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Tag: greed

  • ‘Greed, self-interest behind executive/legislature conflict’

    ‘Greed, self-interest behind executive/legislature conflict’

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday attributed the disagreements between the executive and the legislature to greed, self-interest and hypocrisy.

    He said despite the principles of separation of powers, there were still tensions and conflicts among the arms of government, especially between the executive and the National Assembly.

    Osinbajo said: “Various factors can be identified as the causes of conflicts between organs of government, especially between the legislature and executive, who have to constantly interact in the course of discharging their respective constitutional duties.

    “Conflicts could arise from misunderstanding of constitutional responsibilities; inordinate foray or venture by one organ into the territory of another organ, inordinate ambition or domineering attitude by one over others, power struggle, greed or self-interest, hypocrisy, lack of patriotism and corruption.”

    Osinbajo spoke in Abuja at a “Dialogue of organs of government on reform of justice sector and campaign against corruption” involving the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

    It was organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice and held at the State House Banquet Hall.

    The vice president, represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Ade Ipaye, said while absolute separation of powers might be unattainable, the three arms of government must cooperate to maintain a workable government.

    “When this cooperation happens, it strengthens the democratic process, promotes good governance and responsible leadership, promotes transparency and accountability in governance, assists the executive to be focused and committed to delivering good governance to the citizens and helps the legislature to make efficient laws that will promote good governance and curb corruption,” he said.

    Osinbajo said for there to be harmony, each arm must carry out the functions assigned to it by the constitution effectively and within the limits of its power. Usurpation of the others’ power, he said, would lead to friction.

    According to him, unresolved conflicts slows down the pace of governance, creates suspicion and hostility, encourages bad governance, creates distraction and tension, and encourages the culture of impunity and disregard for the rule of law among the political class, with attendant political instability that divides the populace.

    “In order to avoid these consequences and for a government to deliver development to the people, it is imperative for the three arms of government to constantly bury the hatchet and focus on collaborative efforts within their constitutional responsibilities to formulate and implement effective governance laws and policies.

    “All three arms must be development focused in fulfillment of their roles and be ready to subsume personal interests to the overriding public good,” Osinbajo said.

    The vice president said despite the Transparency International report, suggesting that Nigeria declined in the corruption perception index, the government was focused on the war against corruption.

    “We are firmly of the view that real progress is being achieved in the fight against corruption, and perception may indeed lag behind reality.

    “But, as the saying goes, perception is sometimes stronger than reality, so we have to keep up the fight, until the full effect of our efforts can be clearly seen and perceived,” he said.

    According to him, Nigeria’s ranking should not be seen as a setback, “but rather as an opportunity to continue building on the many successes that have already been recorded by this government in all key sectors.”

    Senate President Bukola Saraki, represented by Senator David Omoru, said TI’s report was an opportunity to redouble efforts in fighting corruption.

    According to him, there was need to further strengthen anti-corruption institutions and processes, adding that graft must be fought without bias.

    Saraki highlighted the Senate’s efforts to complement the fight against corruption, such as passage of the Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters Bill, the Secured Transactions in Movable Asset Bill and the Whistle-blowers Bill.

    “Let me reiterate that we are committed to the fight against corruption, and we welcome opportunities for greater collaboration between the arms of government,” Saraki added.

    Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen, represented by the Court of Appeal President Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, said corruption and other forms of injustice thrive in a culture of impunity.

    According to him, the culture of impunity, which he said was an “attitudinal phenomenon”, must be fought if there is to be a successful campaign against corruption.

    “If we allow the rule of law to reign, then there will be a dramatic reduction in corruption and injustice,” the CJN said.

    PACAC Chairman Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) said corruption can be successfully tackled if no arm of government condones it, adding that no arm can indict others for corruption, when it does not tackle it from within.

    “If you do not remove the log in your eye, you cannot remove the spec in another person’s eye. Specifically, anyone guilty of corruption in any arm of government should be dealt with harshly by colleagues in that arm; otherwise that sector will lose credibility,” he said.

  • ‘Greed, self-interest behind executive/legislature conflict’

    ‘Greed, self-interest behind executive/legislature conflict’

    •Osinbajo, Saraki, CJN, Sagay, others seek justice sector reforms •’TI’s report not a setback’

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday attributed the disagreements between the executive and the legislature to greed, self-interest and hypocrisy.

    He said despite the principles of separation of powers, there were still tensions and conflicts among the arms of government, especially between the executive and the National Assembly.

    Osinbajo said: “Various factors can be identified as the causes of conflicts between organs of government, especially between the legislature and executive, who have to constantly interact in the course of discharging their respective constitutional duties.

    “Conflicts could arise from misunderstanding of constitutional responsibilities; inordinate foray or venture by one organ into the territory of another organ, inordinate ambition or domineering attitude by one over others, power struggle, greed or self-interest, hypocrisy, lack of patriotism and corruption.”

    Osinbajo spoke in Abuja at a “Dialogue of organs of government on reform of justice sector and campaign against corruption” involving the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

    It was organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice and held at the State House Banquet Hall.

    The vice president, represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Ade Ipaye, said while absolute separation of powers might be unattainable, the three arms of government must cooperate to maintain a workable government.

