Britain and Money Laundering

By its new law making it mandatory for British banks to report to the police any lodgement by public officers in excess of 10,000 pounds, the British government may be demonstrating a new willingness to help in the effort to stamp out looting of public funds so common in developing countries.
The new law points to departure from the past attitude of rich industrialised countries towards the growing incidence of money looting and its devastating effect on developing countries. Until the tragic events of September 11, 2001 when terrorists massively attacked the United States, the problem of money laundering didn't quite figure in the policy agenda of most developed countries. Apparently because this was particularly injurious to the economies of developing countries, most industrialised nations did not pay enough attention to the problem. As a result, money looting and laundering which are manifestations of political corruption in many African counties, thrived on a large scale. In a few instances, serving African heads of state were known to have lasted their nations' treasury and stashed the proceeds in foreign bank accounts domiciled in Europe and America. That way, some of them turned out to be richer than their countrys in terms of cash reserves. It was such an absurd situation. Yet few western countries were prepared to listen to cries by African people for the repatriation of such wealth and the disclosure of their owners. But that was until quite recently.
We agree with those who say that September 11, has proved decisively the inter-connectedness of nations and the need for greater levels of co-operation in solving common problems affecting them. One of such problems is that of money laundering which has become an effective conduit for illicit wealth makers. In Africa alone, billions of dollars are annually siphoned from national coffers into dormant foreign-based bank account. Nigeria's recent experience is a case in point. Several of our state governors are being fingered for running foreign bank accounts through which they launder tax payers' money. The Alamieyeseigha saga is a classic example. Also during the Abacha regime, billions of dollars were stashed in European banks by senior government officials. Efforts to have all that loot returned to the nation have not been a complete success because of the reluctant attitude of some of the countries in which the loot are domiciled.
Against this background, the new British law ought to gladden the hearts of all those genuinely interested in curbing the incidence of money looting and laundering. The law is expected to make life more difficult for those involved in the refarious trade if it is well enforced by the British authorities.
By the new law, the British government may have acknowledged that the activities of money launderers can do collateral damage to both the developing and developed nations.
The truth is that there would be no looters if there is no haven to store such loot. Treasury looters have thrived largely because they had a safe destination for their loot. It is an argument that African civil society groups had long put up to no avail. Unless the developed nations co-operated with their developing counterparts on this matter, the illicit business will continue to boom, to the further impoverishment of the latter.
The British government has, by its new law, shown what is possible. It deserves commendation. Yet the greater challenge lies in the eager enforcement of this law and the willingness on its part to repatriate what is looted.
The Tony Blair administration has shown an admirable sensitivity to the economic problems of the developing world. This new law is a further demonstration of that. We urge him to however, go beyond that by equally making a definite commitment toward the repatriation of all funds looted from developing countries.
We believe that most European and American countries have all the information they need on who and who are running what account. They should take a cue from Britain by no only enacting new laws against money laundering and looting, but also demonstrated a willingness to repatriate such funds. This, will go a long way in making poverty history or at least curbing it extensively.
The world certainly does not need another September 11, to rise to the challenge of putting money looters and launderers out of business. But doing so will need the co-operation of the rich nations where most of the looted funds are deposited.

Lopsided federal appointments?

There has been a deluge of public outcry, especially from the South, against perceived lopsidedness in the appointment of candidates from the Northern part of the country into political offices at the expense of the other parts of the nation by President Umaru Yar’Adua.

A prominent Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, for instance, has accused the President of breaching the logic, letter and philosophy of the Federal Character principle as entrenched in the 1999 Constitution. The fear is that, under the ongoing rotational presidency, this development may set a dangerous precedent in which each region will henceforth see governance as a means of extending patronage to its own section of the country at the expense of the progress of the nation.

The North, it is claimed, is effectively in charge of the three arms of government. The President of the Federation, the President of the Senate and the Chief Justice of the Federation – come from the same region – the North. Key ministerial appointments such as Finance, Justice, National Planning, Federal Capital Territory, Agriculture and Water Resources and Defence are also in the hands of northerners.

Northerners hold sensitive security positions such as Director-General of the State Security Service, the Chief of Army Staff, Minister of Defence, Chief of Defence Staff and the National Security Adviser.

The petroleum sector is also effectively in the hands of the North. While the President directly supervises the ministry as was obtainable under his predecessor, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources are Northerners.

Some critics are also of the opinion that ‘juicy’ positions in the public service and the parastatals are being held by people from Yar’Ardua’s part of the country. These include the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Comptroller-General of Customs, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority.

Besides, Northerners are fully in charge in the judicial arm of government as they hold the three most senior positions in that sector – Chief Justice of the Federation, the President of the Court of Appeal and Chief Judge of the Federal High Court. The suspicion is lingering as well that the current travails of the Central Bank Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, may not be unconnected with a plan to completely northernise key finance positions.

Moreover, the panels recently constituted by the President – Council on Energy, the Electoral Reform Committee and the Police Reform Panel – have all been headed by Northerners.

The official response to this allegation is that all the appointments were based on merit.

It is unfortunate that different sections of the country are squabbling over federal positions. It is because the centre controls the lion’s share of the nation’s oil-based revenue. Every section of the country wants its own people to be well represented in the sharing of the ‘national cake’. The Obasanjo administration had been similarly accused of lopsided appointments. The bitter rivalry for the control of the centre is partly due to the nation’s skewed federal structure.

Nevertheless, President Yar’Adua should take another look at the appointments he has made so far with a view to being fair to all sections of the country. Section 14 (3) of the Constitution states that, “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”

The notion of federal character was coined to foster the corporate existence of the nation, ensure unity and give every Nigerian a sense of belonging within a pluralistic and diverse nation. This is even more so after recalling that it was perceived marginalisation of a section of the country that plunged the nation into a civil war in 1967. The Federal Character Commission and the relevant committees of the National Assembly should look at the complaints of those who feel marginalised.

Tackling Niger Delta unrest

To tackle the violence in the Niger Delta, the Federal Government should take the following steps:

Initiate a credible, sustained dialogue on control of resources with Niger Delta civil society groups, including militants, activist leaders, religious leaders, women and youth drawn from nominees submitted by councils of ethnic groups in the Niger Delta states.

Institute while this dialogue is proceeding a derivation formula of between 25 and 50 per cent of mineral resources, including oil and gas, to all Nigerian states, and phase this in over five years in order to avoid budgetary shock to non-oil producing states and to encourage exploration and production of other mineral resources throughout Nigeria.

Amend or repeal the 1978 Land Use Act to expand the opportunity for communities to seek compensation for land through legal means and to allow a more transparent adjudication process of potential land seizures.

Seek in parallel with the dialogue on control of resources an agreement with militants that includes a phased withdrawal of troops from Delta towns, concurrent with a weapons-return amnesty programme that pays militants and gang members market rates for guns and enrols them in skills and job training and that pays attention as well to the needs of girls and women who may not carry guns but have roles within those bodies (such as forced wives or cooks).

Bring the increasing number of quasi-independent local government institutions formally into federal structures as part of an effort to rationalise local governments in Niger Delta states, particularly in areas where these are unworkably large or combine substantively distinct ethnicities or communities.

Ensure that security force personnel are paid on time and in full in order to help prevent dependency on oil company payments and illicit and corrupt practices; increase enforcement of penalties for corruption and consider raising salaries; clarify the chain of command; and change the uniform of the “supernumerary police” that provide security services for the energy companies.

Refashion the government/transnational oil company joint ventures that control production to offer residents a substantial ownership stake along the lines of what corporate majors including Royal/Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Conoco have done in Canada’s Arctic.

To the State Governments:

Engage more fully with professional, nongovernmental organisations that demonstrate a capability and willingness to assist communities to take responsibility for their own development.

Accelerate steps to implement poverty reduction strategies outlined in State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (SEEDS) that have been developed in conjunction with Nigeria’s national umbrella anti-poverty strategy, NEEDS.

Make budget details publicly available and respond to queries about specific spending patterns and projects.

To the Energy Companies:

Improve measures to ensure transparency of contracts and other community payments, including for surveillance, development projects and compensation for land use and pollution, and in particular: (a) honour company commitments and ensure that payments are made in full, by bank transfer – not in cash – to the intended recipients; (b) conclude agreements wherever possible that provide for individuals and local communities to be compensated for land use and pollution; and (c) seek independent mediation or arbitration when agreements are in dispute.

Prioritise long-term ability to operate in Nigeria over short-term production goals and seek community assent before proceeding with production-related projects.

Develop partnerships with non-governmental, community-based bodies with a demonstrated ability to provide skills training and capacity building for development projects, including women’s and religious groups that have played significant roles in mediating among various ethnic groups and actors in the past decade.

