The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Brewing row

    Brewing row

    •United States is right to support war against corruption in Nigeria

    The ripples generated by the reaction of the United States of America to the pardon granted former governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and former Bank of the North Managing Director, Shettima Bulama, appears to be threatening the cordial relations between Nigeria and the US. In the wake of the presidential pardon by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, an official twitter account of the American embassy in Nigeria described it as a setback in the fight against corruption and expressed the disappointment of the United States over the action.

    The presidency responded by dismissing the American tweet as an insult to the sovereign status of Nigeria and accused Washington of meddlesomeness. The American Deputy Chief of Mission in Abuja was summoned by the foreign affairs ministry to receive Nigeria’s formal complaint and, since then, there has been disquiet in diplomatic circles over the turn of events in the relationship between the two friendly countries.

    Two events that quickly followed the rift appear to underscore the importance that Washington accords the development. First, it has been reported that a proposed July visit by President Barack Obama may be shelved. Second, American billionaire Bill Gates who was expected to tour Nigeria to promote activities of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that has been involved in funding the battle to eradicate polio in Nigeria since 2009 was suddenly cancelled. It was a rude shock to the Nigeria Governors Forum and the Federal Ministry of Health that had been working to put the visit together.

    Third, there are suggestions that official restrictions could be slammed on Nigerian government officials who intend to visit the United States. Washington is also believed to be considering cutting grants and aid to the country in 2013. Last year, the United States committed about 226 million dollars to aid the health sector in Nigeria. This year, the Nigerian government has requested for an increase to $600 million.

    We restate our position on the ill-advised pardon granted Messrs Alamiey eseigha and Bulama. It sent the wrong signals to Nigerians and the international community. We find nothing wrong with friends of Nigeria aligning with the opinion of majority of Nigerians that the pardon was misguided and misplaced. On one of the first major international outings of President Jonathan after he assumed full presidential power, he assured the international community of his commitment to fight corruption. He was specifically advised by President Obama to tackle the evil. It is therefore not strange that the United States government is expressing concern over the recent turn of events in the most populous African country.

    In taking this position, however, we admit that Nigeria, as an independent country, has a duty to defend its sovereignty. It must also be said that the American mission in Nigeria has no right to treat our country with such disdain by addressing such a sensitive issue through the social media. There are established diplomatic channels to make the American position known. It is equally unacceptable that a country as endowed as Nigeria could be threatened with a cut in aid. It is an indication of how low the country has sunk in the past four decades.

    Incidentally, on two previous occasions that the American government decided to slam sanctions on Nigeria, the measures were widely applauded. Following the annulment of the result of the 1993 presidential election won by Chief Moshood Abiola, the Americans responded to the protests in Nigeria by applying the noose on the Ibrahim Babangida regime. This was repeated and taken further, following wide-ranging corruption charges and serial human rights abuses by the Sani Abacha regime.

    The steps being taken by the Jonathan administration now call for concern and concerted action by Nigerians and friends of the country all over the world. We do not consider visa restrictions on Nigerian officials as an affront to the Nigerian state but a step to illustrate the interdependence that defines the current global political order.

  • Unsafe voyage

    Unsafe voyage

    The deaths of about 166 persons in a boat mishap were avoidable

    It was nothing less than a sorry tragedy, despite the uncertainty over the death toll. Alarming media reports initially put the figure of fatalities in the boat accident at 166 or 168, but the picture became clearer following accounts by two survivors rescued after two days of near-death experience in the water. They clung desperately to an oil installation before help came.

    The vessel set sail for Gabon from Oron in Akwa Ibom State, but never made it beyond a spot of disaster off the coast of Calabar, Cross River State, where it developed engine trouble. At that critical moment, said Kive Sani, 27, a Togolese who lived to tell the tale, the captain sensed doom and called for prayers. According to him, “The Muslims prayed first, then the Christians; and he told us our life is at the end. Some were shouting Allah; others were shouting Jesus. Ten minutes later, water was still entering the boat and people started to jump into the water.” This dramatic account was corroborated by Hafsat Zakari, the 13-year-old girl from Benin Republic who was also saved from drowning. Sani estimated that there were 128 passengers, in addition to five crew members of Nigerian origin aboard. “Most of the people were from Ghana, Togo, Niger, and Benin. Not many Nigerians,” he stated.