    “When this cooperation happens, it strengthens the democratic process, promotes good governance and responsible leadership, promotes transparency and accountability in governance, assists the executive to be focused and committed to delivering good governance to the citizens and helps the legislature to make efficient laws that will promote good governance and curb corruption,” he said.

    Osinbajo said for there to be harmony, each arm must carry out the functions assigned to it by the constitution effectively and within the limits of its power. Usurpation of the others’ power, he said, would lead to friction.

    According to him, unresolved conflicts slows down the pace of governance, creates suspicion and hostility, encourages bad governance, creates distraction and tension, and encourages the culture of impunity and disregard for the rule of law among the political class, with attendant political instability that divides the populace.

    “In order to avoid these consequences and for a government to deliver development to the people, it is imperative for the three arms of government to constantly bury the hatchet and focus on collaborative efforts within their constitutional responsibilities to formulate and implement effective governance laws and policies.

    “All three arms must be development focused in fulfillment of their roles and be ready to subsume personal interests to the overriding public good,” Osinbajo said.

    The vice president said despite the Transparency International report, suggesting that Nigeria declined in the corruption perception index, the government was focused on the war against corruption.

    “We are firmly of the view that real progress is being achieved in the fight against corruption, and perception may indeed lag behind reality.

    “But, as the saying goes, perception is sometimes stronger than reality, so we have to keep up the fight, until the full effect of our efforts can be clearly seen and perceived,” he said.

    According to him, Nigeria’s ranking should not be seen as a setback, “but rather as an opportunity to continue building on the many successes that have already been recorded by this government in all key sectors.”

    Senate President Bukola Saraki, represented by Senator David Omoru, said TI’s report was an opportunity to redouble efforts in fighting corruption.

    According to him, there was need to further strengthen anti-corruption institutions and processes, adding that graft must be fought without bias.

    Saraki highlighted the Senate’s efforts to complement the fight against corruption, such as passage of the Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters Bill, the Secured Transactions in Movable Asset Bill and the Whistle-blowers Bill.

    “Let me reiterate that we are committed to the fight against corruption, and we welcome opportunities for greater collaboration between the arms of government,” Saraki added.

    Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen, represented by the Court of Appeal President Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, said corruption and other forms of injustice thrive in a culture of impunity.

    According to him, the culture of impunity, which he said was an “attitudinal phenomenon”, must be fought if there is to be a successful campaign against corruption.

    “If we allow the rule of law to reign, then there will be a dramatic reduction in corruption and injustice,” the CJN said.

    PACAC Chairman Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) said corruption can be successfully tackled if no arm of government condones it, adding that no arm can indict others for corruption, when it does not tackle it from within.

    “If you do not remove the log in your eye, you cannot remove the spec in another person’s eye. Specifically, anyone guilty of corruption in any arm of government should be dealt with harshly by colleagues in that arm; otherwise that sector will lose credibility,” he said.

    “It takes only one apple to contaminate and make all the other apples in the barrel rotten also. So, self-criticism and firm punishment for culprits within a sector by colleagues is mandatory in order to establish zero-tolerance for corruption in that sector,” Sagay said.

    According to him, there must be no espiri de corp between a clean member and a corrupt member in any arm.

    Sagay said those who were known to be corrupt have no moral right to pontificate on the fight.

    “There is a lot of lip service by various high profile public servants in the anti-corruption war. When a person who is known by the Nigerian public as an irredeemably corrupt person begins to wax lyrical about the devastating effects of corruption, it sounds very ill in his mouth and it ridicules and belittles the fight against corruption.

    “Public figures who are already notorious for their penchant for corruption do a disservice to the anti-corruption struggle by pretending to hate corruption. Let such people remain silent rather than ridiculing the war against corruption,” he said.

    The PACAC chairman urged lawmakers to fight budget padding and unjust remuneration and to pass pending anti-corruption bills.

    Sagay said judges must not only have zero-tolerance for lawyers who try to compromise them, but should expose such lawyers and have them struck off the rolls.

    He urged agencies, such as Customs, not to demand bribes to do their jobs.

  • Like unbidden offering on the altar of greed

    We belabour the ‘Nigerian dream.’ We abuse the idea that life will get better, that progress is assured if we keep faith, obey the rules and work hard; that prosperity is guaranteed if we continue to tread the slow, steady path to progress and a prosperous future. And in pursuit of these lofty ideals, we pervert the steady, measured, impartial course of the universe; hacking pliant paths to our dreams, from the crossroads where gluttony cavorts with depravity.

    Eventually, we awaken to a cold, bitter truth: We are being sacrificed. The Nigerian dream we are sold isn’t worth our sacrifice. And the individual dreams we pursue, aren’t worth a smidgen of what we make them out to be. By the time we all struggle to achieve our dreams, Nigeria will be finished. Given that each tribe may finally achieve its dreams of nationhood via secession, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Ijaw to mention a few may establish their new nations.

    When we do, the swollen belly of our pride shall become visible to us. When it does, it shall suddenly dawn on us that, all along, we had been blindly acting to a script prepared by career predators from Western nations of Europe, America and our ruling class.