Nigerian Banks Among the World Best

Quite often the road to good fortune could be rough initially. When the Central Bank governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, announced the banking consolidation programme on July 6, 2004, to bank chief executives in his office in Abuja, many of them were taken aback. Banks that were finding it difficult to raise the then stipulated N2 billion shareholders’ funds saw the directive to raise N25 billion as minimum amount for doing business in the country as the death knell for the industry. The CBN governor was roundly criticized by many industry commentators. The National Assembly even made moves to reverse the policy but the strong support which Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the then president, threw behind the policy made it to stay.
Professor Soludo did not stop there. Shortly after the banking consolidation exercise he further announced that any bank that could shore its shareholders’ funds to $1 billion would be allowed to manage some portion of the Nigerian foreign reserves. This was again seen as a very tall order. The reason for this was straightforward.
Getting the prescribed N25 billion shareholders’ funds by the banks was never a tea party. From over 90 banks that were in operation before the new shareholders’ funds prescription, only 25 banks emerged. Even so, it was not easy for some of the 25 that made it. Against this backdrop therefore, a call for $1 billion shareholders’ funds was like some fairy tales to the 25 banks that survived the exercise.
However, some of the banks with foresight took up the challenge and what looked like some nightmare for the industry turned out to be a bag of good fortune. The same banks that literally crawled to the N25 billion mark soon started the chase for the $1 billion target and virtually all those that attempted it met with good success. This was seen as the kick-off of the second phase of self-induced consolidation in the Nigerian banking industry. Operators imposed on themselves minimum shareholders’ funds of $1 billion, about N120 billion.
Not only has this given Soludo a good sense of satisfaction that his dream to build very strong financial institutions in the country has now been acknowledged, even outside the shores of Nigeria the banking industry is now beginning to be recognised as well.
For the first time in the history of the industry, some Nigerian banks were adjudged by the Banker Magazine, a subsidiary of Financial Times of London, to be among the best 1000 globally last year in terms of capitalisation. This year, six Nigerian banks also made the list. They include Oceanic Bank, Intercontinental Bank and Access Bank. The others are Guaranty Trust Bank, the United Bank for Africa and Zenith Bank. The six also made it to the top ten leading African Banks’ chart in that order and it goes to show the mileage the industry has covered within this short span of banks consolidation.
The Banker Magazine even acknowledged this in the report. “Buoyed by the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Chukwuma Soludo’s 2005 N25 billion minimum capital requirement legislation, Nigerian banks have grown from strength to strength,” the magazine noted.
This is quite commendable and it goes to show that whenever the country is determined to do a thing, with commitment and zeal on the part of those executing the policy, a lot could be achieved. We therefore salute the astuteness of the managers of these banks as well as the regulators and call on others to work hard to make the list next year. Those that made the list must not rest on their oars because getting to the top is one thing and remaining there is another.
Even so, we believe the real trophy for the industry would actually come when the banks are able to serve as the engine of growth in the economy. Nigerians or precisely the industrial sector can hardly make any meaning from these awards when they cannot access funds for investment within the country. Getting loans for manufacturing activities is still such a tough hurdle for most manufacturers across the country. It is either the banks are demanding some incredible assets as collateral which the investors may not be able to meet or would simply load the lending rate with some hidden charges to discourage the investors.
Since the banks have not been forthcoming in assisting operators in the manufacturing sector, a lot of people going into business these days have found commerce more attractive since banks are much more willing to lend to this sector. But simple economic theory dictates that growth of an economy is largely dependent on the growth of the real sector and with this sector lagging so much behind in terms of growth, the nation’s economic growth will continue to suffer.
We acknowledge the fact that lending to the real sector carries substantial risk element considering the volatile policy environment where policy somersaults are common place. It is equally a fact, however, that the higher the risk the higher the returns. It seems the unwillingness of Nigerian banks to take risk was what was responsible for the general low returns on capital as reported by the Banker Magazine. According to the magazine, “this year’s figures show that despite such enormous growth, return on capital for the sector has actually fallen from 21.9 per cent last year to 18.6 per cent while in South Africa, return on capital leaped from 38 per cent to 42 per cent.”
We would want the banking sector to address this aspect of their business operations even as they continue to win laurels both home and abroad because it is only when the real sector is grown that their trophies would make meaning to the generality of Nigerians.

A fate made in Niger Delta

A trumpeter must attend to the boil on his lips with uttermost circumspection - Nigerian proverb

TOO many reckless advisers have found spaces in the thinking that tends to form this government’s policy thrust on the Niger Delta. If they do not advise military action, they abuse the inhabitants of the region for its wanton policy thrust.
It is easy to forget that Nigeria ’s fate is tied to the Niger Delta. There have been hints that the hostilities in the region will adversely affect funding of the 2008 budget (still under going amendments). This position is being economical with the truth. Without a peaceful and quick resolution of the Niger Delta, very little progress will be made in almost all spheres of our national life.

Oil is central to the economy. It drives and gives all the States and Local Government Councils their only steady source of revenue. The Federal Government cannot meet its obligations without the oil wells running at steady steam.

The seemingly most important programme of this administration – the power emergency – is ruined without peace in the Niger Delta. Most of the proposed projects, and the ones under construction, will depend on gas from the region. How will they succeed? Can Nigeria get out of its electricity problems without the gas from the Niger Delta?

Unfortunately, the kind of attention the Niger Delta gets results in a full-blown war of attrition for Nigeria . Those suggesting military action are under the illusion that it would bring fast resolution to the militancy of the youths and ensure steady flow of the oil wells.

There are no guarantees. While the military action lasts, would oil exploration continue? Can Nigeria survive further shut down of its oil wells? Would the military action stamp out restiveness if the current issues remain unattended?

Nigeria has to explore all the opportunities for peaceful resolution of the issues. We condemn the criminality that has crept into the legitimate agitations for meaningful lives for the region that keeps the economy humming. Governments also have to accept responsibility for refusing to listen to these agitations before they grew to these indiscernible proportions.

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and his team inherited the problem, but like those before them, they are still immersed in the comfort of playing government instead of getting to grips with an enormous headache.

The feeble steps the administration has taken so far show it had poor plans to solve this problem. Like in the past, concerns over the Niger Delta only grow when unstable crude oil supplies result in low revenues for Nigeria . Those concerns hardly go beyond measures to restore certainty in national earnings from oil.

However, a trumpeter cannot live forever with a boil on his lips. How he bursts it without mortally hurting himself is the type of challenge that lies before this government.

Ready To Die Than Live

ON a day the news broke that 14 Nigerians executing the hazardous sea crossing into Spain died, while another 23 were rescued, not a word about the incident was mentioned at the National Assembly.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs already has a reputation for ignoring these incidents.

The closest the National Assembly came to discussing any foreign affairs that day, was the anger at the House of Representatives, where members worried about the non-recognition of their importance as ambassadors. The issue was issuance of diplomatic passports to all members of the National Assembly.

They are working furiously on a law to ease their passage when they go abroad.
Correct figures of Nigerians who perish in this ultimate desperate escape from the uncertainties at home are unavailable.

Spanish rescue agencies record thousands of these deaths annually. Nigerians are suspected to form the bulk of the illegal immigrants who adopt this precarious approach.

Nigerians head abroad under unimaginable circumstances. They have been neglected beyond comprehension, without hope, and no inkling of tomorrow.

Many die. Those who survive spawn further reckless ambitions for millions who believe they have no future in this country. They have many sound reasons in this regard. The most striking of these is that governments, at all levels, do their barest minimum about the welfare of Nigerians.


It seems they have never read Section 14 (2b) of the Constitution, which states, “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. There are no government programmes to achieve this laudable constitutional provision. Nigerians are left groping about everything.

The Spanish coast guards rescued 20 men and three women. One of the women was pregnant. Some accounts said among the dead 14 were children who were thrown over board when they perished in the rigours of the travel in open small boats.

At 120 kilometres from the coastal town of Motril , high waves battering their boat imperilled them. Without rescue, they would have died too. Why would they take that type of risk? The answer lies in the existence Nigeria offers. They consider life in Nigeria tougher than facing the open sea, after tortuous journeys that include long treks through the Sahara Desert , which claims a good number of lives, encounters with brigands and armed rebel groups.

Ironically, those who survive, when deported, as Spanish laws dictate, try to make their way back. They have totally lost hope in Nigeria ’s ability to provide for them. The alternative, they claim, is death.

Does it make much difference if one dies at home or in open sea? To those concerned it is all the same. We could romanticise the situation, but the truth is that our governments should be alive to their responsibilities to Nigerians.

They are not. Those in authority cater only for themselves. This explains the tempers that rose in the House of Representatives, over passports, while majority of Nigerians do not know where to get their next meal.

Nigeria: Saving For The Future

ONLY 56 of Nigeria’s 109 Senators were on their seats when a bill that proposed a fund to make savings for the future had its second reading last Tuesday. The other 53, almost half the number, were absent. Just 34 Senators supported the bill, 18 opposed it and three abstained

These revelations are important.

An otherwise urgent matter of saving for future generations turned into an acrimonious issue, with Senators drawing tenuously from the Constitution to strengthen their opposition to the bill.
Senate President David Mark ruled out the bill.

The tenacity of its prime mover Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw saved the day. He was dissatisfied with Mark’s ruling; relying on Order 73 of the Senate Standing Rules to call for a division. He won.

Ewa-Henshaw’s bill wants a certain amount from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for an investment fund that cannot be spent in the next 25 years. The life of the fund would be renewed at expiration.

