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Tag: fight

  • UN praises public service reforms, anti-graft fight

    The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nigeria has praised the Federal Government for its efforts at reforming the public service through its anti-corruption drive.

    UNDP Country Director Mr. Lamin Beyai gave the commendation at the Training of Trainers on Corruption Risk Assessments (CRA) at the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN).

    ACAN is the training wing of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), located in Keffi, Nasarawa State.

    Speaking through the UNDP Deputy Country Director-Programme, Mandisa Mashologu, Beyai said the government being aware of the rating of Nigeria by Transparency International (TI) as the 136th most corrupt country out of 168 countries.

    He said the rating was lower than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa and that government has put in tremendous efforts through institutional reforms, enforcements, prosecution, entrenching the culture of integrity and capacity building of staff of anti-corruption agencies to tackle the menace.

    ‘Tackling corruption remains a top priority of the government as one of the means to facilitate efficient delivery of public services and enhance national development opportunities.

    ‘The process has resulted in on-going institutional reforms, which are already yielding positive results. We believe that an efficient and effective public service can positively contribute to the ease of doing business in Nigeria and act as stimulant to curb corrupt practices,” Beyal said.

  • Religious leaders should join fight against corruption

    SIR: By many measures, Nigeria is a very religious country. Nine out of 10 Nigerians, if not all, subscribe to a particular faith which brands them as followers of divinity. From serving as a pathway to eternity for many, to a factory for help or relief from disappointment, religion has thrived in our nation. But even so, it is also widely believed that Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. As now commonly witnessed in the three arms of government, corruption has taken so many forms that cross ethnic, class or faith frontiers.

    Corruption has, overtime, impacted the Nigerian economy and remains a towering threat to peace, governance and economic development in Nigeria. In fact, it took President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption onslaught to expose a series of high profile corruption scandals that have uncovered the steep size of corruption in the country.

    Even though many have described the president’s stab at curbing corruption as a pie in the sky and ‘vindictive’, his government has vowed to continue with the campaign.

    With the above in mind, I stand with many who believe that this cumbrous task should not be left for the government to tackle alone.

    Religious leaders stand in a strategic position to, in various ways, help governments and companies to battle corruption by addressing it in places of worship. They can use their influence over our consciences in a pietistic pattern.

    While it is proper for leaders from the two dominant faiths (Christianity and Islam) to pray ‘against’ corruption, I somewhat believe that, since their words carry weight, there is more that can be done by these leaders.

    For example, religious groups have been largely accused of encouraging corruption by demanding and accepting astronomical amounts of donations from political and business leaders in their churches and mosques. There is an urgent need to cut the cackle and close this growing credibility gap.

    While the church or mosque cannot investigate the source of funds worshippers donate, they can consistently teach about the consequences of stealing in relation to faiths and emphasize sincere discharge of duties in various positions or offices.

    Becoming wealthy without work is another topic religion propagated nonstop to its believers. That being the case, a large number of followers became obsessed with this ideology and sold their conscience to corrupt practices. I remember being stopped many years ago by a task force team and bundled into a waiting van for not using the foot bridge. As we drove to the local government, the leader preached and prayed for us. After which he, without a spark of decency, requested that anybody willing to part with N2,000 would be allowed to go, instead of paying N5,000 when we get to the local government secretariat. He went ahead to attribute his act of ‘leniency’ to his faith and membership of a church known for simplicity and humility. Fair enough, I took my chances and went to the local office where I ended up paying a N500 fine and went my way.

    For the most part, every human group has its own bad eggs who mostly end up being caught between two stools. But even so, since the government has drawn a line in the sand against corruption, religious leaders should stop barking up the wrong tree, and begin to change the dogma that ‘money’, ‘power’ and ‘material’ are the ultimate measurement of ‘prosperity’ and  progress in our society.

    On the whole, the sick romance with gospel of materialism must be discouraged by clerics through promoting a chaste lifestyle. This will, overtime, reverse the apocryphal doctrine of materialism which is responsible for the worsening plight of the poor in our country.

