The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Doyin Okupe

  • Alleged misappropriation: Court admits more documents in evidence against Okupe

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday at the Federal High Court Abuja submitted more documents in evidence against Doyin Okupe, which were admitted by the court.

    Okupe, a former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, is being prosecuted by EFCC on a 59-count charge for allegedly receiving money from the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and rendering no services.

    At the resumed trial, Mr. Hassan Saidu, the third prosecution witness who was led in evidence by Mr. Ibrahim Audu, submitted documents including account opening package for an account in Zenith Bank, a statement made by Okupe and other documents.

    Saidu told the court that following intelligence report regarding misappropriation by Okupe, he was invited to the EFCC office and interviewed.

    “We invited him in June 2016 to our office and interviewed him in respect of the payments he received from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) that was tagged “special services”.

    READ ALSO: Fed Govt arraigns Doyin Okupe over alleged N702m fraud

    Okupe said the money he received; N50 million, N35 million, N15 million and subsequent N10 million severally was used to set up his office, pay staff salaries and pay for a programme on NTA called insight,  Saidu told the court.

    ”When we asked him where the instructions that led to the payment of all the monies came from, he claimed that there was a request that was approved by the former president to the NSA to effect the payment. ”

    The witness, however, added that Okupe could not produce evidence of the said request.

    Saidu also told the court that upon further investigations, the agency could not link any disbursement to payment of staff salaries.

    He also said that the only receipt Okupe could produce when asked for receipts of all the things he claimed he used the money for was one of N120,000 paid to Infinity Security Services.

    The trial judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu adjourned the matter until April 1 for the defence team to cross examine the witness.

    Okupe was arraigned alongside two companies, Value Trust Investment Ltd and Abrahams Telecoms Ltd, over allegations of misappropriation of funds amounting to over N240 million received from the former NSA.

    The money is said to be part funds set aside during the Jonathan administration to purchase arms at the heat of the Boko Haram insurgency.

    NAN

  • ‘How Okupe got N702m for doing nothing’

    A Federal High Court in Abuja heard on Wednesday how former Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe was allegedly paid N702m by the Federal Government without doing anything.

    Okupe is being tried on a 59-count charge bordering on money laundering, criminal diversion of funds, estimated at N702m.

    He is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    First prosecution witness, Osas Azonabor, an operative of the EFCC, told the court that sometime in 2016, the commission got an intelligence that some individuals were paid by the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for doing nothing.

    Azonabor said when investigations began, it was realised that one of the beneficiaries was Okupe, who is the first defendant.

    The witness, who was led in evidence by the prosecution lawyer, Ibrahim Audu, told the court that the EFCC wrote to the ONSA, demanding the vouchers of the payments made to Okupe, who was once an aide to ex-President Olusegun Obasnajo.

    He said after analysing the payment vouchers, it was realised that cash payment of N50m was made into Okupe’s account as stated in the voucher of April 8, 2014.

    The witness added another cash payment of N6million was found to have been made to Okupe on April 2, 2014.

    Azonabor said there were series of payment in multiples of N10 million made to Okupe between 2012 to 2014.

    He said EFCC’s investigation found the sum of N50million paid into Zenith Bank account of Value Trust Investment Limited, which Okupe is a director.

    The witness added that another N35 million was paid into the account of Abraham Telecoms Nig Limited, in which Okupe is a signatory.

    Read Also: EFCC releases Doyin Okupe

    Azonabor said: “He (Okupe) told us he was the Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan from 2012 and was placed on a monthly salary of N835, 000 paid to him by the SGF,” Azonabor said.

    “Okupe said he was paid N10 million monthly for 24 months by ONSA and that the money was reduced to N5million monthly from January 2015 to May 2015”.

    “Okupe said the money was for special services and when asked to elaborate what he meant by ‘special services’, Okupe said part of the money was used to sponsor ‘Insight’, a programme on NTA.”

    Azonabor told the court that when a letter was written to NTA to confirm the authenticity of the document that emanated from the station, the television station agreed that the document emanated from it.

