The Nation Newspaper

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  • Of contenders for Anambra governor

    One of the confirmed truths that all contenders in the November 18, Anambra Governorship election must respect – whatever their political affiliations – is The Peter Obi Phenomenon. Love him, dislike him or pretend to be indifferent to him, no sane observer can honestly deny that Peter Obi set the real foundation for the multi-sectoral development of Anambra State. Under him Anambra State became the pride of everybody from the state and among friends of Anambra.

    Having been assured during electioneering in 2013 that sustainable development would continue in the spirit of the Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS), we supported Peter Obi’s successor, Chief Willie Obiano who is currently rounding off his tenure in Government House, Awka.

    The curious thing about the Obiano tenure was captured by the governorship aspirant of the All People’s Congress (APC), Dr. Tony Nwoye. Dr. Nwoye, then of the PDP, revealed that when Obi sought re-election, he (Nwonye) played anti-party with some other PDP members for Obi to continue because he did well in his first term. In Obiano’s case, he continued, he expressed a shame that the outgoing governor has become an irreverent representative of Anambra North.

    Governor Obi’s legacy in the areas of infrastructural and human capital development, industrialization, social transformation, security of lives and property, healthcare delivery, education, agriculture and food security, transport, among others, easily stand him out to this day. Even as the Obiano administration has done everything possible to erase those accomplishments, they remain etched in the minds of the people.

    The church, traditional institutions and the aged, all attest to the fact that Obi was God’s response to the developmental yearnings of Anambrarians. All the political travails he survived are also pointers that God loves Anambra State. Were it constitutionally feasible, Anambrarians would have willingly extended Peter Obi’s tenure.

    Obi has since handed over to Willie Obiano who is about to face a re-election. While he tries to hinge his electioneering on nebulous achievements, the people of Anambra have been consistent in asking him to name them in concrete terms. Regrettably, his attainments in close to four years are the questionable fly-overs in Awka and his N20 million ‘Choose Your Project’ disbursements to the towns in the state.

    The fore-going certainly do not rate as achievements for a serious governor of a vibrant state like Anambra. Summed up, for instance, the N20 million gift to each of the towns cannot pay for the construction of one major road in the state. In a classic subterfuge to claim he had done something for each of the towns, the N20 million at best was used to complete small, on-going town projects and to spray-paint already completed projects.

    With his dismal performance, the people of Anambra State insist that the baton must change hands. Compelled by equity and justice, all seem to agree that though the people no longer want Obiano, a person from the North should be allowed another four-year term. Interestingly, the people of Anambra North acknowledge that if Obiano is given another four years in office, one of the consequences of his compounded failures is that he would be used to judge the people from the zone, which would be a permanent slur on them.

    In this light, Anambra North needs a responsible and tested hand to redeem them from the shame wrought by Obiano. What should agitate the average voter is who in this throng possesses the relevant academic qualifications, managerial skills, experience, capacity and ability to marshal out social and economic policies and programmes that can improve on, or at least, preserve the sterling legacies of Governor Obi

    To achieve this, Anambra does not need a maverick politician who would be too bogged down with party politics and intrigues that will leave him little or no time to attend to critical state matters. Peter Obi’s success derived mainly from the incontrovertible reality that while his contemporaries plotted and contrived how to bamboozle their ways through the next election, he was determined to let his projects campaign for him. This option paid off handsomely. I recall an incident in my village in January 2010 when a politician was trying to convince an old man to vote for a particular candidate. The octogenarian calmly replied: ”I have heard all you said about this your man but let us finish with this young man (referring to Governor Obi) who gave us drinking water, renovated our school and is constructing our only road. After that, you can then bring that your man who will distribute “aeroplanes” to everybody in the land”.

    Of all the front-runners in the November 18 governorship race, the only candidate really qualified to take over from Governor Obiano and correct his mal-administration is Oseloka Obaze. I personally followed his roles as the Secretary to the State Government and I am convinced that he has the capacity to deliver good governance to the people. In terms of track record and rich experience in the management of human and material resources coupled with the requisite educational background, Obaze is the man.

    Going through Obaze’s CV, there is no doubt it is the richest among those contesting for Governor. However, some of us – knowing that a rich CV is not all it takes, as we painfully discovered in the case of Willie Obiano – have also seen Obaze in action. We observed his performance as SSG and as head of many critical committees in the Obi administration, and how he delivered beyond the call of duty. We have also heard a lot about him from his colleagues in the United Nations system and those that served with him in the government of Anambra State. All the evidences point to a man who is principled, ready to serve with sincerity of purpose and contented.

    Under the Obiano administration – with a collection of over 1,000 ‘aides’ – Anambra has been fast losing it. How do we explain that we are now associated with drinking orgies, propagation of falsehoods, lack of accountability, descent from a financial buoyancy to a debt-ridden status, among other debilitating features?

    In our sustained interests, we need a man of vision that will cleanse and restore our self-esteem as a people. Mr. Oseloka Obaze is the man and PDP is the party.

     

    • Onuorah writes from Onitsha

  • Again, Intels in the eye of the storm

    If we were to organise an award ceremony for the most victimised and harassed private company in Nigeria today, Intels Nigeria Ltd would win seamlessly without any contention. Yet the company is still surviving and standing strong despite the grenades of harassment unleashed on it daily by agents of government. For whatever reason, Intels appears to have become the most fertile field for government agencies to exercise their executive powers for no justifiable reason, except for the visibly deliberate and calculated attempts to malign the integrity of the company and eventually frustrate its business commitments in the Niger Delta, and Nigeria by extension. In a pre-set manner, each agency of the government comes up with a specious allegation the moment an existing contention shows a veneer of vaporization. And suddenly, a once conservative company that would rather invest resources in delivering world class services to its teeming clientele now makes headlines in the media every other day. They keep dragging a responsible company in the media as an irresponsible entity and you wonder to what end?

    It all began with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), which started with a request for Intels to comply with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in complete disregard for the existing agreement between the two parties. Whilst negotiations and discussions were still ongoing, the NPA independently terminated the pilotage agreement between the two parties based on the counsel of the Attorney-General of Federation, who by the way, assumed the role of the court of law and declared the pilotage agreement null and void ab initio. In the middle of that crisis, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) stormed the headquarters of Intels accusing the company of tax default. Apparently, when the agency discovered that there was no default, they denied accusing the company of tax default and attributed their visit to routine exercise. In a relay manner, the baton of harassment and victimisation has now been handed over to the Oil & Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) led by its Managing Director, Umana Okon Umana.

    The OGFZA has accused Intels of flouting sections of the Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone Regulations 2003 for which the authority wants to carry out a 10-year period compliance audit. As a result of these alleged shortcomings, the OGFZA has now refused to renew the operating licence for 2017 for the company despite the fact that the company has fully paid for the renewal. In response, Intels has said that: “We have no doubt that as these are deliberate actions, you (Umana) are well aware of the consequences as these are clearly crude, irresponsible and off-limits. At the appropriate time, we will initiate necessary legal measures to ventilate this grievance.”