     

    • David Dimas

    Laurel, Maryland, U.S.A

  • Risks of rogue precedents in corruption fight

    SIR: Fighting corruption is a matter of law and order.  Still in any democracy, constitutional dictates remain supreme. If the constitution does not grant certain enforcement powers, they don’t exist; and policies or actions advancing such powers are deemed unconstitutional. The recent raid-arrest of some serving and suspended judicial officers and the manner in which the raids were conducted by agents of the Department of State Services (DSS), has provoked animated debate that goes beyond fighting corruption. Questions are being asked: Were such raids and arrests within the constitutional remit of the DSS?

    Without prejudice to the rule of law and the right to prosecute the judicial officers for whatever crimes they allegedly committed, there is due process and statutory regulations for dealing with judicial officers who run afoul of the law.  The extant regimes are underpinned by the Principles of Democracy, Separation of Powers and the Rule of Law as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution. Yet, critical views persist; including those from the Nigerian Bar Association, contending that due process was not followed, despite claims by DSS to the contrary.

    Prevailing fixation with fighting corruption in Nigeria by any means possible, has led some commentators to seek to subjugate the rule of law to such whims. In a democracy like ours, such whims are not just capricious, but profoundly dangerous.  The greater danger lies not in arbitrary raids, arrests or prosecutions, but in the implications of insinuating rogue precedents into our law enforcement modalities: precedents, which if unchallenged will certainly undermine ordered liberties.

    Nobody is above the law; certainly not judges. And public officials who enjoy prosecutorial immunity are clearly delineated in the Constitution.  However, every Nigerian citizen is protected from arbitrary arrest, unlawful search and seizure, the right to counsel, presumption of innocence, and the right against self-incrimination. Were these rights accorded to the judicial officers?

    With the arrests, comes the perception or suspicions of double standards.  The judicial officers were unlikely flight risks, as affirmed by their consequent release on personal cognizance. Why then were their homes raided in the dead of the night? Why were senior military officers -retired and serving – accused of weightier corrupt offenses never subjected to similar raids? Is law enforcement now selective?

    Corrupt judges like any corrupt public servant, should be prosecuted and jailed, if guilty. But if there were procedural or substantive breaches of ordered liberties in the arrest of the judges, it would be wrong to let those breaches stand in the name of fighting corruption. There’s also the issue of full disclosure. Nigerians need to know the magistrate or judge of a competent jurisdiction who signed the search and arrest warrants; and of the petitions and affidavits that triggered the investigations, raids and arrests.  As the National Judicial Council (NJC) indicated, “The impression created and widely circulated before the public that the DSS forwarded a number of petitions containing various allegations of corrupt practices and professional misconduct against some Judicial Officers to the Council, and they were not investigated, is not correct.” The NJC has urged the DSS “to make public the particulars of such petitions to put the records straight.”

    As a matter of policy and best practice, security agencies must come clean to remain credible on such anti-corruption matters. If mistakes were made, it’s easier to admit so, apologize and move on.  For now, there are challenges; questions persist as do doubts.  The DSS side of the story seems a tad fuzzy. For those Nigerians who believe their story, no explanation is necessary; and for those Nigerians who disbelieve their story, no explanation is possible. Nonetheless, the greatest danger to our nation, constitution, law enforcement and the anti-corruption war, is to allow the entrenchment of rogue precedents and worse still, to allow such precedents to gain currency and assume validity.

     

    • Oseloka H. Obaze,

    Awka, Anambra State.

  • NB Plc, entrepreneurs fight recession

    NB Plc, entrepreneurs fight recession

    The Nigerian Breweries Plc and entrepreneurs have found some refreshing ways to tackle the economic recession. The breweries gave out N250,000 to each of 30 persons who own small businesses. The gesture was aimed at boosting those businesses in the hopes that if they get the expected lift, the brewers will have helped to fight the present recession of the economy. Given the fact that a man supports no fewer than four persons in the country, the NB Plc gesture will go a long way in relieving many families.

    Those 30 entrepreneurs got their funds through a live radio phone-in programme tagged Life Progress Business Booster show organised by NB Plc. The live show was conducted in Igbo, a way to stimulate the usage of the language said to be facing extinction. The audience spanned the entire Southeast.