    The witness added: “We also got a follow up letter from the NTA that the programme, ‘Insight’, was later aired free-of-charge as directed by the then Director General of NTA who accepted the programme as part of the station’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

    Azonabor said Okupe claimed that part of the money collected from ONSA was used to pay workers, but when asked to show proof of payment he only brought a list of names on written piece of paper and also a typed paper.

    “There was no payment voucher, receipt or pay slip to show evidence of payment and when we asked him to produce staff he paid to, he couldn’t produce any,” Azonabor said.

    Further hearing in the case resumes today.

  • I owe my appointment to Buhari, not Saraki – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says he owes his appointment as minister to President Muhammadu Buhari and no one else.

    In a statement issued on Monday in Abuja, the minister said it was “laughable’’ that anyone would seek to take credit for his appointment.

    Mohammed was reacting to a statement by Dr. Doyin Okupe the Special Adviser (Media) to the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, in which he gave credit to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki for the minister’s appointment.

    The minister said that the entire statement by Okupe, “is nothing but fiction writing, for which he deserves a hall of infamy award (in the fiction writing segment).

    “Not one of the claims he made in his statement is true.’’

    Mohammed challenged Okupe to make available to Nigerians any evidence he might have to support his assertion that the President sought the permission of Saraki to appoint him as minister.

    “We understand that Dr. Okupe’s cheap attempt at mud-throwing is nothing but a proxy fight, rooted deeply in the politics of Kwara State.

    Read Also: Game up for Saraki in Kwara-Lai Mohammed

    “We are aware that Okupe’s boss is feeling the heat emanating from the `O To Ge’ (enough is enough) movement in Kwara.

    “And that even the strongest of men will become disoriented and disillusioned at losing the support of a people who once venerated them to high heavens.

    “But that is a self-inflicted wound for which Okupe’s boss, an acclaimed slave master, has no one but himself to blame,’’ Mohammed said.

    The minister said he was very proud to lead the ‘O To Ge’ movement that is set to finally bring down the Berlin Wall of political hegemony in Kwara State and send Okupe’s boss into political oblivion.

    He said the movement will also free Okupe himself from merely being his master’s voice, so he can fully devote his time to his new-found pastime – fiction writing.

    NAN

  • FG arraigns Okupe over alleged N702m fraud

    Former presidential spokesman, Doyin Okupe was on Monday arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja 59-count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Okupe, who was spokesman to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and Senior Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, is charged with “money laundering and criminal diversion of funds” to the tune of N702million.

    He was arraigned, with two companies, Value Trust Investment Limited and Abrahams Telecoms Limited before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu.

    One of the counts reads: “That you, Dr. Doyin Okupe, being the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan from July 2012 to May 2015, and being the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, and a signatory to the bank account of Abrahams Telecoms Ltd, on or about the 3rd October, 2014 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, directly took possession or control of the sum of N35 million, transferred to the account of Abrahams Telecoms Ltd from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser with the Central Bank of Nigeria purporting to be for special services when you reasonably ought to have known that the said fund formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity.”

    Read Also: Kano court strikes out suit against PDP guber candidate

    Okupe pleaded not guilty when the charge was read by an official of the court, following which the prosecution lawyer, Ibrahim Audu, asked for a date for the commencement of trial.
    Defence lawyer, Tolu Babaleiye argued the bail application he filed, dated December 17, 2018.

    Babaleiye urged the court to admit the defendant to bail on self recognizance and that he will not jump bail as he is well known.

    Responding, Audu argued that the defendant was given administrative bail after he volunteered his statement thereafter, he was nowhere to be found until December 2018 in Lagos.

    He added that there was nothing substantial in the defendant’s affidavit. He added that there is nothing to show that the medical certificate is authentic and nothing to show it meets the requirements of the evidence act as it was electronically generated.

    Audu said: “The court should exercise its discretion judicially and judiciously based on materials supplied before the court.”

    He urged the court to take into consideration, “the gravity of the punishment in the event of conviction on the charges brought against the defendant”.

    After listening to both lawyers, Justice Ojukwu granted bail to Okupe at N100 million with one surety in the same amount.

    Justice Ojukwu said: “The surety must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court, and must depose to an affidavit of means, must have landed properties which must also be within the jurisdiction of the court.

