The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Stealing is corruption, please

    Stealing is corruption, please

    The ICPC chairman, who echoed President Jonathan, should be told to face his core duties OR quit

    The contention by Mr. Ekpo Nta, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), that stealing should not be misconstrued for corruption is unfortunate and an attempt to subvert the objectives of the anti-graft agency. Mr. Nta told visiting engineers at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja last week that ordinary Nigerians could be forgiven the mistake, but not educated people. Feigning indignation, the ICPC boss said: “Stealing is erroneously reported as corruption. We must go back to what we were taught at school to show that there are educated people in Nigeria. We must address issues as we were taught in school to do.”

    It is saddening that Mr. Nta, a lawyer who was brought ostensibly to give verve to the anti-graft war, failed to appreciate the pernicious nature and nexus between stealing and corruption in the country. He rather gave the impression that they are two distinct and unrelated categories of offences, that is if he believes that stealing is even an offence at all.

    The terse clarification later by his spokesman that stealing is an offence under the law that could be prosecuted by policemen was not just an after-thought, a reaction to the angst expressed by Nigerians to his statement, but was even more damaging to the battle to rid Nigeria of all forms of corruption. His veiled attempt to designate stealing as a minor offence is an indication that the ICPC boss is unfit for the position.

    A visit to the commission’s website tells the story clearly. “Corruption in Nigeria”, it says, “undermines democratic institutions, retards economic development and contributes to government instability. Corruption attacks the foundation of democratic institutions by distorting electoral processes, perverting the rule of law, and creating bureaucratic quagmires whose only reason for existence is the soliciting of bribes.”

    Transparency International describes corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. While it is conceded that corruption is not limited to outright stealing, any attempt to make a clear distinction should be condemned as dubious and self-serving.

    Bribery may not be the only form of corruption, but it is a very important aspect of corrupt practices in Nigeria. The ICPC itself grew out of an appreciation of the incalculable damage done to the development of Nigeria by those who have cornered the common wealth and converted public institutions and their funds to private use.

    Sad enough, the ICPC that was established in 2000 as the first agency solely saddled with the task of halting the trend has failed the nation as corruption continues to fester and the agency is more interested in repeating views expressed by the President than enlisting Nigerians in fighting the scourge.

    The ICPC chairman owes Nigerians an explanation on how it has conducted his duty in the commission. How well has he adhered to the oath he swore to at his inauguration in office in October 2012? How many convictions has the commission secured from the courts in its 14 years of existence and, especially, since Mr. Nta assumed office? What innovations has he brought to ensure that officials caught in the act are made to pay the price?

    It is perhaps more than a mere coincidence that President Goodluck Jonathan had earlier said the same words and noted that neither corruption nor poverty is the bane of Nigeria’s development. Mr. Nta must note that he might have been appointed by President Jonathan, but he should not take his gratitude to the point of undermining the cause of sanitising the Nigerian public space. His role is  clearly defined by the law establishing the commission and it is in no wise similar to the function of the official presidential spokesman.

    The ICPC was conceived as an independent body, thus its funds are charged on the consolidated fund, yet Mr. Nta seems not to appreciate this and would rather leave his core duties to the Nigerian nation and repeat statements made by the President.

    We urge the board of the ICPC to call Mr. Nta to order. Cases pending in various courts for five to eight years have been credited to failure of diligent prosecution, and, in some cases, outright collusion between the prosecution, defence and the Bench. This should stop. Well-heeled public officials found to have dipped their hands in the till must be brought to justice. Sophistry by the ICPC chairman should not stand in the way. All forms of corrupt practices, including stealing, must be fought with vigour. And, if officials saddled with the task are showing signs that they are sympathetic to the ill, they should be asked to step out of the range.

    It does not lie in the mouth of President Jonathan who presides over a terribly corrupt nation, or that of Mr Nta who is supposed to tackle corrupt practices in the same sick country to try to make any distinction between stealing and corruption. It is an unhelpful academic exercise.

