The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Terrorists killed in clearance operation

    Many terrorists have been killed in a battle between troops of 22 Brigade/Super Camp Dikwa and terrorists, the Army said on Sunday.

    It added that the troops were supported by the Civilian Joint Task Force, local vigilantes and hunters.

    The Army said six AK47 rifles and 66 7.62mm ammunition were recovered in the clearance operation at Gworege village in Dikwa Local Government,  which left a hunter injured.

    A statement by Army spokesman Col. Sagir Musa said the troops had received information from locals about the presence of terrorists.

    Read Also: Air Force jets kill scores of Boko Haram terrorists in Borno

    He said a raid and clearance operation was conducted, adding that the terrorists retreated following superior fire power.

    He said: “The terrorists engaged the troops in a fire fight but had to flee as a result of superior fire power from the troops. Consequently, troops cordoned and searched the village and recovered  six AK47 rifles, 66 7.62mm ammunition.

    “No soldier was killed, wounded or missing in action. Unfortunately, a hunter was wounded. He is receiving treatment at the 22 Brigade Medical Centre in Dikwa and he has been stabilised.

    “Many terrorists reportedly met their waterloo during the encounter, while others escaped with various degrees of injuries,” Musa said.

  • Benue pensioners stay put at Govt House

    Protesting Benue State pensioners on Sunday held a prayer session at the Government House’s gate, Markurdi, over unpaid N25 billion pension arrears and gratuities. A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who monitored the prayer session organised by Concerned Pensioners, reports that the senior citizens had since Sept. 4 been sleeping under rain and sunshine at the gate to drive home their demand.

    NAN reports that the pensioners are demanding payment of over 20 months’ pension arrears and gratuity, amounting to N25 billion, owed them by the state government.

    Reading from the Bible in the book of 1st Kings, Chapter 12, Verses 3 to 10, while preaching a sermon, Pastor John Awaodi urged the pensioners not to give up hope.

    Read Also: Benue pensioners protest unpaid 24-month entitlements

    He said that God was with them since they were demanding their legitimate income.

    Addressing the pensioners at the prayer session, their Leader, Mr Peter Ikyado, said that they were not tired and would continue to sleep at the gate until paid.

    Ikyado urged them to be steadfast and pray fervently.

    He earlier told newsmen that over 500 pensioners in the state had died due to lack of food and proper medication.

    “We are senior citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Our motto says, “Enjoyment after Retirement”, but in this case, it is suffering after retirement,” he said.

    Gov. Samuel Ortom had while addressing them on Friday said that his administration would have to seek for an overdraft of N611 million to be able to complete the shortfalls from the April 2018 and May 2018 unpaid pension arrears.

    He gave the assurance that the money would be paid by Sept. 10.

    Ortom said that his administration inherited unpaid pension arrears of over N34 billion, with outstanding gratuities of over N17 billion.

    He said that although his administration was able to make significant efforts in the payment of the arrears of pensions and gratuities, the government was still owing over N20 billion.

    (NAN)

  • Parents, proprietors battle tuition fee headache as schools reopen

    Primary and secondary schools resume from this week for the 2019/2020 academic session. The fees in many public schools are fixed. So, the managers have less headache.  However, private schools’ proprietors struggle to recover arrears of fees from parents, some of who owed from last session.  KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE reports.

    The 2019/2020 academic session begins in some states today for pupils in primary and secondary schools after a vacation that lasted about eight weeks.

    In Lagos, Jigawa, and Delta states, the pupils will resume for a fresh session today; while in Ogun, Kano, Enugu, Kaduna, Anambra and others, school resumes next week.

    Many private school owners have done renovations to welcome old and new pupils back to a better learning environment.

    They would depend on prompt payment of fees to recover the money spent on the makeover. However, with the economic downturn, prompt payment remains in the realm of a wish for many school owners.

    Some proprietors, who spoke with The Nation, said less than 50 per cent of their parents had paid in full ahead of resumption. Others expect full or part payment to be completed in the first two weeks or before midterm in six weeks.

    Administrator of Grace Schools, Gbagada, Mrs. Iyiola Edun, said defaulting or inconsistence in school fee payment started being a problem almost a decade ago.  She said in an interview that many schools, including hers, have had to become flexible to allow payment in instalments.

    “This trend of not being able to pay school fees on time has been on now for close to 10 years because of the economic downturn.  Some pay by instalment; some pay outright.  But we always insist that all fees have to be in before the children resume.  Some have been paying before resumption, but mostly new parents.  A lot will pay when school resumes.  others prefer to pay for the whole year.  But we give at most up to half-term before we stop the children from coming to school,” she said.