    Following the threat by the company to seek legal action, OGFZA seems to be changing tune resorting to a soft combination of notes that they only issued a query to Intels. Whether this was just a query or another routine exercise by the agent of government, this unending image battering is injurious to the going concern of the company. Not many corporate entities have experienced this level of victimisation in recent times in Nigeria and still come out focused. Some companies did not even face half of what Intels is currently combating before they fled this country. If the owners of Intels, who are seasoned businessmen, decide to sell off their investment and leave this country today, they will survive somewhere else and Nigeria will suffer for it. Nigerian government seems to be sending a clear message that investing heavily in the country is tantamount to some act of criminality. Otherwise, why would government agencies take delight in harassing a responsible organisation that is contributing immensely to the socio-economic advancement of a developing country like ours? What is more worrisome is that every government agency that haunts Intels and accuses the company of refusing to pay a certain levy to government turns out to owe the company. Could it then be that they make these allegations as a smart way to avoid paying Intels what they owe the company?

    In the month of October alone, the company has had to deal with distractions from government agencies that claim to be carrying out routine obligations on the company, yet those obligations are always in the media with a deliberate negative slant to soil the image of the company. It is puzzling that the government has chosen this path in relating with investors in the country. This constant display of oppressive governmental powers triggers the question of intent. Are these coordinated efforts aimed at destroying Intels? Or how else does one explain the sudden coordinated projectile on a company that has existed in this country for over 30years with a track record of integrity and corporate social responsibility?

    Whatever the motives behind this siege on Intels are, it is high time someone told the government the truth. Intels may have Nigerians who have political inclinations and interest on its board, but Intels is a Nigerian company. It belongs to Nigerians and adds significant value to the Nigerian economy. Therefore, the government owe it to Nigerians to protect what belongs to them. Every government agency is entitled to carry out its statutory obligations within the confines of the law and in a manner that earns public support and the respect of the corporate world. Labelling companies and witch-hunting them only gives the government of the day a negative image both within and outside the country. Our dominant image is bad enough, we need not amplify it.

    President Muhammadu Buhari must either step in to stall the ongoing onslaught.  This is a new script that is alien to Nigerian business environment. The plight of Intels is now a cause for worry. Our nation is gradually criminalising investing in the country, especially when some stakeholders of the business have political interests. So far, it appears the only plausible sin Intels has committed to attract this treatment is the commitment of the company to invest huge funds in Nigeria. By this action, our country keeps reinforcing the negative rating on our ease of doing business. We are reinforcing the labelling that we have an unpredictable political environment that is business unfriendly. If things remain the same, the fallout of the ongoing onslaught against Intels is loss of jobs and a continuous decline in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country.

    Nigerians must not relent in speaking against this strategic effort to embarrass and distract Intels from conducting business successfully. As at today, there is no Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone in Nigeria that is more viable and successful than the Onne Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone managed by Intels. It is the largest of its kind in the world and adds great value to the Nigerian oil and gas sector and the economy at large. It is a world-class one-stop shop to make life easy for investors in the oil and gas sector to enable operators within this environment benefit from economies of scale. In an interview with a leading Nigeria newspaper, the Managing Director of the OGFZA acknowledged that over $6 billion of investments have been sunk into the Oil and Gas Free Trade Zones in the country, with a significant percentage of this going to the Onne Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone. Is it not then an oxymoron that the same company that has facilitated this level of investment is being persecuted?

    We must retrace our steps as a nation and pay attention to the right things. The more we keep harassing this company, the more pronounced the perception of persecution increases, which has the capacity to negatively affect the public image of the government of the day. Intels is a responsible corporate organisation and should be treated accordingly.

     

    • Goodluck is a Lagos-based Business Communication Analyst.

  • Industrialisation: Akwa Ibom model

    During a recent trip to South Korea, my admiration for this coastal Asian nation soared. Any visitor to South Korea would be amazed at the level of automation of the society which is a direct function of her high industrialisation status. Remember, South Korea is the home of Samsung, KIA, Hyundai, LG among other conglomerates originally called Chaebols (family-controlled conglomerates). They provided the impetus for a heavily industrialised South Korea of today. Though, most Chaebols started out as family-owned businesses, they enjoyed significant government support and patronage. In some cases, government of Korea had to intervene just so the conglomerates do not go to ruins. Ever since they have kept afloat and have become the pride of South Korea, providing the country’s biggest export earnings from automobiles to electronics.

    In Japan, under the leadership of Emperor Meiji, the spirit of Fukoku Kyohei or ‘rich country, strong army’, was born to birth a new era of industrial revolution. Whether it is the Zaibatsu or Keirestu (Japanese conglomerates) from the 19th and 20th centuries that prefaced modern day Toyota, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sony, Nissan among others, Asians have a rich history of industrialization spurred by family and deliberate government interventions.

    These Asians have become models for emerging economies. Africans would do themselves well to understudy the amazing miracles wrought by these Asians in the complex sphere of industrialization. Africa is under-industrialised, not because of market size but by an amalgamation of several factors which a new report by the World Bank Group – Global investment Competitiveness Report 2017/2018, exposed and explained. The report said reducing risks in developing countries is key to driving the needed development and to spur investment and growth in these nations.

    According to the investor survey report, political stability and security along with a stable legal and regulatory environment are the leading country characteristics considered by executives in multinational corporations before they commit capital to a new venture. These considerations far outweigh such issues as low tax rates and labour costs.

    Investment incentives may help attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) but are generally effective only when investors are wavering between similar locations as a new base for their exports. The report says when investment is motivated by a desire to access a domestic market or extract natural resources, incentives are generally ineffective.

    The report asserts further that the level of legal protections against political and regulatory risks, such as expropriation of property, currency transfer and convertibility restrictions, and lack of transparency in dealing with public agencies are key to FDI flows.  The World Bank report adds that reducing these risks at the country level is a foundation without which reducing project-level risks will not lead to increased investment and growth in developing countries.

    This is the context in which the industrialisation policy of Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State deserves a disquisition. The governor made it clear that the plank of his governance would be the industrialization of a state that has remained largely a civil service state. Perhaps drawing from his private sector experience as an investment banker, Governor Udom has created within a short period of his leadership, oasis of industries which has brought FDI to the state, created thousands of direct and ancillary jobs and improved the skills set of the people.

    A few examples would suffice here. Hitherto moribund industries such as the Peacock Paint factory has been resuscitated and now in full operations; a syringes manufacturing company was recently commissioned by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. Nigeria is a heavy importer of syringes which is an abnormally because all the raw materials required to produce syringes are within our shores. The syringes company will produce initial 400,000 syringes with the capacity to produce a billion a year.  Also commissioned was a Metering Solutions company which will ensure Nigerians get billed accurately by electricity companies. Jobs are being created so also is economies of scale built around these industries all of which put money in the hands of the people. Direct Foreign Investments are flooding the state. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently reported that Akwa Ibom State enjoys the second largest in- flow of direct foreign investments after Lagos. The NBS listed Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Oyo, Rivers states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, as the most investors-friendly destinations in the country in the first quarter of 2017.

    A breakdown showed that the five states and the FCT attracted a total of $908.268m capital inflow in the first quarter of 2017.  Lagos tops the list with 95 per cent of the capital, attracting inflow of $865.718. This is not surprising as Lagos is still by far the hub of commercial activities in the country. Next to Lagos is Akwa Ibom, which in recent years has become a major tourism destination. The state attracted $18.361m capital inflow pushing behind the FCT ($14.867m), Ogun ($5.351m), Oyo ($3.419m) and Rivers ($550,000) respectively.

