The Nation Newspaper

Tag: interests

  • ‘Bello’s critics are pursuing personal interests’

    ‘Bello’s critics are pursuing personal interests’

    Alhaji Mohammed Bologi, a former Senior Legislative Assistant at the National Assembly and politician, is an ardent supporter of Governor Bello Yahaya of Kogi State. In this interview with JAMES AZANIA, he speaks on the crisis rocking the Kogi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the industrial crisis in the state, the achievements of the administration and other partisan issues. 

    You were an ardent supporter of the late Prince Abubakar Audu, who was on the verge of winning the November 21, 2015 Kogi State governorship election, but died and Governor Bello inherited the APC ticket. Bello’s emergence as governor under those circumstances is believed to be the genesis of the political crisis in the state, because the Audu-Faleke group says they were short-changed. Can you throw more light on the matter?

    To begin with, I want to say there is nothing acrimonious about how Governor Yahaya Bello emerged. Our late leader, Prince Abubakar Audu, contested and almost won the election before he unfortunately died. It became another constitutional lacuna, because the framers of the constitution did not envisage this kind of emergency and so, did not provide for it under our laws as at the relevant time. Therefore, providence favoured our dynamic and courageous governor who came second to late Prince Audu. Expert legal opinion was sought to guide the process and this led to Bello continuing the race. And as you know, this matter progressed even up to the Supreme Court and the highest court in the land okayed the party’s decision in transferring the votes to Bello, who came second in the primary. So, there was no acrimonious circumstance.

    It was a straight forward matter as the highest jurisprudence has shown. It is quite unfortunate that it appears to you that I have distanced myself from what you call the Audu-Faleke group and I equally don’t understand what you mean by ‘being short changed’. I have a good rapport with everybody in the party. The primary aim of going into politics is to bring services and dividends of democracy to the people; I mean the grassroots. If the governor is giving these to the people and certain people are saying they are short-changed, that means they have interests other than the people.

    We should be able to think outside the box and play politics for the benefit of the people. Take myself for example, I hail from Lokoja Local Government, from Ward C, the traditional area, but presently the P.A to Hon. Ned Nwoko, and this is a position, I have held for over 17 years now. My boss retained my services up to date, due to my capacity to think outside the box. Yet, I have remained connected to the grassroots. And, despite my being of the same parents with the one-time chairman of Lokoja Local Government and two-term commissioner under Capt. Idris Wada’s government —- while my brother believes in the PDP platform, I do not share the same ideologies. We see things from different perspectives. They belong to the old block of politicians, while I am in the same age bracket as the hardworking Governor Yahaya Bello. We can play politics devoid of rancour, bitterness or other ulterior motives.

    What are the chances of resolving the lingering crisis within the ruling APC, considering that the 2019 general elections is getting closer by the day?

    It’s unfortunate that the Kogi APC is in such a mess. But, we thank Allah that in less than two years, it has done considerably well, compared to what the previous government/party did during the long period it was in power. I can assure you that what you call crises will be resolved in no time, because the governor does not want the crises to linger. He has said it over and over again that his doors are open. The only problem is the governor’s insistence that everybody in the present government must eschew personal interests for the collective interest of the people.

    In your opinion, what are the achievements of the governor in his close to two years in power?

    They are too numerous to mention, but I must confess that this is a serious question. I have addressed this matter when I mentioned the achievements on security, the infrastructural development across the state, building of classrooms, employment of qualified teachers and a series of empowerment programmes for youth and the indigent. There are also reforms in the civil service and continuous employment within the service of capable hands, enhanced revenue generation and decimation of godfatherism, equality, fairness and justice… Salaries and entitlements are also being paid as cleared. I personally have seen what Governor Bello is doing to transform the state. Look at the security architecture, for instance. The governor is a pacesetter in the whole country. This much was confirmed by no less a person than the Inspector General of Police, after he visited and undertook a study of the security situation in Kogi State. In the past, so much insecurity pervaded the state capital and its environs. Kidnappers, armed robbers who were having a field day have since relocated, due to the commitment of the administration in the fight against criminality in all ramifications. The same can be said about thuggery and other vices. The state is wearing a new look, with streetlights everywhere and constant raiding of dark spots by security agents. This was made possible because of the massive purchase of security vehicles and equipment by the administration.