    Mrs. Edun said that quite not a few parents default on fees payment at the school – though she refused to say how much the school charges for nursery and primary education at Grace Children’s School; and secondary education at Grace High School.  However, a school search website, schoolscompass.com.ng, puts the fee range per term at N301, 000 – N500, 000 for Grace Children’s School.

    Chairman of Mind Builders School, Ikeja, Mr. Bosun Falore, said only 25 per cent of parents in his school had paid in full before resumption.

    The school runs three primary schools located in Omole Phase 1 Estate, Omole Phase 2 Estate, and the Central Business District (CBD), Agidingbi, which also houses its secondary school, Mind Builders High School.

    Tuition fees for Nursery pupils N80,070, excluding  books, uniforms and other costs; primary pupils pay between N107,000 and N122,000; while secondary pupils pay N160,000 (for junior secondary) and N190,000 (for senior secondary school).

    He said: “In spite of our policy of 100 per cent payment of fees due before resumption date, only about 25 per cent of our parents have complied. This is capable of putting strain on our liquidity position as so much has been spent to renovate the premises and improve some infrastructure, pay for uniforms in advance among other expenses.

    “We are hoping that most of the 75 per cent will pay within the first week of resumption or they will come up with a request concession which we can consider for only our old parents.”

    Falore claimed that the wards of some parents, who still owed last session’s fees, would not be allowed in school should they come in. He said the directive worked as five of the 11 parents with outstanding fees paid up.

    Mr. Emmanuel Orji, proprietor of Rock Ford Schools, Ikorodu, said with his school serving low income earners, he and other low-cost schools are forced to be flexible.

    Orji, who is the national president of the Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED), the umbrella group for over 6,000 low-cost private schools in Lagos, said less than two per cent of parents in his school had paid fees ahead of resumption.  Orji said nursery pupils in his school pay N15,000 per term; primary pay between N16,000 and N17,000, while secondary school pupils pay N22,000 (for JSS) and N25,000 for (SSS).

    The AFED boss said he cannot afford to insist on 100 per cent pre-payment so as not to drive parents away.  To cover renovation costs, he said many AFED schools depend on loans from Microfinance and commercial banks.

    “The school has been painted, renovated.  We get loans from EDFIN (an American bank that came to Nigeria solely because of AFED to advance loans to education), Axiom Micro Finance Bank to beautify the school.  Sterling Bank, Ecobank also give loans – even Polaris has joined. EDFIN and Axiom give us loans with interest of 2.4 to four per cent monthly; while Sterling, Ecobank and Polaris give us at 18-25 per cent per annum,” he said.

    Despite charging low fees, Orji said parents default on payment. He also said parents with more than two children pay only for two; while some others even negotiate for lower fees than charged by the schools.

    “We actually have very flexible payment plan.  We don’t stick to pay before resumption.  I have had occasion where one man’s debt accrued to almost N500, 000 because he barely paid for the education of his boys throughout.  We let them stay because the children were very brilliant. They are now in the university and doing very well.

    “Parents that have up to two or three children, we ask them to pay for only two.  Even the fees I have listed, some parents come to renegotiate it.  You see those meant to pay N15, 000 end up paying N10, 000.  But we tell them not to tell anybody we reduced the fees for them.

    “We tell parents to pay within the first two weeks of resumption.  But it has never worked.  By mid-term, they must have paid 50 per cent.  After mid-term, we drive the children because if you don’t drive them you won’t be able to repay the loans you took,” he said.

    Orji said that some AFED schools charge as low as N3, 000 and N5, 000 per term, yet parents default on fees.

    Founder of Concerned Parents and Educators’ Network, a Facebook group, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, said her group raised over N900, 000 to pay fees of notorious defaulters in such low-cost schools serving the very poor in the society this term.   Mrs. Ogunde announced the fee drive on the group of over 100,000 members on August 27 with the target of raising enough funds to pay for the fees of 300 children.

    As at yesterday, she said the group have raised over N939, 689, which it plans to disburse to 30 schools.

    “At the moment, on our school fees drive for low income schools, we have N939, 689. We are dealing with those schools that charge N5, 000 and below.  That amount is already able to pay for almost 80 kids.

