatest countries in the world? It offends me each time anyone attempts comparing Nigeria with Europe or America. From Swaziland, Botswana to Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia to Uganda, Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast to the Gambia, Nigeria is, perhaps, the only country in the whole of Africa that is yet to achieve stability in its energy supply. What a pity.
Maybe, there is a silver lining on the horizon, although doubts still abound. Dr. Jonathan, instead of making himself the head of Petroleum Ministry (Nigeria’s cash cow) has elected to be the Minister of Power. Let’s hope that this is really a sincere effort which will mark the end of debilitating, pitch darkness in Nigeria which has killed industries and left the country prostrate.
But sometimes, one wonders whether Nigerian masses are even worth fighting for? The same people who are exploited and oppressed daily by heartless and godless public officers are the same people who would eagerly agree to be rented as brainless crowds to demonstrate and whip up support for sinking corrupt and/or incompetent officers. When will Nigerian masses see their oppressors for who they are and learn to distance themselves from them, no matter the peanuts they offer each time any of them is being made to account for his or her role while in office? Those who agree to be rented are using their own hands to perpetuate their own slavery. When shall we learn?
To a people addicted to the tragic luxury of self-delusion, truth hurts badly. But then, truth always refuses to go away. It lingers around to perpetually taunt and haunt those that loathe and despise its face. Now, the truth we can no longer afford to deny today is that anybody, in fact, any animal can rule Nigeria. I mean that even a baboon can be Nigeria’s president or governor. It is that simple! All it will take, after all, is for the baboon to get a Maurice Iwu to rig him in and then learn the simple art of stuffing dirty bags with dirty naira notes and delivering them at the appropriate quarters and at the appropriate time, and Nigeria is his to pillage and desecrate as he likes any day!
And if he is lucky enough to be blessed with the kind of morally challenged characters presently encumbering our political space, and the tragically light-minded National Assembly headed today by David Mark and his cousin, Dimeji Bankole, he can as well wrap the entire country up, confidently put it away in one of the folds of his wife’s wrapper and retire to an oxygen bed for a long, refreshing sleep. And the heavens will not fall!
Instead, supposedly sane and rational human beings would unleash their revolting selves on the citizenry, with convoluted, toxic arguments about how Nigeria would immediately cease to exist if the baboon suddenly picked offense and retrieved Nigeria from where it was rotting away and gave it back to the Nigerian people. It is not a new malaise, mind you. Mr. Alao Aka-Bashrun, the esteemed former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) stated it more elegantly many years ago when he said that even if some armed robbers got together and seized power in Nigeria that he knew some of his colleagues who would immediately rush in with their CVs to seek to “serve” in the regime of those bandits. A country whose political elite is driven mainly by self-serving considerations rather than ennobling altruism is a country that that will go nowhere. And that is why Nigeria is yet to demonstrate any signs that it is going anywhere.
There is something called self-esteem, and it is very sad that it remains grossly in short supply in Nigeria, especially in the pool from which Nigeria is, most unfortunately, drawing its irredeemably greedy rulers. Time was when all a leader wanted was to leave a glorious name and sterling legacy behind. But the set we have been stuck with for sometime now does not appear to care about such things. Call them thieves to their faces, and they would not even blush. All that excite them are the fat accounts and choice properties they have criminally accumulated across the world. And when they advance any opinion, one searches in vain for the slightest hint of conviction and principles. Sadly, such terms, it would seem, are totally alien to their entire worldview. They appear driven by only the expected immediate gain to be carted away, and clearly lack the capacity to even appreciate that Nigeria needs to remain there till tomorrow for them to even find something more to steal.
How a society became so unlucky as to leave its destiny in the hands of mostly dregs and scum in its midst is one dilemma that might engage the most learned sociologists and experts on behavioural studies for ages? When then would Nigeria’s reclamation commence? Can the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, be relied upon to represent the beginning of the much awaited recovery?
Nigeria always fills any sane and decent person with unqualified sadness and even despair. At no time in our history has a country been so badly diminished by raw greed.