Those opposed to the bill point to the Constitution. Section 162 (3) states, “Any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Governments and the local government councils in each State on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly”.

The Senators argued that this provision ruled out the retention of any money in the Federation Account, and most unlikely, one that would be saved for 25 years. And they are right. Nigeria is a multi-party federation where different parties canvassed for votes on different manifestoes. Once the Revenue and Fiscal Mobilisation Commission shares revenue from the federation account according to the law passed by the National Assembly, the National Assembly makes Appropriation Law only for the Federal Government - not the states, not the local government.

It is true that Section 80 (3) awards the National Assembly tremendous powers over public funds. Section 80 (3) states, “No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless the issue of the moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly”.

But that money is the share of the federal government according to the revenue allocation formula - which in itself is a creation of the law of the National Assembly. This means that the National Assembly can make laws on the appropriation of the federal fund. Hensahw’s bill can only set aside part of federal fund for investment. Section 80 (4), “No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly,” clears any further doubts about the powers of the National Assembly in this regard.

There is no ambiguity about ownership of the money, as it affects States and local government councils. Their respective legislatures may so decide what to do with their portion of money from the Federation Account. They may follow the federal path to start saving for the rainy day too.
Nigeria’s future is frightening notwithstanding the platitudes about Vision 2020.

By the most conservative estimates, crude oil sales fetched Nigeria $600 billion in the past 40 years and about $232 billion in the last eight years alone. Where is the money? If a fraction of it was meaningfully invested 40 years ago, Nigeria would easily raise the $50 billion required to finance the NDDC master plThe future is important enough for the National Assembly to have committees studying and providing for it.

Blind Flights Again

IS it possible that the Federal Government did not hear about the power outage at the Murtala Muhammed Airport , Lagos that knocked off the radars and reduced air traffic control to guesswork? If government heard, it did not consider the matter of significant importance hence its silence.
Right in the midst of the Senate’s probes of the management of the aviation sector in the past eight years and a court trial of some of those involved, planes were landing in Lagos without the most elementary navigational aids last week.

There was no alarm. Nigerian pilots are used to blind flights. There were no crashes too. Is this the attitude of the government that will lead Nigeria to be one of the top 20 economies in the next 12 years? This extent of disinterestedness simply boggles the mind.

Nigeria daily acts as if it has a covenant with primitiveness. Apparently, it is nothing to be ashamed of, as we trumpet our readiness to be a world leader in 2020. It is stultifying.

Less ambitious countries are doing better. How can a country’s prime airport run for hours without electricity, without radars? There are no queries because the authorities know they are guilty of similar unseriousness that endangers the lives of millions of Nigerians on land, sea, air and at home.


This incident would pass like the ones before it without any remedy. Had there been an accident, the government would gleefully set up an enquiry, throw words about on how unacceptable the situation was and absentmindedly promise to punish those responsible for the disgrace.

Nigerians are sick of these pretences. Governments that care for their people do their best to protect them. They would not be carefree over issues like air safety, since they realise the importance of air travel to the economy. They would be embarrassed to witness the deaths of their citizens, whose only offence would be that they travelled by air.

The unimportance of the security of lives has long been stated. Repairs on the runways of the airports in Lagos, Nigeria ’s busiest gateway, have not been finished after four years.

From the air, rested equipment testifies to an abandoned contract. In past five years, the Federal Government refused to fund the repairs and resorted to cosmetic measures to assure the world the runways were working.

At the height of the embarrassment, uncertainty pervaded scheduled flights to Lagos . Three years ago, management guru, Tom Peters, cancelled lectures billed for Lagos and Port Harcourt because nobody was sure if his plane could land.

What was the government’s response? It immediately amassed some diplomats on the tarmac of the Lagos airport to prove the runways were in order. The same runways are still in limbo. Today, one runway serves the local and international airports, resulting in normal delays of over 30 minutes for domestic flights, some of which last less than an hour. Who cares?

Perhaps air safety needs to be among government’s seven-point agenda to get attention.

Niger Bridge Falling

DR. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a permanent secretary in the Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, is the latest voice to warn about the imminent collapse of the 43-year-old Niger Bridge .

His testimony at the Senate Committee public hearing on the transport sector, passed without much attention, though he was the only one who mentioned the fate of the bridge, the link between the South West of Nigeria and most of the South East and the South South.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo made a second Niger Bridge an election issue in 2003. President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua promised to build it in his 2007 campaign, yet there is no budgetary provision for it. The entire budget for federal roads in 2008 is a laughable N79 billion! Last year the estimated cost of a new Niger Bridge was N58 billion.

“I must say this since we are in a public hearing that the Niger Bridge is collapsing. The Federal Government cannot do it, and in fact should not do it. The private sector should now be involved,” Dr. Baba-Ahmed, former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Works, told the senators.

Dr. Baba-Ahmed’s suggestion that the Federal Government should not repair bridge is prejudiced. On what basis did he make this recommendation to the Senate? If he considered the bridge an emergency, why would he opt for measures that would delay its repair or the construction of a new bridge?
When it comes to the Niger Bridge Federal Government vacillates. How many bridges in Nigeria did the untested public private partnership build? Why make the Niger Bridge a guinea pig for a N58 billion project?

The Niger Bridge got to this state from similar guiles. There were talks that a new bridge was too expensive. Was Dr. Baba-Ahmed confirming government will not build the Niger Bridge ?

Regularly, concerned media writes about the state of the bridge. Television stations have done series of features on its loosened bolts, eroded parts and unstable foundations. The government ignore these. President Yar’Adua has not said a word on the Niger Bridge after the campaign. His 2008 budget ignored the bridge – his economic adventures do not include its construction.

This bridge cannot collapse without tragic consequences. Hundreds of thousands of travellers use the bridge, possibly the busiest in Nigeria , day and night. They have no alternatives. There is no feasible ferry service.

In addition, the collapse of the bridge would cut off the South East and most of the South South (Akwa Ibom, Cross River , parts of Rivers and Delta States ) from the rest of Nigeria .

Their access to Nigeria would be through unimaginable detours that are not developed to bear the type of traffic the Niger Bridge accommodates. Economic bases of Onitsha , Aba , and Nnewi would be shut out.
Government should reach a fast and firm decision on the Niger Bridge , a decision that should save lives of its users, not one that would result in an enquiry into the collapse of the bridge.

Divesting From Nigeria

ONE of the few recent news items that should concern government and citizens alike is the increasing rate of divestment from Nigeria by leading multi-nationals in the petroleum and other sectors of the economy.
Dunlop, the last domestic tyre producer, and once one of the nation’s largest industrial conglomerates and employers of labour, intends to close shop. Only its imported products would soon be available, to serve the Nigerian market from more favourable economic climes.

Its major rival Michelin based at Trans-Amadi Layout in Port Harcourt folded up two years ago without notice because the nation was enjoying a crude oil price oil boom which made contributions from non-oil sectors almost dispensable to government. Moreover, governments in these parts have little time for industries and most of the productive sectors.

The causes of the closure remain the same and they will inevitably claim more casualties unless the Federal Government institutes urgent action to avert irreversible de-industrialisation of Nigeria. Dunlop like Michelin closed shop because it was unable to compete with imports the low tariff policy of government encourages and the escalating cost of doing business in Nigeria.

Collapsed infrastructure and increasing cost of generating power which the private sector bears are other factors. Even the promised declaration of emergency cannot cut the cost of energy inputs fast enough neither can road construction be speeded up in a way that would save companies such as Dunlop from profit erosion.

Closures of Dunlop (and Michelin before it) represent the inevitable consequences of policy options long ignored on account of the nation’s over-dependence on crude oil earnings. At the Nigeria Economic Summit Group workshop nine years ago, a presentation demonstrated that return to massive cultivation of rubber would not only save Nigeria billions of Naira in imported raw rubber but would generate foreign exchange revenue equal to that of crude oil by 2020. It would also make the price of locally produced tyre more competitive, save jobs and create other jobs because the benefits are multiplicative.

Almost a decade after, no government acted on that proposal. The closure of the two largest tyre manufacturers was a tragedy long foretold. Now, the nation will reap the consequences of ignoring viable and long term and sustainable projects while we continue to focus on crude oil which is probably approaching its peak before the decline starts.

Dunlop’s departure, whether partially or in full, would result in several hundreds of people being unemployed. Those over 45, with their education and experience, most probably will never be able to secure paid employment again, in a country where the same factors that shut down industries do not encourage entrepreneurship.

The closure of these industries are not acts of God –– as Nigerians are wont to suggest when they reap unpalatable results — it is the handiwork of governments from the 1970s to date.
Sadly, there are no indications that changes from the insipid past is an ambition of even the present government.

Power Sector Reforms Report Says Nothing!

THE 17-member Power Sector Reform Committee the President inaugurated on September 7, 2007 has submitted an important report that contains nothing new.

Under, the heading GENERAL, the Committee made the following observations, “The power sector requires urgent government intervention to save it from collapse. Immediate intervention is needed to optimise the existing infrastructure in generation, transmission and distribution”.