    The surety must submit to the court tax clearance papers from 2016 to 2018, also have recent passport photograph. The surety and defendant must deposit their international passport to the court. The documents are to be deposited with the Deputy Chief Registrar Litigation of the court.”
    The judge adjourned to February 27, 28 and March 6, 2019 for trial.

  • N162m ONSA cash: EFCC summons Doyin Okupe ahead of arraignment

    •Ex-presidential spokesman says anti-graft agency accused him of cyber crime

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has invited Dr. Doyin Okupe, a former senior Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan for documentation ahead of his arraignment in court.

    He is to face trial for alleged N162million illicit payments to him and his companies by a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and Chanchaga Local Government Area in Niger State.

    Okupe has been on bail after he was initially interrogated on June 22, 2016.

    But necessary processes for his arraignment in court, including filing of charges, were perfected on Friday.

    Okupe, in a series of tweets yesterday, said a team of EFCC officials stormed his Ilupeju, Lagos residence “asking me to follow them. No letter. No letter of IV no warrant.”

    He added: “The men from EFCC left my house finally after I promised them that I will be in their office on Monday.

    “The officers finally agreed to leave on d promise I will see them Monday. Offence. CYBER CRIME.”

    However, a top source in EFCC said: “Our operatives were in his house to invite him for interaction on Monday in preparation for his arraignment for alleged N162million fraud.

    “The charges against him are ready but he needs to come around to our office and it is from here we will take him to court for trial.”

    Giving an insight into the allegations against Okupe, the source said: “Investigation confirmed that he received illicit payments from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki as well as strange payments to his companies by a council in Niger State.

    “He was quizzed over N50million which he collected in cash from the former NSA without record or accountability.

    “Another company that is linked to Okupe, Abraham Telecoms Limited allegedly received N35.5million from the NSA through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    “Also, one of his companies, Romic Soil Fix International Limited received N63million from Chanchaga Local Government council of Niger State and another N13.5m from the same council, for unknown reasons.

    “The payments from Chanchaga LG to Romic were made on 21st of November, 2014 during the PDP primary election and 13th February 2015, just before the general election.”

    But Okupe said the funds collected from ONSA followed a presidential directive by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He had said: “The initial N50m was approved by the President to be paid to me from his security vote. N10m was to furnish my rented living apartment and another N10m for my office. The balance N30m was approved as takeoff grant.

    “The N10m I received from the ONSA monthly was to run my office, pay salaries of staffs, including overheads, pay expenses for our numerous press conferences, pay for publications in newspapers, magazines, local and foreign, television programs, bulletins, and media consultants who assist and facilitate our work. I had about 23 staff, 11 were graduates out of which five were masters degrees holders.

    ” The second N50m was approved again by Mr. President when I reported to him that the monthly allowance had been cut from N10m to N5m and that I was no longer in a position to keep running a one hour NTA network program called INSIGHT which was aired 9-10am every Friday.

    “We paid NTA about N1.2m monthly for airtime. Two presenters were paid N600, 000 monthly.

    “The lead presenter on Insight earned N400, 000 and the second presenter earned N200, 000.

    “We paid for tapes and editing per programme. Besides we also pay honorarium for guests either directly or inform of hotel bills for those outside Abuja, or transportation.

    “This cost an average of N500, 000 weekly or about N2m monthly. All in all we spent about N4m monthly on the programme.

    “Mr. President promised to help with the expenses. About a few months later when we had incurred some debts the NSA sent me this N50m which was to cover the cost of the program for 12 months.

    “I am not a thief. I have only two houses in Lagos and in my hometown.

    “The monthly allowance was not my salary. It was meant to be used to run the office. 40% went on salaries.

    “Salary sheets with names and offices of employees were submitted to EFCC. I was paid a salary of N853, 000 per month through the office of the SGF.”

    On the N76.5m contracts awarded to his firm, Romix Soilfix, by Chanchaga LGA of Niger State, he said the firm was “one of the over 20 construction companies who were duly awarded contracts for rural roads some five years ago by the Niger State Government.”

    He said the jobs were delayed because of irregular payment to contractors by the council.

    He added:  “The job is still ongoing. The relationship of this to my service as senior special assistant to President is still not clear.”