    “From the beginning of this week, we want to do 10 poor children per school, which is 30 schools.  We are working with AFED to come up with the list.  We will visit the schools to verify they are really low-income schools.  We will be the ones to make the payment.  We want to ensure the pupils selected are those who habitually fail to pay.  We will invite the parents too so they know the fees have been paid,” she said.

    Mrs. Ogunde, who also runs an education branding and training firm, Edumark, said many parents in schools charging higher fee bands were also struggling to pay.

    She said: “If you move into even a slightly higher fee category, you will also notice the problem.  Not too many parents can afford to pay all fees at a go. Except for young parents with one child, many others have to pay for two or three children.

    “A lot of schools are also introducing the gradual payment methods; a lot of them are showing special consideration for parents.  If they do not, some children will be unable to resume.”

    With many private schools facing hardship getting parents to pay fees, Mrs. Edun accused the government of insensitivity to their plight because of the many taxes and levies schools have to pay.

    “We pay a lot of bills – Federal Government will take; Lagos State will take their own – all sorts of bills.  They see the schools as money-making places forgetting that we have high expenses. We produce our light ourselves.  Every five days, we have to pay N500, 000 for diesel to run generators. The government forgets we receive nine months of payment spread across 12 months. For one school bus, you need 15 documentations. For parents to park outside our school, we are paying government over N300, 000. If we don’t pay, they tow the vehicles.

    “If you have 10 school buses, you will pay radio/TV license on each one.  You also pay Emission License on each bus.

    “The government audits our account.  One civil servant came and asked why we paid so much to buy pepper one particular year and asked if we paid withholding tax for the pepper. Civil servants are the problem.

    “In a good country, they give private educators a subvention because we are doing a social service that ought to have been done by the government,” she lamented.

    On their part, some parents said they had found a way around raising fees of their wards.

    For Mrs. Stella Oduwaiye (not real names), it is ajo (local thrift saving scheme) to the rescue.

    “For me, I know how September has always been.  So I saved and collected my ajo (contibution) in August, which is just enough to pay part and the balance is structured.  For my fresher just entering secondary school, Uber returns are diverted.

    “Most schools allow structured payment with initial deposit of 50 per cent. As a teacher in one of the leading schools in Nigeria, some of these parents also owe school fees. For some, it is the economy; for some, follow follow,” she said.

    Another parent stated that her children’s school allows parents to pay on installments bits. Regardless, she said some still owe.

    A parent, who does not wish to be named, said she is able to pay based on the structure laid by the school.  She also said her family was investing in insurance to pay for university education of her two children.

    “I have two kids in separate schools.  One school you must pay fees before first day of resumption so the school fees have been paid.  School two has a more flexible payment which is pay half at resumption and the balance at resumption of half-term.

    “We also have the school fees plan with an Insurance company but it is for university education,” she said.

  • Rice smugglers’ gain, federal government’s pain

    To push back the importation of rice, which has been gulping an estimated N365 billion annually, the Federal Government encouraged private investors to invest massively in local rice production. The ultimate target was to achieve a total rice import replacement by 2020. But, smuggled foreign rice, primarily sourced from Thailand and India, has continued to flood Nigeria, through her borders with Benin, Niger and Cameroon. The lower landing cost for the foreign brands is crippling local producers and frustrating the government’s rice self-sufficiency target. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports

    President Muhammadu Buhari and his Beninois counterpart Patrice Talon met in Japan. The meeting held during the partial closure of Nigeria’s border with the Republic of Benin. Clips of the meeting showed a calm Buhari. But, behind the composure and diplomatic finesse was a president deeply troubled by developments back home, where the gains made by his administration in the rice segment of the agricultural sector are being threatened by the activities of cross-border rice smugglers, particularly from the Benin Republic axis.

    The president sure has justifiable reasons to be troubled. The revolution in the rice segment of the sector has been widely acknowledged as one of the visible achievements of his administration.

    For instance, in two years, September 2015-September 2017, rice importation from Thailand fell from 644,131 Metric Tons (MT) to 20, 000 MT, representing over 90 per cent drop.

    Also, while Nigeria’s current rice consumption is put at between six and seven million MT of milled rice, the country produced 2.5m MT of milled rice in 2015. By 2017, it rose to 4m MT (US Department of Agriculture, World markets and Trade put it at 3.7m MT), leaving a gap of 2m MT.

    Also, from only 13 integrated rice mills in the country in 2015, the number rose to 21 by 2017. Similarly, from five million rice farmers in Nigeria in 2015, the number has gone up to 11 million.

    Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed put the total investment of members of the Rice Millers, Importers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (RIMIDAN) into the economy at over N300 billion, while upcoming investments were expected to reach N250 billion.

    The minister announced that the new investments would add 5, 000 jobs and additional 1,775,000 MT of integrated rice milling capacity while saving $300 million foreign exchange from import substitution through local processing. These were the basis on which the administration anchored its hope of closing the nation’s 2m MT of rice gap by 2020 by boosting domestic production.

    So, when Buhari rode on the back of the just-concluded Seventh Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama, Japan, where he granted audience to Talon, to express serious concern over the smuggling of rice into Nigeria, he wanted to pull the breaks on what he, and perhaps, other concerned stakeholders perceive as deliberate sabotage.

    Buhari, who could not stand any attempt to reverse the gains of his achievements in local rice production, pointedly told his Beninois counterpart that the activities of smugglers in that corridor were threatening the attainment of his administration’s rice self-sufficiency.

    “Now, our people in the rural areas are going back to their farms, and the country has saved huge sums of money, which would otherwise have been expended on importing rice using our scarce foreign reserves.

    “We cannot allow smuggling of the product at such alarming proportions to continue,” Presidential Spokesman Femi Adesina quoted Buhari as saying. This was in response to concerns raised by President Talon on the magnitude of suffering foisted on his people by the border’s closure.

    Although Buhari said the partial closure of the western border was to allow Nigeria’s security forces develop a strategy on how to stem the dangerous trend and its wider ramifications, operators and industry stakeholders fear that such strategy, if, and when developed and implemented, might be belated.

    Already, the activities of smugglers around that axis, The Nation learnt, may have put Nigeria’s achievement of a total rice import replacement by 2020 in jeopardy. This, according to reliable industry sources, was why Buhari, who could no longer hide his worry, was forced to bare his fangs through the border closure.

    Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Maifata brought this disturbing reality nearer home when he said about half a million metric tonnes of rice have been booked in Thailand for shipment to Nigeria preparatory to the Christmas season.

    Maifata, who made this known to reporters in Abuja, last week, after the association’s intensive border and port survey, warned that Nigeria risks losing over $400 million to rice smuggling if the over one million metric tonnes of the commodity is allowed to enter the country from the Benin Republic.

    He also said the impending illegal rice importation would, no doubt, have a ripple effect on local rice processors, as their activities would be hampered. Although he said RIPAN supports the border closure, Maifata said it would go a long way in curbing the menace of rice smuggling, while giving local producers a breather.

    Why local producers are screaming blue murder?

    Indeed, breather came the way of local rice producers since 2015 when the Federal Government banned the importation of rice into the country.

    It also went a notch higher, providing N82 billion in funding to farmers of rice, wheat, maize, cotton, cassava, poultry, soybeans and groundnut via the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

    But the succour that came the way of rice farmers on the strength of these strategic interventions appears to have been short-lived, no thanks to the activities of cross-border rice smugglers.

    Today, over 70 per cent of rice in Nigerian markets are said to be foreign or imported into the country through any of the numerous porous borders. Foreign brands such as Mama Gold, Royal Stallion, Rice Master, Caprice, Falcon Rice and Basmati are competing for patronage with local rice.

    Price difference a disincentive

    In the Benin Republic, for instance, the total demand for white rice, which is consumed in that country, against parboiled rice in Nigeria, was 400, 000 MT, as at 2017. Yet, Benin, with a population of about 11 million, imports between one million and 1.2m MT of rice annually.

    Most of the imports by Benin are allegedly for Nigerians. As Nigeria’s rice import falls, Benin’s rice import increases. Most of the parboiled rice imported by Benin eventually lands in Nigeria through smuggling.

    It is easy to see why this is so. For one, the difference in the price of the local and foreign rice as a result of the influx of smuggled rice has been a major discouraging factor for rice farmers, as people prefer to buy the foreign rice because of the price difference.

    For instance, The Nation learnt that at present, smuggled foreign rice costs between N17, 000 and N18, 000 per 50kg bag, while Nigerian processed rice sells for between N14, 500 and N15, 000 per 50kg bag, depending on the brand.

    Although the price of foreign rice is slightly higher than local rice, most local producers consider the price margin to little to encourage local production. They blame this on Cameroon and Benin Republics, which lowered tariff payable on rice to 0 and five per cent, respectively, to encourage importation and subsequent smuggling into Nigeria.