Is it not a waste of time and resources to inaugurate a Committee which makes findings, that only repeat what everybody has known for more than 30 years, and which previous reports have established?

Even when the Committee proceeded to list “the major contributors to the power situation in the country”, it was a catalogue of causes which have been identified more than 20 years ago and which successive governments did little to correct.

The Committee was an unnecessary distraction and, judging from the result, time as well as money wasting. These are resources we lack if we are to move forward rapidly.

With bureaucracy, the report is a long way from being used. It will go before another committee, a white paper follows, and an implementation committee appointed. Would the expected power emergency wait for all these?

Or will it go on without this report? This report is a major setback for the power emergency plans of this government. It was expected to raise substantial issues, in addition to providing insightful measures that could make the power emergency successful.

The collapse, which the Committee would want to avert, has already occurred. Today, Nigeria generates less than 2000 MW instead of the 3,000 at the peak of production. Various sources pick 8.7 million MW as the actual electricity demand in the country.

Nigeria’s power sector is not immune from the principles of “a stitch in time saves nine”. One of the major contributors identified by the Committee was “insufficient generation due to old and obsolete equipment”.

Equipment which is obsolete today will only become more obsolete tomorrow while in the interim it holds back progress. Replacement of old and obsolete equipment is easier done than building entirely new power stations. This would suggest a policy of incremental improvement which can add capacity everyday instead of waiting for giant leaps which take time and may be required at times of lean resources.

More than half of July is gone and the emergency declaration promised for this month is still pending. No date has been fixed for it. Beyond, the act of emergency declaration, there is the more urgent task of implementation of the government’s action plan. For the plan to be effective, there were expectations the President may require legislative backing from the National Assembly. There are no hints about this yet.

Equally unsettled is the funding for the power emergency. The National Assembly has rejected the proposed withdrawal of $5.3 billion from the surpluses from crude oil sales, which the National Economic Council, illegally approved.Where is the President expecting to get his funding?

The President should swing into action and implement existing reports that can result in reasonable restoration of electricity supply in the shortest possible time. This would also demand that he stays on his seat more than he is doing at the moment.

Power Sector Reforms Report Says Nothing!

THE 17-member Power Sector Reform Committee the President inaugurated on September 7, 2007 has submitted an important report that contains nothing new.

Under, the heading GENERAL, the Committee made the following observations, “The power sector requires urgent government intervention to save it from collapse. Immediate intervention is needed to optimise the existing infrastructure in generation, transmission and distribution”.

Is it not a waste of time and resources to inaugurate a Committee which makes findings, that only repeat what everybody has known for more than 30 years, and which previous reports have established?

Even when the Committee proceeded to list “the major contributors to the power situation in the country”, it was a catalogue of causes which have been identified more than 20 years ago and which successive governments did little to correct.

The Committee was an unnecessary distraction and, judging from the result, time as well as money wasting. These are resources we lack if we are to move forward rapidly.

With bureaucracy, the report is a long way from being used. It will go before another committee, a white paper follows, and an implementation committee appointed. Would the expected power emergency wait for all these?

Or will it go on without this report? This report is a major setback for the power emergency plans of this government. It was expected to raise substantial issues, in addition to providing insightful measures that could make the power emergency successful.

The collapse, which the Committee would want to avert, has already occurred. Today, Nigeria generates less than 2000 MW instead of the 3,000 at the peak of production. Various sources pick 8.7 million MW as the actual electricity demand in the country.

Nigeria’s power sector is not immune from the principles of “a stitch in time saves nine”. One of the major contributors identified by the Committee was “insufficient generation due to old and obsolete equipment”.

Equipment which is obsolete today will only become more obsolete tomorrow while in the interim it holds back progress. Replacement of old and obsolete equipment is easier done than building entirely new power stations. This would suggest a policy of incremental improvement which can add capacity everyday instead of waiting for giant leaps which take time and may be required at times of lean resources.

More than half of July is gone and the emergency declaration promised for this month is still pending. No date has been fixed for it. Beyond, the act of emergency declaration, there is the more urgent task of implementation of the government’s action plan. For the plan to be effective, there were expectations the President may require legislative backing from the National Assembly. There are no hints about this yet.

Equally unsettled is the funding for the power emergency. The National Assembly has rejected the proposed withdrawal of $5.3 billion from the surpluses from crude oil sales, which the National Economic Council, illegally approved.Where is the President expecting to get his funding?

The President should swing into action and implement existing reports that can result in reasonable restoration of electricity supply in the shortest possible time. This would also demand that he stays on his seat more than he is doing at the moment.

Power Sector Reforms Report Says Nothing!

THE 17-member Power Sector Reform Committee the President inaugurated on September 7, 2007 has submitted an important report that contains nothing new.

Under, the heading GENERAL, the Committee made the following observations, “The power sector requires urgent government intervention to save it from collapse. Immediate intervention is needed to optimise the existing infrastructure in generation, transmission and distribution”.

Is it not a waste of time and resources to inaugurate a Committee which makes findings, that only repeat what everybody has known for more than 30 years, and which previous reports have established?

Even when the Committee proceeded to list “the major contributors to the power situation in the country”, it was a catalogue of causes which have been identified more than 20 years ago and which successive governments did little to correct.

The Committee was an unnecessary distraction and, judging from the result, time as well as money wasting. These are resources we lack if we are to move forward rapidly.

With bureaucracy, the report is a long way from being used. It will go before another committee, a white paper follows, and an implementation committee appointed. Would the expected power emergency wait for all these?

Or will it go on without this report? This report is a major setback for the power emergency plans of this government. It was expected to raise substantial issues, in addition to providing insightful measures that could make the power emergency successful.

The collapse, which the Committee would want to avert, has already occurred. Today, Nigeria generates less than 2000 MW instead of the 3,000 at the peak of production. Various sources pick 8.7 million MW as the actual electricity demand in the country.

Nigeria’s power sector is not immune from the principles of “a stitch in time saves nine”. One of the major contributors identified by the Committee was “insufficient generation due to old and obsolete equipment”.

Equipment which is obsolete today will only become more obsolete tomorrow while in the interim it holds back progress. Replacement of old and obsolete equipment is easier done than building entirely new power stations. This would suggest a policy of incremental improvement which can add capacity everyday instead of waiting for giant leaps which take time and may be required at times of lean resources.

More than half of July is gone and the emergency declaration promised for this month is still pending. No date has been fixed for it. Beyond, the act of emergency declaration, there is the more urgent task of implementation of the government’s action plan. For the plan to be effective, there were expectations the President may require legislative backing from the National Assembly. There are no hints about this yet.

Equally unsettled is the funding for the power emergency. The National Assembly has rejected the proposed withdrawal of $5.3 billion from the surpluses from crude oil sales, which the National Economic Council, illegally approved.Where is the President expecting to get his funding?

The President should swing into action and implement existing reports that can result in reasonable restoration of electricity supply in the shortest possible time. This would also demand that he stays on his seat more than he is doing at the moment.

Nigeria As Private Estate

ONE of the growing nuisances of our politics is the tendency for people in authority to personalise their offices. The dangers in these moves include the collapse of all activities related to that office if the individual so dictates. The commonest rights are awarded at the pleasure of the superintending officials who make a song of their least efforts - they are doing the people a favour.

All over the country, State Houses of Assembly, with few exceptions, are eager to do the bidding of their Governors. If they act in the interest of the people, there would have been an acceptable reason for their actions. The National Assembly is not different.

Usually, there are compromises that only become public when class fights start. Governors treat the state treasury as their private accounts, so long as legislators get their constituency projects budgets. It is uncertain what these projects are. If there have been constituency projects since 1999 where were they executed across Nigeria ’s 774 local government councils?

Who will conduct public hearings on constituency projects? Who applies over sight functions to the conduct of legislators? Have Committee Chairmen of legislative houses not been known to run the Committees as their private affairs?

Fights ensue over sharing of available resources. The collective greed of those in authority saves the public from complete exclusion from resources.

Reasons for these despoliations of the polity are located in the mood of our politics. Public office holders make massive investments to get power. Some sell their assets, borrow money, accept donations from all types of characters, kill, and set whole communities against each other. In the search for power, all standards are acceptable, so long as they result in success.

The executive arm of government has assumed powers that diminish democratic growth. It decides when to release funds for other arms of government. These days it is the practice to thank Governors and the President when they do basic things like awarding contracts or approving the release of funds.

In most States, the judiciary thanks the Governor for refurbishing its offices or if the Governor buys cars (not the State) for judicial officers. When a road is fixed, signboards are mounted at public expensive to praise the Governors, without whose sagacity, potholes on the road would not have been filled.

These days it is a common sight for delegations to visit government officials to express appreciation for execution of projects. Some buy spaces in the media to register their gratitude. The obscenity continues.

Practices that engender the craving for self-importance make public officers to exceed their powers. These various constitutional abuses are the subject of circuitous public hearings. The underdevelopment of the country is the ultimate witness to the legacies of those who sworn by the Constitution to place the interests of Nigerians above theirs.