    What is your take on allegations by some of the Kogi stakeholders, including Senator Dino Melaye and Hon. James Faleke, to the effect that the administration has nothing to show for the billions of naira it has so far received from the Federal Government, particularly the over N50 billion received as bailout fund and the Paris Club Loan Refund?

    The government runs a transparent administration with records in the open. Nothing is shrouded in secrecy. The administration has explained all the receipts of funds either from Paris Club, bail out or even allocations. These monies have been judiciously applied for their intended purposes. The website of the government is there for everyone whose seeks clarifications to visit.

  • How religious, ethnic interests marred review of Constitution

    How religious, ethnic interests marred review of Constitution

    Proponents of devolution of power, Land Use Act, state creation, boundary adjustment, indigenship and affirmative action in the ongoing constitution review have to wait for another opportunity. Assistant Editor ONYEDI OJIABOR, who followed the process from the outset, writes on what informed the senators’ voting pattern on core issues during the amendment.

    It is no longer news that core proposals slated for amendment in the ongoing constitution review were rejected by the National Assembly. What baffled many was the motive behind the lawmakers’ action.

    The lawmakers have come under scathing criticism for being selective with the amendment, which stakeholders described as self-serving and not in the general interest.

    The Nation learnt that overarching regional interest guided the amendments.

    Right from the conception of the idea for the fourth alteration of the 1999 Constitution, primordial interest wrapped around suspicion, mistrust and even pessimism about the whole process ran riot.

    It was a battle of wits from the outset. It was also obvious that some senators merely played along and waited for the auspicious time to frustrate the process.

    The voting pattern, especially on vital proposals poignantly depicted the true character of the National Assembly.

    All the items northern senators, led by senators Adamu Aliero and Danjuma Goje, kicked against during the clause by clause debate of the proposals, failed to pass the amendment tests.

    Aliero, a one-time governor of Kebbi State, did not hide his disdain for the proposed devolution of power to the states.

    The Kebbi Central Zone senator bellied his disapproval for the devolution of power in his insistence that devolution of power without first tinkering with the revenue allocation in favour of the states would be meaningless.

    Underneath his argument for allocation of more resources to the states was the fear of the unknown.

    The former Kebbi governor, it was discovered, was actually anxious not to endorse restructuring of the country under any other guise. It was ploy to buy time since reworking the revenue allocation formula was not on the card.

    Also, the northern senators opposed the removal of Land Use Act from the Constitution to free land for massive development including agriculture. The proposal crashed because the senators (from the north) felt that delisting Land Use Act from the constitution could be another way of endorsing resource control.

    The proposal for the devolution of power to the states that would have paved the way to rework the country for greater efficiency was opposed by the senators.

    State creation and boundary adjustments proposed to make for equity, equality and give a sense of belonging to the federating units also failed to scale the amendment hurdle as the clause was shot down by the northern senators.

    The indigeneship proposal to allow married women to choose either their state of birth or state of marriage for the purpose of appointment or election was rejected by the senators.

    They also opposed the proposal to institutionalise 35 per cent affirmative action for women aimed at creating more opportunities for women in appointments and elective positions.

    But less than a week after the contentious amendments, details of who did what have started unfolding.

    The leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives have invested a lot of hope in the nearly-aborted amendment.  Both chambers had promised to deliver a clean copy of the constitution long before the commencement of electioneering activities for the 2019 general elections.

    That promise informed why the constitution amendment formed a key issue in the legislative agenda of the Eight National Assembly.

    To achieve this, the leadership of Senate and House of Representatives were periodically briefing by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and Deputy House of Representatives Speaker Yussuff Lasun on the progress made.

    An insider gave an account of how northern senators perfected their plot to ambush the process.

    The account said: “Last Monday, when all seemed set for the debate and voting for the 33 items on the agenda, a meeting of the joint leadership of the federal legislature held in the Maitama home of the chairman of the National Assembly, Abubakar Bukola Saraki.

    “The meeting, which went on till past midnight was for the purpose of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. At the meeting, it was agreed that the debate on the 33 items would hold on Tuesday while the voting would be done on Wednesday so that the process could be completed before the legislators commenced their annual recess which began at the weekend.