    The emergence of Akwa Ibom as a rapidly industrializing state is a direct function of the vision of Governor Udom. The former banker is quietly applying a domesticated form of the Asian and World Bank formula for industrialization by providing legal protections against political and regulatory risks through the state House of Assembly for investors. The peace and security in the state buoyed by political will on the part of the governor to lead the charge on industrialization, in the fashion of Asian leaders, have contributed to lifting the state to its new status ahead of hitherto more strategically located states.

    The people of Akwa Ibom may not fully grasp the significance of the Udom industrial revolution mission but in years to come, these companies which are today regarded as start-ups considering their size and capacity would grow to become conglomerates especially when you factor the wisdom to float the companies as public-private-partnerships (PPP). This is the model that thrust the Chaebols and the Zaibatsus from family start-ups into global reckoning as conglomerates in what is today regarded as the Asian industrialization miracles.

    What is happening in Akwa Ibom in the area of industrialisation is not an accident. It is a product of careful planning and commitment to a promise. During his inaugural speech on May 29, 2015, the Governor said one of his missions among others was: “To leverage and build on the uncommon transformation of the Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio administration; to transform the economy of our state via industrialisation and sustained public-private sector initiative, thereby opening up opportunities for growth and improved living standards”.

    The recent ranking by NBS of the state as second only to Lagos in the area of investment capital inflow is a fulfilment of a campaign promise; the result of strategic thinking from a leader who sees opportunity where others see challenges. In this age, only frontier thinkers triumph in leadership. They rule the roost because they combine character and strategy. They are leaders for whom talk is not enough; you must walk the talk; you must show the way for others to follow. Governor Udom is writ large here. He is a leader who has matched effective thinking with productive action. Good leaders don’t just talk; they act, do and perform. Akwa Ibom governor has mastered this art and his people are the happier for it.

     

    • Ekong writes from Lagos.

  • NEDC: A promise delivered

    Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men- Mahatma Gandhi

    On Wednesday, October 25, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Bill for an Act that established the North East Development Commission into law.

    This is coming more than two years after the idea of establishing the commission was mooted and developed into a Bill by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara.

    The Speaker had, while receiving members of Yobe State caucus in the House of Representatives who paid him a solidarity visit few days after his historic election in June 2015 told his colleagues that urgent steps must be taken to rebuild the North-east which has suffered unprecedented level of devastation occasioned by years of violent insurgency. This, he added, may take the form of a commission similar to that of the Niger Delta Development Commission.

    It was his belief that ad hoc measures by the government such as administrative policies lack the strength to stand the test of time, a quality needed to yield the desired result of rebuilding the ruins of the region, given the probability of cancelling such interventions at will.

    He pointed out that there are many organisations and well spirited individuals from across the world ready and willing to donate funds to rebuild the North-east but are very cautious and wary of how the monies will be utilised in the absence of an established institution by the government.

    To match words with action, in August 2015, he sponsored a motion on the urgent need for the rehabilitation, reconstruction, rebuilding and resettlement of the North-east, in addition to his constant advocacy for the convocation of an international donor conference for the region as done for Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and lately, Syria.

    As expected and rightly so, questions were raised on whether this proposed commission will not go the way of the NDDC, with regards to misappropriation of funds and alleged failure to deliver on their mandate, but Hon Dogara appealed to his colleagues and senators alike and assured them that they will learn from and avoid the problems of the NDDC.

    It is worth noting here that the commission has the mandate to receive and manage funds allocated by the federal government and international donor agencies for the resettlement, rehabilitation, integration and reconstruction of roads, houses and business premises of victims of insurgency.

    This body would also help in tackling the menace of poverty and environmental challenges in the North-east and would among other things coordinate projects and programmes within the master plan for the rehabilitation, resettlement, reconciliation, reconstruction and sustainable development of the zone.

    This will be done in the field of infrastructure, human and social services, including health and nutrition, education and water supply, agriculture, wealth creation and employment opportunities, urban and rural development and poverty alleviation.

    As provided in the Act, the commission will also liaise with federal ministries, departments, agencies, states and development partners on implementation of all measures approved in the master plan for stabilisation and development of the North-east by the federal government.

    It will equally assess and report on any project being funded or carried out by any federal ministry, department and agency or company that has an agreement with the federal government, and ensure that funds released for such projects are properly utilised.

    The NEDC will equally liaise with other stakeholders on tackling of humanitarian, ecological and environmental problems and degradation that arise from natural causes, insurgency and industrial activities in the zone. This is in addition to seeking humanitarian, human, material, technical and financial support from development partners, local or international, and non-governmental organisations. One other key role of the commission is  to act as the focal point to coordinate and harmonise all other interventions programmes and initiatives that the federal government is involved with in the North-east.

    The Speaker had on Thursday October 26,  just a day after the bill was signed into law by the president, while in the company of the visiting  Shehu of Bama,  His Royal Highness, Alhaji Shehu Kyari Umar Ibn Ibrahim El-Kanemi, who led a delegation of elders from the emirate on “thank you” visit to him, cautioned against mismanagement of the NEDC and abuse of the trust given to them by Nigerians who supported its establishment through their lawmakers in the National Assembly.

    He contended that in the midst of doubts, North-easterners should be given the chance to prove themselves; the freedom and opportunity to rebuild their region against the perceived failure of others.

    I must admit that for a long time, I have not seen the Speaker in such a happy mood as when he received communication from the president informing him that the bill has been assented to.  Within few minutes of receiving the good news, he extended his gratitude to the president and added that the expeditious coming into force of the commission will remedy the long years of underdevelopment suffered by the region, though the recovery and redevelopment of the zone devastated by terrorism is expected to last decades.

    According to Dogara, “As true leaders and representatives of the zone, our true focus has been what we can do in order to ensure that we build on the successes that this government is recording in its fight against terrorism and ultimately to ensure that we do not have a relapse in that zone with this kind of situation we have found ourselves. The region is behind in all human development indices and businesses, factories, schools have been destroyed. I think as we speak, perhaps the only productive enterprise that we have in the North-east is Ashaka Cement.”

    Worth commending here is the role played by the wife of the president, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, who in April 2016, led a delegation of wives of governors from the region to attend the public hearing and even made submissions to the committee in support of the efforts of the Speaker.

    There is no family in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa that did not lose at least one relation to the seven years of intense violence and killings. People who were hitherto very wealthy became paupers following the destruction of their properties by the insurgents. It is estimated that about 200,000 people were killed since the beginning of the violence while property worth over $20 billion have been destroyed including schools, hospitals, markets, farmlands, churches and mosque alike.

    Today, the story has changed as most of them have gone back and more are hoping to return home soon, thanks to the effort of the security agencies under President Buhari.

    By appending his signature on that beautiful and unprecedented piece of legislation, President Buhari has touched the hearts of all North-easterners.  He has soothed where it pains them most, further strengthening the bond between them and him, and by that singular act, he has written his name in their hearts, in the hearts of their children and of generations yet unborn. He has further tightened the umbilical cord that connects him with the region and its people who have always looked up to him for leadership.

    The responsibility now rests with the people to ensure that they don’t abuse or misuse this trust the president and all Nigerians have given as cautioned by the Speaker just as it also behoves on the president to ensure that he appoints only persons of proven integrity to lead the NEDC and   pioneer the work of rebuilding the region.

