The Nation Newspaper

Tag: corruption

  • ‘Corruption hurting the people’

    ‘Corruption hurting the people’

    A former presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hajia Hadiza Ibrahim, has urged leaders to shun corruption and focus on delivering the dividends of democracy to the electorate.

    She spoke to reporters in Lagos.

    Ibrahim told Newsextra that corruption is killing the country and unless the leaders change their attitude towards governance, the people will continue to suffer.

    She said: “Corruption will never stop until when our leaders start to change people from one position, ministry and portfolio to another.

    “Let me give you example. Since the creation of Aso Villa, there are some people who have been there and are still there.

    “I travelled to a neighbouring country where I don’t need a passport to go. When they saw me, they said I am a Senegalese; may be because of my height. When I told them that I am a Nigerian, they said Nigerians are so corrupt. They said in Nigeria there are a lot of corrupt people and that our government is not doing anything about it.

    “How can you be in government and be stealing? People who rob with biro are enjoying. All they need to do is to add some zero so that where you have millions, it becomes billions. That is why you see people buying property here and there. Who are the people buying these properties? Where do they get the money from? Nobody cares to know.

    “Nobody is policing one another in this country. We need checks and balances. I urge Mr. President that charity begins at home, and that he should purge the Villa of some of its staff. These are the people selling appointment. “

    Ibrahim, who spoke extensively on the happenings in her party, said she has had offers from groups from other parties like the All Progressives Congress (APC) but that she wants to remain in her party and assist in the rebuilding process.

    She said: “Like I said, I am a woman of principle. I can never be a political harlot. I supported President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan with my vote and I cannot abandon him now.”

    Speaking on the in-house crisis that has engulfed her party, she said: “As a matter of fact, in every home, there must be misunderstanding. There must be some challenges but that doesn’t stop it from being a home. The squabble in the party does not mean that the party has disintegrated.

    “A party is made up of a group of people so there are bound to be problem but when the situation is under control, the party remains intact.  I blame Ahaji Bamanga Tukur for all the problems in the party. He is like a father who cannot put his house together.

    “The problem lies with our leaders. When a leader cannot control his house, he should be removed.  Truly speaking, the man is too old for any leadership position. The party needs somebody who is reasonable; who is diplomatic. Diplomacy is what you need in a group like PDP to run it. Any group needs somebody who can understand the minds of his group; not somebody who is temperamental; who gets annoyed easily.

    “The day Mr. President will sit down and say look there must be change that’s when this country will move forward.”

  • Reforms, Corruption  and Justice

    When  a former  Minister of Nigeria challenges Nigerian legislators  to a public debate over their salaries  and fringe benefits she is saying boldly  and clearly that it cannot  be business as usual on the cost  of governance in  Nigeria. In  Brazil  the President of the nation accepted the challenge of the demonstrators in Brazilian cities who disturbed the matches at the last FIFA Confederation Cup in June   and made proposals to Parliament that certain percentage of Brazilian oil royalties shall be devoted to education and   health. Yet  in Nigeria strikes by Nigerian lecturers  have become a way of life rather than lecturing in the universities because the lecturers claim they must strike to resurrect  the  comatose university system while their students   become victims of the idle mind and hands  with the attendant  socio  economic  consequences. In  Egypt, believe it or not former despot Hosni Mubarak  has been freed by an Egyptian court  and the judge said the judgement is final while the man who succeeded him as the elected  President of Egypt Mohammed Morsi is in detention in  a  place that nobody knows  in the land of the Pharaohs;   and in Zimbabwe  89  years  old President Robert Mugabe has been sworn in to  seventh  presidential term in a ceremony  in Harare  boycotted by the man he defeated Mr Tsivirangai.  Surely, one can say c’est la  vie  or such  is life as the French are wont to say.

    But  then in  all these issues  there  is  struggle  going on and a titanic one at that,  between those  defending the status quo obviously because it  pays them to do so at the expense of the rest of society. Just  as in some cases those fighting for their perceived rights don’t bother if the baby is thrown away with  the bath tub as long as they get what they want or what they think is their right. All  these struggles however take place in an atmosphere that calls for justice and order  as expected in a democracy powered by a rule of law which seem to have gone to sleep  while on duty on its watch. Or  why should Nigerian legislators abuse  Oby Ezekwesili  because she quoted authentic figures from the Federal Ministry of Finance on the salaries  of the legislators?  Why  should Brazilian legislators  now refuse to pass  the reforms proposed by President Dilma Rousseff  into law a month after the riots in Brazilian cities that saw these same legislators diving for cover for dear life at the time of the Confederation Cup? Why  should Mugabe still be grinning like a school boy winning his first prize at his seventh coronation as it were,  as the president of Zimbabwe after a rigged election like the opposition has  done a lot to substantiate?   And  pray, why should   Mohammed Morsi be in detention  in Egypt while Mubarak who was carried to court on a sick bed, in a cage  to face corruption charges , is now  a free  man – while the victor of the elections that strangled  and confiscated  the Mubarak regime to the dustbin of history  is  nowhere to be found in public? Obviously  there is something rotten in all these events that leaves   a sour taste in the mouth  but then we have to face the facts that unpleasant as they may  seem to observers, they are issues that will not go away just by wishing them so, and that is why we have to dissect them here and now today.  At  least to show that we are not totally befuddled by them and can at least  occasionally read between the lines.