    “However, it dawned on the legislative leadership that early Tuesday morning when they were supposed to commence the debate on the floor, the Senate President, House of Representatives Speaker and Deputy Speaker were all expected to attend the 16th Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers’ Conference at the ECOWAS secretariat in Abuja.

    “This would mean that nobody would preside at the plenary. The matter was resolved that the Senate President and Speaker would attend while their deputies should preside at the plenary. It was also agreed that since Nigerian parliamentarians are the organisers, they should ensure the event began on schedule by 9am and end within two hours.

    “Eventually, the need to get the conference opened by the Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo delayed the commencement of the event till 10.30am. However, by 11.30am, the opening was done with. Speaker Dogara, who was the presiding officer at the conference, had to stay back while the Senate President returned to the National Assembly complex.

    “However, on getting there, the Senate President met a tensed atmosphere. The northern senators having observed that their southern colleagues were enthusiastic about the constitution amendment voting process scheduled to begin that day were suspicious that something against the interest of the region might have been inserted into the constitution.

    “They further calculated that since Senator Ike Ekweremadu, a southerner with 11 years’ experience in the position with two previous experiences in constitution amendments, it was possible for him to sneak in a few things not in their interest.

    “Led by Senator Goje, the northern senators at an executive session of the Senate had requested for time to consult with their constituents. That was a delay tactic. Knowing that the Senate was due for recess in the next forty-eight hours, any further delay would put the amendment on hold till after the recess and by that time, the enthusiasm about constitution amendment would have died down.

    “Immediately the Senate President came in and was briefed about what transpired at the executive session in which the Senate seems divided on regional basis (North pitted against South), he immediately started persuading the northern senators that voting would be transparent. He also assured them that the rest of the country was waiting for the amendment as a way of dousing tension and agitations across the country. With his assurances to both sides, he moved from his holding office in the White House wing to the plenary to take charge of the proceedings from his deputy.

    “The controversial issues that created the division along regional lines are the removal of the Land Use Act from the constitution, the affirmative action in which at least 35 per cent of people in the executive council of states and Federal Government would be women and the devolution of more powers to the states.

    “The northerners see devolution of powers as indirect way of importing restructuring into the constitution and turning Nigeria into a confederal state with strong confederating states and a weak centre.

    “The Senate President assured all of them that the process would be transparent and give every lawmaker to fully himself. He then presented the various items as bills so that the issues can be voted upon separately. In that case, the rejection of one issue will not lead to the failure of all the issues as it had happened in the past when the issues were lumped together.

    “That was why voting were done separately on issues to be removed from the constitution, even though such issues came under the same bill. Thus, votes were taken separately on the issue of whether to remove the National Youth Service (NYSC) Decree, Public Complaints Commission and Land Use Act Decree from the constitution. While the first two passed, the latter one failed. And so, the former two would be passed.

    “Still in the early hours of Wednesday, the Northern Senators refused to go into the chamber without having a caucus meeting to articulate their positions on key issues.  They refused to allow northern senators who are members of the leadership to attend the meeting. Thus, Saraki, Ahmed Lawan and Bala Ibn N’Allah, were excluded from the meeting.

    “Eventually, the voting on the controversial issues like the devolution of powers to states, removal of Land Use Act from the constitution, Bills for women to claim either their state of origin or state of origin of their husband, 35 per cent affirmative action in the and federal and state’s executive councils reflected the division in Nigeria – the North versus the South.

    “The sharp division reflects the state of the country. The agitations for resource control in the Southsouth, the Biafran secession threat in the Southeast, the restructuring and true federalism campaign in the Southwest as well as the Fulani herdsmen/farmers clash in the Northcentral seem to have tainted the debate.

    “There is serious level of suspicion, mistrust, and pessimism about the purpose of the contentious issues. “It may be correct to say that the Senate President and other members of the leadership of the Senate were able to get the process through due to their political sagacity, maturity, confidence building ability, consensus building efforts and expanding the middle ground while rejecting extreme measures or positions.

    “In dealing with the issue, the Senate President recognised the need to allow members to express the wishes of their constituents. It is believed that no member could force the other to accept the positions that are contrary to the viewpoints of his or her constituent.”