    The truth will become clearer to us we shall hopelessly realize that we are being sacrificed. We will all be sacrificed; some of us much quicker than others. As it is now, so shall it be in our new nations, the Biafran youth, Ijaw youth, Oodua youth and Arewa youth to mention a few, shall become disposable indices in the scheme of things.

    But until then, we will continue to have today and squander it on the altar of racism and greed. Today, it’s impossible to see any offspring of our ruling class engage or become embroiled in the familiar tragedies that mar our lives. It’s always children from the breadlines, struggling middle class and backwaters that are involved. We are the youth divide traditionally required to serve as unthinking muscles and cannon fodder in the ruling class’ blueprint of pillage and destruction.

    The decline of Nigeria is a story of gross injustices by the ruling class to the citizenry. But that is only an aspect of it, the greatest injustice is that meted out by individual citizen to self – the youth particularly. And this predominant malaise often plays out in our corruptibility and disinclination to foster a more humane leadership and society.

    Today, we suffer declining standards of living, stagnant and falling wages that are hardly paid at due time. We suffer curtailment and absolute denial of our basic wages, long-term unemployment, slave labour, escalating crime wave, among other ills.

    We perpetuate gruesome realities of the weakest being crushed decisively and maniacally by the affluent and strong. Together, we perpetuate a story of unbridled sectarian, ethnic and corporate power that has taken our government hostage, overseen the dismantling of our cultural heritage, societal and entrepreneurial values.

    But if the ruling class, in connivance with predatory nations and institutions from the so-called ‘first world’ is responsible for plundering our natural resources and bankrupting the nation, we, the youth, are responsible for even worse atrocities.

    We serve as the tools by which the ruling class and its cohorts overseas plunder and destroy our nation. The virus of political corruption, the perverted belief that only political and material profit matters, has spread to distort our thoughts and understanding of right and wrong. Today, it manifests in endemic proportions plaguing our communities with religious and political terrorism, economic and cyber-terrorism to mention a few.

    The Nigerian society dies a gruesome death because we lay to waste, our youths and we, the latter, by our suicidal actions and thoughts, submit as prey to the predatory ruling class and their cohorts overseas.

    Everyday encounters with gluttonous gangs of struggling youth reveals among other things, that many of us are the same social products as our peer from the aristocratic divide. Conditioned by life’s harshest vicissitudes to survive at all cost, we lay in wait, striving and bidding our time until we are ably positioned and strong enough to serve or rob the rich whose life we earnestly covet and decry.

    A visit to any night club, party, religious organization or office still attests to this fact. Ambitious and upwardly mobile youth from the breadlines or struggling working class families engage in a variety of excesses to the applause of mates yearning to be in their shoes. Either as advance fee fraudsters, bankers, journalists, accountants, secretaries, factory hands or ordinary clerks, youths from the breadlines daily engages in a bitter, desperate struggle to chance on the shortest possible cut to sudden and stupendous wealth.

    We seem beset by a greater and unexplainable fear beyond the fear of poverty amongst other harsh realities of our lives. Fear plays a greater part than hope: we are infinitely buoyed and obsessed with thoughts of the money that we could make or the possessions that might be taken from us or elude us, than of the joy and value that we might add to our own lives and to the future of our fatherland.

    Most of us, like our more privileged peer crave the best of everything without actually sweating for it. And when we do sweat for it, our industry is tainted by vigorous dashes of impatience and duplicity. In our work, we are haunted by jealousy of competitors, and a fleeting interest in the actual work that has to be done. We spend greater time and passion defending unjust privileges that we are desperate to enjoy.

    Such appalling youth constitute a greater segment of the human element expected to salvage Nigeria from eternal ruin and bloodbath. Consequently, our society becomes more rudderless and unstable and vulnerable, on our watch. Now that Nigeria as our fathers, ‘the wasted generation’ made it, and we the youth, aggravate it, have begun to collapse, we withdraw from the possibility of rebirth, and instead choose to exploit the infinite possibilities in our fragility and predicted collapse.

    It’s about time the Nigerian youth started postponing immediate gratification and endure hard sacrifices spurred by conviction that the future can be better than the past. Beyond the politics and inanities of our existing ruling class and political parties, we face far more difficult questions at our moment in history: How do we reconcile reality with promises that have been made to us? How do we make the best of our circumstances at the backdrop of indefensible leadership failure and disillusionment of the citizenry?  How do we evolve and nurture to fruition, a new vision to help us deal with our gruesome realities, even as we chart a promising story of the future? How do we divorce ourselves from the pains and disappointments of the past – particularly those that many of amongst us had no stake in but yet internalize and perpetuate unexplainable miseries thereby?

    How do we redefine “Peace, Unity and Progress” with our lust for “Life, Liberty and Happiness?”  How do we become more humane than we are now?

  • The height of greed

    The height of greed

    •SERAP deserves kudos for suing ex-governors turned-senators and others still collecting pensions

    Despite public outcry against the insensitivity of former governors now in the Senate or the Federal Executive Council who are still collecting pensions, the practice continues. However, a non-governmental organisation, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has taken the matter to court. The group contends that it is morally and legally wrong for any public officer to draw double emolument from the public purse.