    Taking them serially we start with the Ezekwesili revelations  which are not  original because she was quoting  statistics from the Ministry of Finance. What is unique is that she  has the guts to say that these salaries are not fair in a nation bedeviled with the poor welfare conditions of our citizenry and she  should know,  having been at the Mount Olympus of exploitation of the Nigerian masses as a Czarina of the sale of our public enterprises and  as a  Minister of Education. However,  her records while in office are immaterial  here, and should not disqualify her from the salutary task she has set herself in telling our legislators that their salaries are out of this world and make the cost of governance prohibitive. For her   guts and diligence in sourcing for vital statistics on the matter she has my unfettered admiration and l  enjoin our legislators to listen to her soft voice now or find out what happened to the rich and mighty in France  with the storming of the  Bastille during the French Revolution against  the ruling class in  France.

    In  Brazil  the President a lady like our  Oby Ezekwesili, Dilmar Roussef responded positively to the demands of the rioters that disrupted the staging of the Confederation Cup by FIFA in Brazil. One could say she did this to forestall a bigger disruption in the 2014  FIFA world Cup to be hosted by Brazil as well as the 2016  Olympics also slated by Brazil and one could be right. No  president will want his or her nation to be disgraced after going to great and very expensive lengths to win such glamorous and prestigious hosting rights. But it is in the nature of the reforms to placate the demonstrators that the Brazilian president has won my heart while I have scant respect for the Brazilian legislators trying to stall her proposals in Parliament. This  is because the demonstrators had complained about  increased transport costs and long hours spent in traffic  in commuting to and from work and the fact that   Brazil’s  riches in sports are not trickling down to the masses. So a responsive president  proposed to Parliament a huge $14bn bill for transportation and another bill that gives a huge percentage of new oil royalties to education and health  so that the masses can benefit from the riches of Brazil before next year’s World Cup and the 2016  Olympics  and the legislators in Brazil are trying to stall on the passage of these public spirited and pragmatic socio economic palliatives. Really l  feel sorry for these legislators as the Brazilian public knows the zeal and sincerity with which their president has pursued their welfare  and should know at the appropriate time what to make of their elected representatives in Parliament.

    In  Nigeria   however the issue of education especially in  the ivory tower is being handled with levity and a rather cruel one at that. Now  our youths spend eight years for a 4- year course and in most cases are not sure of when they are to graduate. Really I am fed up with the strikes and the lecturers as well as the government who is their employer as both have made a mockery of the tenet and objective  of industrial relations which is industrial harmony. For now  the Nigerian university  system is in disequilibrium and shambles  and the ultimate scapegoats  are our Nigerian students who are the   undoubtedly  the future of this nation. However,  the Minister of Finance complicated issues  further  and said the Federal   government could not afford   what  the striking   dons were asking for. She  quoted a figure which the striking dons denied  although they gave a lesser figure all the same . The Minister  obviously missed the fact that the matter  was beyond a budget issue and she should not have used the affordability concept in that context. Obviously people have asked if her children are schooling in any Nigerian university and she deserves the question and should  answer or resign. All  Ministers or legislators should also be asked that question and if   their wards or children are schooling overseas  they should just leave office. This  may sound stern now, but a time will come when it will be a litmus test to know those who have a stake in leading Nigeria now and in the future and especially  out of the present paralyzing strike syndrome. For now, I grieve with the Nigerian undergraduate in Nigerian universities who should be telling both the unyielding government and the strike loving lecturers what Shakespeare put in the mouth of the dying fighter in Romeo  and Juliet – a plague on both your houses, for you have made worms meat of me‘.