    “Another factor that worked for the Senate in driving the constitution amendment process is the unity among members on the non-controversial issues and the huge respect for Saraki’s leadership”, the insider source said.

    But the hope of many Nigerians for a restructured may have been sacrificed on the altar ethno-religious interest. Some have described the failure of the National Assembly to pass the critical proposals as insensitivity to the aspiration of greater number of Nigerian.

    Nigerians, who desired and clamoured for true federalism are not the only the losers. The Eight National Assembly, which had an opportunity to writte its name in gold, is also a loser.

    It is obvious that even northern senators who blocked devolution of power to states know that over centralisation of virtually everything, including policing, education and health services, has not served the interest of the country well.

    However, constitution making is a work in progress as Saraki spoke of the possibility of the senators to revisit devolution of power.

    It is not over until it is over. The ayes can still have their way when the two chambers resume in September.

  • Dogara queries CBN’s non-disclosure of interests in foreign reserves accounts

    Dogara queries CBN’s non-disclosure of interests in foreign reserves accounts

    The Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara has queried the non-disclosure of the interest accrued on Nigeria’s foreign reserves accounts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    He lamented that in spite of spirited efforts by the parliament to know its state, it remains shrouded in secrecy.

    The Speaker, while receiving  a delegation from the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), led by its acting chairman, Mr Victor Muruako,  who paid him a courtesy visit in his office at the National Assembly, he said agencies such as the FRC should be in custody of such figures for dissemination to the public when necessary.

    On  December 15,  2015, the House had passed a resolution calling on the CBN to declare interests accruable to the foreign reserves accounts of the federation.

    Dogara said: “We earn interest on foreign reserves, like Botswana. Because they don’t have oil, it is the second highest revenue after resources earned from natural resources. You will see it as a budget item: interest earned from foreign reserves.

    In Nigeria, we have been asking the question, “are we earning or are we just running charity with it or just leave people to manage it? Are we capitalising the interest? What is the interest? Nobody has ever told us.

    “So which one is the government agency that you can run to and easily obtain this information? CBN, of course, is the one managing it.

  • Bello to Igbo: we’ll defend your interests

    Bello to Igbo: we’ll defend your interests

    Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has assured the Igbo in the state that the government will protect their interests.

    He spoke in Lokoja through his Director-General on Media and Publicity, Kingsley Fanwo, following an ultimatum by some Northern group leaders in Kaduna State, that the Igbo should vacate the North.

    His words: “As a nation, our strength has always been embedded in our unity in diversity. Nigeria is home to all and we must continue to see ourselves as brothers and sisters in a united nation. Ethnic segregation is unacceptable to humanity and we must continue to wax stronger and unbroken as a nation. The God that created Nigeria is a God who believes in the strength of unity.

    “The Kogi State government, under the leadership of Yahaya Bello, wishes to assure all Igbo that they are not only safe in the state, but that the administration will continue to consider them as partners in its New Direction Agenda.

    “Igbo should go about their legitimate businesses and continue to contribute to our economy as a state and a people.

    “With the appointment of Igbo into strategic positions in Kogi State, we are making a strong case for social integration in Nigeria.”

  • Coup, for whose interests?

    SIR: I grew up in the barracks enough to know that there are no bad soldiers but very bad officers.

    Nigeria’s finest military officers have had cause to attend the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, United States Military Academy -West Point and Mons Officer Cadet School – Aldershot for military trainings but most who became military-political officers via coup never lived up to the values instilled in them in these world class institutions mentioned above. They even destroyed the mores of the military. We saw Colonels in Nigeria who were military governors, shook hands with Generals. Hands I must say, extended by these Colonels. Generals toadied up to Colonels in power. We have seen Generals who weren’t members of the oligarchy and whose rank in some countries equals that of some people in the middle-class become stupendously rich in Nigeria.

    We are here today, thanks to them. So when people celebrate a rumuored coup, I ask for whose interests?

    The first successful coups in tropical Africa happened in Congo-Kinshasa now DRC, Togo and Dahomey now Benin Republic. Sixteen countries in Africa overthrew their governments upon gaining independence from their colonial masters.  How are these countries today? Any dramatic change?