    It insists that it is a hallowed policy that pension is suspended once a retired public officer takes another remunerated appointment.

    It is obvious that even where there is no law or convention to back the advocacy, only rapacious politicians who are self-serving would seek double portion of the fat pay that they have allocated to themselves at the expense of the people.

    Unfortunately, despite a formal correspondence to the Attorney-General of the Federation to take up the cause in July, the Federal Government appeared to see nothing wrong in the action of the former governors and deputy governors. Now that SERAP has gone before the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, it is expected that the matter would be expeditiously heard and determined to check the swoop on the lean public purse.

    At a time when public infrastructure is in deplorable situation, and many Nigerians live below the poverty line, it is heartless  for a few privileged officials to take advantage of their positions to drain scarce resources. We call on Nigerians to join SERAP in this crusade. It is a call for action to other activists and non-governmental organisations. It is a time when public minded lawyers and the Nigerian Bar Association should rise to defend the people. It is also incumbent on politically conscious Nigerians to mobilise the public, the electorate to engage their legislators on the matter.

    It is perhaps gratifying that the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, by his admission and confirmation of the Kwara State government, has stopped drawing the double salaries. This is however, not enough. He and the few others who have stopped inflicting undue haemorrhage on the public till should be made to refund what they had drawn from it illegally. If the Supreme Court could rule that lawmakers who fraudulently occupied legislator seats should refund whatever they had been paid, the same principle should apply in this instance. Dr. Saraki who had been paid double salaries and allowances for almost six years should refund what he had illegally collected, to set example for others.

    Nigeria is not the private estate of a few. The youth remain unemployed because of the ostentatious lifestyle of the leaders who, when they move, are accompanied by such a large retinue of officials that would embarrass other countries’ chief executives. The notorious security fund is still in place for governors to expend as they deem fit and for which they are not required to account.

    The assault on the treasury is not limited to drawing illegally from it, the criminal severance pay for governors and deputy governors should be checked. In many states, they are paid as much as N300 million, with houses and vehicles routinely made available to them. This is after, sometimes, serving for a mere single term of four years. A governor elected at age 40 retires into opulence and becomes the full responsibility of the state. This unwholesome practice is cruel and unacceptable.

    We are concerned about the attitude of the judiciary to the malfeasance of politicians and public servants. Some former governors still serving in the public space have been charged to court for a decade for alleged corrupt practices while in office, yet, the cases are yet to go beyond taking the plea. We hope the plan by the Chief Justice of Nigeria,  Justice Walter Onnoghen, to establish special court divisions for corruption will help.

    The instant case may not fall within the classical definition of corruption but it deserves special, accelerated attention in the public interest. The Augean stable deserves to be sanitised. This requires collaboration between the three arms of government, the third estate of the realm, the non-governmental organisations and the electorate. It has become the practice that the electorate goes to sleep after every election. This must stop if Nigeria is to join the league of developed countries. There is no better time to drive home the point than now when the clamour for restructuring appears to be receiving due attention.

  • Family’s ‘greed’ endangers Baby Michael’s health

    Family’s ‘greed’ endangers Baby Michael’s health

    The health and future wellbeing of rescued Baby Michael Alvez, who suffers from face ulcer, seem to be on hold. Project Alert and rescuers have decided to refund donations raised, following alleged money-consciousness on the part of his family. GBOYEGA ALAKA reports.

    A thick shadow, penulti-mate week, fell on the future of four-year-old Baby Michael Alvez, who had been undergoing treatment for a diagnosed Facial Hemangioma at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

    Project Alert, and his rescuers, Kate Henshaw, Aramide Kasunmu and Temitope Oluwagbemi, who had been raising money and working hard towards the baby’s treatment and rehabilitation, have decided to refund the money, over nine million Naira, to the respective donors, following what they termed “problematic” attitude from his parents.

    Over a year ago, March 16, last year to be precise, Henshaw, who incidentally is brand ambassador to Project Alert, and the two other ladies, came across a very sick boy with open, degenerating face sore, running in traffic and soliciting alms around the Lagos Museum Roundabout, Onikan.

    Moved with pity, they got hold of him, located his mother, who had brought him to the location to solicit alms and offered to help.

    Following Michael’s admission into LUTH, Henshaw, Kasunmu and Oluwagbemi footed his bills along with his mum, Mary’s upkeep, until his ailment was confirmed and it was decided that he would require a long period of treatment and huge financial intervention. Together with Project Alert, as a host organisation, they went public for donations.

    Mary was initially billed to be a signatory to the account, along with Henshaw and Effah-Chukwuma (Executive Director, Project Alert), until she was dropped, following a discovery that she had once raised money from the public, raising about N700,000 through a television (TVC) campaign, without attempting any major treatment or leaving the streets.

    The account was opened and people kept donating for the boy’s treatment. The donations came notably from friends of the rescuers, Henshaw, Kasunmu and Oluwagbemi. Kasunmu, through her online GoFundme account, raised N597, 000 within three weeks of Michael’s admission, which was used in funding the baby and his mum’s weekly bills, medical tests and medications.

    In all, Kate Henshaw and her group of friends raised 50 per cent of the total money generated.