    I  take  Egypt and Zimbabwe  together in that in  terms of despotism and tyranny they are birds of the same feather. Indeed  in both nations this week you may say  of the two despots – Mubarak and Mugabe –  as it is usually said of successful  businessmen,  that they were smiling all the way to the bank! Mubarak was flown by helicopter out of prison to a military hospital for house arrest, what ever that means as his generals have Egypt’s democracy very well under their boots and have used even the courts to free their master and leader in the best spirit of spirit de corps you can find any where in the world today . So where is justice in all that?. Yes, the  army in Egypt has  made a bloody ass of the law  and made a mockery of the rule of law in that ancient land. But   then,  I  blame the Muslim Brotherhood which was patient for decades till Providence gave it power to tame  the army,  its ancient enemy in Egypt. But the MU   with  Morsi, frittered its  unique opportunity away in less than two years,  because it forgot an ancient dictum of the law that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands,  especially  in a democracy. So  the Brotherhood’s  high handedness and undue haste in establishing its values estranged it to those with whom it upstaged Mubarak in the first  street  revolution of 2011,  only for  it and Morsi to be consumed by a fiercer   democratic tsunami two years later,  with its elected president nowhere to be found and its spiritual leaders back in the custody  of Egypt’s  power loving and blood thirsty army. As  for Mugabe he has had his swearing in this week and must have sent a message to Mubarak  on his new status of house arrest. Mugabe obviously must have blamed Mubarak for trusting the Americans   in 2011  and  must have assured  him that what happened to Mubarak   in Cairo could never have happened to him in Harare. And he could be right,  as at 89,  there is not much time to spare to enjoy his  seventh coronation or  swearing in  after the ritual of a stage  managed election, as expected of a democracy which he has hijacked again and again  in Zimbabwe.

  • War against corruption gets to schools

    War against corruption gets to schools

    Corrupt practices will no longer be tolerated in tertiary institutions. In the new dispensation, lecturers can be prosecuted for failing to complete their syllabus, reports KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE.

     

    What corruption has permeated the fabric of the Nigerian society is no longer news. Like other sectors, the education sector is not beyond its reach and effect.

    Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Dr Ekpo Nta said in an interview that the extent of corrupt practices in institutions has given the agency a cause for concern, particularly given the important socialization role formal educational institutions are meant to play.

    Explaining the agency has been besieged by petitions of corrupt practices in tertiary institutions, the ICPC boss said investigating and prosecuting corrupt practices is not enough. He said the war will be more effectively won if fraud is prevented in the first place.

    To this end he said the agency has produced two vital documents which are expected will greatly help curb corruption. The documents are: the University System Study and Review (USSR), a template that prescribes steps to prevent corruption in universities; and the National Values Curriculum (NVC), which has been infused into the school curricula at the basic and senior secondary education levels, as well as that of the Colleges of Education. The chairman added that the NVC will also be infused into the curricula of universities and polytechnics.

    Nta said the potential of ICPC’s prevention mandate to save cost and reduce losses of national and institutional resources to corruption is part of what inspired the agency to design templates to nip corruption in educational institutions.

    Wit the USSR template, which was developed with the help of Prof Olu Aina, a commissioner with ICPC following empirical investigations into administrative processes in three universities (University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye and Salem University, Lokoja), Nta said corrupt practices should be expected to reduce in schools.

    The template has eight sections that deal with Admission, Enrolment and Registration of Courses (section 1); Examination Administration, Award of Degrees and Graduation of Students (Section 2); Teaching and Learning Services and Facilities (Section 3); Appointments, Promotion and Discipline of Staff (Section 4); Departmental Administration and Faculty Governance (Section 5); Contract Award (Section 6); Financial Management (Section 7); and Research and Research Administration (Section 8).

    Each section lists the corrupt practices associated with the subjects they discuss, and roles the tertiary institutions, National Universities Commission (NUC), the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the ICPC should play to prevent corruption from occurring, which Nta believes will be more profitable for all parties involved.

    Nta said in the forward of the template: “‘Prevention is better than cure,’ so goes the old adage. In our efforts to combat this unwholesome phenomenon in our tertiary institutions, we also subscribe to this adage. It is far cheaper to prevent an act of corruption than to clean up the consequences of the mess created. It is in this context that this template has been prepared to accompany the main report of the pilot phase and the Template for Conducting System Study and Review in Universities.”

    For instance, to prevent examination malpractice covered in Section 2 of the document, universities are expected to install CCTV cameras in examination halls; print question papers on the day of the examination to reduce leakages; use of CBT; carefully select people of integrity to handle examinations among others. The NUC is expected to dutifully carry out its oversight functions; while ICPC could help by re-orienting students about the merits and demerits of examination malpractices.

    Section three, which covers the teaching and learning facilities, lists delay in take-off of lectures and non-completion of syllabus by lecturers as a corrupt practice. Others are: Non-adherence to students/lecturer ratio results in over-crowding of classes; and lack of commitment to work by the lecturers, leading to absenteeism and non-preparation for lectures.

    Nta said once the template is in use in schools, the ICPC would prosecute academic and non-academic workers that perpetrate the infractions.

    The ICPC chair also noted that the agency is interested in follow up visits to the ones done by the NUC to cross-check claims made by universities to gain accreditation for their programmes.