As I watched in utter disgust the series of poorly scripted and unsightly drama periodically unleashed on the polity by a bunch of ultra selfish and unpatriotic entities led by Mrs. Turai Yar’Adua to discourage any attempt by Nigeria to get on its feet again after being horribly crippled by her husband’s lamentable lack of vision and gross inertia even long before his evacuation for medical resuscitation; as they undertook several desperate moves to destabilize the country by instigating ethnic and religious tensions just to maintain their stranglehold on the country’s resources, it was just unbelievable that men and women empowered by law and paid from the public purse to put a halt to the whole nauseating nuisance were sitting passively and watching helplessly, as the hideous activities of an irresponsible few threatened the peace and stability of the country and further diminished it before the rest of the world. In which civilized country can such bunch of low creatures dare to stretch impunity beyond its malleable limit like that and get away with it? These are some of the factors that deepen the enduring feelings of hopelessness and despair in Nigeria!
Now, were there no persons and institutions empowered by law in Nigeria to investigate the sources of the alleged limitless resources with which the crude, dangerous desperation flaunted by those fellows was being generously funded? There were suspicions that the slush fund flowing around like polluted rivers had ensured the silence and passivity of those who ought to do something. And so the nauseating dramas kept being enacted to the shame and embarrassment of all of us. There were also several ungodly alliances that we were told must be maintained at the expense of the country and its long-suffering masses. What a tragedy! For goodness sake, how long shall we continue to hide under the debasing excuse that this is a badly run country where anything is permissible, and where decency and development would continue to remain elusive to a long suffering people? When shall we lay claim to a better testimonial? How long shall a country greatly endowed like Nigeria remain grossly diminished before those it ought to be better than?
No doubt, the consequences have been enormous. Because of the kind fellows we allow to take charge of our affairs in this country, there is decay everywhere, because they lack the capacity to appreciate the need to build enduring features for posterity. The only language they understand is grab-and-plunder, which has caused the country to bleed profusely and die gradually. Consequently, Nigerians are fleeing their country in droves daily as if it is involved in a very devastating war. In all manner of countries they are being subjected to all manner of unimaginable humiliations and debasing deportations.
Did you hear that Nigerians are also now being deported from Sudan, of all places? How low can a country sink before it decides to seek self-rediscovery? Which day will the timid majority resolve to confront the tiny gaggle of defeatable thieving minority and rescue the country from their cursed hands? When shall we all stand up and bellow a big ‘No More!’ to their hellish determination to never even minimize their mindless plunder of the country’s resources?
Public officers and rich Nigerians now send their children to schools in Benin Republic, imagine that? Our rulers have deemed it fit to watch the schools here to rot away, while they carted away the funds that could have turned the institutions in Nigeria into international centres of excellence.
I felt deflated the other day while attending a forum at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, when I found out that Americans, Britishers, Chinese and people from diverse nations of the world were proudly studying there. In 1993, I met an America Professor of Economics who proudly announced to me that while he studied for his Masters Degree at the University College, Ibadan, (UCI) in 1958, he stayed at Kuti Hall. I wonder if he can advise any American child today to get near that same Kuti Hall he spoke so glowingly about, or encourage the child of his worst enemy to attend a Nigerian University.
While a friend and I took a walk around midnight on a Saturday at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, we felt so safe, despite the several trees in the well landscaped and beautified compound that lent the school its serenity, but which could also provide cover for cultists to strike. As we stood on a walkway, about eight American youths hopped across, chattering, laughing and feeling so much at home and happy with themselves.
Children of countless Nigerian government officials are enrolled in this school, generating huge funds for Ghana with which it offers divers scholarships to its own citizens. These prodigal rulers would prefer paying all the money to Ghana than improving and making our own schools qualitative and safe so that youths from several parts of the world can also come to Nigeria (as used to be the case) to study.
Nigeria has enough resources to buy up the entire Ghana. No doubt, Ghanaians do not have the drive and innovativeness of Nigerians. Under sincere and honest leaders whose eyes and hearts are not focused only on the treasury, nothing can stop Nigeria from becoming one of the greatest countries in the world? It offends me each time anyone attempts comparing Nigeria with Europe or America. From Swaziland, Botswana to Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia to Uganda, Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast to the Gambia, Nigeria is, perhaps, the only country in the whole of Africa that is yet to achieve stability in its energy supply. What a pity.