    Latin America suffered 56 successful coups between 1935-64. Twenty of these coups were in the states- Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela. I must ask: how is Venezuela now? Chavez made trillions of dollars in oil sales but today they can’t buy drugs and food in Venezuela.

    Corruption had been touted by coupists as reasons for staging coups in Nigeria; others mentioned endemic violence and the falling standard of living. What is ironic is that these coupists upon gaining power began to live comparably to their western counterparts leaving the people to groan without hope for a better life.

    The difference between these coupists in Nigeria and in Latin America is that hardly do you have ours as heroes while almost all of the national heroes in Latin America of the nineteenth century were military men.

    Reforms were carried out by military experts in Latin America but messed up by civilians after them. Their academies include the theory and practice of administration and economic planning with high academic standard.

    I know that civilian administrators have messed up Nigeria. No need dwelling on the ills of corruption, militancy, Boko Haram, nativism, kidnapping, zealotry, and the disillusionment with the educated elite.  But is the armed services in Nigeria any better, as history has shown?

    The armed service is loyal to the elite not the people and we have not witnessed an upsurge of social mobility but crony capitalism under them.

    A coup will ban political activity, federal and state parliaments would be dissolved with immediate effect, the civil servants will rejoice; they loathe politicians who do not understand policies like soldiers, and scramble for positions in military governments then they will go plundering state resources with their military collaborators. The military having had their fill would unban politicians and parties. Then we would start another circuitous political drama with same politicians who wouldn’t grow up.

    We the bloody civilians with no money will continually suffer.

     

    • Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt.

  • Unions seek inclusion of workers’ interests in PIB

    Unions seek inclusion of workers’ interests in PIB

    Oil workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Workers (NUPENG) have called on the National Assembly to include workers’ interests in the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) undergoing the process of being passed at the National Assembly.

    The unions made the call in a memorandum submitted to the Joint Senate Committee on PIGB at a public hearing on the Bill in Abuja. They based their memorandum on five major policy broad thrusts which are: transparency and accountability, fiscal terms,     institutional framework (minister, regulator and commercial entities), refinery and other downstream activities, and labour issues and membership of institutions, boards and committees.

    “The position of the NUPENG and PENGASSAN is that wherever matters concerning or connected with the workers such as interalia:  remuneration, pension, welfare, transfer and deployment are mentioned, the unions (PENGASSAN and NUPENG) must be involved and Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) must be respected and clearly included in the law,” the unions stated in the memorandum.

    According to the two oil and gas in-house trade unions in their memorandum titled: “PENGASSAN’s Position on the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill 2016”, the bill will determine the future of Nigerian oil and gas industry, as well as the Nigerian workers.

    The unions said: “This is more so as the bill contains provisions about staff transfers from the NNPC and other impacted government agencies. The bill also plans to change the ownership structure of the government establishments in the petroleum sector, including asset sales and eventual divestments.

    “Clearly, the PIGB is intended to privatise as much as it is practicable, government’s interest in the petroleum sector. This, if not carefully handled, will lead to serious labour issues.

    “There are also additional challenges posed by repeals of existing laws as some of the Acts establishing the government agencies except for Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) and Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) will be repealed by the PIGB.

    “The position of the PENGASSAN and NUPENG is that staff of the NNPC and all other agencies that will be impacted by the PIGB must NOT lose their jobs or be allowed to be transferred on terms and condition of service that are less favourable than what they currently have under any guise.”

    The unions noted that a major challenge that will confront the workers in the organisations and agencies that will be impacted by the PIGB, especially the National Petroleum Company, is the transition from a more socially focused organisation to a profit-focused organisation.

  • Protecting local, foreign investors’ interests

    The new managers of the economy need to take another look at heavy fines given  to key private sector operators by regulatory bodies.

    This becomes crucial as the high cost of doing business in Nigeria is also a major challenge to both private sector operators and potential foreign investors.

    Therefore, the new managers of the economy need to act in earnest before local and foreign investors begin to see the trend as a deliberate ploy by government to shore up its revenue base as oil prices continue to fall in the global market.