    “We have started a procedure of beginning to collect visitation reports of the NUC used for accreditation. We will go round the institutions without prior notice and when we come around, we will like to see the equipment the NUC accreditation marked as seen. If the otherwise is discovered, we will treat it as a very serious infraction meant to deceive. We cannot leave the responsibility of making universities attractive to universities alone. We must address the issues ourselves,” he said.

    Throwing light on the NVC, Nta said the curricula deals with 12 value themes that have been infused into the select subjects taught in primary and secondary schools.

    The values are: honesty, discipline, justice, right attitude to work, citizens’ rights and duties, national consciousness, contentment, courage, regard and concern for the interest of others, role of the family, religious and spiritual values, and Nigerian traditional values.

    The values will be taught in subjects such as English, Business Studies, Christian Religious Studies, Islamic Studies, Social Studies, and Civic Education at the Basic Education level (Primary 1-JSS3), while at the senior secondary level, they will be taught the national values in Book Keeping, CRS, IS, History and Food and Nutrition.

    Nta said the NVC has been hailed internationally as Nigeria is one of the first countries to come up with a document to prevent corruption.

    “Nigeria has been invited to make a presentation at the UN office in Vienna on the National Value Curriculum. It has been described as a good model of prevention,” he said.

     

  • ‘Corruption, infrastructure deficit bane of Maritime’

    Corruption and infrastructural challenge have been identified as the bane of the shipping and clearing arm of the maritime sector.

    According to the Chief Executive Officer, Best AirCargo and Shipping Services Limited, Mr Jerry Jay, the resolution of these issues would see shipping and clearing making huge contributions to the economy.

    Speaking when he visited the headquarters of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Jay told The Nation that he came home to establish a branch of his company in response to President Goodluck Jonathan’s appeals that Nigerians in the Diaspora should bring home their businesses and expertise to help build the country.

    He, regretted that the government has failed to provide basic infrastructure and tackle corruption.

    “Nigerians in the Diaspora have the expertise, resources and connection that can help develop this country but the country is being strangulated by corruption, policy inconsistency, poor infrastructure and other evils. These discourage them,” he said.

    He said in China, the government builds houses and makes other provisions for its citizens in the Diaspora who were willing to relocate and invest in China while in Nigeria there was no form of encouragement, no matter what you want to do.

    Jay said having stayed in Asia for 16 years, he has gained enough expertise that would enable him bring about a positive change in shipping and cargo clearing in Nigeria, but he was afraid because of too much corruption and infrastructural decay at the ports. He said, there was no port in Nigeria that compares to what is obtained in Asia.

    “In China or Hong Kong, you can have your container released to you in two hours once it arrives the port and this is at a cost equivalent of between N5,000 and N10,000 whereas in our ports, for your container to be released, it takes several days to weeks and costs several hundreds of thousands of naira or more than a million naira in some cases, despite the President’s effort at reformation.

    “In Asia, everything works systematically and you can plan successfully. But here, there are lots of policy somersaults; things are not organised for sustainable growth and most Nigerians in the Diaspora find it difficult to cope with this kind of system after experiencing the best way things are done in other countries,” he said.

    On shipping in Nigeria and Asia, Jay said there was no basis for comparison. “In Nigeria, there is no good equipment at the ports, there is no stability or continuity of policies whereas in Asia, the economy, the currency and every other thing is planned and this is what investors want to plan their businesses. It is not easy to set up anything in Nigeria because there is no reliable system in place.”

  • ‘Efficient public procurement system will curb corruption’

    ‘Efficient public procurement system will curb corruption’

    One of the easiest means of perpetrating corruption is through the award of contracts. The fact that billions of naira have been stolen in the name of contracts shows a failure of the public procurement system, experts have said.

    “Corruption has its roots in procurement and award of contracts,” emeritus professor of Law and former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Ayo Ajomo said.

    He was among speakers at NIALS’ Fourth Diaspora Scholars Lecture held in Lagos. It had the theme: Entrenching fairness and the rule of law in Public Procurement: Reflections and Lessons from South Africa.

    This year’s lecture was delivered by Prof Patrick Osode of the Nelson R. Mandela School of Law, University of Fort Hare, South Africa.

    Ajomo said he was on a United Nation’s (UN) panel in the 80s, which studied award of public contracts in Nigeria. Major contractors of the world were interviewed.

    “It was discovered that Nigerians have a propensity to own foreign accounts. And before any discussions are held on contracts, they ask contractors to pay money into those accounts,” he said.

    He blamed the government for treating corruption with kid gloves, decrying the fact that high-profile conviction for graft remains low despite heavy looting by public officials.

    Ajomo said rather than jail high-status persons found guilty of corruption, anti-graft agencies enter plea-bargain arrangements with them, thereby encouraging rather than deterring official sleaze.

    “Of all the nations in the world, Nigeria is the most notorious for keeping money in foreign accounts,” Ajomo lamented

    Osode said Nigeria’s performance is mediocre in governance and public procurement, adding that corruption makes it impossible to “mobilise the faith of the citizens, especially youth, around the Nigerian dream.”