    The entrepreneurs themselves should be hailed for their business ideas. Some make cocoyam flour, some ice block machines, some locust bean spice called ogili in local language.

    They presented those ideas in a contest and 30 of them won.

    The winners said the cash prizes were a godsend, coming at a time when the country is facing recession and focusing on diversification of the economy. They promised to use the cash to improve their businesses, promote made in Nigeria products as well as jobs for people roaming the streets.

    They described the process of the contest as transparent and one that took the grace of God to see them through judging by the number of people that participated in the exercise.

    One of the winners Madu James, an Imo State indigene and graduate of Economics from Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) Awka, Anambra State, said years of searching for white collar job left him frustrated.

    “I have been writing applications for job and yet none was coming over the years. I attended Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State where I studied Economics and graduated in 2013.  I feel fulfilled with the cash reward and my joy is now complete because this is what I have been praying and dreaming to get but it has not been coming forth.

    “This is not the first time I am submitting business plans. I have written so many plans and none saw the light of day until this very one. I will use the money to set up the business for which I submitted the proposal. The money actually won’t be enough, but I will use the one I have to set up a business. And as the business grows, I hope to employ more people according to my profit margin. I am looking at employing about 40 persons within two years or more,” Mr. James stated.

    James describing the cocoyam powder as a good soup thickener for local delicacies including bitter leaf and Oha soup and amongst others said that the price will be affordable to all class of users while the raw materials will be sourced locally even as he hopes to export the product to other parts of the world where users of the product resides.

    He called on job seekers to try and learn how to be self-dependent and be job providers instead of relying solely on the government for job provision.

    In an interview, Mr. Agu Emmanuel, Portfolio manager for Mainstream Lager and Stout for Nigerian Breweries PLC said that the 3rd phase of Life Progress Business Booster show is part of the company’s contribution in promoting entrepreneurship using indigenous language; Igbo of the people of Southeast where the product brand is brewed and majorly marketed.

    Mr. Emmanuel said the entrepreneurs must speak Igbo and communicate their business ideas in clear Igbo language.

    “It is a yearly event,” he said. “What we did is to keep the amount constant, but increase the number of the people. The more the merrier. We rewarded 50 people across the southeastern states last year and this year we are giving out 250,000 to 200 persons across the five southeastern states. It is because we want to continue touching people’s life positively that we are using this brand to reach our numerous consumers and members of the public.

    “What you are seeing today is the result of Life booster radio programme and we are very conscious about making sure that we have a fair distribution across the states so that there will be no single state that will dominate in terms of having all the winners coming from there. And that is why when we look at the people we are going to reward through the radio programme, we look at our data base to check whether we are still within those fair balance and then, we make provisions for on the ground submission of business ideas where we can reward people.”

    On why the concentration is on Southeast, Emmanuel said, “The choice for southeast was berthed because the brand has its root from the southeast. You know that Life has a brewery in Onitsha and it is a brand that we are marketing from a regional perspective. We positioned Life for Southeast and positioned Goldberg for southwest.

    “Yes, it could have its footprints in other locations, but we can’t deny the fact that it originated from the southeast and that again because we need to be concentrated in what we are doing so that we can ensure that we are less focused in what we are doing.”

  • Reps step up dirty fight over Budget 2016 scandal

    Reps step up dirty fight over Budget 2016 scandal

    ‘Members’ revolt forced Jibrin’s sack’

    Lawmaker indicts House leadership

    House Speaker Yakubu Dogara dropped former Appropriation Committee chair  Abdulmumin Jibrin following pressure from members, it was learnt at the weekend.

    Members asked Dogara to choose between them and Jibrin in the aftermath of the padding of the 2016 budget, The Nation gathered.

    The Speaker sensationally removed Jibrin last week but the lawmaker lashed out at Dogara and three other principal officers, saying they should resign because, according to him, they prevailed on him to pad the budget in their favour, but he refused to.

    It was also learnt that members were angry that they were all sidelined by Jibrin and his counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Danjuma Goje.

    There were strong indications last night  that the House may suspend Jibrin when it resumes in September.

    According to a principal officer, who pleaded not to be named because he is not permitted to talk to the media, most members of the House were disappointed over the padding of the budget.