All Nigerians who have interests in the survival of the country must work for the restoration of constitutional conducts, for the authorities realise that Nigeria is not their private estate

Today Postponed To 2020

DEADLINES are a waste if appropriate landmarks are not placed to check progress on the journey. Nigeria ’s vaunted ambition to be among the top 20 economies in the world by 2020 is an irredeemable mirage.

The reasons are myriad. Those splurging on Vision 2020 have ignored the fact that Nigeria ignores directions to the future. Sometimes, some pseudo intellectuals delude themselves with these ideas that suspend the present, in total neglect of the fact that the future is predicated on the present, if not the past.

Nigeria has none of the credentials to aspire to the vertex of the global economy in the next 12 years.
The factors that should enhance productivity – infrastructure, sound legal system, security and trained work force are on unrestrained retreat.

Countries with eyes on the future have marked measures that lead them to their target. Policies, plans, programmes and projects all centre on that future. Nothing is left to chance.

Before they proclaim their ambitions, costs of projects linked to the vision, and their sources are known.

All legal encumbrances are tackled. The people are informed about where the dreams of their leaders, those personal dreams are translated to national dreams. The people key into these dreams and the nations have some high expectations, which would task the people across the spectrum. Dedicated searches are made for the best resources to hit the chosen mark.

When the results are out, they are as spectacular as the efforts that made them. They are celebrated. All these take years of planning and actions, purposeful actions, to create niches for the country and its peoples.

Nigeria is in dire need of dreamers, more importantly; people who will get things done. Too many speeches fill the years as they roll by, drawing Nigeria closer to the fringes of the global economy, with vast devastating consequences for our people.

Twelve years on, many would forget that there was Vision 2020, just as some have forgotten Vision 2010, in which the government of General Sani Abacha invested a lot of resources.

When it was muted in 1995, the 15 years from the destination looked like eternity. The Vision 2010 report has been consigned to the shelves. Many of those feeding fat on the crumbs of Vision 2020 have not seen the 2010 report.

Nigeria is behind some of the most catastrophic countries in Africa in terms of the most basic infrastructure. Our governments should be disturbed about Nigeria’s non-competitiveness even among our African neighbours. We find satisfying excuses for every challenge.

There are excuses for our disappearing roads. Electricity is beyond us. Our leaders seek relief for the mildest coughs abroad. We screech about the importance of education, but shut the doors of our schools for months over niggling issues.

Our celebrated democracy is rooted in electoral processes that confound all known meanings of transparency.

Our leaders are rather contented with mouthing their 2020 dream, believing it postpones their responsibility for the neglected present.Today Postponed To 2020

Nelson Mandela at 90

Africa’s greatest living legend, former President of the African National Congress (ANC) and former President of the Republic of South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, will be ninety years old on July 18, 2008. The world has begun to stand still for this great symbol of freedom and liberation struggle who devoted his entire life, with total selflessness and inimitable commitment, to the liberation of his country from apartheid and the rest of the world from oppression, disease and poverty.

Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Transkei, to Chief Gadla Henry Mphokanyiswa and Noskeni Fanny Mandela. A qualified lawyer (1948), Mandela was educated at the Fort Hare College, graduating with a BA in 1942, and the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. From 1944 when he joined the African National Congress, the revolutionary movement which became the majority Party of the country until 1994—when the country gained independence, Mandela committed his life to the cause of freedom for his country. A man who later won the Nobel Prize for Peace, Nelson Mandela was the proponent of the idea of deploying violence as a tool in the anti-apartheid struggle, through Umkhonto we Sizwe which he founded.

For his total and uncompromising involvement in the resistance against the ruling National Party’s apartheid policies, he suffered prolonged and continual periods of imprisonment. He was tried for treason between 1956 and 1961 and was acquitted in 1961. In 1962, he was arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour. He was later brought to trial along with other leaders of the ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe on the charge of attempting to violently overthrow the apartheid regime.

In June 1964, Mandela and eight other ANC leaders accused, were sentenced to life imprisonment. From 1964 to 1982, he was incarcerated in the Roben Island Prison, Cape Town and later moved to Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland before his final release on February 12, 1991. He was elected President of the African National Congress and became the first democratically elected black Pressident of the Republic of South Africa. All through his 27 years ordeal in prison, he never compromised his political stand to attain personal freedom, in spite of numerous attempts by the government to make him do so.

It is less his chequered life as manifest in his intimidating bio-data that accounts for his legendary status among African and world heroic leaders than the exemplary and uniquely symbolic nature of his gift to Africa and to the world as a model statesman, a selfless visionary and politician and a committed, humane leader.

Mandela laid the example of how not to self-perpetuate in power. With his life-long and protracted commitment to the liberation of South Africa, a selfish and paranoid leader would have clutched on to the leadership of his country, justifiably. But Nelson Mandela voluntarily relinquished power and party leadership just when the ovation began to resound. He left political office before the end of his first tenure. It is this selfless de-privatization of power that we had expected other African leaders to emulate and shun the sit-tight syndrome in political office.

The tenure elongation bid of Obasanjo, the endless reigns of Paul Biya, Gadaffi, Mubarak, Compraore and the rule-or-die regime of Robert Mugabe reveal the inability of African leaders to learn from the example of Madiba Mandela. This is manifest in the case of Mugabe who, like Mandela, gave so much to the liberation struggle and freedom of his country, but who, unlike Mandela, and due to what Mandela has just described as ‘a tragic failure of leadership’ would rather destroy his country than quit power.

Another remarkable legacy of Mandela is his institutionalization of the essential attributes of a statesman. His life after his Presidency has been devoted to mobilizing material and political resources to address critical needs of mankind—poverty, the AIDS scourge, freedom struggles, the child aid, and the termination of political oppression wherever it exists in the world. He has accomplished these feats through deploying his mammoth influence towards fund-raising by his numerous Foundations such as The Nelson Mandela Foundation, Nelson Mandela Children Fund and Mandela Rhodes Foundation.

As we celebrate the life and achievements of this immortal hero and legend of our time, it is important that we enunciate those values he has taught Africa and the world, and from which neither his country nor the rest of Africa, in their present political and economic uncertainties, should depart. First is the transcient nature of power.

That with the correct attitude to power as service to the public and held in trust for the people, leaders must not wallow in self- masturbation and power thirst. Mandela left power when it was sweetest. Secondly, that you need not be in political office to contribute to the growth of your society and mankind. With a disposition of unnerving humility and profound perceptiveness, Mandela’s personality became the focus and symbol of historical and international dimensions, which led him into a singular vision of the world that is colour-blind and non-racial. Africa and the globalizing world have so much to learn from this hero of all ages.

We remain standing, with the rest of the world, in celebrating the legendary Madiba—politician, statesman, dancer, boxer, lawyer and world leadership model, at 90.

CBN, wonder banks and the law

AT the behest of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST) earlier this month gave judgment shutting down some 30 companies which were found to have been operating illegally as fund managers. According to SEC, the companies "solicited, advertised and invited members of the public to deposit funds with a promise of paying as much as 500 per cent returns within one operational week". The companies had been in existence for some time and had earned the sobriquet of "wonder banks" with some of their patrons reportedly affirming that the promoters kept their promises. But most depositors quite expectedly were bound to have their fingers burnt sooner or later.

The promised rates of return on funds were sufficiently out of the ordinary to alert any circumspect person to suspect a scam and keep any hard-earned money out of harm's way. Maybe the conspicuous consumption and apparent wealth of successful 419ers as well as the ostentatious affluence acquired overnight by treasury-looting politicians and their cronies whetted the get-rich-quick appetite of the gullible, who in their thousands besieged the companies and with envious eyes wide-open handed over their money for phony fund managers to increase and multiply five-fold within a week.

However, before the spurious banks met their certain collapse and disappeared with trapped deposits, the complaints suit filed by SEC led to the initial freezing of the bank accounts of the companies and suspension of their activities. After nine months, the Investments and Securities Tribunal issued its final pronouncements. Besides permanently closing the companies, the tribunal ordered, one, the Central Bank to determine the status of all investors' funds kept by the affected companies in 17 respondent universal banks; and two, SEC should withdraw and release to all confirmed depositors the said funds found in the possession of the banks.

The tribunal was rather slovenly because its ruling gives rise to several questions. First, it stands to reason that the apex bank must necessarily settle the issue of the status of the lodgments made by the wonder banks in deposit money banks before any refunds can be effected by SEC. Why did the tribunal, in nine long months of deliberation, fail to secure CBN's status report on the frozen funds? Second, why has neither SEC nor IST given the exact amount of money at stake in a matter of utmost public interest? The secrecy shrouding the matter creates room for yet another possible scam. Nigerians have a right to know. Therefore, the overall amount and the various sums which stand to the credit of the axed fund managers in the different banks should be made public without further delay.

Third, given the nature of the operations of the wonder banks, their frozen funds that would pass CBN scrutiny would most probably be less than confirmed investors' untainted deposits with resultant shortfall in the proposed refunds. What would then become of the misled investor?

Many a depositor lost heavily during the first coming of wonder banks in the late 1980s through early 1990s. Thanks to the SEC intervention, the present crop of investors can still look forward to recouping part of and even the total amount deposited. We therefore commend SEC for the proactive step that it has taken. The ruling by the Investments and Securities Tribunal should caution prospective investors that require the services of fund managers to seek out firms duly approved by SEC for that purpose.