    The effect, he said, is damage to the national brand and continuing dent to the society’s moral fibre.

    “When I hear that public funds are found in the basement of a public servant, it breaks my heart,” Osode said.

    He said through the 10 years he served as Dean of Law in his university, he never “saw” a Rand (South African money) out of the faculty’s budget.

    Osode said a poor public procurement system manifests in willingness of Nigerian families to tolerate illicit use of public funds by relatives.

    It is also evident in general lack of genuine respect for the law, legal institutions and public functionaries.

    “There is abnormal and inexhaustible appetite for conspicuous consumption and wealth accumulation by Nigerian elites,” Osode said.

    He said one way to ensure an efficient procurement system is to make it part of the constitution, as South Africa did.

    In the South African Constitution, public procurement is directly and indirectly stated, such as in Section 217 known as the Procurement Clause, Osode said.

    “Public institutions and functionaries are specifically mentioned as being bound by that section.

    “It is also justice-able, as no other law can supercede public procurement laws because it is in the constitution.

    “That way, public procurement is capable of being deployed on a mission of nation-building through the enhancement of social inclusion, which should in turn lead to greater levels of transparency,” Osode said.

    The law professor called for a review of Nigeria’s public procurement laws to remove the provision for administrative review which whittles down the influence of the court in such matters.

    “Administrative review is problematic. It confers quasi-adjucatory responsibility to the authorities.

    “The Administrative review indirectly insulates the tender process from judicial review, which hampers the growth of legal jurisprudence. Administrative review should be jettisoned,” he said.

    According to him, meaningful development will continue to elude Nigeria until its public procurement system is made effective.

    “If we are to increase the pace of development and restore public trust and confidence in the state, the quality of governance in public procurement will have to be improved sooner rather than later.

    “Therefore, effect amendment of the 1999 Constitution to incorporate public procurement as has been done by Kenya in its 2010 Constitution. Eliminate administrative review.

    “The effectiveness of the public procurement-related laws and institutions will depend on Nigeria’s successes in creating a socio-political environment that is conducive to the rule of law.”

    Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement, Mr Emeka Ezeh, represented by Dr Akanmu, said the Public Procurement Act (2007) empowers the bureau to regulate the entire process of public acquisition of goods, works and services.

    Their duty, he said, involves identifying the need and source of fund, and letting people know through advertisement that the government or its agencies want to make an acquisition.

    “The bid must be examined technically and financially. The winner of the bid should be the lowest evaluated, responsive bidder.

    “For any bidding firm to be responsive, it must be a legal entity,” Ezeh said.

    Professor of Law at NIALS, Paul Idornigie, decried the fact that since 2007, the National Council on Public Procurement, which should guile the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), has ceased existing.

    NIALS Director-General Prof Epiphany Azinge (SAN) said the purpose for establishing the Diaspora Lecture – to bring back the best brains abroad – was being achieved.

    “We are attaining the objectives and the goal of engaging people in the Diaspora. The lecture is a way of bringing our best brains home to make useful recommendations on how to move the country forward in various spheres.

    “Osode has been out for 25 years and this is the first time he is coming back home. We keep looking out for our colleagues across the globe.

    “They need to be brought back to contribute to the country’s development. We are achieving that objective through this forum, which is like an instrument to chart a path, so that our people, wherever they are, can be useful to the country.

    “We will, in conjunction with the relevant authorities, work to implement all the recommendations that flow from the lectures. If we can do that successfully, we will have achieved our aims.”

     

  • Scholar urges leaders to shun corruption

    Bayero University, Kano (BUK) senior lecturer Prof Salisu Shehu has urged Muslim leaders to fear Allah and shun corruption.

    Shehu made the call at a Ramadan lecture organised by the Muslim Students Association (MSA), Nigerian Muslim Women Association (NMWA), Young Muslim Association (YMA) and the Bauchi Radio Corporation (BRC) in Bauchi.

    According to him, bribery, corruption and disrespect for teachings of Islam were factors gaining ground among Nigerians leaders.

    “Leaders must change their attitudes and follow the teachings of Islam before any meaningful change can be achieved in our society,” he said.

    Shehu, a former Special Adviser to Governor Isa Yuguda on Education, urged Muslims generally to unite in practising the good and acceptable deeds as taught by Islam.

    Also speaking, the Grand Khadi of Bauchi State, Alhaji Abdullahi Marafa, called on leaders to be careful in dealing with peoples’ rights.

    On his part, the state representative from the Shari’a Commission, Alhaji Mustapha Hassan, urged Muslim organisations to increase the number of similar lectures to educate people, especially Muslims on things that affected their lives.