    The source said: “You can ask any member of the House, the padding of the budget created an image crisis for the National Assembly, especially the House.

    “Members were angry and, at a point, they asked Dogara to choose between them and Jibrin. The Speaker’s hands were tied but he was, however, tactical in not removing Jibrin immediately after the Appropriation Bill was passed into law.

    “We kept on mounting pressure on him to remove Jibrin or else he will pay for it.

    “It became unbearable when Jibrin was allegedly summoning heads of MDAs to his house on the budget. Members also resorted to going cap in hand to Jibrin for inclusion of some projects in the budget.

    “When President Muhammadu Buhari returned the budget and the National Assembly was asked to review the padded areas, the Speaker called Jibrin for an update. But in what appeared a snub, he told Dogara: ‘Will you come down to my house to see what we are doing?’ He disrespected the Speaker who appointed him into office.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “Certainly, Jibrin will go on suspension for his affront against the leadership of the House. We won’t tolerate indiscipline.”

    Another ranking member said Jibrin ran into trouble following an agreement between the Presidency and the National Assembly to jack up the Army and the Air Force estimates by N15billion.

    The source said: “There were claiming for credit for the increase in the votes for the Army and the Air Force. Besides, members of the Appropriation Committee were shocked that there was subtle demand for gratification by a member.”

    “The Committee was uncoordinated because of Jibrin’s attitude. In fact, most members of the committee had little input into the budget,” the source said, adding:

    “ The Executive arm was also tired of Jibrin’s misdemeanour. At a point, some members of the Executive were always asking Dogara: ‘when will you remove that boy? Won’t there be sanctions from the House for those involved in budget padding?’ We got to this sorry state.”

    A second term House member said: “We warned the Speaker against appointing Jibrin as the chairman of the Appropriation Committee because when he headed the Committee on Finance, his action made ex-Speaker Aminu Tambuwal to weep one day over a budgetary matter. This incident happened in the 7th National Assembly.

    “Ex-Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso prevailed on the former Speaker not to suspend Jibrin. Tambuwal’s brother, Kwamkwaso’s bosom friend and the ex-governor asked his friend to beg the ex-Speaker to forgive Jibrin.

    “All these people are alive; you can crosscheck these facts.

  • Amaechi…How graft can fight back

    Since after President Buhari’s visit to the United Kingdom for the anti-corruption summit, the media has been flooded with several kinds of commentaries. Many of them were filled with disingenuous insinuations while others blatantly promoted disorderly falsehood to get underserved public attention. I attended that summit and was delighted with the respect and warm reception that was accorded to the Nigerian leader. He gave the organisers a dose of his no-nonsense style when he arrived for the event at about 7.00 am, before everyone else including the Secretary General of Commonwealth. I arrived the Marlborough House a few minutes after the Nigerian President and witnessed with delight, the commotion among journalists who were struggling to either get a glimpse of him or get him to say a word.

    Few days later the UK Daily mail led the lot in a short but widely publicised piece published on 14th of May where they attempted unsuccessfully to link the President and his Minister of Transportation with imaginary corruption charges. Nothing can be more misleading than such article filled with shallow fabrications. I was shocked that many respected media organisations and columnists jumped into the fray without investigating the veracity of the information contained in the Daily Mail piece. Let me say without any equivocation that the said report was filled with various forms of factual in-correctness. I will expect any serious media outfit to try to double-check the facts before running with any story alleging issues of corruption – at least from the little I know about ethical journalism. One may decide to overlook some of the fringe media outfits who jumped into the fray and featured the article. But I cannot say the same for the mention by Aljazeera.

    I am aware that both President Buhari and Minister Amaechi have handlers whose duty it is to supply accurate information to halt concocted stories like those spread by Daily Mail. However, as a citizen I am concerned that such extra-ordinary claims not backed with adequate evidence should be subjected to scrutiny to expose that the UK media outfit is merely on a predetermined and probably procured hatchet job. Such untidy piece of journalism is reprehensible and potentially libellous to say the least. For instance, contrary to that report, Mr. Amaechi did not attend the summit and was not part of the Presidential delegation. The video of the event is in the public domain for all to see. That Daily Mail could not notice his absence clearly shows that such a media outfit should not be taken seriously.