  • Superlative students

    Superlative students

    •Nigeria’s educational feats abroad must be replicated at home

    For a nation whose existence has been disfigured by a succession of completely inadequate leaders, it is ironic that Nigeria has never failed to reveal the profusion of human resources that it has been endowed with. Proof of this was demonstrated yet again when Miss Merrilyn Akpapuna, a Nigerian student at Dillard University in the United States, emerged as its best graduating student.

    Miss Akpapuna’s achievement is breathtaking in its extent and depth. She graduated Summa Cum Laude, Latin for “with highest praise” and better known as a first class. Her cumulative grade point average was 4.0 on a four-point scale, implying that she had nothing less than As in every course she registered for.

    Her brilliance brought her membership of the Daniel C. Thompson/Samuel Dubois Cook Honours Programme, Phi Eta Sigma Freshman Honour Society, Dean’s List of Scholars, 1st Place for exceptional work in Algebra Relay, National Institute of Science, Beta Kappa Chi Honour Society, Alpha Kappa Mu National Honour Society, and Psi Chi National Honour Society.

    Nor was Miss Akpapuna the only Nigerian in the pantheon of excellence at Dillard. Victor Ogburie, Stephen Igwe, and Emole Anyadimgba were also among the best graduating students in the university, all graduating with first class degrees.

    It is a story which can be replicated in a wide variety of educational institutions across different countries: Nigerian-born or Nigerian-descended students demonstrating competence, ability and achievement at the most competitive levels of scholarship. There is Emmanuel Ohuabunwa, who became the first black person to attain a GPA of 3.98 at the Ivy League Johns Hopkins University. There is Tunji Anthony Olu-Taiwo, who graduated from Eastern Mediterranean University in the Turkish republic of North Cyprus as the best graduating student from the Faculty of Engineering.

    These stories of superlative educational attainments are a heart-warming contrast to the prevailing stereotype of criminality which is almost synonymous with the Nigerian story, regardless of whether it is told at home or abroad. For a nation whose international reputation has been further diminished by the murderous activities of the anti-education Boko Haram sect, the feats of these young Nigerians offer a significant measure of self-respect and pride.

    There is, however, the continuing dilemma inherent in the fact that people like Akpapuna would have found it difficult to flourish at home. Admission to tertiary institutions is riddled with corruption, ethnicity and incompetence. School calendars are regularly disrupted by strikes, riots and widespread breakdowns of law and order. Educational activity is hampered by the realities of an infrastructural crisis which ensures that there is inadequate water, power, internet access, laboratories and libraries. If a student manages to surmount these hurdles, there is the spectre of unemployment to confront. As the Nigerian Immigration Service debacle has shown, the search for jobs can have fatal results.

    If Nigeria wants to achieve the global pre-eminence, social inclusion and political stability that it craves, there must be a new approach to the vexed issue of educational development in the country. Many of the students who have done so well abroad were on full scholarships which covered all their expenses for the duration of their undergraduate programmes. The fact that they were not citizens of the host countries did not stop their brilliance from being recognised or rewarded.

    In contrast, exceptional students in Nigeria often gain scholarships and other assistance only after they have gained admission; indigeneship, catchment-area, educationally-disadvantaged states and other arcane restrictions are regularly used to deny deserving students of places in tertiary institutions. There are few systems to identify and nurture scholarship, and so students are compelled to work in an atmosphere that actively discourages achievement of any sort.

    When Nigerians are able to realise their educational dreams at home with the ease that is often the case abroad, the country will have attained true greatness.

     

  • Bombing menace

    Bombing menace

    • Recent Kano and Jos examples expand what was thought to be a shrinking circle of violence

    Under no circumstance would this paper have contemplated that the country could ever succumb to the inexorable devastations of bombings and other evils of the Boko Haram religious sect. Our position stems from the fact that the sect has continued its exploits as if the government in place is incapable of doing anything to quell its heinous acts. Yet, the government proclaims to be doing something; but one obvious fact is that its effort has yielded no effective result.