Overall, the re-emergence or second coming of wonder banks casts doubts on the sincerity of the Central Bank and universal banks to enforce and abide by relevant laws designed to shut out fraudsters from the financial system for the public good. The closed companies infringed on Section 40 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 1991, but the CBN failed to move against them. Also, despite the fact that universal banks are required to carry out know-your-customer checks and report daily, certain types and volumes of transactions to the Central Bank and other security agencies, the spurious fund managers carried out unchecked quasi-banking operations and enjoyed the full cooperation and support of 17 odd banks.

In the light of the foregoing, the universal banks should be ordered to make good any shortfall in the refunds to confirmed investors together with appropriate interest to serve as a deterrent against active bank connivance with those intent on duping the public.

In addition, there is need to thoroughly investigate, swiftly prosecute and severely punish, one, the promoters of the closed companies; two, the respective universal bank officials who approved and monitored the bank accounts of the wonder banks; and three, the CBN schedule officers who acquiesced or neglected to promptly nip in the bud the illegal activities of the shut companies. It is incumbent on all Nigerian institutions and their employees to faithfully and patriotically uphold the national interest at all times.

The Chaos in Ogun State

All has not been well with the Ogun State government in recent times. The amity that had existed between the executive arm of government and the legislature appears now to be a thing of the past. The trouble had begun since May when the former speaker of the State’s House of Assembly, Mrs Titi Oseni---an ally of the governor-- was impeached. Ever since then, both arms of government have been dealing with each other with mutual suspicion.
Things, however, got to a head recently when the new Speaker of the House, Mr Tunji Egbetokun raised an alarm that the governor’s Chief of Staff, Chief Abayomi Majekodunmi, had come with armed men to his official residence with the aim of killing him. The Chief of Staff, according to the Speaker, had sought a “one-on-one meeting” with the Speaker in the latter’s residence. They were to find armed men in other cars within the precinct of the Speaker’s residence, and that triggered the alarm. On a search, even the Chief of Staff was found to possess arms in his own car boot, which he said he had license to carry.
But Majekodunmi had explained that the so-called armed men were his aides and not assassins as alleged by the Speaker. He, however, did not say whether the said aides were also licensed to carry arms. Were the aides members of the armed forces or were they personally hired security aides? And why does a Chief of Staff need as many armed men to go around town with him?
Earlier, the lawmakers had also raised alarm over alleged threats to their safety because of the trackers they suddenly found to have been installed in their official cars by the state government. As a result, many of them have not only dumped their official cars, but also fled the state allegedly for fear of being harmed.
For his part, Majekodunmi had also announced that Gov. Gbenga Daniel had been poisoned and had been flown abroad for treatment. And that the lawmakers were harassing the governor simply because the latter had refused to provide the N20 million demanded for each of the state’s lawmakers to stay action on the impeachment plot against the governor.
We find these accusations and counter accusations not only shameful but also embarrassing. Apparently, most of the problems in the state arose from the determination of the legislature to assert its independence. In most states, including Ogun, the lawmakers merely operate as marionettes, and have reduced the House of Assembly to a vassal of the executive arm of government. This is clearly antithetical to the principle of separation of powers. When lawmakers literally become appendages of the governor, not only is the business of lawmaking badly diluted, the check-and-balance functions of the legislature is also sacrificed.
While we agree that the lawmakers require a safe and conducive atmosphere to do their work, we also expect them to show greater maturity in handling their differences with the executive. It beggars belief, for instance, that an assassin will come to a man’s house with his gang and first seek to hold a private meeting with the planned victim, all in broad day light. Playing to the gallery over life and death matters will not help in the least.
We therefore call on the security agencies including the police to thoroughly investigate all allegations of threat to life and safety flying in the air in Ogun State. Lawmakers must be conscious of the fact that they have been elected essentially to make laws for the good governance of the state. They cannot achieve this by running out of the country to neighbouring countries.
On its part, the executive arm of the government must do more than merely denying the allegations. It must be seen to be providing the enabling environment for all arms of government to work without let or hindrance.

A one-year holiday for everybody

A RECENT suggestion that Nigeria should take a one-year holiday in order to put its house in order seems to me an acknowledgement that the nation's problems have reached a point where redemption is impossible. While a prolonged holiday would be out of character but still appreciated by many tired workers in the country, the idea of a yearlong holiday is, on the surface, a simplistic and defeatist way of trying to dig a nation out of its predicament.

The idea of a long holiday should not be dismissed outright. It has merits. It is possible that a long holiday would drag the country out of its current state of ennui and back onto the path of sustained socioeconomic development. An extended vacation could infuse in political leaders the foresight and wisdom they lack at the moment. Indeed, there is the possibility that a lengthy holiday in Nigeria would inject sufficient adrenalin into workers to the point where everyone would be itching to return to work to raise productivity levels.

There is also the likelihood that an extended vacation would restore confidence in our public institutions, namely hospitals ill-equipped to diagnose and treat sick people; primary and secondary schools where students are getting the message that it is more valuable for them to play in the streets and stay at home rather than be engaged in studious assignments at school; public transport system that serves nobody but the interests of the bureaucrats; and other sick public services that continue to gulp budget money without showing signs of recuperation.

The idea of a prolonged national holiday should not be understood in its literal sense. It is understandably a metaphor for hopelessness, lack of vision and lack of political and economic leadership. As a colleague described it recently, Nigeria is facing some form of social instability. Perhaps there are valid reasons for the idea of a national holiday.

Some people have even suggested that, in light of the enormity of the problems that confront the nation, re-colonisation might just be the right pill to solve those stubborn problems. The suggestion might be offensive to some people's sense of political independence and nationhood but, in some respects, the idea is not completely out of place. We are already living a new form of colonial experience anyway. This is why. When a president visits a European nation and pleads with his hosts to come solve his country's problems, you wonder what that president was elected to do for his country. In the past, this kind of behaviour would have been labelled colonial mentality or inferiority complex. Today, in a slightly polite manner, let's call it neo-colonial mindset.

You don't hear Chinese leaders, Indian leaders, Malaysian leaders, Thai leaders or Singaporean leaders go overseas to beg their host countries to come to their aid and develop their countries. Perhaps we need foreign workers to develop Nigeria, so that when the expatriates are busy at work appropriating our national and natural resources in the name of development, we can afford to go on sleeping.

Across the country, you get the feeling that everyone is tired. Many people are tired of working in an environment that discourages hard work and rewards criminality. They want a holiday. Some others are tired of listening to political leaders belch recycled ideas. They want a break from the past.

Lowly rated workers such as primary and secondary school teachers are doing their best to train our children but their efforts go unrecognised and under-rewarded. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has been on strike for four uninterrupted weeks and there is no indication the industrial gridlock would end soon. Unfortunately, primary and secondary school students have become the fall guys in this labour dispute. What is at stake is not only the ability of the government to resolve labour disputes in a timely fashion but also the ability of NUT to advance the interests of its members in a sensible and logical manner.

As primary and secondary education remains in a state of disrepair, health workers have also flagged their intention to go on strike from July 30. Apart from health workers and members of the NUT, there are a couple of other organisations and unions that are either currently on strike or have marked a date to start striking. All these strikes constitute evidence of industrial disharmony. They tarnish rather than dignify the image of the Federal Government.

There is hypocrisy everywhere. Politicians promise many things and achieve little. Many of those who were appointed at federal and state levels to serve the society now enjoy being served by the society. It's a delightful role reversal. Federal public servants, including ministers and state commissioners, talk about their commitment to improving the lot of the people but they work very hard to enrich themselves and impoverish the people, by illegally diverting funds allocated to their ministries and departments.

Religious leaders preach about the kingdom of God but they secretly chart their easy passage into the kingdom of the rich. In this nation of pastors, some self-styled preachers carry the bible in the day but sexually defile their female followers at night while others turn into armed robbers. At level of culture, traditional rulers refer to themselves as the custodians of social and moral values but they continue to desecrate the institution they represent by conferring ludicrous chieftaincy titles on the highest bidders -- well known criminals and jail-birds.

We live in a society where those who mock and violate the laws are venerated while those who obey the rules are scorned. We have laws quite alright but many people seem determined to scoff at the rules that were fashioned to guide social and moral behaviour in public and in private. May be that's why we need a lengthy holiday to revive our values.

In the past couple of years and indeed most recently, a handful of former presidential assistants and ministers have been taken into custody and charged with corruptly enriching themselves. But, at the state level, we are not seeing similar efforts to hold former and serving commissioners and special assistants accountable for their financial misconduct. Financial investigations at the state level lack the forensic detail, intensity and commitment seen at the federal level. Or, are these public servants so "clean" that they are without blemishes?

Are former and serving state commissioners and special advisers as meek or modest as they appear to be? While some former state governors are fighting to clear their names from profound allegations of corruption and abuse of office, some others are busy plotting how to enrich themselves in the knowledge that they will emerge from prison with their loot intact and their bank accounts untouched. This practice makes a mockery of the fight against corruption.