    Before it gets out of hand, the Federal Government should be reminded that businesses left Lagos State in droves and relocated to other states and neighbouring countries when the state government, in the past, tried to increase its internally generated revenue by ensuring that operators in the private sector pay all manner of taxes and fines.

    The state had adopted this method when the Federal Government decided to withhold part of its monthly federal allocation over a disagreement on the creation of additional local governments (LGAs) by the state.

    The huge fines placed on minor infractions like traffic offences or major ones like failure to remit taxes due to the state caused some uproar at the time but the state insisted on having its way. Some companies had to move out of the state and that depleted state revenue earnings at that time.

    At the federal level, the consequence of ongoing rise in regulatory fines is bound to carry a bigger cost. The similarity in the condition of the finances of the Federal Government today and that of the Lagos State Government between 2004 and 2007 implies that the current spate of huge fines may not be mere coincidence.

    It may be a grave miscalculation for the Federal Government to believe it can duplicate the survival strategy adopted in Lagos State when the state’s monthly allocations were withheld by the Federal Government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo .

    Instead, Nigeria’s economic managers must recognise that burdensome regulatory environment is anathema to the emergence of a stronger private sector.

    Undoubtedly, businesses will only thrive in an environment where salutary regulatory controls are in place. But the parallel between the timing of huge fines on businesses by regulatory bodies and the experience of businesses in Lagos State about a decade ago brings to mind the suggestion that the fines may be an ingenious bid to survive the dispensation of tight fiscal policy and diminishing budgetary funding from the federal purse.

    The huge civil penalty of N100 million slammed on Coca-Cola Nigeria by the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) in 2014 caught many unawares and set the stage for the current spate of huge fines. The penalty was seen as heavy-handed even by CPC standard.

    Since Nigerians were not informed whether Coca Cola Nigeria paid the hefty fine or not, it seems other regulatory bodies were emboldened by the development.

    Recently, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) fined Stanbic IBTC Bank N1 billion and requested that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) investigate the bank and KPMG Professional Services for “financial misstatements” in the lenders 2013 and 2014 accounts.

    The Council also suspended the registration of four directors of Stanbic IBTC and that of its audit engagement partner, KPMG Professional Services, until KPMG’s innocence is ascertained. The four directors suspended are Atedo Peterside, Sola David-Borha, Arthur Oginga and Dare Owei.

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) also imposed a N1.04 trillion fine on MTN Nigeria for failing to disconnect 5.2 million unregistered SIMs on its network. The CBN equally imposed a N4 billion fine on Skye Bank Plc; N1.87 billion fine on First Bank of Nigeria and N2.94 billion fine on United Bank for Africa for their alleged failure to comply with the regulator’s directive on Treasury Single Account (TSA). All the banks have paid the fines.

    Another major player in the private sector, Guinness Nigeria Plc, joined the rank of multinational victims of regulatory fines as it was fined N1 billion by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    Guinness Nigeria Plc said the alleged regulatory infraction relates, in part, to the destruction of expired raw material without the authority and supervision of NAFDAC.

    Diageo, owners of Guinness, said it did not fully understand the basis for the fine, nor the particular regulations infringed but was in talks with NAFDAC to resolve the matter.

    Curiously, a review of the NAFDAC Act shows that the highest penalty that it can charge for the infraction against Guinness Nigeria is N100, 000 per infringement.

    If this is so, does it then mean that Guinness Nigeria committed 10,000 infringements before NAFDAC decided to act? This is most unlikely. NAFDAC, like other regulatory agencies, must understand that multinational companies play by a different set of rules and except where the Chief Executive Officer is criminally inclined, they subscribe to a strict code of corporate governance.

    It is incontestable that the contribution of the private sector to the growth of the economy may be affected if regulators become overbearing and are left unchecked.

    Nigeria must avoid a situation whereby major business concerns that are engaged in legitimate dealings would begin to wonder who is next in line for huge sanctions by regulatory bodies.

     

    • Okoya, a former executive editor of Marketing Edge, lives in Lagos.