    We have our reasons for arriving at this conclusion: Very recently, the Nyanya motor park in Abuja was bombed by the sect, leaving hundreds of people dead. Less than 24 hours after this gory incident, over 270 school girls were abducted by the sect in Chibok, Borno State. Barely weeks after these destabilising acts, Kano State was last Sunday bombed; and this sad event was spontaneously followed 24 hours after by the latest Jos, Plateau State bombings, which left over 118 people dead in twin blasts at a market in the central Nigerian city. The casualty figures, sadly, were those of victims recovered from the scene of the explosions. By the time the search through the blazing debris would have been concluded by the rescue squad, the figures would probably be higher.

    The Jos twin bomb blasts that hit the popular Jos Terminus Market that is also known as New Abuja Market is one too many. In typical suicide bombing style, the first bomber reportedly came in a Fiat bus that was parked at the market’s central business area. The second blast, purportedly concealed in a Siena bus, reportedly occurred about 100 metres away from the first one. The government must be interested in knowing those responsible for the Jos incidents, especially in view of the fact that the city has been at peace for some time despite its local crises, and also because no one has so far claimed responsibility for the bombings.

    The earlier Kano blast which killed four persons occurred in Sabon Gari area. Coincidentally too, the two states’ bombings occurred in areas inhabited by predominantly Christians. Both states have enjoyed relative peace since last year when major bombings last happened in their jurisdictions.

    We are concerned that the incessant bombings in the northern part of the country are not ebbing but are indeed escalating despite the presence of experts from United States, Britain, France and Israel that are in the country to rescue the abducted school girls and to help, through technical support, in quelling the Boko Haram insurgency. This is understandable in view of the fact that such mission could take reasonable period before its dividend would be felt.

    However, President Goodluck Jonathan in his response to the last Jos bomb blasts, boldly declared that his administration will not succumb to the “… atrocities of enemies of human progress and civilisation.” But the official efforts so far on ground have not pointed in that direction as the government has seemingly proved incapable of reaching a denouement on the insurgency.

    The extermination of Boko Haram lies more on the sincerity of purpose deployed by the government and its topmost officials. At the moment, this utmost good faith could not be seen in view of our security agencies’ shoddy handling of the critical challenge posed by these criminals. On the part of the populace, we demand unalloyed civic vigilance. The government can only complement this by embarking on mass enlightenment campaigns that could educate the public about clues – which is what to look out for and to promptly alert the necessary authorities so as to forestall future recurrence of avoidable bombings in the states. The government needs not be reminded that the sustained Boko Haram bombings are detrimental to the country’s progress.

  • The deepening chaos in Libya

    The deepening chaos in Libya

    • Tripoli remains a battlefield years after Gaddafi’s fall

    When Colonel Muammer Gaddafi was toppled by a Nato-led military operation in October 2011, Britain, France and the US declared that Libya had a chance to move towards a peaceful democratic future. But for the past two and a half years the country has been mired in chaos – raising doubts in some minds about whether the west’s support for the Libyan revolution was justified.

    Libya is an oil-rich nation of just 6m people that ought to be one of the most prosperous in north Africa. Yet successive elected governments in Tripoli have found it impossible to stabilise the country and capitalise on its oil wealth.

    The main reason for this is that hundreds of militias – numbering about 250,000 men in all – have arisen across the country, using weapons that were seized from Gaddafi’s arms dumps after his fall. The authorities in Tripoli have continually caved in to the demands of these groups for cash – and failed to overcome those who control crucial parts of Libya’s oil infrastructure.

    Now, a new set of actors is trying to take charge of this chaotic landscape. A group of former and current officers from the Gaddafi era, including a retired general, Khalifa Haftar, have attacked government buildings in Tripoli. With strong backing from liberal politicians, they are trying to topple the elected Islamist-leaning government that is supported by Libya’s Muslim Brotherhood.