    In addition, the whole issue of Mr. Amaechi’s donations to the Buhari’s campaign remains an old fable whose promoters have continuously failed to substantiate. It remains in the imagination of those bandying it around. For many knowledgeable observers, a majority of the campaign funds spent during Buhari’s Presidential campaigns were raised from ordinary Nigerians like me who made out of pocket donations here and there because we were tired of the ‘lootocracy’ under former President Jonathan. I remember that the donations were pouring in billions until the PDP government at that time got the Nigerian Communications Commission to block the scheme. They even attempted to trap the funds in the bank. Now how does the fact that someone acted as the Director General of the Campaign automatically make such a person as sole financier? Nothing can be farther from the truth.

    The ongoing probe of the National Security Adviser otherwise known as ‘Dasukigate’ is about tracing how funds originally meant to be used to fight Boko Haram insurgency were diverted. The attention generated by Dasukigate is partly because the funds were part of the recoveries from the monies repatriated from those stolen by the late dictator Sani Abacha. It is purely a security issue although the funds somehow ended up travelling through former President Jonathan’s campaigns to private pockets. However, Nigerians expect that anyone who is linked with the funds will be so prosecuted regardless of party affiliation.

    The second misleading part of the article under reference is the allusion that the British tax payers’ money might have been used to finance the campaigns. I know that the British Aid Agency, the Department for International Development has offices in Nigeria. One will guess they should clarify this. The expectation is for them to provide any evidence of direct financial contribution to Rivers State while Mr, Amaechi served as governor or to the Buhari’s campaign organisation. That is the only way to validate the claim made by Daily Mail in this regard.

    Now looking at the article written by Abimbola Adelakun, one will notice that she understands the biased motive of the Daily Mail article which she described as a desperate move to get back at President Buhari, an outdated propaganda which according to her, that had nothing new to say. I concur with her description of the comments of Prime Minister Cameron as a colonial condescension. However, I noticed that while she tried to pretend to be neutral, she betrayed her one sidedness especially on issues relating to the former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi. Those who do not know Abimbola could assume from the slant of her article that she had other intentions. For instance, as someone who is watching the Nigerian political scene closely, many readers expected Abimbola to know that tarring the former governor with fictional corruption charges has been the preoccupation of the Rivers State government under the incumbent governor, Nyesom Wike, for the past one year. They expected the columnist to have full knowledge of the story of the elections that produced that governor which was described as one of the most shambolic elections in the history of Nigeria. It is in the news that more than one hundred persons have been killed or beheaded before, during or since after that election under the murderous reign of the former Minister for education.

    One of Mr. Wike’s major political credentials is that of someone who has mastery in sponsoring unguarded verbal missiles at his political enemies.  Hanging corruption charges on the neck of Mr. Amaechi seems to be the only way Mr. Wike wants to pay back the defeated former President Jonathan and his wife who imposed him on the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) in the state. Immediately after he was declared winner of that flawed election, it is a well-known fact that Wike quickly put together a judicial commission which concluded its investigations without giving Mr. Amaechi any right of fair hearing. Even while the report of the commission is still being contested in court, Daily Mail apparently lifted figures from it and even amplified it to 500 million pounds. How can anyone depend on such a report to canvass a position and not be guilty of prejudice? How bizarre?

    I suggest that those who have impeccable and verifiable evidence of corruption against either President Buhari or Mr. Amaechi should bring it forward and head to court. For many informed Nigerians, Nyesom Wike’s government cannot be the source of any credible information about Buhari and Amaechi’s wrongdoings.  They know that he is on a mission of political persecution and has constantly failed to prove his allegations beyond any reasonable doubt.  The grand plan is to use every means possible to derail President Buhari’s anti-corruption efforts and make political capital out of it. Any keen observer must understand that corruption is a potent political tool in Nigeria and any leader who attempts to fight it must expect a resistance from the beneficiaries of the status quo such as Wike and his co-travellers. This must not surprise anyone. What is indeed surprising is that outfits like Daily Mail and Aljazeera could rest on such lies to try to mislead the unsuspecting public.