    These survivors probably owe their lives to prompt action by Addax Petroleum workers who brought them to Calabar aboard a drilling vessel. It is commendable that these workers, who also recovered nine bodies from the water, responded to the emergency with a sense of duty, and sent word to the authorities on the mishap.

    All nine bodies recovered were women, and one was “heavily pregnant”. There are speculations that other survivors could have swum to the shore. The sunken boat, allegedly unregistered, is yet to be found, so its actual features remain unclear. But Sani described it as “fabricated with planks”, and added that the passengers boarded it “in the middle of water surrounded by bushes.”

    In other words, it was a wooden boat, and a sneaky voyage. Clearly, this was organised illegality. It is astonishing that this happened right under the watch of officials responsible for maritime administration and safety. Was there some compromise somewhere, an unholy alliance? This question is relevant because, from the evidence, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) cannot claim to be ignorant of the irregularities. Concerning the mishap, a NIMASA source reportedly said: “Apart from the fact that the transport fare charged by operators of the wooden boat might be cheaper than that of the normal vessels, those using the boat do not have valid travel documents. They enter illegally because the operators manoeuvre their ways and do not use the normal jetty when they get to Gabon.”

    However, it is not enough to analyse the situation without working to arrest such illegal operations. To start with, where is the take-off point for such trips? How does NIMASA perform its regulation and monitoring functions? What moves has the agency made since the accident to ensure that people do not deliberately flout marine operation and safety standards? In this regard, the failure of institutional oversight is not only condemnable but also inexcusable.

    Surely, with proper vessels equipped with life jackets, this sort of disaster can be avoided. It is evident that the boat in question was below standard, both in construction and equipment, which led to pathetic consequences. It goes without saying that, given the area’s marine environment, it is not only logical but also vital that water transport be well organised and better managed by the authorities.

  • In Cyprus, making up a euro solution on the fly

    In Cyprus, making up a euro solution on the fly

    THIS MUCH can be said fairly certainly about the new bailout plan for Cyprus: It’s a big improvement on the previous plan. Last week, the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and Cyprus’s own government concocted a scheme that would have propped up two of the island’s largest insolvent banks, partly by confiscating the supposedly insured deposits of small savers. The Cypriot parliament rejected it in the face of amply justified public protests. Plan B winds up the two banks, puts a de facto end to Cyprus’s days as an unsustainable offshore bank center and imposes the costs on big depositors — who include a disproportionate number of Russian tax avoiders and similar folk.

    Beyond that, however, the implications are much harder to determine. Has Europe set a precedent, according to which big bank creditors, from uninsured depositors to bondholders, must henceforth assume that their funds are at risk? Who knows? Jeroen Dijsselbloem of the Netherlands, who heads the “Eurogroup” of finance ministers, suggested that such a precedent had indeed been set — whereupon a top official of the European Central Bank, Benoit Coeure, declared that Mr. Dijsselbloem was “wrong.” In his view, Cyprus is a “unique” case.

    Wouldn’t it be healthy for Europe if bank creditors did get the idea that their funds were at risk, so that shaky banks would find it harder to get funded in the first place? Yes, according to those who say Europe’s problem has always been a “too big to fail” mentality. No, according to those who say that the Cyprus deal fatally undermined depositor confidence, thus making bank runs in other countries more likely.

    Certainly Cyprus and its paymasters in the European Central Bank have broken a taboo of the common European currency by imposing controls on the flow of capital into and out of the country, albeit “temporarily.” As long as those controls last, a euro held in Cyprus is no longer as valuable as those deposited elsewhere. But even that measure can be justified by the greater threat of a bank run; to save the euro, it was necessary to destroy it, partially, in one place, for a while.

    Cyprus is a template; Cyprus is a one-off situation. Deposits are susceptible to confiscation; deposits are sacrosanct. Capital controls are inconsistent with currency union — except when they are necessary. Maybe the real problem in Europe is that all of these statements are true, or might be true, depending on who’s talking, and where, and what particular interest — financial or national — the speaker represents.

    The Cyprus experience confirms that the powers that be in Brussels and Berlin are improvising to meet the crisis du jour, which is what they must do to hold together a currency union absent the usual political, legal and regulatory infrastructure. Until that inherently confusing and unstable situation changes, Europe’s policymakers will continue to make it up as they go along. For better or worse, investor confidence will develop accordingly.