     

  • Conflict of powers and interests

    The African wisecrack that when elephants fight it is the grass that suffers is the compass  for our safari today into the corridors of power globally. We  shall  look at events in Nigeria where the President of  the Senate is on trial on his asset  declaration in the past and   has  declared in open court that his trial is  political. We shall  draw an inference and lesson from that in the light of Nigeria’s presidential  system which operates on the concept of strict  separation  of powers. We  then  proceed to  Russia where the President received the Prime  Minister  of Israel in the Kremlin amidst global  concern that Russia had decided to step  up militarily  its support for the Assad regime in its fight against rebels and ISIS and  the import  of  that for the influx  of  refugees to  Europe. We  then round up on the role of  German motor  giant  Volkswagon  in   using technology to fool environmental regulators in the US on  diesel engine emissions tests and  the import  of that for global  corporate  governance  and ethics.

    The  trial Nigeria’s  Senate  President Bukola Saraki  took a very political diversion when he appeared in court and decided  when asked to take a plea of  being guilty or not, to embark on a very interesting tirade. He  declared that he had not been notified of the charges on his assets  which amounts to an accusation that he has not been offered a chance  of fair hearing and that he was on trial because  he  is the Senate President. I do not think he can be correct on both counts. First  he had sent his glittering array   of Eminent SANs to the courts  to stop the tribunal on various grounds but the courts did not agree with his lawyers arguments and did not restraint the tribunal  at least for now , from trying him.  So  on what grounds were his lawyers confronting the courts to restrain the tribunal  if he the client  who   gave them their briefs was ignorant  of the charges against him? Certainly  something is amiss  with his claim  of ignorance on the charges.

    Secondly Senator Saraki is the incumbent Senate President of Nigeria but he is not above the law either personally or officially. Nobody is, according to the Nigerian Constitution.  Nigeria operates a presidential system that has a legislature , an executive arm and the judiciary.  Saraki’s  trip to the court for his trial was a private one that concerned  his past as Governor of Kwara State. It  has nothing to do with his office as President  of Nigeria’s  Senate  a position he assumed this year  as an elected  member  of the  APC which  he  betrayed with impunity in the way and manner he got elected  as Senate  President. If  he  now  sees his trial as persecution by the APC government in power then  he is either  seeing shadows  or  developing a clear malady  of   massive  political  compunction and that in his case is to  be expected.

    Shakespeare  put the  situation succinctly  in Macbeth when  he said after the murder of King  Duncan by Macbeth that Macbeth has murdered sleep and  would  not  sleep  again. Obviously the Senate president is not aware  of an elementary definition of politics which  I learnt  in my first year  in the Faculty  of Social  Sciences in the great  University of Ife, Ile  Ife. The   definition  says – Politics  is Who  gets What, When and How. It  follows  therefore that the Senate President  should  ruminate  ponderously  on his route  to power  and the  opportunity cost  of  that,  to know if indeed the end justifies  the means. For  now he can  only sleep  with one eye  open as  he is on tenterhooks with Nemesis, which  is inevitable , retributive  justice  and Nigerians are watching his odyssey to  power in our senate with keen interest and unusual  vigor.

    Benjamin  Netanyahu’s  visit  to Putin  over military  aid  for the besieged President  of  Syria was a journey  born  out of sheer desperation on Israel’s  security in the Middle  East  given the  emergence  of ISIS. Funny  enough both Putin and Netanyahu  have a common enemy arising from sheer personality clash  and that  person  is the US  President  Barak  Obama.  Indeed  it is an open secret that  both  gentlemen  don’t get on with the US president  at  all .Netanyahu  is mad  at  Obama over the Iran Nuclear Deal which he thinks is a major threat to Israel’s  security but  Obama  is hell  bent  on seeing through. Putin is furious over  US  sanctions  on freezing the foreign  accounts of his close aides after he invaded Ukraine  and Putin felt that  was  a coup  to topple  his government and there  has been  no love lost between  the two  leaders although it has been rumored they  may  meet at next week’s UN General  Assembly  meeting.