    Everything worked well until the family started making trouble and the money, which Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, Executive Director, Project Alert said is in excess of N9 million, allegedly became a target for Baby Michael’s family.

    According to Effah-Chukwuma, at a recent press conference, Project Alert and the rescuers have decided to refund all donations to the respective donors because Baby Michael’s family has frustrated their efforts.

    “Their antagonism was not only limited to the rescuers and Project Alert, but also to the different government agencies responsible for care and protection of children such as Michael. Not only did his mother, Mary, abandon him in the wards; she was also maltreating him…and even beat up another woman in the ward, and threatened to burn down the ward when accosted by the matron,” a statement signed by Effah-Chukuma read.

    As a result, she was banned from the hospital and the baby’s grandmother came to stay with him, while his aunt, Syndi Ezeanyeji assumed guardianship.

    Effah-Chukwuma spoke of how Ezeanyeji, in November, last year, sent lawyers to them requesting information on the account and amount raised and how the family vehemently rejected efforts by the state government to place the baby under proper hygienic care, accusing the state and the rescuing team of conniving to take their child away from them.

    Things reached a head in February this year, when, at a meeting of all parties convened by the Lagos Social Welfare Department, at the Secretariat, the family vehemently refused to give up their son, rejected further medical intervention and signed an affidavit with the welfare body to the effect. Aside that, Ezeanyeji got another law firm, Beacon Solicitors to write to Project Alert about the fund.

    As a result, Project Alert and the rescuers wonder why the family is more interested in the money which was raised for the boy’s treatment than his health and have decided to reimburse the donors.

    The donations will be refunded in the following order: 50 per cent to all donors who made donations of N20, 000 and above; and 100 per cent to those who donated N19, 999.

  • Prosecutors: Dortmund bus attack suspect acted out of greed

    A 28-year-old German-Russian citizen took out a five-figure loan to bet that Borussia Dortmund shares would drop, then bombed the soccer team’s bus in an attack he tried to disguise as Islamic terrorism in a scheme to net millions, German officials said yesterday.

    The suspect, identified only as Sergej W. in line with German privacy laws, was arrested by a police tactical team early yesterday near the southwestern city of Tuebingen, federal prosecutors said.

    “We are working on the assumption that the suspect is responsible for the attack against the team bus of Borussia Dortmund,” prosecutors’ spokeswoman Frauke Koehler told reporters.

    She said the man came to the attention of investigators because he had made “suspicious options purchases” for shares in Borussia Dortmund, the only top-league German club listed on the stock exchange, on the same day as the April 11 attack. We had taken out a loan of “several tens of thousands of euros” days before the attack and bought a large number of so-called put options, betting on a drop in Dortmund’s share price, she said.

    “A significant share price drop could have been expected, if a player had been seriously injured or even killed as a result of the attack,” according to prosecutors, though Koehler said the precise profit W. might have expected was still being calculated.

    Ralf Jaeger, the top security official in North Rhine-Westphalia state, said the suspect had hoped to earn millions.

    “The man appears to have wanted to commit murder out of greed,” Jaeger said.

    Investigators found notes at the scene claiming responsibility on behalf of Islamic extremists, which Germany’s top security official, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, said was a “particularly perfidious way to toy with people’s fears.”

    He said the suspect had been under close surveillance for about a week and that the evidence against him was significant.

    “The fact that someone wanted to enrich himself by killing people to influence the stock market is particularly reprehensible,” he said.

    The suspect faces charges of attempted murder, causing an explosion and serious bodily harm, and was due to appear before a judge yesterday  to determine if there was enough evidence against him to keep him in custody, Koehler said.

  • Ponzi schemes: Nigerians must stop being greedy

    Mr Mounir Gwarzo, Director- General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has said that the solution to ponzi schemes in the country was a change of attitude.

    Gwarzo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that for Ponzi schemes to be eradicated, Nigerians must stop being greedy.

    “The fundamental solution to this Ponzi scheme has to do with our own attitude as people.

    “We must be able to shun being greedy; we must try as much as possible to look at some of these schemes very critically.

    “Are these schemes registered either by the Central Bank of Nigeria or by the Securities and Exchange Commission; if they are not then you know clearly that
    there are issues.“

    What sort of incentives are they offering; what sort of returns are they promising; most of them promise returns that are not reasonable, that are not realistic, that cannot stand the test of time.

    “ Those kind of things should send a very strong signal to say that there is more to it than the eyes can see,’’ he said.

    Gwarzo explained that the regulators were doing their best to warn Nigerians against partaking in Ponzi schemes such as MMM and the recent digital scheme
    called the Bitcoin.

    He urged Nigerians to avoid such schemes, adding that,“ we should discipline our mind from being very greedy, to being very realistic in whatever investment outlet we put our money in.

  • Fayose: Of greed and indiscretion

    Ill-equipped and ill-mannered Ayo Fayose, the self-styled voice of the opposition is a man with the heart of steel. He without trepidation tramples on sacred areas where angels fear to tread. Like Ali Mazrui said of General Abacha, the late Nigerian maximum ruler, Fayose is too dim-witted to know fear. Unfortunately, this recklessness is what has made him easy prey to both the crafty and the devious politicians.  Just as he blamed his detractors including Obasanjo who took him from the street of Ibadan and foisted him on the people of land of honour, for his fall from grace to grass when EFCC hounded him from detention to court room, he has been blaming everyone else but his own recklessness for his current travails.