    The temptation of some will be to see this attempted coup as a copycat version of last year’s toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. But the success of the Libyan version is far from assured, not least because a number of Islamist militias may be capable of defeating the insurrection.

    Surveying these events, western governments will want to tread carefully. Mr Haftar’s move is popular with Libyans who are unhappy at the way the current government has failed to dissolve the Islamist militias. It may also appeal to those in the US who see the Brotherhood everywhere as an incubator of jihadist ideology.

    However, western governments cannot ignore that Libya has a democratically elected government. At the very least, the west should therefore call on both sides to avoid this stand-off descending into an all-out conflict between liberal and Islamist forces.

    The latest Libyan upheaval will again prompt debate on whether the 2011 operation, led by Britain and France, was justified. It was right to topple Gaddafi. He would almost certainly have plunged his country further into civil war following the uprising against his rule in Benghazi.

    But after he was killed, the UK, France and US failed to take the necessary measures to make Libya governable. Gaddafi’s rule left behind a complete institutional wasteland. The west’s determination not to put any military boots on the ground in Libya meant that a security structure could not be implanted across the country, leaving the regime’s arms depots to be raided by the militias.

    Whatever happens now, the west should not ignore Libya. It ought once again to become a leading oil supplier to the west, something essential given the growing uncertainty over the reliability of Russia as a source. But internal unrest has left the country pumping out only 300,000 barrels a day compared with a peak of 1.6m just before the end of Gaddafi’s rule. If instability lasts, there is also a risk of migration flows from Africa to Europe across Libya’s Mediterranean coastline.

    In most discussion over the failure of western intervention in this century the focus of attention has been on Iraq and Afghanistan. The casualties in Libya have not been on the scale seen in those conflicts. But the lack of strategic vision and political follow-through have been highly damaging to the west’s interests.

    – Financial Times

  • Fairy tale

    Fairy tale

    •Local rice production in Nigeria is still insignificant and agric minister Adesina must be living in another country to claim otherwise

    Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, minister of agriculture and natural resources has in the past few years earned a rather unenviable reputation as the most voluble of the members of this administration’s cabinet. And for full effect, he stands as perhaps the best dressed and the most good-looking of the lot. He is also a gifted speaker who knows how to dazzle with statistics. Each time he speaks, he garnishes his speech with figures that are bound to keep his listeners riveted if not spellbound.

    Over the years, it has turned out that his numbers which he brandishes all so casually cannot stand the most elementary of scrutiny. His most recent offering was his proclamation at a forum last week that, “We have achieved 85 per cent self-sufficiency in rice production. In 2013, we produced 2.9 metric tonnes of paddy rice. In 2012 we produced 1.4 million tonnes. Nigeria is now 80-85 per cent self-sufficient in paddy rice production.”

    Apart from the fact that even Dr. Adesina is well aware that he is being economical with the truth in the above assertion, he is also deliberately making mischief with statistics. We ask: is Nigeria getting self-sufficient in paddy rice production or on ready-to-eat rice? Anyone who knows anything about rice production would know that you could produce the entire paddy you want, yet do not have rice on your table. Paddy rice is therefore only half the rice story which will require another long value chain of milling, bagging, transportation, storage and distribution to begin to talk about locally produced rice. And mind you, it is a system that needs at least a decade of consistent operation before it can be considered in terms of sufficiency.

    Yes, a lot more Nigerians may be cultivating rice now than a few years ago, but it is still a haphazard process as there is almost a glut of imported rice in every corner market in all parts of Nigeria. Even at that, a chunk of cultivated rice in Nigeria is lost at harvesting level and another chunk lost at paddy and milling stages. The entire so-called rice revolution being championed by Dr. Adesina has been long on noise and propaganda and very short on strategy, capacity building and transparency.