    Osinbajo flags off door-to-door campaign in Lagos

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday flagged off a door -to- door campaign for President Muhammadu Buhari in Lagos.

    He said the difference between Buhari and other candidates in the 2019 elections is the president will not steal or allow stealing of public funds.

    Osinbajo said some leaders who would steal while others will  use the country’s money for the common good, noting that Buhari belongs to the latter category.

    “We should not allow those who have stolen our money in the past to come back. They stole all the money and they want to come back. People are saying, enough is enough,” he said.

    “In four years, PDP spent $383 billion. And they want to come back. 16 years is enough.

    “After 16 years of ensuring that the country did not make progress, they want to come back. They will never come back,” he said.

    Osinbajo said that Nigeria’s greatest problem was corruption and not planning because without money you could not executive any plan; hence the need to stop those who had stolen in the past from returning.

    The vice president said the door-to-door campaign was more effective in reaching out to the people, saying it goes a long way in speaking directly to the people about the plans of the government for the people.

    Director-General of the Prof Yemi Osinbajo Support Group, Pastor Yomi Kasali, said the organisation had raised 900,000 canvassers for Lagos State.

    He explained that each canvasser was expected to meet with 50 people.

    The vice president visited some parts of Sogunro community, Ogba , Ikeja to seek support directly from voters in their homes.

     

  • Okupe tips Saraki, Tambuwal as best aspirants for PDP

    A former Presidential spokesperson and chieftain of the Accord Party, Dr Doyin Okupe has tipped Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki as the only outstanding aspirant who the odd favours to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari, among all the Presidential aspirants in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

    President Buhari of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) announced his intention to seek a re-election few months ago and he is most likely to be the party’s sole candidate as the incumbent.

    Speaking as a guest on a morning show which had discussions on the 2019 Presidential election, on Arise TV, Okupe projected that the 2019 presidential election will be between President Muhammadu Buhari on one side against Dr Bukola Saraki, former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku, or Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state. The trio recently dumped the APC for the PDP.

    According to the former Presidential spokesperson, “there are two platforms on which any candidate can win a Presidential election in Nigeria; the first is by winning the Northwest and Northeast with Southern majority, the second platform is by clearing votes in the Southeast, Southwest, Southsouth and the Middlebelt. It doesn’t matter what votes come from the North, with this second strategy, a candidate will win the Presidential election convincingly.”

    He said those are the tested strategies winning presidential election in Nigeria.

    Analysing the chances of the three Presidential hopefuls, Okupe said “I see Tambuwal as a young politician from the Northwest and people have been clamouring for the return of power to the Northwest, that if you really want to defeat Buhari in an election, you need somebody from the Northwest who can divide the vote. Though he has the experience, exposure and acceptability that Nigerians can follow, but I don’t see Tambuwal in that capacity to divide the northern votes.”

    On former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, Dr Okupe said “of all the aspirants, Atiku is perhaps the most ready because he’s been contesting for long. But he is not as acceptable in the North as you would have expected a Northern candidate should be. I think Buhari is faring better even in the Northeast than Atiku. That is not enough like I said earlier, if he can gather support from the South, he is good to go.  He has been dutiful in preparing for this and he has the war chest to go for it.”

    Read Also: Okupe’s exit a non-issue – Ogun PDP

    Speaking on Senate President Bukola Saraki’s chances, Okupe said “among all the three, my best is Bukola Saraki. He has a good background of responsibility, pedigree, he is well educated, extremely exposed, knowledgeable and intrinsically intelligent. He has done excellently well since becoming Chairman of National Assembly and the present NASS under him has performed better than any we’ve ever had.

    “His emergence will give us a President that could stand with President Emmanuel Macron of France and you will not be scared of what he is going to say. Someone who can stand to talk at the United Nations (UN) and you can be confident and proud as a Nigerian.”

    On the geographical strategy, Okupe said “Buhari already holds the Northeast and Northwest, and if you want to battle with him you don’t go to his stronghold and start battling with him, it doesn’t make any sense, because as it stands today, no Nigerian politician can severely damage Buhari’s electoral reservoir in the North. The wise thing to do is to go to where he is weak like the Middlebelt.