  • Maina saga

    Maina saga

    Abdulrasheed Maina, the sacked, recalled, and now re-sacked chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reform, may have become the longest surviving corruption tainted public official, in this democratic era. Created and patented by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as an anti-pension-corruption czar, his descent into corruption scandal counted against the PDP. But when we thought he was politically dead, he suddenly popped up to torment the All Progressive Congress (APC) regime, before ‘dying’, yet again. Still, just like under the PDP, there are those ready to swear that Maina is innocent.

    Perhaps, corruption, sorry Maina, has become an Abiku, addressed in the poem of the same title, by the redoubtable Professor J. P. Clark, and in another variant, by Noble Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka. After corruption tormented PDP to death, allegations of corruption are back, to torment APC, and Maina has become the child, which is born, dies and is reborn to punish a mother. So, while the ruling APC may be railing at the Maina saga, with the supplications in Professor J. P. Clark’s poem, Maina’s family has adopted the defiance in the lyrics of Wole Soyinka’s Abiku.

    In Soyinka’s poem, Abiku had boasted: “in vain your bangles cast charmed circles at my feet. I am Abiku, calling for the first and repeated time.” That is the attitude of the Maina family, daring the government over its threat against their beloved awoof bread winner. They claimed that it was government officials that actually invited Maina back, to continue to clear the mess in the pension transition programme. Unfortunately, according to the EFCC, Maina has allegedly cleaned over N2 billion into his personal coffers.

    But in spite of being an Abiku, and despite the allegations of humongous corruption, Maina was brought back, perhaps ‘to rejuvenate’ the sagging fight against corruption. There again, they mimic Clark’s Abiku, when the poet intoned: “we know the knife scars, serrating down your back and front, like beak of the sword-fish, and both your ears, notched as a bondsman to this house, are all relics of your first comings. Then step in, step in and stay, for her body is tired, Tired, her milk going sour.”

    As accusations and denials, about who know what, and who did what, in the unfortunate recall of Maina, mount; this column again fixes the main challenge facing President Buhari, as the avoidable inter-agency rivalry and divisions, between the EFCC, DSS and some other agencies of the executive. With important officials holding divergent views on the propriety of the recall of Maina, who should the President believe? While the EFCC declared Maina wanted for alleged humongous corruption, Maina’s family claims the man was provided cover and protection by the DSS and police.

    There is also a report that the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, cleared Maina, while the Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulraham Dambazzu, and relevant civil service agencies provided him a safe house, recommended his promotion, paid him his outstanding entitlements, and provided him other special perks. If the allegations by EFCC is true concerning Maina, and yet those pointed at, acted mala fide, the bigger challenge facing the President is to find out, what motivated this huge embarrassment to the government?

    But is it possible that the whole saga is orchestrated, by those who suffered loss, as a result of Maina’s cleaning of the pension fund? What really is responsible for the perennial confusion as to who is acting in the nation’s best interest, each time Maina’s saga pops up? I recall that during the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan, Maina was like a prize, in a tug of war, between some members of the federal executive and some leaders of the National Assembly, over who was acting in the nation’s best interest.

    While Jonathan’s presidency claimed the National Assembly where miffed over their personal losses, arising from the cleaning of the pension fund, the National Assembly continued to put pressure that Maina must be held accountable for corrupt practices, in the administration of the pension fund. The tug of war went on and on, until the re-election fever took over, and like most scandals that plague our nation, Maina was allowed to disappear into thin air.

    Again, Clark’s supplications to Abiku, to come in and stay, sounds like the words the present government officials who allegedly orchestrated the return of Maina, must have used, to persuade him to come back, if we are to believe Maina’s family spokesperson; even though the mentioned officials are denying acting untoward in the saga. Here Clark again: “True, it leaks through the thatch, when flood brim the banks, and the bats and the owls often tear in at night through the eaves … still, it’s been the healthy stock, to several fingers…., who reach to the sun. No longer then bestride the threshold, but step in and stay, for good.”

    To show how desperate the officials allegedly concerned were to get Maina back to continue his ‘good’ work, it is reported that following his return, he was paid his outstanding entitlements. What is the motive for all this benevolence, if the EFCC report is correct? While many are disenchanted more about his return, few have pondered the humongous entitlement he was allegedly paid; perhaps because it pales into insignificance, compared to what he allegedly stole?

    Another angle to the saga. During the infamous regime of Gen. Sani Abacha, when the state’s legitimate instrument of coercion was turned into an illegitimate weapon of terror, democracy activists devised an escape route, beyond the comprehension and to the utter consternation of the Abacha junta. The famous NADECO route. In the Maina saga, a new escape vista has been added to the vocabulary. Those on the watch list of the anti-corruption agency would do well to study the Niger route through which Maina allegedly escaped, in case they need a quick dash across the border.

    Unfortunately, while the unpaid workers and pensioners wet the ground with mourning, like the mother of Soyinka’s Abiku, the corrupt elite, connive to suck their oil, their blood, their life, through corrupt practices. Like the suppliant snake, in that poem, the corrupt elite coil at the door step of our nation’s resources, and with the serpentine ferocity they turn the ripest fruit into the saddest. With squirrel teeth they crack open the vault of our common patrimony, ignoring our killing cry.

    The Buhari presidency must rise up to the challenge of securing our nation’s resources, otherwise the nation is doomed. Perhaps corruption, our nation’s Abiku, always returns to torment our leaders and the nation they lead, ruining reputation after reputation. As the battle for 2019 election circle begin to dominate the nation’s landscape, Nigerians wail like the mother of an Abiku for mercy. Mercy from the rapacious elite, who rarely give a damn about the mounds of compatriots felled, by the intricate web of poor governance.

  • SEC, Gwarzo and chicken chasers

    Constructive criticisms are sometimes necessary for the smooth running of organisations. They help to keep the executives on their toes and call their attention to mistakes as they occur. Criticisms can also become pernicious and debilitating when they are made in bad faith. They are worse when they are based on false information and outright lies.

    Since he was appointed as Director-General (DG) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on May 20 2015 by former President Goodluck Jonathan, Mounir Haliru Gwarzo has had a feel of the effect of evil manipulation of information starting from when he assumed office as DG after serving as a member of the board of the commission for more than two years as executive commissioner. He was appointed executive commissioner on January 2, 2013.

    The DG – SEC is, to all intents, a political appointment that must have to pass through the Senate for screening and eventual approval. The candidate for the job does not necessarily have to be a career staff of the commission. With his appointment as the DG of SEC, Gwarzo left from the SEC board as a full time member and commissioner. However, having served for a minimum of two years on the board, he was entitled to all his benefits particularly as the board of the commission, at a meeting held on July 11, 2002 (11 years before he was appointed to the board of the commission), approved, inter alia, that a permanent commissioner who has spent a minimum of two years is entitled to full benefits which can be monetized when leaving that office.

    Mischief makers, unfortunately in their ignorance simply pounced on that to rake plenty of muck in their bid to pull the Sec Director General Gwarzo down.

    Now, the fact is that a contrary legal opinion on the issue was made by the Acting Head of Legal department on the eligibility of the DG for the benefits. Suffice to say that this was equally dismissed by a counter opinion proffered by the Acting Executive Commissioner Legal & Enforcement and the Executive Commissioner Corporate Services of the Commission, both of whom are seasoned and senior legal practitioners. Regrettably, these counter opinions were not made public by the chicken chasers, neither was the fact that the benefits were not approved by the DG for himself but approved by the Executive Commissioner Corporate Services, whose statutory duty it was.