    – Washington Post

  • Kanu’s large heart

    Kanu’s large heart

    • He is an exemplar of the successful giving back to the society

    It is heartwarming that the Kanu Heart Foundation (KHF) has decided to take its initiative to another level with its plan to establish a Cardiac Hospital in Nigeria. The hospital is to cost $35million (about N5billion). KHF, a charity organisation, was established by the Nigerian international football star, Nwankwo Kanu, on July 21, 2000, with the primary aim of putting smiles back to the faces of Nigerians and African’s blue children/young adults with various heart defects.

    It has so far handled 452 open heart surgeries since inception, up from 310 in 2008. This number may look small in 12 years, but it is huge when we consider the fact that heart diseases are usually expensive to remedy, especially since most of the surgeries are carried out abroad. But for the foundation’s intervention, many of the beneficiaries would not have survived to see their fifth birthday, just as many would not have been able to live normal lives without the correctional procedures.

    We commend Kanu for this humanitarian initiative, borne out of his personal experience with a heart disease. Shortly after returning from the 1996 Olympics, Kanu had a medical examination which revealed a serious heart defect over which he underwent surgery in November of the same year to replace an aortic valve. In the KHF we have seen in Kanu a practical demonstration of his oft-cited Christian faith in interviews he granted. His religion enjoins its adherents to be their brothers’ keepers; and this is what Kanu has done with his heart foundation. He has proved himself a moral exemplar both on the field of play and outside of it.

    Kanu has made a difference with his talent. Many of his colleagues who have made it big hardly remember the less privileged. Faced with Kanu’s type of medical challenge, they would have deployed their resources only in the interest of self to overcome the adversity; forgetting the less endowed who are going through the same experience. We have examples in our rich jetting out of the country to treat minor health challenges. Incidentally, many of them once occupied public offices through which they could have made a difference on the country’s healthcare system. But in his little way, Kanu, humanised by his own heart condition, is adding value to the society.

    It is particularly noteworthy that despite his educational limitation, Kanu has such qualitative vision. His 13 years experience with his foundation must have informed his decision to establish the Cardiac Hospital in the country. The first two beneficiaries of the foundation’s assistance were operated upon in London in 2000. New partners had to be sought in Israel as a result of exorbitant fees charged by the London hospitals.

    The search for more cost-effective price and the same high quality treatment took the foundation to India. The increase in the number of cases requiring the foundation’s attention, coupled with the attendant high cost made it look inwards by bringing The International Children Heart Foundation (Menphis. USA) to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, in 2003. There is significant progress in this area but it cannot be like the organisation having its own facility.

    Most of our big men (and women) have to emulate this kind of large-heartedness. Instead of spending their money on frivolities like building of night clubs, buying of exotic cars and or private jets; they can find better uses for their wealth. They should emulate Kanu’s type of philanthropy. They should identify with the cardiac hospital. The Federal Government too should lend its support to the initiative. This is the least we can do to encourage Kanu as well as other people who might be inclined to toe the same humanitarian path.

  • Chinua Achebe (1930 – 2013)

    Chinua Achebe (1930 – 2013)

    • A literary icon departs

    Fiction was his first love, and placed him on a pedestal. But his swansong, a stormy memoir beyond the fictive realm, threatened to knock him off his perch in the estimation of antagonists who faulted him for alleged inventiveness. Thus, ironically, the very quality that brought him fame, his rich talent for story-telling, became an albatross. Critics of his final work, released late last year, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra, regarded it as the product of an overactive imagination.

    The book was Chinua Achebe’s version of the three-year civil conflict (1967-1970) that nearly accomplished the dismemberment of Nigeria. His narrative romanticised the failed secession of his Igbo ethnic group, and painted the others on the side of unity as genocidal demons. This historical effort triggered an intense war of words across the country, showing remarkable divisions among Nigerians, 43 years after the fighting ceased. The thunder generated by the writing continued to rumble even till the author’s death on March 21, aged 82, in a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

    However, his literary celebrity undeniably outshines the controversy he created in his twilight with this historical bomb. There is a unified acknowledgement of his creative stardom, and he is generally described as “the father of modern African writing.” It is interesting that the beginning of his writing life also had an element of the controversial. His 1958 debut novel, Things Fall Apart, set out to explode Western myths on African culture, and was conceived as a counter narrative to a specific work by a European writer, Mr Johson by Joyce Cary, which Achebe considered racist in its treatment of Africans. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness was another European “colonial novel” that influenced Achebe’s African perspective and inspired him to tell the story of Western conquest from the viewpoint of the conquered.