    “If Saraki emerges on the platform of the Middlebelt, all he needs to do to weaken Buhari’s northern stronghold is to gather support from Southeast, Southsouth and Southwest, since it is very clear that Buhari will lose all the Middlebelt states including Kaduna,” he added.

    “That a candidate cannot break Buhari’s stronghold of the North does not mean the candidate cannot win the presidential election, it’s a fallacy.”

    The Accord Party chieftain further explained that “Former President Goodluck Jonathan won in 2011 with Southern majority and the Middlebelt. Despite the fact that the North voted Buhari, Jonathan still won with Southern majority and the Middlebelt votes.

    “In 2015, Buhari didn’t get any substantial votes in the Southeast and Southsouth, but he won based on the votes from the Northwest, Northeast, Southwest and some parts of the Middlebelt.”

  • Okupe’s exit a non-issue – Ogun PDP

    Okupe’s exit a non-issue – Ogun PDP

    The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) on Tuesday declared that the exit of Dr. Doyin Okupe, a former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to ex- President Goodluck  Jonathan, from the party  was a “non- issue and good riddance to negativity.”

    The party said Okupe would not be missed at all, adding that his departure constituted no loss to the party at state and national levels.

    The party, in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary in Ogun, Bolaji Adeniji, said Okupe’s decision to quit PDP is “self – serving” and portrayed him as one who only benefited from the system but contributed nothing to its rebuilding.

    “Let it be quickly stated that it is a welcomed development and no one will begrudge him for such a personal decision that has no immediate or long term effect on the fortunes of the party both in Ogun and nationally.

    “Whereas, his exit is of no consequence to the progress of our party and no one will miss him for any fundamental ideology and value. We are constrained to address two of the grounds on which he hinged his self-serving decision.

    “This is important because he misrepresented many facts and purports to embarrass the party with his wild and unpatriotic remarks that have become trademarks. When an elder does not know the limits of talking, he is bound to goof irredeemably.

    “Okupe in his statement noted that the future of the party may not be significantly affected whichever way the judgement of the Supreme Court goes. We find this unfortunate because it shows that he is one of those who do not mean well for the party.

    “It is shameful that at a time when relevant stakeholders such as governors, senators, BOT members and other loyal members, have resolved to forge ahead in unity irrespective of the apex court decision, an Okupe is a lone voice, steeped in negativity and backwardness.

    “Secondly, he alluded that the party in Ogun State is irredeemably fictionalized. We again regard this as fallacious, malicious and a figment of his imagination. The leadership in Ogun State is incontrovertible and sacrosanct.

    “The people are united and working hard towards electoral success in 2019. That some persons decided to form a social group to push the personal ambition of their sponsors, does not translate to fictionalisation and we will not allow Okupe to legitimise the aberrant and rebellious activities of some of our members.”

     

     

  • PDP can never be the same again – Okupe

    PDP can never be the same again – Okupe

    A former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has announced his exit from the crisis-ridden Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    In a statement he circulated in the media yesterday, Okupe cited the party’s protracted leadership crisis, saying the PDP no longer has any future.

    According to him, the PDP no longer exists in his ward as a single unified party and whichever way the judgment of the Supreme Court goes in the pending legal tussle, the party can never be the same again.

    Its current direction is difficult to discern and I am convinced that even when the much-expected judgement from the Supreme Court is given, the future of the party is not likely to be significantly affected whichever way the judgement goes.

    “There seems to be too much deception, selfishness and gross nepotism in our polity nationally.”

    Okupe regretted that political parties had lost their importance and identities.

    “Once the candidate is Northern, his party is immaterial; all northerners, irrespective of their professed party affiliations, will vote for him.

    “This is the major reason why there has been a total absence of opposition in the country in the last two years, and may probably be responsible for the polarisation and sharp ethnic divisions we are currently witnessing in the country.

    “In the East, there is intense anger and loud call for secession, in the Southsouth, there is absolute indignation and very resolute demand for total control of their resources, while the Southwest is bellicose and hell bent on true federalism and restructuring, which many prominent northerners openly oppose for good or for bad.”