    • Igwe, a public commentator, is based in the UK.

     

  • Calabar: Soldier, policemen fight in banking hall

    Calabar: Soldier, policemen fight in banking hall

    Customers who went to a new generation bank  in Calabar got more than they bargained for when a fight broke out between a soldier and some four mobile policemen inside the bank at about 11 am Tuesday.

    It could not be ascertained what the cause of the squabble was, but a canister of tear gas was shot inside the filled banking hall, leading to pandemonium as customers fled the burning sensation.

    A couple of the policemen and the soldier sustained injuries. The uniform of the soldier was torn.

    Soon after more armed mobile and regular policemen arrived the bank in trucks demanding for the soldier who was inside the bank.

    A few moments later a deployment of soldiers in trucks also landed leading to sporadic shooting into the air, as on looking bystanders and passersby scampered for safety.

    After a while they all got inside they bank, to sort themselves out, after which they got out and left in their vehicles.

  • Understanding the fight/flight and tend/befriend reflexes in human relationships

    Have you ever been in a situation when someone seems very wicked and nothing seems capable of changing that person’s attitude?  Have you ever been in a situation when someone seems so easy to attack and is ever vulnerable?  There can be extreme demonstrations of the “fight or flight reflex” and the “tend and befriend reflex”.

    Human nature has characteristics but they are not fixed.  Raw nature, unschooled nature, unprincipled nature, uncivilized nature, would demonstrate pure biology, unrestrained biology.

    I ponder when I watch wildlife on the National Geographic Television channel.  Is the lion wicked in killing and devouring the gazelle so brutally and mercilessly?  Within human family and social life, when a someoneembezzles outrageousamounts of money, when someone rapes his/her spouse and beats him/her up, when someone delights in oppressing or depriving another human being, the raw self-centered reflexes involved surely can be abated or  nullified as we see in people that we regard as having normal or civilized behavior.

    Life in the jungle is full of raw reflexes.  Life in civilization is characterized by trained reflexes.

    It is difficult to try to understand or explain wildlife or raw biology, without giving it a spiritual dimension.  Was the world at some point so good, so perfect, that nothing harmed nothing?  Will the world ever become so good, so perfect, that nothing will harm nothing?  That is a query for philosophy and theology.  Here, we ask: how can we have healthy relationships, relationships that are good on either side, for either side.

    Families are ever being troubled, being destroyed, or breaking up after raw biology.

    A man may be a forever fight-or-flight person.  He would be dangerous for a person who he sees as a threat or as easy to fight and he would descend on that person as much and as far as he could.    He would of course keep away from or at least be very nice to a person he considers more powerful than himself.  A person who is a forever tend-and-befriend person would be destroyed around such a fighter. The tend-and-befriend character would have to learn to fight him or flee from him (avoid him), which ever can guarantee his or her peace and survival.

    Just as a lion does not feel wrong about brutally killing and devouring a gazelle, a human being, acting through raw nature, may not feel wrong about what he or she does to other human beings.

    Within civilization, raw nature can act under cover of duty, religion, business, etc., and people harm people.  A family or society that is riddled with crime, corruption, strife, vice, injustice, instability, confusion, and such relationship tragedies reflects entwining of raw natures.  Training people for civilized living should begin at a tender age.  Parents are primarily responsible for the way their children turn out.

    As we mature in life, we see the interplay of fight, flight, tend, and befriend in our lives in a way that reflects intellectual control as a result of experience.  Raw reflexes are more often than not incompatible with civilized living.  Intellectual influences are always necessary.  With lack of intellect, civilization breaks down, and things become raw.

    Does spiritual power affect nature?  Those who have experienced it will tell it.  The lion can eventually sit with the lamb.

    Within the family or any society, we need to watch how raw nature relates us and affects us.  We can always improve in civilized living and in healthy relationships.

     

    Dr. ‘Bola John is a biomedical scientist based in Nigeria and in the USA.   For any comments or questions on this column, please email bolajohnwritings@yahoo.com or call 08160944635

  • Panama Papers: Tax evasion hurts anti-poverty fight, says World Bank

    .•IMF urges Nigeria to approve budget, seek economic help 

    Tax evasion through international tax havens and other international illicit transfers of money undermine the fight against global poverty, World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim has said.