    Achebe’s then unprecedented plot of a pre-colonial African people, the Igbo, who lost their pristine condition to Westernisation, catapulted him into the limelight. The novel, which sold over 10 million copies and was translated into some 45 languages in the writer’s lifetime, ranks among the best written in English and, by itself, guarantees Achebe’s place in the pantheon of literary greats. It is probably a disservice to the novelist’s gift that he was apparently defined by the success of his early fiction. For, indeed, he went on to produce other worthy novels, which were overshadowed by Things Fall Apart.

    An advocate of “beneficent fiction,” which is the notion that art should not be an end in itself, his oeuvre also accommodated post-colonial themes such as official corruption and abuse of political power. In addition to the novels No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987), he had short stories, poems and critical essays to his credit, and was a truly inspiring figure in the continent’s literary firmament. A good number of Africa’s distinguished literary voices emerged during his time as editor of Heinemann’s African Writers Series, and he encouraged the flowering of various talents that enriched African literature and made it visible globally. Although he was steeped in realism, his liberal aesthetics gave space even to the avant-garde.

    Achebe will be remembered for his political interventions, especially his pungent publication, The Trouble with Nigeria, in which he argued that the country, regrettably, “has been less than fortunate in its leadership.” He demonstrated his disenchantment with the country’s ruling class by rejecting national honours in 2004 and 2011, alleging lack of good governance.

    Laurels aplenty marked his eventful life, the most recent before his death being the 2007 Man Booker International Prize and 2010 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. It is a tribute to his spirit that though he spent the last 22 years of his life in a wheelchair following a car accident in Nigeria, he remained active intellectually and creatively. A native of Ogidi in present-day Anambra State, he studied English at the then University College, Ibadan, and was a professor at Brown University, USA, until his demise.

  • Kidney killer

    Kidney killer

    •Nigeria should do more to fight a dreadful disease

    As if its burgeoning health problems were not enough, Nigerians woke up on World Kidney Day to be told that chronic kidney disease has become one more deadly addition to the medical challenges they must confront. Celebrated on the second Thursday of March every year, the Day is meant to alert the world to the significance of kidney diseases and disseminate knowledge about their prevention and management.

    In the specific case of Nigeria, the prognosis is alarming. Medical experts who specialise in the treatment of kidney ailments estimate that 36.8 million Nigerians, over 20 per cent of the country’s population, are suffering from various stages of kidney disease. About 15,000 citizens are said to contract the condition annually. To make matters worse, a significant proportion of these patients are young people who are unaware that they have medical conditions which predisposed them to kidney disease.

    The kidneys cleanse the blood by removing waste products and excess fluid, help to maintain the balance of salt and minerals in the blood, and help in the regulation of blood pressure. Their failure to work simply means that the body will be slowly poisoned until it ceases to function. Those who are unfortunate enough to fall prey to kidney disease are only too familiar with the acute pain and distress that it brings.

    The sharp rise in kidney disease in Nigeria is due to a number of interlocking factors. These include significant lifestyle changes which have resulted in the acquisition of new dietary habits, especially smoking and over-consumption of alcoholic beverages, thereby triggering a surge in diabetes. There is also increased stress due to the pressures of modern life which can lead to hypertension and high blood pressure. Intravenous drug-use and the abuse of prescription drugs can also cause it.

    Treating kidney disease is a very expensive undertaking. When the kidneys are no longer able to perform their function effectively, dialysis will be needed; it is an intervention which runs into thousands of naira on a daily basis. Since kidneys cannot be repaired, they have to be replaced. Kidney transplants often involve a painstaking search for the right donor, and sophisticated surgery in a hospital abroad. In a country where common ailments like malaria, diarrhoea and typhoid can be fatal, the prospects for effective treatment for kidney ailments are gloomy indeed.