    Not done, the mischief makers would latch on the issue of vehicle purchase. True, Gwarzo supervised the purchase of three cars from Stallion NMN Limited, manufacturers and distributors of Nissan automobiles as project vehicles. Here again, records exists which shows that those vehicles were purchased in 2013 when he was still commissioner and not during his time as Director General. Even at that, all necessary approvals were obtained from the Bureau of Public Procurement. The vehicles were duly assigned to the various offices as project vehicles. They were never at any time assigned to or used by the person of the Director General or any other executive commissioner as private vehicles. Till date, the project vehicles assigned to the offices of executive commissioners which are vacant are packed in the premises of the commission.

    Again, in their bid to cast slur on the excellent job the DG is doing since he assumed office, the chicken chasers (apology to Prof Chukwuemeka Ike) have been looking for tell-tale signs of abuse of office. Where one does not exist, they chose to contrive one.  Government rules are clear on what a functionary should do in relation to business interests. The matter is considered settled when the functionary in question resigns from or withdraws his/her interests in those other businesses. There is nothing in the statute books stopping those businesses as corporate entities from doing business with that or any other government agency. The intendment of the law in insisting on this is to avoid conflict of interest.

    Before his appointment as executive commissioner, Gwarzo had interests in two companies owned by his family. He withdrew his interests in them before his appointment into the board of SEC. That was on December 12, 2012. As for the other companies his traducers are hinging on to blackmail him, they are companies doing business with SEC as an entity with no connections whatsoever to the DG as a person. The Public Procurement Act empowers the DG as the Chief Executive Officer of the commission to approve contracts within certain thresholds. However, to ensure transparency in the procurement process of the commission, the DG delegated every procurement exercise of the commission to the Minor Tenders Board, completely excluding himself from the processes.

    In the public service, there is a saying “if you don’t train them, don’t blame them”. It was in keeping with this aphorism that the executive management of SEC considered the training of some its staff on some specific areas of its core operations. It is, therefore, surprising that staff training should be counted as a sin committed by the DG. The initial plan was to assign that programme to a foreign trainer. But because of the exorbitant cost involved, the foreign trainers’ fee actually came to N700, 000 or its dollar equivalent per participant. To cut cost, the management engaged the services of local trainers including the Lagos Business School (LBS) and were paid less for the same programme. Some received as little as N150, 000 except for LBS that got N300, 000. If updating the knowledge base of the staff is considered a sin, then it is a sufficient ground to assess the intentions of those alleging inappropriate conduct on the part of the DG especially with regard to what they think of SEC as a key player in the nation’s economy.

    The circular restricting chief executives of government agencies to economy class in air travels was issued on November 2, 2016. Gwarzo travelled to Hong Kong for the International Organization of Securities Commissions board meeting in October of the same year. He received payment for his airfare for that trip and travelled on Business class. Considering the time he travelled in October and when the circular was issued on November 2nd, only someone out to cause mischief will allege misdemeanour on the part of the D-G. It is obvious that his trip to that Chinese city predated government restrictions on air travels and as such could not apply to that trip. This leaves one perplexed at the extent to which a person would fabricate tales to tarnish the integrity of another.

    Every corporate organisation, be it public or private has its own ways of appreciating staff leaving service meritoriously. For SEC, it was called The Golden Hand Shake, a retirement scheme designed by the commission for certain categories of staff. Upon assumption of office as D-G, the Gwarzo led management noted that the commission was top-heavy and rolled out this scheme, to encourage staff within certain cadre to voluntarily exit the system with certain benefits. The scheme was accessed by 47 staff and duly approved by the board and funded from the commission’s budget. Instead of citing anonymous sources, the mischief makers should have referred to the relevant sections of the Investment and Securities Act, 2007 that empowered the board to approve the commission’s budget as well as to establish and maintain a fund the proceeds of which it may apply to meet its financial obligations.  The Golden Hand Shake organised by the D-G was carried out in line with statutorily laid down rules of the commission. Till date, some staff of the commission have expressed regrets in not accessing the scheme at that time and have at various fora agitated for the re-opening of the scheme. Interestingly, the SEC is not the only organization to have rolled out the Golden Handshake as sister organizations such as the Central Bank of Nigeria implemented a similar scheme which is tagged as Operation Eagle.

    Finally, any chief executive will cherish constructive criticisms including from members of his own team. Raising false alarms on situations that does not exist can have diversionary effect that is not conducive for management practices. Gwarzo is human and like every human is susceptible to errors. When those errors are imagined, they are bound to be counterproductive. That is why they are frowned at especially in a sensitive corporate organisation like SEC.

     

    • Ume is an Abuja based analyst.

  • ABDULRASHEED MAINA, REGULAR NIGERIANS AND THE MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

    By objective logic, anyone familiar with Nigeria and its recent history will affirm that this populous African nation is gradually transforming into a theatre of sorts, as with each passing day there is one new and absurd distraction for good governance under the present administration of Muhammadu Buhari. Simply put, Nigeria is now like an episodic soap opera or a series movie. Unfortunately, the media which ought to play the role of watch dog appears to be the ready vehicle to use in constantly diverting Nigerians from their gory and turgid existence under the economic recession of the Buhari administration, a foundation which was apparently laid by the previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

    From stories of alleged billions of stolen naira under the former President Jonathan’s administration by his wife, Patience and cohorts to the supposed millions of dollars stashed away by the then Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison Madueke and her associates, it has been an endless narrative of looting without real solutions of recovery. Aside, the many negatives of the economy, there exist stories of dare-devilry kidnapping escapades of Chukwudumeme Onwuamdike “Evans”, to the blood thirsty visitations of the ethnic twins; Boko-Haram and Fulani Herdsmen, the pathetic separatism of IPOB, the almost comical emergence and heroic metamorphosis of Nnamdi Kanu, the contrasting comparisons of Rochas and Jacob Zuma. Of course, the unfolding drama in Nigeria cannot be complete without due mention of the numerous twisty actions of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, a.k.a EFCC and its tainted outcomes on corruption fight. In all, there has never been a dull moment for the reading public in Nigeria since May 29, 2015.

    Specifically, since the officious personnel of the EFCC, EFCC regurgitated the seemingly unending vendetta to demolish the image and reputation of many instead of fighting corruption, it has been an era of avalanche of denials, clarifications, intrigues and the deployment of oppressive and dictatorial fiat. The case of the former Chairman of the Pensions Reforms Trust Fund, Alhaji Abdullahi Andulrasheed Maina and the EFCC’s dealing with the man, has been unparallel.

    Central to all the happenings so far, is the fact that the singular purpose of the EFCC to ‘capture’ Mr. Maina and subsequently incarcerate him and then commence a convoluted legal prosecution process, the way some other high profile victims have been treated, has so far failed woefully as the former Pension Fund Tzar has remained illusive, elusive and almost magically intractable and untraceable.

    Maina has lost his job, his houses have been sealed, a manhunt has been declared for him by the EFCC yet with no indictment. The frightening prospect herein is that the action of the EFCC on a man like man that fought pension thieves with success of billions of recovery is obvious. First, Maina’s many enemies from the pension fund fraud cabal may now be embolden again to even circulate his name to some hired assassins as a prime target for assassination as reported done in 2013 when his car was riddled with bullet holes when an attempt was made on his life by presumably the same pension thieves he fought for the benefit of the Government.