    As if this is not enough discouragement, Thailand and India where the smuggled rice is sourced also gave a high level of subsidies to rice farmers and rice processors, local rice producers in Nigeria are struggling to compete favourably in terms of pricing with the heavily subsidised imported rice.

    A United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service and Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report said Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of rice and among the top 15 producers globally.

    The 2019 report, which was accessed by The Nation, however, said the high cost of rough, paddy rice, as well as high operational costs, constrain large-scale/integrated rice mills from producing at more competitive prices.

    The report stated that although, Thailand and India rice shipments to Nigeria have dropped off in recent years, there have been large, officially reported increases in rice exports to Nigeria’s neighbours namely, Benin, Cameroun, Niger and Togo, with populations of 11.3 million, 25.6 million, 19.8 million, and 8.1 million, respectively.

    “These are countries with lower import tariffs and porous borders, creating conditions favourable for transshipments, the report said, adding that Thai and Indian-origin rice (long-grain varieties) dominate imports into Nigeria, which largely comprise parboiled rice (also known as converted rice and easy cook rice).

    A catalogue of missed rice targets

    The dynamics of the Nigerian rice market, which is skewed in favour of foreign brands, at the detriment of local producers and investors, is believed to be responsible for Nigeria missing several targets earlier fixed to curb importation of the product and ultimately, achieve rice self-sufficiency.

    Recall that before the current administration came on board, the then Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan had initiated a new rice policy and set a 2015 target for the realisation of self-sufficiency in rice production.

    The policy was part of the administration’s Backward Integration Policy (BIP) and economic diversification agenda, which President Buhari retained and pursued in the hope of encouraging local production of rice and offering investors in the rice sub-sector incentives to invest.

    Immediate past Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Chief Audu Ogbeh assured that Nigeria will be self-sufficient in rice production by the end of 2017.

    Although Ogbeh later said rice production had improved tremendously across the country as a result of the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, the government failed to meet the target, due largely to rice smuggling.

    The Federal Government again shifted the deadline, with Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo saying that Nigeria will stop rice importation by the end of 2018. But as it turned out, the pronouncement was made without recourse to realities on the ground.

    There was no political will on the part of the authorities to halt the booming rice smuggling trade across the borders especially from the Western axis. The result: 2018 had come and gone without meeting the target.

    Now, a new date has been set for 2020. Will the authorities do the needful and halt the upswing in smuggling of rice across the borders? What is the level of commitment to addressing the huge infrastructural deficit that has been responsible for pushing up the cost of production for local rice producers and rendering them uncompetitive?

    Although the Federal Government put the right foot forward when it partially closed the borders, the question is, is this strategic move enough to halt the illicit rice trade that has been hurting local producers and frustrating government’s efforts to cut the humongous foreign exchange spent on rice importation?

    While answers to these remain a matter of conjecture, the preponderance of opinion is that the Federal Government decision to close the borders was a step in the right direction. Operators and other industry stakeholders, however, say that a strong political will is needed to effectively police the borders.

    To do this, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) urged the Federal Government to embrace the use of technology such as drones and Close Circuit Television (CCTV) to effectively address the challenges of smuggling and security at the nation’s land borders.

    ANLCA Publicity Secretary Joe Sanni said in as much as the security of the nation’s land borders remained important to check smuggling and other security challenges, it was also important to employ smart strategies that would ensure continuity in legal trade without undue hindrances.

    Experts also say that government should go beyond border closure and address other issues around price instability, quality and harvesting/processing of rice, as well as the provision of supportive infrastructure to help local producer who has made huge investments in local rice production reduce cost.

  • Buhari’s Special Envoy, Ramaphosa, pledge peace

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Envoy to South Africa Ambassador Ahmed Abubakar expressed “concern at recent events in South Africa” during a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa, the latter’s spokesperson has said.

    Khusela Diko, the spokesperson to the South African President, also said in a statement that President Buhari’s state visit would reinforce the bond between both countries.

    Diko stated that Buhari’s visit to South Africa, billed for next month, would further strengthen the bond between both countries and jointly develop responses to challenges affecting people and businesses in South Africa and Nigeria.

    Read Also: Xenophobia: Amnesty berates South Africa, Ramaphosa’s poor handling of obligations to foreigners

    According to him, President Ramaphosa held discussions, on September 6, with Ambassador Abubakar on violence in South Africa and developments in Nigeria around South African businesses.

    Diko said:  “The visit to Pretoria by the Special Envoy followed a recent meeting between Presidents Ramaphosa and Buhari in Yokohama, Japan, on sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.