    This means that more emphasis has to be placed on making the populace more aware of what can be done to avoid contracting kidney disease. Greater effort should be devoted towards increasing awareness in schools, markets and neighbourhoods, with particular emphasis being placed on the lifestyle choices that could facilitate it. The country’s hospitals must be overhauled to meet the challenge by being capable of rapid and accurate diagnosis of renal ailments so that they can be detected in time.

    However, such is the all-encompassing nature of an effective campaign against kidney disease that it needs a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s welfare-delivery system to be truly effective. No attempt to alter risky dietary and other practices can work if widespread poverty makes healthier alternatives impossible to choose. Preventive campaigns aimed at youth will fail if the education and health systems remain incapable of performing their primary functions effectively. The treatment of kidney disease will continue to be chaotic and uncoordinated as long as the country’s tertiary healthcare continues to fail its citizens.

    Nigeria is currently at a crossroads with regard to its response to relatively new diseases like kidney ailments, heart conditions and cancer. How it organises itself to tackle these formidable challenges will be crucial to the health and well-being of its people.

  • Triple tragedy

    Triple tragedy

    • Poverty, impunity and ignorance unite to cause grief in Ogun State

     

    The deaths of a 17-year-old boy and his uncle as a result of electrocution in the Isale-Igbein area of Abeokuta in Ogun State are tragic reminders of the ways in which the potent confluence of poverty, impunity and ignorance continue to result in the needless deaths of Nigerian citizens.

    According to reports of the incident, the boy, Moses, was looking for scrap metal in the debris of recently demolished structures when one of the iron objects he was carrying touched a live wire. He was electrocuted and when his uncle arrived at the scene and attempted to rescue him, he suffered the same fate.

    It is easy to see the way in which circumstances conspired to make this tragedy almost inevitable. The demolitions had apparently not been carried out with the knowledge of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), which would have ensured that no power was supplied to the area for the duration of the exercise. The boy was looking for scrap metal in an effort to supplement his family’s income. His uncle’s ignorance of the proper emergency medical procedures in electrocution cases led to the loss of his own life.

    Similar tragedies are replicated across the nation. Roads that are already in poor condition are made even more dangerous by badly-maintained vehicles and impatient drivers. Homes and businesses that lack adequate fire-fighting equipment are worsened by unsafe practices such as overloading power points and storing inflammable materials indoors. Areas that are susceptible to flooding are rendered even more hazardous by the way in which drainage channels are clogged with waste.

    The Isale-Igbehin tragedy is made even worse by the fact that, as usual, nobody is likely to be held responsible for it; even though it is clear that there were obvious regulatory and procedural lapses. The contractor who demolished the structures erred in not ensuring that the electricity poles did not carry live current. The PHCN should have been more observant about activity inimical to its operations, especially as the tragedy took place opposite Government House. Not only will those involved deny any responsibility for the incident, the agencies whose duty it is to apprehend them are not likely to live up to expectation. So, this tragedy will be forgotten until the next one occurs.

    If Nigeria is to break free of the vicious cycle of unnecessary tragedy, there will have to be concerted attempts to ensure that needless incidents like these are reduced to the barest minimum. Greater effort must be put into preventive measures such as fencing-off sites where construction or demolition is taking place, putting up clearly-visible warning signs where necessary, and making sure that the proper safety protocols are observed.

    In addition, enlightenment on first-aid, emergency and safety measures must become part of Nigerian life. It is incredible that many users of high-rise buildings, marketplaces, schools and similar locations are ignorant of fire drills; when there are fire outbreaks, the panic often leads to more deaths than the fire itself. Road accident scenes are similarly chaotic, and are usually characterised by confusion and hysteria because very few of those present know what to do. Electrocution is particularly dangerous crisis to tackle if the would-be rescuers do not know what to do.

    The investigative capabilities of the security agencies must be expanded to the level where they are able to identify and prosecute those organisations or individuals whose carelessness results in the death or injury of others. The immunity from lawsuits and prosecution that parastatals like the PHCN enjoy should be removed. Nigeria cannot continue to be a death-trap for its own citizens.

  • Incurable fixation

    Incurable fixation

    MARCH 19, President Goodluck Jonathan would again remind Nigerians of his administration’s fixation with removing the subsidy on petrol. Speaking at the Nigerian Summit 2013 organised by The Economic Conference in Lagos, the President again restated his administration’s plan to remove the entire subsidy, after consultation with the people.