    It would be the greatest thing to happen to Nigeria since independence if she can grow her own rice but the minister has a wrong-headed and insincere approach to it. He has increased the levy and tariff on imported rice and threatens to ban rice import next year. What has been achieved by this twin moves is to banish legitimate importers while creating a lucrative bazaar for smugglers. This is because it has become stupendously cheaper to import through Nigeria’s neighbours therefore, the risk of smuggling has become insignificant compared to the rich margins derivable. Also remarkable is the fact that as legitimate importers dwindle fast, government loses huge revenues to smugglers.

    Another sore point is that the Rice Fund which ought to have accrued from the levy has remained an opaque and under- the- table business of government. The fund is neither accounted for nor discussed. There is hardly any interface with the numerous rice stakeholders as most of the activities in rice cultivation and milling is largely being driven by private efforts with some support from USAID Markets.

    We dare say that it is grand deception for Dr. Adesina to talk of sufficiency in rice production in Nigeria today. We urge him to sit up, roll up his sleeves and draw up a medium-to-long-term road map. He must rally the stakeholders and deploy the huge sum which ought to have accrued in the Rice Fund for the purpose it is meant. Producing rice to feed about 160 million people is not cheap talk. Adesina should please get serious.

  • Justice for Toba

    Justice for Toba

    •The Fed Govt must step in to get justice for Toba Falode allegedly murdered in Dubai

    AISHA Falode is a grieving mother, contending with the pang of losing a promising 19-year old son, who virtually had the world at his feet.

    That the boy died in his prime was bad enough.  Worse still, he was allegedly murdered; and this heinous crime the alleged murderers were trying to pass as an accidental fall.

    But the unkindest cut of all: the United Arab Emirate (UAE) police are alleged to be masterminding a cover-up to bury the crime.

    The Nigerian government must exert all legal and diplomatic pressures to get to the root of the matter; and expose any cover-up, if indeed there was one.

    True, that will not bring back life to the dead.  But it would offer a grieving mother some cold comfort that the alleged killer of his boy did not escape justice.  Most importantly, it would help avert any such future crimes.  Who knows in whose household such a tragic bell would next toll?

    The reported death of Toba Falode, a 19-year-old student at SAE Institute, music and performance arts, university in Dubai is blood-chilling.  The official story is that Toba fell off the balcony of his 17th floor apartment in Dubai.  But Ms Falode found his son might have been pushed, by a Saudi youth whose father has extensive investment in UAE, after a reported scuffle for the attention of a British girl.

    Faisal Aldakmary Al-Nasser is the primary suspect, alleged to have pushed Toba from his 17-floor apartment to his death on February 15.  From Ms Falode’s account, the Dubai Police apparent lack of interest in the case and alleged attempt at cover-up arise from influence his father logs, as a big investor in UAE.

    Aside, except the Nigerian government pushes for the re-opening of the case, it is as good as dead.  This is because, by extant international laws, only a government, not an individual, can force the UAE authorities to ask the Dubai police to reopen the case.

    In the name of justice and fair play, the Nigerian government must intervene — and fast too.  That would at least reassure  Nigerians, wherever they are, that their government cares for their welfare and security.

    On the balance of available evidence, there appears indeed enough ground to suspect a cover-up.  To start with, as at the time of Toba’s fall, there is evidence of a scuffle.  Present at the 17-floor balcony were Toba, Al-Nasser and Olivia Melanie Richards Evans, the Briton girl between them.

    Other friends in Toba’s room reportedly heard sounds of a scuffle; and by the time Ms Evans and Al-Nasser emerged, with the Saudi announcing that Toba had fallen off the balcony, Al-Nasser reportedly had blood stains on his shirt and a fresh wound on his knuckle, suggesting some earlier struggle, that preceded Toba’s fatal fall.

    Al-Nasser, with the Dubai police, claims it was a fall.  Ms Falode insists it was a push.  The bounden duty of Nigeria is to find out the truth; and, if there is foul play, ensure whoever was guilty got his comeuppance by law.