    Consequent to the above, despite media induced blast on Maina’s alleged smuggled return to the Federal civil service despite allegations of corruption, let us at this juncture visit common good by sparing a thought for Mr. Maina as the forces of power battle themselves and further escalate the trauma the man is going through. Indeed, despite the media instigations and conjectures, what ordinary and objective Nigerians ought to place on their minds for deconstruction are many unanswered questions on the real issues that confront us on Maina especially in a recessed economy and the attendant consequences than slanted moral conclusions that are largely unsustainable.

    First, will the leadership of the EFCC claim ignorance of the fact that in all the said time of about one year which Maina was in Nigeria from self exile, they were not aware he was in the country?

    Secondly, now that the family has claimed that the Government encouraged Maina to return to the country, can we not now conclusively infer that his desired and facilitated return was for the defined purpose of assisting Nigeria to recover outstanding stolen pension funds for a government that has been seeking avenues to borrow money or was he recalled for tea party?

    Thirdly, has Maina not been conducting the services for which he was invited including providing key information to the government to justify his return, then why the protection from two highly reputable security agencies?

    Fourth, if Maina’s presence was not of huge value to the government, why should all these top ranking agencies and officials of the government collaborate on his issue?

    Fifth, let us recall that this same Maina had claimed that he has the capacity to recover an amount in excess of N3 trillion in addition to the said N280 billion cash he had earlier recovered and the N1.3 trillion he assisted the security agencies to collect from pension thieves. With all these, why shouldn’t Maina have many enemies who would easily instigate the media to simulate public opinion against him?
    By the way, has anyone actually wondered what it would have been if any whistle blower had stumbled on Maina’s peculiar information and how much commission on such an amount the whistle blower would get at the 5% blower’s commission or finder’s fee? This is something Maina did for almost free. Put in a different perspective, 5% of that sum of N280 billion is worth about N14 billion cool cash just for blowing a cash whistle. Then, what about the amazing N150 billion to be paid to a whistle blower for a possible recovery of N3 trillion, yet all would have just been borne from a regular salary of an acting Director in the Federal Civil service, like Maina. So, why has common sense eluded in this whole Maina’s recall, if not for illogical reasoning advanced by the pension thieves through the media?

    Sixth, in a functional democracy, is it appropriate for the President to sack a civil servant without any element of indictment, either legal or administrative, but merely on the basis of hearsay? The worst Maina would have gotten from the Presidency through the Head of service, is a suspension given the existing civil service rules and probably a directive to the EFCC to do what is considered legal. So, is the President’s sacking of Maina before investigation appropriate?

    Seventh, So to the average suffering Nigeria, which is more beneficial, the N3 trillion Maina has promised to recover or addressing the bogus allegations of N2 billion that might take years without end to get a court indictment? When has Nigeria become such a moralistic society with such appropriate judicial system whereas there are many cases of allegations of multiple billions against serving senators and ex governors that are still pending in the law courts?

    Eight, in a recessed economy, like what we are experiencing right now in the country what will work best on Maina, in terms of engaging him further? Will it be reason or skewed sentiments? These are the real questions begging for answers.

    For now, as the Abdulrasheed Maina saga continues to unfold in the days ahead, the conclusion at present is that victory has been thrust to the pension thieves as they still have the nation’s N3 trillion in their personal treasury whilst the real victims are a large section of Nigerians that are suffering because the Government has not found wisdom to use Maina to recover the N3 trillion he claims to have located as stolen pension funds which can be used to fund the 2017 budget deficits. For, a thinking Government, rather than go borrowing to fund the budget, it would make great sense engaging Maina than entertaining the public by making Maina a sacrificial lamb over N2 billion bogus allegations, that a fresh law school graduate can easily make a judge quash or extend litigation to endless years the EFCC will have capacity to sustain interest in such a case with likelihood of fading witnesses and irregular political interests.
    Azuka Ofodile,
    A public affairs analyst, is based in Abuja

  • Nigeria and false notion of leadership

    Nigeria is a heterogeneous entity of over 170 million people and about 500 ethnic nationalities – something to cheer about. Unfortunately, that which is supposed to be its strength has become its worst weakness. The socio-cultural environment is polluted by ignorance, hypocrisy, hatred, mutual recrimination, ethnic irredentism and adverse socio-cultural atavism. Our decisions at personal and national levels are coloured by hatred, creed and ethnic prejudice. We have people supporting injustice and promoting tyranny and oppression out of ignorance, hypocrisy, hatred and lack…By electing bad leaders and not holding them accountable and showing them solidarity even when they display crass incompetence and glaring injustices to the citizens, Nigerians are culpable in the crime of making and sustaining dysfunctional leadership.

    Indeed, leadership like most terms and concepts is grossly abused and bastardized in Nigeria. The Nigerian notion of leadership is tinged by traditional dogma and military mentality by the public. Leadership as it generally conceived is about influencing peoples’ behaviour towards the attainment of shared goals or common aspiration. This means that the leader wields power. Power in this context is not force, coercion or excessive reliance on authority but ability earned through trust, style, skills or other rare attributes. What does the leader do? The leader influences, motivates, supports, develops, plans, and achieve goals. A leader establishes direction, creates vision and strategies, effectively communicates goals, seeks commitment from his people, and builds teams and coalitions for the purpose of goal attainment. And the followers are usually motivated by the passion or the genuine commitment of the leader to pursue and achieve the shared goals. People are usually de-motivated, and disenchanted when the leader abandons the common goals and hanker after parochial interests.

    Over the years, the general views about leadership have evolved from mere emphasis on leader’s personality (traits) to other issues like the leader’s behaviours and capabilities. Thus, leadership can be appraised based not only on individual attributes, but on competencies (problem-solving skills) and leadership outcome (performance or goal accomplishment).

    The style approach to leadership is about the behaviour of the leader towards the followers and task accomplishment in different situations. By and large, the attitude of the leader in this regard is dependent on the situation. The behaviour of an officer leading his troops to the war front may not be the same when he is leading them to the parade ground or to the armed forces games. In the style approach, some leaders are task-oriented (more interested in goal accomplishment) while some are people oriented (more interested in relationship building). The most effective leader in the leadership grid is the one that combine both styles.

    In the skills approach, leadership is seen as a skill-based process. The skill approach emphasizes the capabilities that make the leader more able to effectively influence his group. These skills can be latent, honed or learned. Skills and abilities can be learned and developed. Robert Katz, a Harvard scholar identifies technical, human and conceptual skills as the basic skills that make leaders effective. Technical skills have to do with competency. Leaders should have the right techniques and analytical tools to interpret situations. A man who does not know about Economics may find it difficult leading an economic team. In the contemporary fast-paced world, leaders are expected to be updated with current global trends in order to keep pace with the environment. Outdated individuals would not understand issues and global contemporary trends and therefore may not be effective.

    Human skills entail ability to work with others; being sensitive to the needs of others and people management entails: sincerity, openness, respect, discipline, engagement, fairness, justice and identifying with the people. A leader identifies and fraternizes with his people. A leader leads people and that means that he should be a team player. A leader who is not a team player creates divisions and barriers that destroy the team’s cohesion. Leaders do not just listen to the people they lead, they create platforms for such and make conscious effort to encourage their people to speak and make input in the decision making process. They create an interface for a healthy interchange of ideas and stakeholder engagement. A leader who does not tolerate dissent views will always live in self-delusion and failure.