    He rehashed the same old, boring but nonetheless familiar arguments; that further subsidy constitutes a waste of resources that would otherwise have been channelled elsewhere; the main beneficiaries of the subsidy are the wealthy, “leaving the majority to bear the consumptive excesses of the well-heeled middle class”.

    It is unfortunate that the Federal Government continues to betray an appalling inability to educate itself on, or even come to terms with Nigerians’ resolve to get the government to do what is right on the matter.

    Whether the issue is the monster of corruption in the fuel marketing and distribution chain, and the perennial hiccups in the supply of refined products to which it gives birth, or even the phantom subsidy which the government has remained fixated on, Nigerians have long resolved that these are no more than the different sides of the same problem of failure of the resource-endowed nation to refine its crude locally. Why is it so difficult for government to bear this self-evident truth?

    Between January 2012 when Labour and other civil society groups took to the streets to protest the last fuel price hike and now, the question is, what has the administration done to justify the latest plan to inflict Nigerians with another round of hardship? We dare to say that we cannot find any positive development that Nigerians can point at aside the broken promises and bad faith.

    We start with the President’s promise to clean up the fraud-ridden downstream petroleum sector. Other than the fanfare of innumerable probe panels, very little has been achieved in terms of determining how much refined crude the nation consumes. Instructively, the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede-led Presidential Verification Committee on Subsidy Payments found transactions worth N232,192,575,214.20 involving 50 companies fraudulent. Yet, no progress has been recorded in bringing the affected companies or individuals to book.

    Today, citizens cannot make informed judgement on fuel import volumes – the basis of the subsidy payout – any more than they could last year or the year before, in spite of the so-called audit exercise.

    The story of the refineries is just as unflattering. In October last year, petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke told the Senate Committee on Downstream Sector that a whopping N251.2bn was earmarked for the repair of three refineries. The amount may well have gone down the drain, given that the refineries still operate sub-optimally.

    Nowhere is the government’s appalling bad faith so demonstrated than its much hyped plan to build three Greenfield refineries. The report in the media of the three sites being overgrown with weeds – would be latest evidence of government’s lack of seriousness.

    As it is, the Jonathan administration may be forgiven for running out of ideas on the domestic fuel supply conundrum. What is less forgivable however is the bad faith, its refusal to address the roots of the subsidy conundrum, which is the current preference for fuel importation.

    If it amounts to anything, we take seriously the President’s pledge to consult with Nigerians before removing the subsidy. However, without prejudice to the possible outcome of the ‘parley’, we must put on record that the Nigeria Labour Congress and other stakeholder groups have again restated their opposition to the so-called removal of the subsidy.

    On our part, we do not even consider it wise for the government to toy with the idea of removing the subsidy; not at this time when the security situation is particularly grave; and certainly not when government seems so unwilling to deliver on its promise of new refineries.

  • Augean stable

    Augean stable

    NIGERIA must have reached that point of no return where it either puts down its evil mogul, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, or the corporation deals a mortal blow to the country. Such is the magnitude of financial malfeasance revealed in the audit report on NNPC in 2007. The ‘errant figures’ are so numerous and large that they would simply damage the mind of even the best number cruncher.

    But more troubling is the fact that those managing the NNPC seem so inured to their ‘filthy’ ways that they don’t seem to smell it: they do not respond to audit queries; they yield not to the National Assembly probes and surely don’t give a damn about the press.

    The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee, PAC was so full of umbrage that it had to direct the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, to physically bring to its presence, the chief executives of NNPC and her subsidiaries, to answer queries raised by the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation in the audit of their financial records. The subsidiaries are: the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR and Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency, PPPRA.