  • Why states can’t pay workers’ salaries – NLC

    Why states can’t pay workers’ salaries – NLC

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said on Tuesday that the inability of state governments across the country to pay staff salaries has nothing to do with over blotted civil service, but reckless spending by state governors and failure to save for the rainy days.

    Reacting to a statement credited to former presidential adviser on media. Dr. Doyin Okupe, asking states to sack civil servants, the president of the NLC, Comrade, Ayuba Wabba said in a statement that retrenching civil servants was a panacea to irregular payment of salaries.

    He said the congress believes that the states are where they are because of serial acts of corruption in the past, failure to save for a rainy day, high cost of governance (via employment of unneeded aides on criminally high salaries), unlawful and equally unacceptable severance packages for ex-governors and their deputies, cost of political expediency and failure to invest.

    The statement reads: “Ordinarily, we would not have responded to Doyin Okupe, former Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan when he urged governors in a statement few days ago, to retrench civil servants as a panacea to irregular payment of salaries, because we know him.

    “In his jaundiced argument, very much unlike one who is truly deserving of his certificate from a medical school, Okupe said, “virtually all state governments in the country have over-bloated civil service.”

    “To underscore this point, he said between ‘2008 and 2009, Ogun State received N2 billion monthly from the federation account and paid out N1.8billion as staff salaries, wages and overhead costs’ to civil servants not more than 50,000 in a state with a population of 5,000,000.

    “In his view therefore it was ‘an obvious socio-economic absurdity and incongruity where 10 per cent of the population was consuming 90 per cent of the wealth of the state.’

    “Okupe is bandying political statistics and this is neither good for his health nor the health of those with whom he seeks to ingratiate himself. We at the Nigeria Labour Congress believe in the equitable distribution of the nation’s resources.  We will not subscribe to a situation whereby 10 per cent corner 90 per cent of the resources of the state.”

  • Okupe to Buhari: Stop giving bailouts to governors

    An ex- publicity aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to stop giving financial bailouts to state governors.

    According to Okupe, having forced Jonathan to share the proceeds from the Excess Crude Account, thereby depleting it, there should not be any moral basis for the governors to beg President Buhari for bailouts.

    In a statement he circulated in Abuja on Monday, the former presidential aide said it is becoming clearer and more certain that unless a miracle happens, many states will be unable to meet up with their financial obligations and may actually face bankruptcy if the economic situation in the country worsens.

    The statement said, “In recent times, state governors in Nigeria have unanimously approached President Muhammadu Buhari for financial assistance for them to meet up with their obligations especially in the payment of workers’ salaries. They came severally with caps in hand and have received assistance sought on about two occasions.

    “It will be recalled that it was state governors that forced the hand of former President Goodluck Jonathan to share and more or less deplete the savings in the Excess Crude Account.

    “It is becoming clearer and more certain daily that unless a miracle happens many states will be unable to meet up with their financial obligations and may actually face imminent bankruptcy if the economic situation in the country worsens.”

    Dr. Okupe acknowledged the fact that economies of nations all over the world do go into recessions at different times in history, more often not necessarily as a result of incompetence or lack of managerial capabilities of the administration that is in place.

    “What is different in our situation, especially as it concerns the state governments is that the federal government appears to be dealing with the situation from the point of compassion.

    “Economic situations are better approached from point of strategic policy options and fiscal management techniques rather than a ‘father Xmas’ disposition,” he added.

    He observed that virtually all state governments in the country have over bloated civil service, pointing out that  at some point between 2008 and 2009, Ogun state received N2 billion monthly from the federation account and paid out N1.8 billion as staff salaries, wages and overhead costs.

    Okupe put the total staff strength in the Ogun State civil service at 50,000, with a population of about five million people.

    “An obvious socio economic absurdity and incongruity therefore existed where 10 per cent of the population was consuming 90 per cent of the wealth of the state.

    “We do not need a soothsayer or an economic guru to foretell that this is unsustainable. In many states, the percentage of the resources of the state that is consumed by the civil service ranges between 70 per cent to 80 per cent by not more than 10 per cent of its population.

    “A basic economic dictum says if expenditure cannot be controlled, then internal demands must be curtailed. Without doubt therefore, all state governments must immediately start the process of downsizing their workforce with reasonable cushions for those who will be affected,” he stated.