    Following EFCC’s freezing of two of his personal accounts and another one belonging to his company, Spotless Investments in the course of its investigations into N4.745billion allocated to a former Minister of State (Defence) Musiliu Obanikoro by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) as a war chest to win the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states in 2014, he first attempted hiding under the immunity clause of the constitution instead of addressing the issue. When that failed, he falsely claimed the President’s wife had a link with Jefferson who was jailed in the US over the Halliburton scandal in Nigeria. And when that also failed, he tried intimidating Zenith Bank for a possible cover- up. And when he discovered helpless Zenith had already performed its corporate responsibility, he claimed the funds traced to his Zenith account was a donation by the bank towards his election bid. But that was not until he had sought the protection of the court where he was advised to go and face his own demons just the same way the courts told him he had no integrity worthy of protection when he sued The News magazine that reported his alleged theft of N1.2billion just before his impeachment in 2006.

    But as said, Fayose’s lack of depth makes him easy target for scheming politicians.  For instance, when Obasanjo, a prophet rejected in his own city, became President in defiance of Edmund Burke’s thesis which literarily postulates that one cannot climb the palm tree from the top, (he lost the whole of South-west including his own ward in Abeokuta in 1999), he found Ayo Fayose, fearless but bereft of prudence the ideal candidate for his ‘main-stream’ experiment which started with Ekiti and later extended to Ondo, Oyo, Osun and Ogun states. Months before the election, he took him to Ado Ekiti where he raised his hand and proclaimed him as the next governor of Ekiti.  He gave fillip to his pronouncement by luring some marketable commodities from AD to PDP with money, vehicles and other forms of security logistics.  With military tactics, Obasanjo rigged Niyi Adebayo out of office in 2003 just as he did in other Yoruba states short of Lagos.  But Fayose, a man without discretion started waging war against the people. Widespread insecurity and assassination of political adversaries including Tunde Omojolaand an alleged theft of N1.2b led to his impeachment

    Thereafter, Fayose,was for eight years in the political wilderness, chased around by EFCC sometimes from detention to courts until a new set of crafty  politicians who saw him as lacking in forethought, recommended him to drowning Jonathan as the fearless man capable of taking on his Ekiti people and leading the squad of Obanikoro, JeliliAdesiyan, and Omisore in the pacification of the Yoruba land.As it was in 2003 when the battle was Obasanjo’s, Fayose did not have to fight any battle in June 2014. He didn’t even need to campaign. He had no manifesto. Jonathan just improved on his estranged godfather’s 2003 strategy. According to Dr.TemitopeAluko, Fayose’sself-confessed partner in crime, at the Aso rock meeting presided over by Jonathan with Fayose, former PDP chairman, AdamuMu’azu, Obanikoro, Jelili, and Omisore where decision to capture Ekiti was held, apart from making N4.7b available for the battle, it was resolved ‘there would be a strike team, a mixture of the DSS, military, and the mobile police’. It was as if Ekiti was at war in June 2014.

    Aluko also claimed that the electoral materials were delivered through Akure Airport and taken to a hotel owned by Fayose’s Chief of Staff DipoAnisulowo in Are-Ekiti, where the alleged manipulation was carried out. According to him, the ballot papers were thumb-printed and result sheets filled by PDP members, which gave the party “undue advantage”. Aluko also disclosed that even when the Department of State Services (DSS) operatives, led by a woman officer, stormed Anisulowo’s hotel and arrested the PDP henchmen, they were released within three hours. EFCC has since confirmed.N4.7b was shipped by Obanikoro through Akure airport out of which Fayose allegedly got N2.2b, Omisore N1.7b and Obanikoro N800m. That was all they needed for the pacification of Yoruba land.

    As it turned out, all the battles were fought on behalf of Fayose in 2014 just as it was in 2003. Fayose’s undoing was his greed as well as his indiscretion. With no lesson learnt from his first tragedy, he again started by waging war against the people. Determined to reduce the state to his level, he, with the connivance of President Jonathan first chased out 19 elected lawmakers and relied on five PDP thugs as lawmakers to pass his budget and confirmed list of his commissioners. He also prevented the embattled lawmakers and new aspirants from entering the state in order to reconstitute the new house in his own image where in the place of the Havel; he could use a carpenter’s hammer to personally pass the state budget without a debate.

    As for greed, a leopard cannot change its skin. While he arranged that the electoral materials to be thumb-printed be taken to Ani’s hotel in Are, he allegedly took personal delivery of his own N2b portion of the N4.7B slush fund. N1.219b of the fund according to EFCC, has been traced to his three frozen accounts in Ado Ekiti. And part of the fund according to EFCC has also been linked to the purchase of three choice properties in Abuja and Lagos by those said to be fronting for Fayose.