    “This is a great, great concern,” Kim said as he opened the Spring Meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund yesterday.

    In a report obtained from the bank’s website, Kim said the global lender is very concerned about illicit financial flows, amid intense attention on the recent leak of Panama Papers’ showing how powerful officials and businesses in many countries make use of thousands of anonymous companies in tax free centres.

    “When taxes are evaded, when state assets are taken and put into these havens, all of these things can have a tremendous negative effect on our mission to end poverty and boost prosperity,” he said.

    The publication early this month of the Panama Papers, a dossier of files on anonymous companies set up by a Panama law firm, has sparked a new push for ending the secrecy offered by tax heavens worldwide, he said.

    He said leaders in developing countries regularly ask him for help in tracking down the exodus of cash whether to avoid taxes or to hide graft.

    He said the one answer is increasing transparency. “The message I would send is that transparency is not going to move backwards. The world is going to become only more and more transparent as we move forward. So, I would just say, be very careful”.

    Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Christine Lagarde said Nigeria should seek economic help from international institutions.

    Speaking at the IMF conference hall in Washington DC, Lagarde said Nigeria needs to be open-minded on foreign exchange, and swiftly approve the 2016 budget. “Our recommendation is that Nigeria seeks help from the international institutions that can best help,” she told the audience.

    “Second, that Nigeria is open-minded in using flexibility of the exchange rates, in order to absorb some of the shocks. We believe that this is more efficient than to have a list of products that are barred from being imported to the country.

    “Third, we believe that it’s really important that budget be completed, decided and approved and we stand ready to help Nigeria, if it wants to seek our help.”

    “Nigeria is full of energy, smart people, and can really transform some of its activities including the agricultural sector where there is just too much by way of import, when there could be a lot of transformation in Nigeria and local consumption.”

  • Why corruption fight must be sustained

    SIR: Majority of Nigerians are corrupt minded, corrupted and are defenders of corruption. They are selfish, partial and unjust. I find it very absurd when someone tells President Muhammadu Buhari to focus on the economy and not the fight against corruption.

    How do you move the economy forward when corruption is eating away at the economy? Is it impatience that is driving us crazy? We should be patient and cut this government some slack here because this is the first time I can feel a government that has the charisma to take the nation out the woods.

    The two major religions Christianity and Islam condemn corruption in all its ramifications. Common sense agrees that corruption is evil. Whatever woes we are saddled with today (including those from our past) is as a result of corruption. Corruption has denied us (the less privileged) of all essentials of life: education, power supply, security, safety on our roads, health; just name it.

    Until we learn to stop sympathizing with bad and corrupt politicians just because we are from the same geopolitical zones, state, village, religion, tribe or even family, we will continue to support evil.  We must also learn to support a crusader to fight evil even if he is from a religion, section or party we dislike.

    As for Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti, it’s normal in a democracy to criticize the government when the need arises. However, meaningful and constructive criticism is what we need, not when it becomes so childish and incessant the way Fayose is doing it. Fayose should stay calm and observe things, as it may turn out that his staunchest of opponent or enemy can do something popular for the good of the generality of the people. It doesn’t impress people when they know that you make noise just to be noticed or for people to say he is tough and fearless. Fayose should know better.

    Let’s call a spade a spade. Those shouting of selective fight are just looking for excuse to discourage the crusade and are nothing but corrupt and corrupted. We must eliminate as much as we can, sectionalism, tribalism and religious sentiments in order to move forward. The corruption crusade must continue and well-meaning Nigerians must continue to support it and let the sponsored and paid critics and groups go on criticizing. Buhari is not one to be distractible anyway. Those being used to draw the hands of the clock backward should remember that their children and grandchildren will definitely ask them as posterity also will. The fight must be holistic meaning from top to bottom. The EFCC must also take the crusade to the states and down to the local governments. That means taking it to the grassroots as this is the only way to nip it in the bud, because some of our politicians always start from the local government up the ladder to the states and federal government.

     

    • Mohammed Jibril,

     Kawo, Kaduna.