    In just one accounting year, 2007, the audit captured over two dozen mind-boggling financial infractions which the management of the NNPC has no answers to. A few examples will suffice: 1) “Audit examination of the mandate letters from the NNPC to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in January and February 2007 revealed that the benchmark amount of the Domestic Crude Oil Sales proceeds was not fully paid by N38,816 billion to the Federation Account…”; 2) “Of the total withdrawals made from the Account of the Excess Crude Oil in the year 2007, $1,604 billion could not be traced to the records of FAAC (Federation Accounts Allocation Committee) on Excess Crude Oil for the year…”

    It is most curious that for a long time, Nigerians have been harvesting only tales of brigandage such as these from a corporation that would have provided the fulcrum for the country’s modern development. NNPC is required by law to present annual reports of financial accounts for public consumption. The last such report was rendered about 15 years ago, and as usual, it could not stand any auditing scrutiny. Currently, there are about half a dozen enquiries on the activities of the NNPC in the National Assembly (NASS). The most notable being the probe by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance headed by Abdulmumin Jibrin, which is probing NNPC’s non-remittance of its internally generated revenue between 2009 and July last year, totaling about N6 trillion.

    Nigeria is therefore faced with a scenario in which her number one corporation does not render accounts; exhibits extreme fiscal irresponsibility; is highly corrupt and utterly unproductive. Unlike what obtains in other climes, the NNPC has long proved incapable of delivering any value to Nigeria: it cannot refine crude oil, it cannot manage the importation of refined products from other lands; it cannot manage its Joint Venture partners, neither can it secure its oil pipelines, quantify production or mitigate the volume of oil theft.

    The situation is so, so sad upon the realisation that NNPC’s counterparts in Algeria and Angola, SONATRACH and SONANGOL, are running refineries and petrochemical complexes and they are reporting annual profits in billions of dollars. SONATRACH reported a 2012 profit of over $9 billion on a turnover of $72 billion.

    But we are not about the profit as much as the matter of accountability, transparency, the ability of the state to sustainably manage her strategic and sovereign assets for the growth and edification of her people. NNPC relentlessly showcases Nigeria as a mere laughing stock in the international community; it cannot even boast of having nary a nuisance value to Nigerians. Government must introduce an entirely new template in Nigeria’s oil management and do away with the NNPC now.

  • The limits of copyright law

    The limits of copyright law

    Supap Kirtsaeng was a Thai student in the United States who helped finance his education (and then some) by reselling textbooks that family members bought for a low price in Thailand. Textbook publisher John Wiley & Sons sued Kirtsaeng for copyright infringement in 2008, citing a federal ban on importing copyrighted goods without the copyright holder’s permission. Lower courts agreed with Wiley, opining that the “first sale” doctrine — a buyer’s right to sell, lend, rent or give away a lawfully purchased copy of a copyrighted work — did not apply to foreign-made products even if they’d been manufactured under contract with the copyright holder.

    On Tuesday, the Supreme Court overturned those decisions in a forceful declaration of the limits of copyright law. The justices ruled, 6 to 3, that the first-sale doctrine applies no matter where a copy is made, as long as it’s done in accordance with U.S. law. The decision in Kirtsaeng vs. John Wiley & Sons provides a welcome clarification that Americans are free to redistribute the copies they own that were legally made and sold overseas, just as they are with the copies they buy in the United States.

    Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen Breyer noted that the lower courts’ interpretation would cause nightmares for libraries and museums, whose ability to collect, lend and display works would be threatened if there were no first-sale rights to books and artwork made overseas. EBay, Goodwill Industries and other markets for used goods would be exposed to huge liabilities, as would sellers of new software-powered products that were assembled overseas — a category that’s expanding rapidly, thanks to globalization and the ubiquitous use of computer chips. Limiting first-sale rights to products made domestically also would give publishers such as Wiley an incentive to print overseas, because doing so would allow them to prohibit used copies of those books from being traded by students in the United States.

    Lawyers for the entertainment industry, software makers and other copyright holders argued that extending first-sale rights to copies made outside the border would make it all but impossible for them to set higher or lower prices in countries depending on the local economy. Breyer conceded that it would be more difficult to segment markets geographically, but added that “we can find no basic principle of copyright law that suggests that publishers are especially entitled to such rights.”

    That’s a key point. Courts shouldn’t assume that copyright law was designed to protect copyright holders’ slowly evolving business models. If Congress wants to outlaw the kind of “gray market” importing that Kirtsaeng practiced, it can do so explicitly. But there are many other industries that have found ways to deter those practices without the aid of copyright law — for example, by using contracts to keep tight control over foreign retailers. Courts have to balance copyright holders’ interests against the public’s ability to access those works and exercise the rights of ownership. In the Kirtsaeng ruling, the justices restored that balance.

     

    – Los Angeles Times