In various parts of the country, counterfeit drug merchants have continued to play hide-and-seek with Dora Akunyili's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). But we must be grateful to NAFDAC for what it has achieved so far; that is, a significant reduction in the volume of fake and counterfeit drugs in circulation.

We have problems galore, some of them self-inflicted. Prior to the establishment of NAFDAC, reputable and disreputable pharmacies as well as itinerant medicine dealers were operating freely with a lot of counterfeit and expired drugs. But it would be na?ve to argue that NAFDAC has eliminated fake and counterfeit medicines from our streets. We still have them. Here is proof. You buy a pack of over-the-counter tablets from a local chemist to relieve headache but you end up aggravating your health because of the poisonous substance in the fake product. How do we explain this level of criminality in our society? In an attempt to make quick money, desperate men and women are engaging in the deliberate production of poisons in the name of therapeutic medicine. A prolonged national holiday seems to me the best solution to all these problems.

Lessons from Cote d'Ivoire

"IF they try it, I will personally carry a placard and march from Lagos to Abuja. What is the matter with these people?"

"Calm down. You get angry too easily. You are not getting any younger you know. Don't go and burst a vein, or raise your blood pressure unnecessarily".

"It is not possible to live in this country and not get infuriated. You can't plan. You can't look forward to tomorrow."

"But what is it this time?"

"Have you not heard that the Federal Government is planning to increase the price of petroleum products?"

"Oh, if that is what is making you angry, then let it be on record that I am on your side. When I read the story about the Federal Government's plan to remove petroleum subsidy, I was angry. These people are insensitive".

"I don't want to hear that old wives' tale being put together by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Odein Ajumogobia. We heard those same arguments in the past, in fact former Ministers and PPPRA officials were even more persuasive, but their lies were exposed so many times. It is so strange that anyone will allow himself to be used to say the same things all over again."

"The Minister says the Federal Government is spending about N1.5 trillion annually. Almost twice its entire capital budget, to subsidise petrol and diesel."

"Oh. Oh. Ho. He can tell that to the Marines."

"Petrol is now N70 per litre. If they remove subsidy, how much would it now cost?"

"Diesel is already N155 per litre."

"Aviation fuel has also gone up. Do you know that a Lagos-Abuja air ticket is now between N19,000 and N21,000?"

"The other day, the President and his men came to Lagos to commission an AP terminal and announced a N50 per litre kerosene initiative. I have tried to double-check that and go round, I can't find any station where kerosene is sold at N50 per litre. A government that lies to its own people runs the risk of not being taken seriously."

"Actually, I am convinced that this Federal Government is on vacation. This is the only explanation I can come up with for all the flip-flops from Abuja."

"But to be fair, Ajumogobia says with the removal of petroleum subsidy, the Federal Government will be able to embark on some projects."

" The Obasanjo government said precisely the same thing. But today, there are no roads to the East, no roads to the oil-producing areas of the country. So what projects?"

"I recall he also said something about building more refineries and getting the refineries to work efficiently at optimum capacity."

"Old story. Let them say something else, please. Why do these people like to sound like a broken record?"

"The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) wants to go on strike.."

"I will join them."

"Are you now a member of NUPENG?"

"We are all involved. The Federal Government must be told that it cannot push the people to the wall."

"It has done so already and it has been doing so since 1999."

"That is why we should fight back, before they push us into the bricks."

"The Minister of State says what they are now proposing to do has been done in Ghana and Indonesia."

"He doesn't know what he is talking about. Has he heard of Cote d'Ivoire and what Ivoirien leaders are doing about the cost of fuel?'

"Tell them."

"You didn't read the story? It was even reported by the BBC. While the Nigerian government is screaming that subsidy is evil, the Ivoirien Government has decided to cut the pump price of fuel by 10 per cent. But government officials will now pay for this by taking a salary cut. Overseas trips by government officials will also be reduced to a "bare minimum." The government of Cote d'Ivoire says it has chosen to do this in response to the people's cry for help. The cost of running government will also be cut. All of these measures will cost the Ivoirien state about $484 million."

"You don't need to say more. The Nigerian government should take a cue from the Ivoiriens. Instead of raising fuel prices, let the Federal Government reduce the cost of running government. I'll like to see our government officials cut down on their wasteful overseas trips. Let them reduce the number of cars they put on the roads on a daily basis."

"Ah, you want them to lose the estacodes they receive when they go on foreign trips?"

"That was how the Women Affairs Minister went to the United Nations last week, with the largest delegation ever that anyone has seen at the UN Headquarters. The Nigerian women were there to attend a one-day conference, and they occupied almost every available seat. Algeria's Merien Belmihoub had to point out that the Nigerians were too many."

"There were 73 of them, attending a one-day conference! But the more interesting thing is that the experts at that conference ridiculed Mrs. Ufot Ekaette's "Nudity Bill" which she chose to present before an international audience."

"We ridicule ourselves at home. We embarrass ourselves abroad. Why are we so blest?"

"Cursed, you mean?"

"But back to the Ivoirien situation, I think the point of it all is that the government chose to listen to the people. The people had gone on strike and on rampage over the rising cost of fuel. The Ivoirien government had increased fuel prices a few weeks ago by 44 per cent to 785 CFA ($1.90) per litre but when the people took to the streets, it had to retrace its steps. The initial excuse was that the cost of fuel in the world market had risen."

"But Nigeria produces oil. If this were a better organised country, we should be less dependent on imported refined petroleum products. Government must realise that it owes the people a duty to ensure their welfare, security and happiness."

"But don't worry. I think the Federal Government will soon change its mind on the proposed removal of petroleum suhsidy."

"Stop saying that. They are not removing any subsidy. They just want to punish people. It is the Obasanjo legacy."

"As I said, this government has a reputation for changing its mind all the time. It is so unsure of itself."

"The same government has not changed its mind on ASUU and the UNILORIN 49. It has not changed its mind on the prolonged national teachers' strike. It has also not changed its mind on the medical workers' protest."

"Silly."

"That's just the way it is."

"But it has changed its mind on the Niger Delta Summit. The Federal Government says it no longer wants a Summit, it will now organize dialogue sessions with interest groups, and try to harmonise previous positions articulated at conferences, workshops, seminars etc on the Niger Delta since 1958."

"I don't think they are ready to do anything on the Niger Delta. They are just buying time. What the Niger Delta requires is a pro-active development response. Let them recreate two or three cities in the Niger Delta, make them look like the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja. When the people see an attempt to act, then they may be interested in dialogue. You can't fool the people all the time."

"You are pouring petrol into this matter."

"The petrol belongs to the people of the Delta."

"But candidly, the manner in which the Federal Government continues to ridicule itself is embarrassing. The so-called Niger Delta Summit proposal was badly managed. If they had done their home-work before announcing the initiative, they would have secured the buy-in of various stakeholders, and there would have been no furore over the matter. Now, they are going back to conduct research. Now, they want to go back and think."

"I am sure somebody just brought a proposal about a Niger Delta Summit and they just jumped at it, without examining the content carefully."

"You know the recent Africa Peer Review Mechanism report on Nigeria condemned President Yar'Adua's seven-point agenda for being too loose and vague. The Niger Delta Summit case clearly vindicates the African Union APRM assessors."

"These are too many things that no longer make sense in this environment."

"Like?"

"The insecurity in the land. It is getting worse. Look at the attack on the convoy of the Abia State Governor. If a Governor, a Chief Security Officer of a State with his retinue of security men is no longer safe?..."

"Who is?"

"Nobody."

"The Governor's bullet-proof Jeep was snatched."

"It is bullet-proof, not snatch-proof."

"He was lucky he was not in the vehicle, by now, we would have been writing about the Governor who was kidnapped in broad daylight."

"That may well still happen. Our public officials do not understand the concept of security. Security in their understanding means the advertisement of position and status. They are too loud and so they attract undue attention."

"Governor Theodore Orji said the attack on his convoy was an assassination attempt. He had added that there had been security reports that assassins were planning to attack him."

"So what did he do, if he knew? Did he lodge any report with the police?"

"Which police? I beg, leave matter.

"No wonder the Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff says the Gubernatorial race is not for the poor."

"Don't misrepresent the fellow. He said the 2011 Gubernatorial race in Borno State is not for poor aspirants."

"I know what I am saying. And his friend, Governor Mamman Ali of Yobe State urged him to hand over to his wife, Hajiya Fatima Ali Sheriff in appreciation of her performance in the past eight years!"

"And Sheriff himself told the elected officers in the state and the National Assembly that nobody amongst them is rich enough to be Governor after him in 2011, and so they should all wait for him to anoint a candidate at the appropriate time."

"His wife, of course."

"This country is just a fat comedy. I am angry but I get a chance to laugh all the time..."

"You should be shedding tears."

Britain, Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Africa

IT is never too late to establish this moral position, even after 500 long years ... If indeed Brown's intention on his Zimbabwe "confrontation" is to embark on a British policy of amends in Africa, the following steps would be profoundly rewarding:

Britain has to expand its branding of the Mugabe regime "illegitimate" to encompass the two other rigged elections that occurred in Africa since April 2007 - namely, Nigeria and Kenya. Brown will soon be hosting Umaru Yar'Adua, a key participant and chief beneficiary of the April 2007 rigged election in Nigeria, in a London summit. Should Brown be hosting Yar'Adua while ostracising Mugabe? If so, Brown must clarify his position to an understandably highly sceptical world.