    This is imperative because there is a relay of news of Nigerians being serially killed in foreign lands.  That should stop.  But that would be if the Nigerian government takes a stern stand on this running tragedy.  By starting with the Toba Falode case, it could well be the dawn of a new era.

    Having said that, there is a word of advice for Nigerian parents and guardians whose children and wards live or school abroad.  Quite a number of these kids and young adults are just dispatched there without proper supervision.  That is not good enough.  If parents give their children proper guidance on how to avoid getting into harm’s way overseas, surely cases of tragic deaths and other disasters will reduce.

    Even then, the Nigerian government bears vicarious responsibility for such tragedies.  Toba, like most of these Nigerian foreign ensemble studying abroad, would probably go to school at home if there were opportunities.  But the reverse is the case.  Governments at all levels should therefore ramp up investment in social infrastructure.

    Still, Toba deserves justice.  It must not be tolerated that a human being, no matter how rich and influential, could throw another, from a 17-floor balcony to his death.  That is absolutely unacceptable.

  • Should Assad face trial as a war criminal?

    Should Assad face trial as a war criminal?

    Reports have circulated over the last several weeks that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces are gaining the upper hand in that nation’s ugly civil war — and are once again committing atrocities using internationally banned chemical weapons. This time, the allegation is that the regime is dropping chlorine gas bombs from helicopters over civilian targets.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has been in Assad’s corner from the start of the civil war. –

    If an investigation underway by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirms the latest allegation — leveled by France, among others — it will be time to bring Assad before the International Criminal Court to answer war crimes charges.

    Why now? Why not a year ago, when Assad used chemical weapons, including deadly sarin gas? Because until recently there remained a chance — slim though it was — for a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis and for Assad’s negotiated exit. Knowing that a jail cell awaited him at The Hague if he left the country would have been a disincentive for Assad to leave voluntarily. But the closer Assad comes to prevailing in the war, the less need there is to keep that diplomatic exit open.

    Members of the U.N. Security Council are reportedly drafting a letter to refer Assad’s actions to the ICC. One challenge will be to win the backing of the United States; to that end, the letter has apparently been written specifically to allay U.S. concerns that American troops or the Israeli government will somehow end up before the tribunal.

    The second — and far greater — challenge will be to win Russian support. As one of the council’s five permanent members, Russia has a veto, and President Vladimir Putin has been in Assad’s corner from the start of the civil war. As his behavior in Ukraine demonstrates, Putin clearly doesn’t mind flouting international conventions. We hope he at least recognizes that the world must stand united against chemical weapons, and that Assad needs to be called to account.

    There is narrow cause for optimism. It was Russian intervention (after the threat of U.S. military action) that led Assad to admit last fall that he had chemical weapons, and to accept their supervised removal from his country. That process has progressed more slowly than anticipated. Although the last shipment remains stalled, international monitors are hopeful that the stockpiles will be gone.

    Chlorine, because of its pervasive use in industry, is not covered under the reporting requirements of the international Chemical Weapons Convention. But that convention, which Syria signed when it promised to give up chemical weapons, does ban using chlorine gas as a weapon. If the investigation finds the gas was used, Assad must be held accountable. The Security Council should put the war crimes referral to a vote and force Russia’s hand. If Russia vetoes it, then at least the world will be able to see who stands for humanity and who stands against it.

     

    – Los Angeles Times

     

  • Delay dangerous

    Delay dangerous

    •Govt should swap the Chibok girls for Boko Haram prisoners before it is too late

    Should there be a debate as to whether the Federal Government should go ahead and exchange the girls of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, abducted by Boko Haram insurgents on April 15, for Boko Haram prisoners? We do not think so.