    “In their discussion, the Special Envoy conveyed President Buhari’s concern at recent events in South Africa, in context of the strong and cordial relations that characterise the interaction between the two countries.

    “President Buhari conveyed his commitment to the values of prosperity and the advancement of Africa that are shared by South Africa and Nigeria.

    “Nigeria stands ready to assist South Africa in establishing the root causes of and developing sustainable solutions to the challenges concerned.

    “President Buhari has undertaken that where challenges emerge in Nigeria, the Nigerian government will act against lawlessness and the targeting of South African assets in Nigeria.”

    According to him, President Ramaphosa also reaffirmed South Africa-Nigeria relations to be firm.

    He stated that both partners remained resolute in a shared commitment to building Africa at peace with itself and others.

    Also, the South African Acting High Commissioner to Nigeria, Bobby Moroe, said his country remained committed to strengthening bilateral ties with Nigeria.

    Mr. Moroe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja that the relationship between Nigeria and South Africa would remain strong and on course.

  • Eating our own flesh

    While youths rage here and in South Africa, we should remember that our own juvenile boil has been targeted at fellow citizens. Their grouse is not because of so-called xenophobia but because they belong to the same country and community. Fellow Nigerians suffocate them. They hate them because they want them to be outcasts in their country. They also want to cast them out of the earth. So, no use for moral superiority here. We also did it against Ghana in the Shagari era.

    In the aftermath of the herders imbroglio that consumed citizens in rural areas, Governor Simon Lalong secured funds on the platform of AfriJapan as part of the drive to rebuild the broken lives like the citizens of Nghar village of the cleric who saved Christians in a mosque from the jaws of marauders. They made bonfires of their homes and properties and they became IDP habitués.

    Rather than focus on violence, we can look to more peaceful ways to engage countries and our young, and some of our leaders do that. One of them was the AfriJapan arrangement that Governor Lalong secured $300 million to improve livelihoods in rural areas

  • The Irish wizard

    So, we think that the problem was that South Africa’s loathes Nigerians. But it is. A failure of temperament and collapse of decorum. Yet it masks an angst lodged in both countries: Elite and government failure. The hatred launched itself with a subterfuge. It crept into our soul with a new word but “xenophobia” reflected how language can detract from the very malaise of the times.

    The states of both countries were trading diplomatic tackles while quietly congratulating themselves. The reason? The angry mobs were not a vote of no confidence on the state. It was a vote of no confidence of the poor in one country against the poor of another. In both countries, mass unemployment abound. One idle class the poor, and the other idle class the rich cherished a solidarity of indolence. They lashed out at the hardworking poor. For the elite though, diplomacy was a sport, a ceremony of violence minus the blood. The savage sport was down the ladder: blood, gore and eyesore belonged far away in the pit and squalor of hoi poloi.

    So this essay will peer, without reverence, at one episode that reflects why the state makes the poor impolite. It is the story of a company known as Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) that wants to milk Nigeria of $9.6 billion because of Nigeria’s tissue infection: corruption.

    That money was secured against the Nigerian state by a roadside mechanic who became a showbiz hustler. He knew everyone that was anybody in the Nigeria’s vortex of power. He knew Obasanjo, the late President Yar’Adua, the vocal, self-righteous Danjuma. Having failed to make it as a big name in showbiz in his native Ireland, he turned Nigeria into a showbiz for himself.

    His name was Michael Quinn. Though a big name among the Nigerian elite, he was of no value to the economy except to ruin it. A name without integrity, yet he was trusted by those who worked him and with him. He embodied the honour among thieves. He fit into how the Revelations described a false grandeur: “Thou hath a name that thou livest, but thou art dead.”

    He did not have a university education, set up companies that no one could trace their origins or staff, but he succeeded in turning this country into a cesspit and a laboratory of his experiments in lies, deception, and connivance. He was a laundromat of corrupt officials, a sick lever to review contracts over and over, a conman for decoys from the eyes of investigators. He was everything to everyone. He was a golfer to the athletic, an engineer to the scientist, a medical expert to the doctor, an oil baron to the oil industry, a gun runner to the miscreant, an accountant to the fiddler of figures, a spy to the diplomat, a fashionista, a military expert, a foodie who loved fish and chips, a socialite, a father and husband.