Britain would need to stop its present "convenient" reading of African recent history on the question of election rigging. Britain inaugurated election rigging in Africa during the closing days of its formal occupation of the continent. This was its policy of perpetuating its control of politics and economics in Africa even after "withdrawal". James Robertson, the British occupation governor, rigged the 1959 pre-"restoration" of independence legislative and executive polls in Nigeria to ensure that power went to pro-British clients in the north region who strenuously opposed the liberation of the country led by Igbo people. There has been no free or fair election in Nigeria since then. Three years earlier, Robertson, then occupation governor in the Sudan, had rigged the poll there in favour of the Arab minority population who are still entrenched in power till this day.

Britain was central, along with the Nigerian state, in planning and executing the Igbo genocide of 1966-1970. A total of 3.1 million Igbo, a quarter of the nation's population then, were murdered. It was the foundational genocide of (European) post-conquest Africa. It was Britain's "punishment" of the Igbo for daring to lead the struggle for the freeing of Nigeria that began in the 1940s. Twice, during that struggle, the British occupation had casually watched two organised pogroms against the Igbo in north Nigeria (1945, 1953), which were dress rehearsals for the subsequent genocide. As I argue in my Biafra Revisited, Britain must apologise to the Igbo for its involvement in this crime against humanity. It should pay reparations to the survivors and lastly, but surely not the least, support current efforts to bring individuals and institutions in Nigeria, Britain and elsewhere involved in this genocide to justice. A number of prominent Nigerians involved in the genocide are still alive and must be indicted unfailingly in international criminal courts: Danjuma, Gowon, Buhari, Babangida, Haruna, Are, Enaharo, Aminu, King, Abubakar, Obasanjo, Akinrinade, Adekunle, Ayida, Ali ...

A fortnight ago, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a permanent secretary of the regime in Abuja, made an astonishing declaration to a meeting of the country's Senate Committee on Transport. Baba-Ahmed said that the strategic Onitsha-Asaba Bridge, linking east and west Igboland would "collapse" soon. He added, quite lackadaisically, and that there wasn't anything his regime could do about this unfolding grave emergency. Millions of Igbo and others use this bridge annually. Successive Nigerian regimes have always regarded Britain as their "most reliable" foreign ally.

It is therefore incumbent on the British to advise their Nigerian friends at Abuja, the occupying power in Igboland since 1970, of their international responsibilities on this bridge. The current "leadership" in Abuja and the previous one should have no doubts whatsoever that they will individually and collectively be held responsible in the international criminal courts for any consequences brought about by the collapse of the Onitsha-Asaba Bridge on Igbo life, Igbo property, Igbo income, Igbo opportunities, environmental degradation, etc., etc.

Britain is the premier arms exporter to Africa. This is what keeps Africa's genocide state, the bane of African social existence, very much alive. In turn, this state organises mass slaughters of peoples and nations, asphyxiates opportunities for its citizens, fuels the rigging of elections. Britain can singularly begin to change this dreadful dynamic by imposing a comprehensive arms embargo on all countries throughout Africa. Brown is not required to go to parliament to seek approval for this historic move. The measure can be taken in the next Thursday, weekly cabinet meeting.

The Osun Tribunal Ruling

After some nerve-wracking 10 months and many controversies, the Osun State Election Petitions Tribunal led by Justice Thomas Naron on Tuesday, July 15, delivered its judgement in the petition brought by Rauf Aregbesola of the Action Congress (AC) to challenge the re-election of the state governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, in the April 2007 governorship election. The tribunal re-affirmed Oyinlola’s re-election, but the denouement to the whole saga was far from fitting: it has left a question mark hanging on Oyinlola’s victory and a sour taste in the mouth of many Nigerians who witnessed the sordid drama.
Significantly, the circumstances that provided the background for that ruling have conspired to put Naron and another member of the tribunal, Justice Ekpo Ekanem, squarely in the court of public opinion. The News magazine, in its last two editions, published call logs which, it alleged, represented phone conversations and text messages between Oyinlola’s counsel, Otunba Kunle Kalejaiye (SAN) and the two jurists since December last year. More tellingly, the magazine alleged, some of these calls and text messages were exchanged between Kalejaiye and the jurists shortly before some interim rulings that went against the petitioner.
For members of the tribunal who were supposed to be impartial and whose code of ethics forbids private contact with parties involved in litigation before them, these allegations were grave indeed. And their import for a fair ruling was ominous. Although Kalejaiye and Oyinlola denied having any private contacts with the jurists, their rebuttals still left many questions unanswered. They were silent on whether the phone numbers quoted by the magazine were genuine or not. Kalejaiye, in an advertorial, only said a lawyer in his chambers, Ekerenam Ekpo, had used the number given by the magazine as Ekanem’s number for six years. But the magazine countered that someone who admitted he was Justice Ekanem picked the call when it dialled the number. Kalejaiye equally averred that the phone service provider, MTN, had denied that the phone logs originated from it; which was not the same thing as saying the logs were fake or that the phone numbers in them never existed or belonged to other persons than the dramatis personae in the Osun tribunal saga.
Aregbesola and his counsel, Kola Awodein(SAN), would not give the jurists the benefit of the doubt as they had consistently alleged that the tribunal was biased, particularly when it refused to admit the result of forensic investigation of ballot papers that it had earlier ordered to be conducted. They petitioned the National Judicial Council (NJC) for a suspension of ruling to allow for an investigation into the latest allegation of bias against the jurists. Their call was backed by respected voices of reason such as those of Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, retired Justice Kayode Eso, Nigerian Bar Association president, Olisa Agbakoba and Professor Itse Sagay. Aregbesola vowed that he would not accept any ruling from the tribunal, favourable or not. The tribunal delivered its ruling against this background last Tuesday.
Although, the judiciary has largely acquitted itself in its handling of election petitions across the nation, few of the election tribunals have been controversial. The one in Osun has been particularly so. This is not to rush to judge its members, but a call on NJC to investigate the allegation of bias against the jurists, particularly in reference to the phone records that were published. The NJC should dispense justice based on its findings, all in the interest of the image of the judiciary as the hope of citizens in search of justice.
We commend parties in the litigation, especially Aregbesola and his supporters, for maintaining the peace after the ruling. We urge them to continue to do so. A resort to violence serves no useful purpose. It only beclouds the issue and engenders criminality. The petitioner has said he will appeal the ruling. This is a proper step to take. But for the sake of the preservation of public morality, an investigation into the work of the Osun election tribunal is imperative.

Akala and the EFCC

About two years after he presided over the affairs of the Oyo state government, for eleven months, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which has been investigating charges of corruption, stealing and abuse of office leveled against Gov Christopher Alao-Akala has released an interim report which has found the sitting governor wanting for allegedly stealing the sum of N1 billion of tax payers’ money.
Long before the EFCC released its report, some individuals had advertised the misdeeds of the governor in the newspapers detailing how he inflated the contract for the supply of text books to pupils in Oyo State government schools. Some three book publishing firms ---Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Evans Brothers Publishers and Longman Nigeria Plc. - were awarded contracts for the supply of the said books. The costs of the books were grossly inflated by the first two companies to the tune of N488,114,073.50 and N396,151,185 respectively. As a proof of their complicity, they have been forced by the EFCC to refund parts of the inflated sum to the state’s treasury.
The Rasheed Ladoja administration when it regained its seat in Year 2007, had set up a panel of enquiry to look into how Akala, within the eleven months that he governed plundered the state treasury. The panel had returned a verdict of guilt against Akala, prompting the issuance of a white paper on the fraud, which was also gazetted by the state government.
But in the face of the gross political malfeasance that characterised Oyo state at the time and which seems to persist both the allegations by individuals and the panel’s indictment were promptly thrown out and disregarded. Not done, Gov Alao-akala, on assumption of office as elected governor on May 29, 2007, got the state’s lawmakers to quash the white paper which indicted him.
This is the sort of action that portrays Nigerian political leaders as a self-seeking lot.
Were it not so, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on whose platform Akala contested, should have cared to verify the allegation against its candidate, before giving him the party’s ticket. But in a party like PDP where the likes of the late Lamidi Adedibu loomed large it was nearly impossible to stop Akala.
But now, all is coming to light. If in eleven months a billion Naira was siphoned from a treasury, the state of health of such treasury will be better imagined at the end of a four year or more rule. Although Gov Alao-Akala has denied the reports, the EFCC maintains that “it is clear that OtunbaAlao-akala has abused his office to enrich himself contrary to his oath of office. He has acted contrary to the provisions of the constitution and betrayed public trust. In the light of the above therefore, it is pertinent that he has a case to answer.”
The commission must therefore keep an eye on Akala given that the immunity clause will, for now, shield him from prosecution. He must be arraigned at the end of his tenure. The conniving companies which have also been indicted must, however, be made to face the law.