Maybe, there is a silver lining on the horizon, although doubts still abound. Dr. Jonathan, instead of making himself the head of Petroleum Ministry (Nigeria’s cash cow) has elected to be the Minister of Power. Let’s hope that this is really a sincere effort which will mark the end of debilitating, pitch darkness in Nigeria which has killed industries and left the country prostrate.
But sometimes, one wonders whether Nigerian masses are even worth fighting for? The same people who are exploited and oppressed daily by heartless and godless public officers are the same people who would eagerly agree to be rented as brainless crowds to demonstrate and whip up support for sinking corrupt and/or incompetent officers. When will Nigerian masses see their oppressors for who they are and learn to distance themselves from them, no matter the peanuts they offer each time any of them is being made to account for his or her role while in office? Those who agree to be rented are using their own hands to perpetuate their own slavery. When shall we learn?
Who is the US equivalent of INEC chief? UK's?
Rotimi Ogunsuyi
Should it matter who referees a football game? Any time a referee becomes visible in a game, maybe even more than the player, something is wrong. I hope the next INEC chief will be invisible (not the same as inconsequential). Now I am hearing how there is so much jockeying to become the next INEC chairman. We are headed towards another precipe.
Do I also hear some tribal undertone, in a position that should not be visible? Should we be looking for a Yoruba, Ibo, Igalla, Edo INEC chief or a GOOD INEC referee? Please refer to my writeup about the destructive effects of having so many tribal elements lumped into a "Nigeria".
Have a good Sunday, all.
Should it matter who referees a football game? Any time a referee becomes visible in a game, maybe even more than the player, something is wrong. I hope the next INEC chief will be invisible (not the same as inconsequential). Now I am hearing how there is so much jockeying to become the next INEC chairman. We are headed towards another precipe.
Do I also hear some tribal undertone, in a position that should not be visible? Should we be looking for a Yoruba, Ibo, Igalla, Edo INEC chief or a GOOD INEC referee? Please refer to my writeup about the destructive effects of having so many tribal elements lumped into a "Nigeria".
Have a good Sunday, all.
Has Umeadi Just Found his Voice?
Daniel Elombah
Now that Maurice Iwu is gone, Has Umeadi Just Found his Voice?
Acting National Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. Philip Umeadi, said last night that the out-going National Chairman of the commission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, did not hand-over to him as directed by acting President Goodluck Jonathan, because Iwu was not comfortable with him as his acting successor.
Umeadi told THISDAY that he did not have a friendly relationship with Iwu while the later was still chairman because he (Umeadi) detested his methods.
“Iwu is not my friend. I did not let the public know this and I kept quiet because of the system we run,” he explained.
Reacting to speculations that there were plans that the out-going chairman may transfer power to National Commissioner for Operations, Mr. Solomon Soyebi, instead of him, he said: “How can Soyebi be made acting chairman? He was appointed national officer in August 2007 after his assignment as Resident Electoral Commissioner for Abia and Lagos States. I came in September 2006. The records are there for everyone to see. In any case, my assumption of office is a presidential directive,” he said.
Now that Maurice Iwu is gone, Has Umeadi Just Found his Voice?
Acting National Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. Philip Umeadi, said last night that the out-going National Chairman of the commission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, did not hand-over to him as directed by acting President Goodluck Jonathan, because Iwu was not comfortable with him as his acting successor.
Umeadi told THISDAY that he did not have a friendly relationship with Iwu while the later was still chairman because he (Umeadi) detested his methods.
“Iwu is not my friend. I did not let the public know this and I kept quiet because of the system we run,” he explained.
Reacting to speculations that there were plans that the out-going chairman may transfer power to National Commissioner for Operations, Mr. Solomon Soyebi, instead of him, he said: “How can Soyebi be made acting chairman? He was appointed national officer in August 2007 after his assignment as Resident Electoral Commissioner for Abia and Lagos States. I came in September 2006. The records are there for everyone to see. In any case, my assumption of office is a presidential directive,” he said.
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