    The eerie air of public disgust over the abduction has been further compounded by the purported demand made on government by Boko Haram. Abubakar Shekau, its leader, reportedly spoke in Hausa and Arabic in a video posted on social media where he threatened not to release the girls except in exchange for Boko Haram prisoners. “These girls, these girls you occupy yourselves with … we have indeed liberated them. These girls have become Muslims …We will never release them (the girls) until after you release our brethren,” he declared.

    The video also beamed the forceful conversion of the girls to Islam as they were heard reciting the first chapter of the Qur’an with their palms upwards in prayer. Chibok, Borno State, is inhabited by a sizeable Christian community and most of the abducted girls are reportedly Christians.

    Perhaps the simple question to ask those who think that the government should not accede to the demand of the insurgents is whether they would have held the same view if their daughters had been among the abductees? In our view, the government should go ahead and swap the girls for the prisoners, immediately. Indeed, we want the Federal Government to be decisive and effective in whatever action it has chosen to rescue the girls from the sect. So far, the government has not shown purposeful coordination on the method of negotiation to be officially adopted.

    At a point, Tanimu Turaki, Minister of Special Duties, disclosed that the government was ready to negotiate with Boko Haram: At another event, Senate President David Mark rejected this position which, unfortunately, corroborated what Mark Simmonds, British Africa Minister, disclosed to be the outcome of his meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, that the school- girls-for-prisoners swap is not within his administration’s contemplation. To us, the conflicting signals on whether or not the government should accede to the demand by Boko Haram constitute serious distractions from the main issue of prompt rescuing of the girls first, after which other things may follow.

    We should not lose sight of the fact that it was government’s failure to protect them that led to their abduction in the first place. Nigerians are supposed to feel safe under the federal might, irrespective of where they are in the country. Any government that cannot guarantee protection of lives and property in its territory has unquestionably lost its legitimacy to govern. This is the danger inherent in President Jonathan’s administration’s further procrastination over the fate of these innocent girls in the hands of Boko Haram.

    Moreover, the Federal Government has so far displayed lack of the required capacity to subdue the rebellion of the sect members, the anti-climax of which was the girls’ abduction that led to compelling acceptance of assistance from Britain, US, France and Israel. Nothing short of positive rescue of all the abducted girls is expected by the public as outcome of this global effort.

    We only hope that the Federal Government will not procrastinate further in reaching a quick armistice with the Boko Haram so that these girls can be released immediately before serious damage is done to them psychologically, emotionally and physically. Anything short of this is unacceptable.

     

  • Money laundering

    Money laundering

    We need new initiatives to catch up with the criminals

    Mr. Sarah Alade, acting Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the obvious at a regional course on Combating Money Laundering and other Financial Crimes organised by the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management(WAIFEM), held in Abuja. She accused banks of complicity in money laundering when she said: “bank facilities are used knowingly and unknowingly to further the act of money laundering, and in most cases to retain the proceeds of such crime.” Her speech that was read at the event by Charles Mordi, director of research of the apex bank is an indictment of banks generally, in the perpetuation of this criminality.

    The enormity of this crime globally could be gleaned where the apex bank’s top woman stated that “over 80 percent of the proceeds of money laundering are associated with banks, one way or the other, all over the world.” We recollect that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its survey conducted as far back as 2009 to determine the magnitude of illicit funds and to investigate to what extent the funds are laundered declared that criminal proceeds amounting to 3.6 percent of global GDP was reportedly laundered. We wonder what the actual percentage could be in 2014.

    Some of the vicious money laundering activities include proceeds of computer fraud, bribery, round-tripping, drug trafficking, prostitution rings, embezzlement, financial fraud, capital flight, fake cheques, fake currency minting, advanced fee fraud and insiders abuse. These illegal acts, on several occasions, have put banks’ professional integrity and ethical standards on the line. Yet, the destabilising acts have inexorably been on the increase, especially in the country where corrupt public officials launder public funds in collaboration with bank officials.