    He was a complete man in a wrong definition of manhood. He was the reverse of the universal man of the renaissance. My history professor Femi Omosini described Leonardo Dan Vinci as “a universal man of the Renaissance, a veritable jack of all trade and master of many.” Quinn was a master of the wrong trades and mastered them all. He was involved in oil bids, oil and gas deals, HIV projects. He had a prime finger in the construction era boom of the 1970’s. Remember  the Cement Armada, a scandal that ate up the career of Benjamin Adekunle, the “Black Scorpion? Quinn was an unseen spirit working the miracles.

    He was the chameleon who sparkled with the right colour for the environment. This mechanic was also a fop, dressed in his suits, a debonair look, moustachioed. So ruddy and smooth were his whiskers that he was compared to the goat species called mohair.  He was not good at businesses in Europe where things followed a civilised standard. He tried though with a fellow showbiz man, Albert Reynolds, when that fellow became prime minister of Ireland. Typical “men of grace” like him never get caught. The European Union flung its cobweb at him, but the roach crept out into the dark.

    He set up quite a few businesses, including one to make video cassettes, but they went belly up like a roach. In Nigeria, his businesses did not have to succeed. They only needed to be set up. In fact, his businesses were setups, entrapments for Nigeria in collaborations with Nigerians. Unlike in a scandal in Europe where his name and company were apparently traced including transactions, he was squeaky clean here. In the Mahon Tribunal scandal in Europe, they found his signature and company accounts in regard to some unkempt transactions. He denied. In Nigeria, he never had to deny and was free. In the Mahon Scandal, the weight of evidence dropped like a log but he ducked. No one knows why.

    He had a sense of religious irony. The company that built a factory with government money to make equipment to treat HIV patients was called Trinity, but it never took off. The company whose first name is Sheda was shed. Another irony.  He was also a military contractor who raked in millions of dollars for repairing and procuring parts of military tanks in Bauchi that never happened. The contracts were endlessly reviewed.

    The company that secured a $9.6 billion fine is like Quinn. It has no website, no staff, no known offices, no pedigree of successes.  General Theophilus Danjuma, who kept mum while the matter was raging until Bloomberg Businessweek interviewed him, said he knew the man and he had invested $40 million in the business and the man ran away with the investment. We need more explanation from the general. Even if Bill Gate’s $10 million were taken away by such a conman the world would know. He would be pursued to the ends of the earth.

    The general is quick to aerate about the murderous herdsmen and failures of coups and governance.  He could not find his voice until western reporters barrelled into his space and forced the words out of his commander lips.

    It is obvious Quinn did the business with Nigerian connivance. The story is also the failure of due process, unfruitful dalliance of our bureaucracy, the incompetence of our attorneys-general, including Malami who had an opportunity to clear it away when they offered $850 million dollars in settlement, including the rapacious naivety of our lawyers. The only Nigerian witness who appeared in court did not know anything about the case. Yet the interest mounts $1 million a day. The money amounts to seven years of education budget, or a quarter of our annual budget. It is about oil and gas but the fine could end gas flaring forever.

    It is a story of colonial mentality and inferiority complex. We assume the superior mentality of the western partner. We still have stories today like Siemens, about how the white man comes here to collude with our Nigerian official to fleece us. It is also a narrative of the military and their footloose morality and how they gave contracts and looted. Our civilians took over from where they left.

    Quinn was like the character in Kosinski’s novel Being There, of a man who cannot read but, by the happenstance of capitalism, rises and is being touted to become the United States president.

    Quinn was also like Jay Gatsby in the novel The Great Gatsby, who came from nothing, grew rich from questionable sources, and threw parties frequently to gain the attention of his childhood sweetheart who never materialised. He was a man without a community, except himself.

    No wonder, just like Gatsby at his funeral, Quinn was alone. At his funeral the music, the Lonesome Boatman, was his swansong. He was a serpent, and died like one – alone.

    Just as it is light out for Quinn, it’s still lights out for Nigerians for whom the P&ID contract was supposed to provide electricity. Cynically, the Irish wizard and his cohorts clinched the deal when, on sick bed, Yar’Adua as president was going “gentle into that good night,” apologies to Dylan Thomas. A necromantic affair.

  • Petition against PDP lawmaker dismissed

    The Abia State election petition tribunal in Umuahia has dismissed the petition against the lawmaker representing Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency, Uko Nkole.

    The All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate in the election, Nnamdi Orji, approached the tribunal to invalidate Nkole’s election, alleging corrupt practices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

    He claimed that Nkole of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not score majority of lawful votes cast to be declared winner of the February 23 election.