    A leader is a conflict manager. Leaders resolve conflicts effectively through peaceful means. The recommended tools for conflict management are: dialogue, conciliation, arbitration, reconciliation, adjudication, diplomacy, lobbying etc. The leader who depends on coercion solely as a means of conflict management is one bereft of intellect or one who has lost the moral right to lead. Those who rely on coercion are task masters and slave drivers. A leader who hates some of those he is supposed to lead is nothing but a slave master or at best a task master.

    Conceptual skills have to with ideas and concepts; vision, strategies and policy issues. Conceptual skills enable leaders to envision future direction and articulate policies that are in sync with his mandate. Leaders are visionary; they are focused, articulate, goal-oriented and forward-looking, not myopic. Leadership is goal-oriented and leaders take decision consistent with the attainment of common goals. At the top level leadership, conceptual skills are the most important.

    Generally, leadership is about making decisions consistent with task accomplishment and effective relationship management. Leadership decisions are guarded by defined principles of necessity, equity and fairness, not by sentiments or parochial considerations. In a multi-cultural setting, the decisions should be without personal biases and ethnic prejudice. Leaders take responsibility for their decisions and actions. It is a sign of humility and integrity and indication of willingness to learn. Those who do not take responsibility for their actions are not leaders at all but insincere opportunists. They are excuse-makers that are critical of others but seldom do self-examination. Ironically, those who shirk responsibility for their actions are the ones to quickly appropriate credit to themselves when things are right and apportion blames to others when things go awry.

    Leaders are expected to be people of high integrity. A leader who does not believe in fairness and equity lacks integrity and cannot be trusted. Integrity is an ethical concept that has to do with principles of what is good or bad and right or wrong, fair and unfair, just and unjust. A leader is not ethical just because he claims to be. Ethical leadership is about shunning personal egoism and making sacrifice for general interest.

    In Nigeria, our notion of leadership is antiquated. Nigeria has a horde of hypocritical and selfish political elite with incredible bulimic tendencies, a credulous and disoriented public with unreasonable and senseless ethno-religious affiliations and a gang of self-seeking individuals masquerading as civil advocates and the result is lack of national cohesion and the political class is never held accountable for their actions. The Nigerian public sees the leader erroneously from ‘the strong man’ position. The strong man is that person who bulldozes his way into a position of authority and sustains his position by force or unconventional means. To the Nigerian people, one who is humble, tolerant and considerate is a weakling and a fool. But the one who is ruthless, harsh and inconsiderate is a leader. The one in position of authority sees himself as somebody who should be served rather the one to serve. The elected officers see and refer to his fellow countrymen as ‘ordinary citizens’ while they are the extra-ordinary citizens. They behave the way they like and make no effort to reach the electorates until during election time. They want to be feared and worshipped. They want to be the last man standing. That is why they deliberately make their people impoverished so that they can be manipulated. They do not want anybody to oppose them.

     

    • Irogboli is an economist and public policy analyst.

     

  • Is anti-corruption war compromised?

    I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody” —President Muhammadu Buhari

    It was May 29, 2015 when that speech was made by the then newly inaugurated President Muhammadu Buhari. That punchy line resonated across the country, from the vast landscape of the north to the forest region of the south. The long awaited nemesis of the chronically corrupt and unrepentant enemies of good governance has arrived. It shall no longer be business as usual. The optimism on the part of the citizens was infectious.

    From a backdrop of a beaten and battered economy, widespread insecurity and a massively looted treasury, President Buhari served to the citizenry a three-pronged dosage as antidote, namely- Anti-corruption war, security and economic rejuvenation.

    It is common knowledge that the most potent weapon in the kitty of Buhari was the famed iron cast integrity earned over the years in the course of his service to fatherland. To clean the Augean stable of 16 years of filth left behind by the former administrations of the retreating PDP, he had committed himself to taking on corruption in every area where it reared its ugly head and there was no doubt on the part of Nigerians and other watchers that this difficult battle was capable of being won given the antecedents of its exponent.

    The zeal and seeming determination with which the onslaught against graft commenced gave hope that, indeed, the nation was undergoing a rebirth; that a new Nigeria, free of malfeasance, was here.

    But recent developments have given Nigerians and, indeed, international observers cause for serious concern. Is this war on course? Is the battle arsenal being evenly deployed to all troubled spots? Are some toes getting too big and too sacred to be stepped upon? More and more frightful questions continue to run through the minds of many. And rightly so, their doubts have not been unfounded.

    As this is being written, the media landscape is saturated with, perhaps, the most scandalous and most embarrassing story that promises to deliver the biggest blow to the anti-corruption drive of this government. It is the story of the former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina who the EFCC had declared wanted for monumental fraud, but was helped back to the country and reinstated to the public service with promotion.

    Only recently, the federal government approved the appointment of a 14-member board to boost the arsenal of one of the duo of the country’s anti-corruption specialized agencies, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC. On that list of anti-corruption warriors was Maimuna Aliyu. She would have made her way through but for the prompt intervention of the fourth estate of the realm, the press and other concerned Nigerians who took it upon themselves to keep watch over our fragile democracy.

    In reaching a conclusion on such sensitive appointments, one must have thought that proper background security checks would have been carried out to ensure a high level of uprightness in character and reputation of those in whom we would be placing our collective aspirations in routing the disaster that corruption and all its vice have bedeviled us with.

    But as it was later made known, bringing Maimuna Aliyu’s name for such a position was a grave error that shouldn’t have happened in the first place, given that there was an ensuing topnotch investigation into alleged corrupt activities by Maimuna by agencies of the federal government, the Nigerian Police and the EFCC.

    Littering the media landscape were series of incriminating documents on how Aliyu, an ex-banker, allegedly used her position to confer corrupt advantages upon herself, appropriating to herself property valued at over N1billion.  The ICPC Board appointment misstep is just one of the series of unfolding events that are daily rubbishing the gains of the anti-corruption campaign and depleting the credibility this government initially enjoyed at the onset of the battle.

    Take the recent open altercation between the Minister of State, Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru. Pointedly, Kachikwu accused Baru, among others, of awarding contracts totalling $24 billion without due process and without recourse to the board of the corporation. The contracts include: the crude term contracts valued at over $10billion, the Direct Sale Direct Purchase, DSDP contracts valued at $5 billion, the AKK Pipeline Contract valued at $3 billion, various financing allocation funding contracts with the Joint Venture oil Companies to the tune of $3 billion.

    Baru’s defence was that the said contracts went through due processes and was approved by the President.

    After all sides have stated their cases and all dirty linen washed in the open, one major take away was that impunity and corruption are still firmly entrenched in the nation’s oil sector and that some sacred cows can still get away with any malfeasance even without the proverbial slap on the wrist. How does this help the war against graft? How does this help to build confidence and engender trust in the government’s much touted determination to fight corruption to a standstill?