    Fayose so far has not denied receiving the money. Besides a failed attempt to hide under the immunity clause in the constitution and blaming others, he has also gone spiritual. Quoting the Bible, he has asked ‘those who have never sinned to throw the first stone.’ Predictably, long discredited ‘PDP Governors Forum’, now headed by Mimiko of Ondo and the Senate caucus which has expressed its opposition to Buhari’s war on corruption have openly identified with his travails.

  • Greed, grievances and creed of Biafra struggle

    “When men hold the same ideas in their minds, nothing can isolate them;not the walls of prison or the sods of cemetery, for single idea and common goal sustain them.”- Karl Max.

    The recent agitation by some Igbo people to secede from Nigeria and create the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) should not be taken with levity and President Muhammadu Buhari must not hesitate to listen to their agitation with a view to achieving a lasting peace.

    It is in view of this that I intend to take a peep into this rekindled struggle that was first led by the late Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba of Nnewi. The civil war that ensued left hundreds of thousands dead, many displaced and valuable properties and monuments worth billions of dollars were destroyed.

    The fresh call by Kanu PBI and MOSSOB shows that there is an urgent need to restructure our fiscal federalism; hence this article intends to capture the struggle from three different perspectives which are greed, grievances and creed. They are the driving force of this conflict.

    From time immemorial, empirical evidences drawn from similar occurrences in the Niger-Delta,Somalia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Nepal, Syria, Fulani pastoralists’ and Boko Haram insurgency have shown that the absence of effective government control and inability to exercise basic state functions provided ground for disorder, crime and ultimately armed conflict. Internal violence and armed conflict are major causes of instability and even serve as great catalysts of state failure.

    In tandem with the above view, the fragile state of Nigeria is a by-product of dysfunctional government which has failed to provide basic necessity of life to the people, whereupon creating extreme poverty among the citizens.

    Nigeria is entrapped in socio-political unrest due to inability of government to provide a conducive environment for her citizens, thereby creating a vacuum which allows the frustrated citizens to express their displeasure and grievances. Their unhappiness is what eventually metamorphosed into conflicts that we are experiencing in the North East and the Eastern part of the country today.

    In a seminar paper titled: Greed and Grievance in Civil war, written by Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler in 2002, greed is said to go with aggressive actions so as to accomplish one’s desire. The authors asserted that where there is greed, there is elite competition over valuable natural resource rents, concealed with the fig leaf of collective grievance. The greed of the rebels due to the availability of natural resources causes conflict. The capturing and looting of the resources however has to be augmented by the opportunity to do so.

    The above debate within neoclassical economics on the main sources of civil war has crystalised around a simple dichotomy between ‘greed’ and ‘grievance’.

    These greed and grievance are more difficult than the debate acknowledges. The greed versus grievance debate within neoclassical economics has helped to popularise the distinction as a way of organizing the analysis of and policy responses to violent conflicts.However, the debate itself is based on a distinction that is conceptually misleading and undermines the usefulness of the concept.

    Greed and grievance can be roomies. Where the conditions for greed-rebellion exist but those for grievance-rebellion do not, a group initially motivated by grievance may become dependent upon primary commodity predation for survival, thus transforming itself into a greed-rebellion.

    Conversely, greed-rebellions need to manufacture subjective grievance for military cohesion and may find objective grievance an effective basis for generating it. Hence, the presence of primary commodity exports may sustain rebellions which are motivated by the objective grievance, while the presence of objective grievance may sustain rebellions motivated by predation. The sources of grievances are political exclusion and inequality.

    In countries that have high-value resources, for instance, oil as in the case of Nigeria, inequitable resources extraction and distribution and the negative local environmental impacts have led to growing tensions. Extractive development policies lead to resource scarcity and environmental stress. This may manifest itself in tensions between the neglected regions.

    The demand for a Biafra State must be done with due process known to law, both locally and internationally and a referendum will show the direction to go and the bloodshed must be avoided.

    The factionalisation of the union between the Uwazirike and other agitators is an indication that the cause is driven by greed and personal gains, though the environmental degradation and resources scarcity may look as the underlying cause of the conflict. It may significantly aggravate or trigger violence as it was manifested in the emergence of Niger-Delta militants and the invasion of Fulani pastoralists in Jos, Nassarawa, and other Northern States in Nigeria.

    The Niger-Delta militant groups claimed that oil exploration, environmental degradation have been the major problem and also the inability of the federal government to remit appropriate percentage of oil-revenue for development of the Niger-Delta areas.

    Similarly, before the advent of insurgency in the Delta, peaceful and non-violent protests were carried out by groups in different communities in the Niger Delta. However, they were short-lived as a result of the repressive and brutal acts of military governments that frustrated the agitators.

    It was, however, the continuous political and fiscal marginalisation of the oil producing states, environmental degradation, poverty and under-development of the region after the transition to democracy, that spurred the violence in the area and conflict became inevitable.

    It is noted that democratisation, which is a more liberal form of governance, contributed to the increased levels of violence within the country. It is also observed that the failure of the Nigerian government to address the crisis in the Eastern region, the consistent siphoning of oil proceeds into personal accounts and the lack of democratic depth are largely responsible for the crisis while there are other frequent clashes between the Fulani pastoralists and the indigenous settlers in Northern Nigeria.