    Chairman on the occasion, Malam Yunusa Ado, said the lecture was organised to assist leaders to know their responsibilities in line with the teachings of Islam.

  • Corruption and anti-corruption watch

    The world over, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are to agencies, organizations or social movements that open up the liberal political space, engender equalization of opportunities; improve the circumstances of disadvantaged peoples and institutions and hold governments to account.

    Ordinarily, NGOs are expected to be not profit-oriented and are supposed to be independent of the control of government. These usually value-based institutions or organs pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interest of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development.

    But in Nigeria, the mushrooming phenomenon in the third world has prompted some scholars to contend that it has suffered some “explosion, derailment, and displacement”. This is because charlatans who merely masquerade as NGO operatives have infiltrated the rank of these social, popular democratic movements.

    Drawing from his experience with his hitherto leftist friends, associates and acquaintances, Edwin Madunagwu in 2006 underscored the proliferation and bastardization of the NGO sector thus: “Almost every friend I know, every comrade of mine has an NGO. I know someone who is running three non-governmental organizations, is involved in about five others, and has about four others already registered awaiting activation when the need arises.”

    Any keen observer of the events that have shaped the nation’s politics in the last few months will discern the unwieldy tendency of political actors to use these “change-agents” to foster acrimony and disunity in our dear nation. A case in point is an unknown organisation that goes by the name, Anti-Corruption Watch and its recent activities.

    Existing only on newspaper advertorial pages, it has made it a business to teach independent government agencies their modus operandi only to please their paymasters.

    Currently, the amorphous Non Governmental Organization played the devil’s advocates by inciting the public and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to beam searchlight on Niger State over some spurious allegation that first sprouted in 2009 at the height of the political shenanigans orchestrated to filibuster the job of the Chief Servant, Dr. Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu. Being a whistle blower, the Anti Corruption Watch can only be applauded if the job that it has elected to do is anchored on truth. But the present exercise is a failed attempt to put spanner in the work that has been internationally acknowledged as exemplary.

    The climate has gone sully again because of 2015. Now, time is ripe for political do-gooders to dig into things known and unknown to convince their paymasters that the Aliyu administration does not justify the rating that has put Niger as a frontline state in terms of poverty reduction and great developmental strides. The same state that is currently rated as the least poverty-stricken state is now being tarred by those without empirical basis as corruption-riddled and enmeshed in sharp practices. Had they known that the allegations of wrong-doings have been investigated and dispensed with by the agencies accused of ineptitude, they would have covered their faces in shame.

    Scooping money from their gullible promoters to incite the masses against the administration only exhibit the limitations of the paymasters and their hack men. This was the same route of perdition that ended grievously and many of them had to eat their words when the administration set out to develop all the sectors of socio-economic life of the people.

    It is understandable that the mouth of detractors who had failed woefully to wrestle power by hook or crook should be filled with sour grapes.

    Now in collaboration with people who feel the Governor has an eye on the top or would not brook the idea of leaving the top seat as an exclusive preserve of present occupants, they have gone back to their pastime to rake up muck. The real and behind-the-scene motives for the unrelenting mischief making by well-known detractors of the current administration in Niger State should be obvious to all thinking people.

    No one who visited Niger State before and after Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu came to power will fail to attest to the fact that he has filled the void of the same devastated state that had been abandoned in a state of helplessness.

    Because of the yawning developmental gap left between what was and what is now, it has not been easy for these lily-livered rumour mongers to come to terms with the giants stride being made to make the state one of the three most developed states in the country by 2020, a major plank of the Babangida Aliyu transformation agenda code-named 3: 2020.

    It is no wonder that as a way of trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the people, these shameless detractors who obviously do not have the interest of the masses of Niger State and by extension, most northerners and indeed Nigerians in mind have resorted to various arm-twisting tactics to sow the seed of discord in every venture that Mu’azu Aliyu supports.

    It will be recalled that the Anti-Corruption Watch is aping what an article written in 2009 under the pseudonym Engineer Yahaya Mahmood spawned through a ridiculous petition, sent to the Niger State House of Assembly, leveling all manners of tendentious allegations against the Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu administration.

    Needless to state that from the mediocrity of the presentation of the ‘facts’ in the silly petition, it was obvious that the so-called engineer who allegedly authored the report was just desirous of dragging everybody else into his natural habitat. The only aim of the allegations is to distract and divert the attention of the executive and legislative arm of the government from their busy schedule of work for the people. The writer of the petition knew that there was no chance of them coming before the state House of Assembly to substantiate their wild allegations as the petitioners are mere ghost writers.

    So how does Anti-Corruption Watch corroborate the allegations they have raked up or they simply want the taxpayers’ monies spent on spurious allegations, simply because they hate the guts of the Chief Servant?

    For the records, it is obvious that the beer-parlour gossips cannot justify the developmental strides of this administration in terms of health care delivery, sanitation, agriculture, education and road construction and rehabilitation.