    Over time, money laundering has become an avenue through which perpetrators try to legitimise ill-gotten gains. It provides a means for controlling such criminal proceeds without attracting attention to the underlying activity or the persons/groups involved. However, such initiative is particularly detrimental to developing economies, including that of Nigeria, with its potential capability for perilous distortions on financial markets and its dampening effects on foreign direct investment (FDI). The act necessitated global scrutiny of all financial transactions, including embarrassingly, the legal ones, because it has become a ruinous catalyst for cross-border illicit asset transfers.

    We recollect that the G-7 summit which held in Paris in 1989 beamed its klieg light on the cankerworm. The summit established the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering to co-ordinate international response through the development of 40 recommendations targeted at guiding national governments in their implementation of effective anti-money laundering programmes.

    Nigeria subscribed to those recommendations and we demand to know how far the country has gone in obliterating money laundering in our clime. We know that the act has been criminalised through the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011. But how far has the nation gone in the enforcement of her money laundering law through prosecution of infractions and subsequent convictions in courts? More importantly, how effective are the investigative agencies saddled with the responsibility of tracking the crime and to what extent have the agencies been collaborating with their foreign counterparts?

    Nigeria needs a renewed money laundering initiative that would bring law enforcement agencies and financial regulatory authorities and other stakeholders not only in the country but within the West African sub-region together, to discuss and come up with initiatives that would stem the tide. The time to do that is now!

     

  • Extension not enough

    Extension not enough

    •Devising strategies for curbing terrorism in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states should go beyond extending the emergency rule

    YESTERDAY, the emergency rule imposed on three North-Eastern states lapsed. In anticipation, President Goodluck Jonathan had, last week, made a proclamation extending it and forwarded same to the National Assembly for ratification. However, while it had a smooth sail in the House of Representatives, the Senate has deferred discussions till this week. Eminent persons, political leaders and governments of the affected states have rejected the bid to extend the emergency, arguing that equipping and boosting the morale of government troops would be more effective.

    We find it difficult to agree with the contention by the Federal Government that an extension would help curb the insurgency and save the populace from undue harassment and displacement. Since the emergency was imposed May last year, the terrorists have struck at will in schools, villages and markets. State governments have continued to wonder how convoys made their way to public places and slaughtered the innocent. In some cases, Nigerian soldiers have lamented the superiority of arms and ammunition available to the Boko Haram terrorists.

    It is our view that mere extension without a thorough review of the operations of the security forces and improvement in welfare package for the troops would be counter-productive. The recent mutiny by some soldiers of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army is an indication that something grave is happening which requires more than cosmetic attention.

    Already, having lasted more than one year, the emergency in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states is the longest in the history of such unusual situations in the country. In the First Republic when the confusion in the Western Region led to the appointment of Chief Moses Majekodunmi as administrator, with consequent conferment of extraordinary powers on him, normalcy was restored within six months. The emergency was not extended.

    In May 2004, the Federal Government imposed emergency rule on Plateau State following communal conflicts that had engulfed the state and threatened to spill to others. The tenure of General Chris Alli who was appointed the administrator was not extended after it lapsed in November.

    Similarly, in October 2006, a state of emergency was declared in Ekiti State and another retired general, Adetunji Olurin, was made the administrator. His tenure had to be slightly adjusted to cover the one-month gap to the installation of an elected governor.

    By nature, emergency periods are supposed to last only a short period. While it could be argued that the situation that called for taking the measures has not abated, it should be equally noted that the emergency has not succeeded in ridding the territory of the terrorists.

    We also note that in none of the previous cases did the emergency rule cure the society of the ills that provoked such extraordinary measures. In the current case, the ease with which the insurgents, especially the outrageous recent kidnap of about 273 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, calls for a new approach by the military and civil authorities. Whether the emergency is extended or not, security of lives and property in the affected states and the contiguous region should be paramount.

    If two terms of the emergency could not stamp out the menace, there is no assurance that a third term would perform the magic.