    Correspondingly, in Eastern Nigeria, environmental devastation, political and economic marginalisation, should be blamed on the Federal Government for betraying the national values offederalism, equality, and social justice, as well as tampering with the revenue allocation formula.

    In the same vein, resource-rich fragile states, where state revenues come directly from nationalised export earnings, governments are often “strong and unwilling” and largely unresponsive to pressures from their own people. In the short-term, these governments may be responsive to top-down, internationally linked accountability initiatives.

    However, it is also important to support bottom-up processes to strengthen state-society relations and empower citizens to make demands and hold institutions to account. It is at this local level that citizens tend to experience exclusion, arbitrariness and dispossession from the state, which in turn can lead to fear, frustration and disempowerment.

    In all sincerity and honesty, the Igbo society has been underdeveloped and marginalised but the violentagitation will never solve the real problems. It would rather take us backward. The lessons of the civil war should have taught us that it is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war.To those genuine agitators who believe that Biafra is a task that must be carried out, the looming anarchy should better be avoided. Moreover, President Buhari must, as a matter of urgency, arrest this matter before it gets out of hand.

    • Sheyi is a Master’s Conflict, Development and Security student, University of Leeds, UK

     

  • ‘Politics is about service, not satisfaction of greed’

    ‘Politics is about service, not satisfaction of greed’

    Ashipa Kaoli Olusanya, an APC chieftain, a former commissioner in Lagos State, Proprietor and Chief Learning Officer (CLO) of Kith and Kin Group of Schools, Ikorodu, in this interview told Adeyinka Aderibigbe how to prepare Nigerian youths for leadership. Excerpts

    Recently the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, singled you out for praise, describing you as a leader worthy of emulation by the youth; you are you, and what defines your personality?

    I was as surprised at such confidence boosting commendation as everyone because it came unsolicited. I never knew I was being keenly monitored by such a great leader of men. Though from a very poor family, we never covet. My mother taught me basic moral values, my mother was my first teacher, she taught me the values of hard work, she taught me to mix freely and not hold anything against anybody and at the same time, she taught me the value of focus. She taught me how to set goals and work towards achieving them. She taught me the value education.

    Can you access Lagos of your time and Lagos of today?

    There has been a lot that has changed between that time and now. Lagos of the 60s is a very quiet and peaceful place, a place where everybody is their brother’s keeper. There is good neighborliness; there is no thuggery and no robbery or kidnapping. We almost knew ourselves. Even as primary school pupils, you cant afford to misbehave because the news would have gotten home ahead of you and disciplined is enforced by members of the community, not necessarily your parents.

    Today, the population has ballooned. The idea of being brothers’ keeper is no more there.

    When you were Commissioner for Agriculture, you established farm settlements and encouraged Lagosians to go back to the farm. Is that still happening? What would be your assessment of government’s involvement in agriculture?

    What assisted me in my assignment was the fact that I had earlier served as an Agricultural Officer in the civil service before finding myself back in the ministry. I was therefore familiar to all the production centres. I remember Ikorodu used to be a centre for the production of palm oil estates and food stuffs and poultry. Every Friday, members of the community come to the school of agriculture there to buy farm produce and we also ship a lot of these to Alausa. We also have other production centres at Ajara, Epe, Ejirin, Araga; so, when I came in as Commissioner of Agriculture because I knew how we used to produce foods then, I said if there is any rundown, we have to bring them back, so I presented a proposal to the government at one of our early executive council meeting and money was set aside to renovate all old farm settlements. I did not start building new ones, I renovated Ajara, Ikorodu, Araga, the buildings, the pens, the battery cages, the roads were all renovated. The next thing I did was to look at the abattoir which was another run down production centre that had been badly run down and was a loss to the government.

    What would you say are the main challenges besetting the youths of today?

    The youths of today are combating a number of threats that may affect their ability to manifest their full potentials and limiting their opportunity of playing a larger role in the future. One major problem is the environmental factor. The environment can be likened to planting a seed. A farmer who plants a tree in a rocky soil and does not nurture the seed would reap an emaciated plant, but if the same seed is planted on a fertile soil, it grows into beautiful plant. So what kind of soil are we planting our youths.

    If we want to build Nigeria of our dream, government has a lot of responsibility to train these children in the path that would make them imbibe positive values that would make them patriotic and make them say I can die for Nigeria but before anyone can say that mentally, we must have enumerated what he had gained from such a system. Secondly, it is important for our leaders to empower the youths. What are we giving them that would make them available for that future when it eventually comes?

    Were you to be offered an opportunity to serve your people now, which office do you think you can best serve your people?

    The question is not about political office now, it’s about service. Where I find we are lacking competence now is in the allocation of resources for the benefit of the people and that fundamental structure is not the executive but in the legislature, a structure that can create opportunities for Nigerians, a structure that could ensure little empowerment. So, I think that platform for me would be the legislature.

    Lastly, what advice do you have for the youths?

    The youths must first believe in themselves. They must believe in their potentials. Secondly, they must stop depending on the government for everything, but become job creators. The future of this country is in people joining hands with the government to build the economy and only job creators do that. They should stop making themselves available for use by politicians as thugs; they should have patience and believe in hard work; they should be determined.

    Government should also make access to capital for youths interested in creating jobs.