    Stealing from the poor state will only be Satanic, it is a venture a God-fearing servant of the people like Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu will not toe. There is however no doubt that attempts to erect such red-herrings would collapse.

     

    •Ndayebo writes from Minna, Niger State

  • ‘How to curb corruption in oil sector’

    ‘How to curb corruption in oil sector’

    A renowned economist, Adekunle Disu has expressed optimism that Nigeria can be salvaged from the scourge of corruption, particularly in the oil and gas industry which has metamorphosed into a hydra-headed cankerworm. in recent times. Industry sources estimate that over $680billion is lost to corruption annually in the sector due to sharp practices in which the new petroleum industry bill (PIB) seeks to address.

    Disu, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BOK Development Limited, while speaking on the topic; “Corruption in the oil industry” at the just concluded 2013 annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos branch, is optimistic that this colossal loss could be effectively checkmated if government will key his recommendations.

    They include strong political will to deal with corruption, transparency in the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and amendment of some sections of the PIB, particularly as it concerns the powers of the minister of petroleum.

    “To reduce the rot in the oil industry, there must be a strong political will to deal with the issue of corruption in our society. The corruption in the oil sector will only be a thing of the past if the political classes sincerely confront it strongly with every sense of altruism”

    “There must be a truly transparent and competitive process in the bidding process for oil blocs and oil related contracts with strict adherence to rules that govern international best practices. There must be dichotomy between the regulatory authority (NNPC) and the prospective bidders”

    “There must be adequate cost control and accounting procedures. Periodic accounting and audit by the NNPC and external audit firm will guarantee transparency and quality accountability,” Disu recommends.

    On the power given to the minister of petroleum in the current draft of the PIB, he is recommending a total review so as to avoid misuse of power by the occupants of the position.

    The powers ascribed to the minister of petroleum in the current draft of the bill have been described as ’draconian and omnipotent’ in various quarters which in itself could lead to corruptive practices that the bill seeks to eliminate. Under the current draft, the minister can inter-alia, grant and revoke leases unconditionally, determine royalties, decide the price of gas flaring and recommend members to the board of all the new companies and agencies.

    Other powers that Disu is recommending for a review is the minister’s ability to override the decisions taken by regulatory agencies, and to do all such other things incidental and necessary to the performances of the functions of the minister under the act. More disheartening is that the new PIB does not provide any mechanism to check possible abuse of these powers.

    Disu charged civil society organizations not to relent in their efforts at tackling corruption but to be more conscious not only about issues related to the oil industry but to issues in governance generally.

    “I believe that Nigeria can be salvaged from the scourge of corruption. I believe that the future of our country is bright. But we need to muster the courage at the political level to begin the process of cleansing the Nigerian stable. Only then can our efforts at economic development and social stability begin to yield fruit”, Disu contended.

  • Democracy, corruption  and austerity

    I thought of calling this piece – Between Cairo  and PortHarcourt – but changed my mind. This was  because that would reduce my concern and overall effort to a mere call for a protest or a demonstration when indeed there are other issues involved in various parts of the world that illustrate the problems of global governance in more realistic, if painful ways. It  may sound funny or unbelievable, but some of the events that happened this week simply beggar description in the way they have stood logic on its head .What  I am  saying here is that the concepts I  have eventually  chosen as the topic of the day have been stretched to their limits in terms of understanding  and   meaning judging from the way they  are being applied  or practiced   globally,  in recent times.

    Starting from Russia you find it difficult to accept that anti corruption activist Alexei Navalny who called Russia’s ruling party United Russia ‘a party of thieves and crooks ‘and  led demonstrations against the reelection of Russia’s President Vladmir Putin was himself jailed for embezzlement by a Russian Court  in  a rather opaque manner that has made EU nations to question the rule of law in Russia. In Athens, Greece,  the home of democracy,  legislators were protected by police as they passed laws this week to lay off thousands of civil servants   who  voted   for them as part of the measures required for Greece to get a financial bailout to save the Greek economy from total financial collapse. Worse still the Greek government had to ban public gatherings in Athens the Greek capital and home of democracy because   Wolfgang  Schaeuble  the German Finance Minister was in town and he represents the face of Germany  a pillar  of the EU zone that  is applying the bitter pill  as it were to  recover the Greek economy. Lastly Nelson Mandela was 95 this  week  although he himself could not celebrate because of his health,  the whole world did because the S African  Jacob Zuma had assured all  and sundry that the old man was improving. Which really is a pity when you remember that Nelson Mandela is the global icon of freedom and human dignity and yet he was not there to celebrate his birthday and I find that very painful indeed.