    All these questions are being raised even while the grass-cutting contract scandal which led to the suspension of the Secretary to the Federal Government, SGF, Babachir Lawal and the riddle surrounding the discovery of millions of dollars at a location in Lagos are yet to be laid to rest. Following the decision of the president to set up a high powered committee to look into these two unsettling developments and come up with all the facts, and subsequent submission of the report to the President since August 20, Nigerians had largely awaited a presidential pronouncement on them. The silence from the seat of power since then has remained very deafening.

    Does this not amount to a major setback for the war against graft? Does this not take a big chunk out of the credibility rating of this government regarding its avowed desire to stamp out corruption?

    Concerned citizens were still analyzing the disturbing turn of events and taking stock of the reverses the anti-graft battle has recorded when the Maina bombshell dropped. Now, this is a major devastating and damaging blow on whatever may have been left of the anti-graft campaign.

    Abdulrasheed Maina, the former pensions Czar who was accused of fleecing retired people of billions of naira and fled the country to escape arrest and trial, was, under the watch of a corruption fighting government, smuggled back into the country and not only reinstated but given double promotion, a reward (?) for the agony and deprivation he threw hundreds of tired and retired senior citizens of this country into.

    Although President Buhari intervened and ordered his sack and investigation of how this happened, the fact that it happened at all, under the watch of a regime that parades itself as anti-corruption warriors, has left a permanent dent and irreparable damage to the campaign. Can this government still reverse the losses already suffered and rev the anti-corruption battle back to life?  The answer lies in the womb of time.

     

    • Osi wrote in from Ajaokuta, Kogi State.

  • Lines for Citizen Soje

    Acts of extreme desperation hardly ever make the cut, not even in the most awful circumstances of life. From the standpoint of conventional social conduct – and not talking now the esoterics of clinical psychology – it is common knowledge that such acts are rarely well considered and thought through, and never correctly weighted against factual realities at play for individuals involved.

    Nigeria presently waddles in a ‘Great Depression’ of sorts occasioned by the lingering downturn in the national economy. And history records that extreme acts of desperation – mainly suicides – resulted from the Wall Street crash of October 1929 and the American Great Depression that followed, lasting till the outbreak of the World War II in Europe. At the peak of that gloom, some 23,000 people reportedly committed suicide in a single year. You could well say the economic circumstance of Nigeria today bears some semblance with that Western experience. However, ours is a largely communalistic way of living where life’s concerns are customarily shared with kindred folk; and a shared burden, as they say, is half resolved. Hence, it marks a curious cultural trend that some citizens take the suicide plunge as exit strategy on their challenges.

    But that is what we seem to be lately saddled with. Edward Soje of the Kogi State Civil Service was a recent victim of this curious cultural trend. The body of the 54-year-old civil servant was reported discovered penultimate Monday dangling on a tree behind the mammy market at Maigumeri Barracks of the Nigeria Army in Lokoja. He was suspected to have taken the noose barely 10 days after his wife of 17 years put a set of male triplets to bed in an Abuja private hospital. The couple had been childless before then.

    Soje, a Grade Level 16 officer in the Kogi State Teaching Service Commission, was being owed salary arrears by the state government at the time he apparently took his life. Initial reports said he was owed 11 months, which the state government controverted and rather owned up to eight months of its indebtedness. But it was the sheer struggle for survival said to have preceded Soje’s self-impalement that is most heart rending. With his income from monthly salary on ice, he was said to have pawned his only car and a three-bedroom bungalow he was building at Otokiti area of Lokoja. According to reports, Soje sold the building, already at lintel level, at giveaway price of N1.5 million in April to meet urgent family needs.

    And this tragic figure apparently gave it some hard, though twisted, thought before taking his fatal plunge. After the wife, who also works in one of the Federal ministries, was delivered of the triplets by Caesarean Section on October 7, he dutifully kept the new arrivals and mother company in the Abuja hospital until the eve of the naming ceremony. On October 13, Soje left for Lokoja where he cleaned out his bank account of the N30, 000 cash holding he had there and closed down the account. He then returned to the Abuja hospital where he handed in all the cash to his wife. The following day, he acted the blessed parent along with his wife as they hosted two pastors and few relations at the hospital to a brief naming ceremony for the triplets.

    Apparently persuaded in his clouded reasoning that he had fulfilled all righteousness, Soje enacted the final lap of his fatal egress. He reportedly took leave from the hospital on the pretext he wanted to pick a few things from the wife’s apartment in Abuja, and to return shortly. But he apparently had no intention of returning, because it was later discovered he left a suicide note with his mobile set in the apartment before heading to the Kogi capital where his body was subsequently found in the noose. It was some four days later that relations, who had mounted a search for Soje after discovering his suicide note, found his body deposited in the morgue at Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja.

    Nothing, absolutely nothing, stands to reason in considerations that might have motivated Soje to incinerate his life. He was not being paid salaries by the Kogi government, but apparently not so his wife who is said to be an employee of the Federal Government. Not a few would consider him uncommonly lucky to have that alternative. And if he had hoped to cut out of responsibility for the newborns, you would wonder how he expected the wife alone to cope. Actually, many would shudder at his value sense regarding the rare and long awaited providential endowment with triplets, with some offering their very lives to be so endowed. And for a cultural context like ours, you could query his notion of the parental legacy being handed down.

    But the Kogi State government as well has a huge moral burden in the fate that befell Citizen Soje. Responsible leadership demands that authority be exercised with acute sensitivity. But the Kogi government, like many others across the country, is quite notorious for fickle commitment to paying workers’ salaries. Thousands of civil servants are reportedly being owed between two and 21-month salary arrears by the Yahaya Bello government; and really, its attempt to deflect responsibility for Soje’s rash recourse fell short.

    The government said Soje received his salary up till December 2016 when it was stopped, along with that for some others, “after proof emerged he falsified his age records.” Head of Service Deborah Ogunmola said the state governor eventually pardoned some categories of those affected, including Soje. “Pardoned members of staff were processed for reinstatement and payment in batches. Soje was in the September 2017 batch and he was aware of this fact…that he was listed to receive six months back pay,” she added, noting that this leaves only two months (August and September) outstanding.

    It was obviously all part of the irrationality of extreme desperation that Soje didn’t find it consoling he was pencilled for imminent six-month back pay. But then, the Kogi government’s record for paying salaries is hardly consoling.

    The government had in August announced half pay structure for workers to bring down the wage bill – maybe justifiably so in view of dwindling revenue – which workers rejected. In its exertion to shed some overhead, the government has undertaken interminable screening of workers during which salaries have been put on hold. Among others, it also introduced casualisation of service employment through a clocking system used to compute pay based on physical attendance. Many professional and labour unions, including academics in state tertiary institutions, are presently on strike for default on their remuneration and allowances.

    But it is doubtful the challenge in Kogi is all about shortfall in revenue. Questions have been raised about transparency in the disbursement of those incomes that have been publicly acknowledged. Earlier on this year, Alfa Imam was removed as Speaker of the state House of Assembly and battered by invading thugs after he moved a motion for probe of the Paris Club refund to the state government. Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Ayuba Wabba noted in the aftermath that the incident represented “the height of intolerance, insensitivity and impunity, and a precursor to dictatorship and anarchy.”

    Soje had no just cause to take the noose. But with better conscience on the part of Kogi government and other employers at ease with not paying salaries, the gloom on workers can be relieved. And like President Muhammadu Buhari was reported to have said at a recent meeting with them, how do state governors sleep when they fail to pay salaries?

     

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