    Read Also: Tribunal sacks James Manager, orders fresh election

    Orji alleged that the election in some areas were either marred by massive irregularities, or failed to hold, and so prayed the tribunal to order a supplementary there.

    Tribunal chairman Justice Cornelius Akintayo held that the inability of Nkole’s lawyer to prove his allegations of massive irregularities and criminal practices in the election beyond reasonable doubt rendered his petition incompetent and unmeritorious.

  • Fayemi: no Mosque demolished in Rivers 

    Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has denied evidences that a building existed on the disputed land in Rainbow Town, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where the government demolished a Mosque.

    Fayemi, who addressed reporters after a joint assessment of the disputed land with Governor Wike yesterday, described the controversy as a storm in a tea cup.

    He said: “With what I have seen here, I cannot see any evidence of any building that was demolished. If you are somebody who wants a place of worship, you should find a way to oblige them. I know within your capacity it will be possible to find a place for them.

    “From what I have seen here, I think it is a storm in a tea Cup. There is nothing to warrant this kind of media hype that has been given to it.”

    Fayemi said his assessment visit was necessitated by a call to Wike after the controversy on the land broke out.

    According to him, he called Wike when the controversy started and he (Wike) emphasised that no Mosque was demolished. He noted that the Rivers State Governor explained that the dispute began during the Amaechi administration though it was already in court.

    Read Also: Fayemi urged to implement erosion control master plan to curb flooding

    Fayemi added: “You cannot allow people build on a sewer. Even in my state I will not allow people to build on a sewer. There is no Governor that I know who will allow that to happen. If they are willing and prepared to have their place of worship elsewhere, that shouldn’t be too much of a request. It is important for us to promote harmony, rather than discord.”

    Governor Wike thanked Fayemi for exhibiting leadership by visiting the state to see things for himself. According to him, Fayemi’s visit has confirmed that no Mosque was demolished as was wrongly reported.

    He said: “I thank the Chairman of my forum for coming to see things for himself. He called me and I said you know I can’t do something like that. He promised to come see me and he has fulfilled that promise; that shows leadership.

    “From what he has seen, there was no Mosque here. There is no way I will see a Mosque and order the Ministry of Urban Development to demolish it. Assuming there was a Mosque and government doesn’t want it there, we will tell them to look for alternatives. But there was no Mosque here. I don’t know why people should make politics out of the issue; it’s not important.”

    Wike promised the state’s readiness to provide an alternative place to the Muslim Community if they desire it. He urged the people not to create discord among the religions as they worship the same God.

    The governor has also appointed Alhaji Abdulrazak Deprieye as the Sole Administrator of Rivers State Muslims Pilgrims Welfare Board.

    The appointment takes immediate effect, a statement by the governor’s media aide, Simeon Nwakaudu, said.

  • Igbinedion’s petition dismissed

    The election petition tribunal in Benin City, Edo State, has dismissed the petition by Omosede Igbinedion for lack of merit.

    Igbinedion is challenging the victory of Dennis Idahosa, who was declared winner of the Ovia Federal Constituency seat s the House of Representatives.

    She asked the tribunal to declare her winner of the election on grounds that Idahosa was not qualified to contest the election, being a Canadian citizen, and did not resign his appointment with the Federal Ministry of Environment.

    The tribunal said there was no merit in the petition.

    Tribunal Chairman Justice O. Ogundana said Omosede failed to prove allegations of over voting, forgery and falsification of results.

    Justice Ogundana, who had earlier ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) filed its reply out of time, noted that allegations of over voting, electoral malpractices bothered on criminal offences that must be proven beyond reasonable doubt.

    On non-qualification by Idahosa following allegations of being a Canadian citizen, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to show any prove of the allegation as the witness called did not testify regarding the allegation.

    Read Also: Tribunal affirms victory of former Senate Deputy Whip, Alimikhena

    The tribunal ruled that Idahosa proved he is a Nigerian by birth by presenting his International Passport and proof of his resignation as a board member of the National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGW).

    The tribunal said: “The argument of the petitioners is most untenable. They did not show relevant documents and pleaded facts are not before the tribunal. Aside the pleading of the grounds, the petitioners did not place anything on their side. They did not make prima facie case. Averments in petitions prove nothing without evidence. The onus of proof has not shifted to the defendants.

    “The petitioners failed to prove non-qualification. All these allegations have not been proven. Even if ground three has not been struck out, it would not have survived.”

    Idahosa hailed the judiciary for remaining the hope of the common man. He promised to deliver dividends of democracy to the people of Ovia.