    Let us retreat again to Russia where the power of the state has been used to silence a dissident. Alexei Navalny was jailed for embezzling   $ 50000 when he was Adviser to a state governor in Russia but the whole world knows he was jailed for daring to say he wanted to be President of Russia and he has filed papers to be Mayor of  Moscow in the next elections. In today’s Russia however President Putin’s word is law and his power is despotic and far reaching in Russian society and politics. Since Alexei has been jailed for 5 years he cannot contest according to Russia’s constitution. But it is the bravery and character of the Russian dissident   in the face of   adversity that has my admiration. He is on record as saying that he was not afraid to go to jail for his convictions and his family was ready for it. Men or women with such convictions and attitude are rare in any clime or nation and I doff my heart for his sacrifice to rid Russia of corruption. Indeed on his way to jail he fired the last shot by telling his crying supporters to do something because’ the toad will not voluntarily leave the oil pipeline. ‘Which really is a language that is quite relevant and meaningful in our part of the world.

    The political tragedy in Greece too is one that really bothers me in connection with the   concept of democracy, its practice and values. In terms of irony however I will compare it with the fracas in the Rivers State House of Assembly in which a warrant has been issued for attempted murder by the state Police Commissioner for the Majority Leader of the State House of Assembly. The irony in the happenings in the legislatures in Athens and Port Harcourt stem from the role of the concept of immunity in the two law making institutions. In Athens the legislators were voting to sack some of the thousands of their supporters that put them in parliament and they know that even though they have immunity in Parliament they will need armed escorts to escape the fury and indignation of voters outside parliament. In Port Harcourt the Majority leader was trying to prevent a blatant theft of his majority in broad day light,   got violent in the process but knowing fully well like the legislators in Athens that he was covered by parliamentary immunity. The cruel irony in the two scenarios is that   while the Greek legislators are confident of police protection outside parliament where they enjoyed immunity, it is the police in Port Harcourt which has declared the legislators wanted for actions or offences committed in parliament where they constitutionally have immunity. Quite interestingly though, the Greek parliament had its own violent display of temper  earlier  during the austerity debate  when a legislator slapped a lady member in the full view of a world audience but nothing came out of it because Greece respects the democratic concept of immunity on the floor of any legislature.

    Worse still in PH  it  is the state police command which has refused to protect the state governor according to reports that is looking for legislators over parliamentary fracas on which there is immunity. But can the police sidetrack both the legislature and executive in a state as is happening so brazenly in Rivers state according to our constitution? The answer is a simple no and the police in that state should allow wise counsel to prevail most urgently in the interest of peace in that state and to protect the sovereign reputation of the Nigerian nation   in terms of respect for the rule of law in the global comity of   states.

    On Nelson Mandela we say happy birthday to a giant of our time though that joy  is tainted with some grief  at his illness and approaching mortality. On this  I have written about twice now not because I long for his departure  but because I  do not want to  be caught pants down by the inevitable,  both  as a writer and as a sincere admirer of this gem of an African leader . Nelson Mandela is passionate topic for me and some of my friends and his sickness even though he is 95 still gives one goose pimples. But then let us rejoice now at his birthday without any thought of his obituary. Let us remember the tall man in double breasted suit with the sunny smile dancing at the stadium when S Africa became a republic in 1994 and he became the first president of post apartheid S/Africa. Let us remember the selfless president who served one term of office and retired to private life when he could have been S Africa’s life president just for the asking. Let us wish Nelson Mandela well and may he recover soon or go early enough and not suffer the fate of former Israeli leader Ariel Sharon who has been in similar condition for years now. We remain loyal and grateful Madiba though our eyes are foggy. But you remain our hero, forever. Happy Birthday.

  • We must fight corruption

    Nigeria needs a strong pressure group with a large broadly based nationwide membership that will link up with the civil society groups, the labour unions, and other anti-corruption groups that will coordinate a mass action against evil and corruption in high and low places.

    Using the Dan Etete, a former minister of petroleum and other accomplices in the Malabu oil deal as the focal point that will unearth other buried deals, the street will be occupied until those indicted are speedily brought to book.

    Simultaneous action in all the 36 states will produce the desired result that has eluded the nation since independence. The telephone numbers of all groups published in the dailies will assist the joint effort and the mass action such that the acquiescence or betrayal of one section cannot upset the action of the whole.

    If the current rumour making the rounds is anything to go by, then such a group with a large membership made up of top veterans that are capable of strategizing and coordinating the mass action are already spoiling for action.

    Research is still on-going for an alternative apolitical force that is capable of checking tyranny and despotism and third –rate governance through the barrel of street protests.

    Enough of the rubbish going-on in this vastly endowed country with enough human and material resources to make it become a world-beater in every facet of human endeavour but for the two- faced Nigerian politicians whose values and methods are totally at variance with generally accepted principles and practice of democratic governance.

    John Jimoh

    Molina, Ijebu-Ode

    Ogun State