    The  lesson  history  offers  on the spat between the leaders  of  Russia , US  and Israel is  to be found  in the role of  Germany under its present  Chancellor Angela Merkel  on the refugee crisis  and the influx  of migrants to Europe.  It  is simply  ironic   that  Hitler  used the Holocaust  to wipe out the Jews and  their  settlement in Palestine in 1948 has  been the cause  of Arab  hatred  for Israel ever since  and six wars  have  been fought over this.  Now  it is a German Chancellor  leading Europe in terms  of  kindness,  money  and  foresight to accommodate Arabs  fleeing wars in Syria  and  Afghanistan. You  may say Germany is  paying  for Hitler’s  madness  but  you  have  to admit that Angela Merkel has changed  the sovereign reputation  that Hitler  bequeathed  Germany since  the last World  War and  she  has  my admiration for  Germany’s  new  found humanity and  kindness as a nation.

    On  the contrary  Volkswagon has dragged   the  sterling   reputation  of  German engineering and manufacturing in the mud in the way  it admitted  side  tracking US Environmental  Regulation on diesel emission  tests on its  vehicles – all  well  known brands – and is to recall  thousands of  sold  cars  leading  to huge  losses. The  German  company  simply  outfoxed  the Americans  by putting in a software  that gives false  data  during testing only  to revert to normal  after testing .At  the end of the day  the German cars  were emitting 40%  Nitrogen above  what the UN Environmental  law  allowed.

    The  recall  will  cost  Volkswagon  a lot in terms  of money but  far more in terms  of  Corporate Image. The  board  of the car giant  has fired its CEO in  charge  at the  time  of the dishonest  act which  of course was a technological  feat  on its  own  merit. It  was   however  an innovation that was negative in that it was meant    to deceive  and that should  not  be undertaken  by  any company  worth its  salt not  to talk  of a global  giant  like  Volkswagon.  The  firing  of the boss  and the recall have restored sanity  and good  corporate  governance  and ethics and one  hopes  the  Germans   would direct their engineering prowess  in a positive  direction  like their Chancellor  is doing in purging  Hitler’s Germany of its bad image and portraying Germany  now  as the nation of hope and succor  for those fleeing war and violence  globally.

  • Elite used Boko Haram for selfish interests, says Minimah

    Elite used Boko Haram for selfish interests, says Minimah

    Immediate past Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah had a parting shot for the elite yesterday. He accused them of using the dreaded Boko Haram sect to advance political, religious and sectional interests.

    The former military chief also regretted that the authorities toyed with the health and vitality of the military through inadequate funding.

    Lt. Gen. Minimah made the scathing remarks in his valedictory address at the Pulling-Out held in commemoration of his retirement from service.

    Accoung to him, the counter-insurgency campaign would have recorded more successes if the elite had supported government’s efforts.

    He said: “The insurgency snowballed into a graver dimension because these people exploited the security challenge to further sectional, religious and political interests.”

    The former COAS appealed to the citizenry to support the Federal Government and the security agencies in the ongoing fight against insurgency.

    The ex-Army chief urged Nigerians to take practical steps against the terrorists and other criminal elements in order to ensure lasting peace and security in the country.

    He went on: “In the last decade, we have seen the extent to which people who harbour evil against their fellow co-patriots can go to inflict pain and death on innocent people.

    “This is the time for us to rise in unison not only to condemn but to take actions against the activities of the Boko Haram terrorists and other criminal elements in order to foster peace and security in our society.

    “Perhaps, if we had all stood against the terrorists at the outset through condemnation of their activities and active collaboration with the military to confront them, rather than use it as a tool to advance section, tribal, religious and political interests, we would not have been where we find ourselves today.

    “We must therefore all unite and support our government and security forces to tackle the current security challenges.”

    Lt. Gen Minimah regretted that the country toyed with the health and vitality of the military through inadequate funding, calling for proper funding of the military.

    He appealed to the government to create the right environment for recruitment, training, equipping and kitting of military personnel in the country.

    According to him, a nation can only be as strong as its military, stressing that the strength of the Armed Forces is in the fighting spirit of officers and men.

    He stated that adequate welfare for troops could motivate them into making the required sacrifice in defence of their country.

    The former COAS said he took over the Army at a time the security situation in the Northeast was making the citizenry to lose faith in the military.

    Claiming to have left the Army better than he met it, Lt. Gen Minimah regretted what he described as decay occasioned by long period of neglect.

  • ‘Nigerians used Boko Haram to advance interests’

    Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah has accused the Nigerian elite of using the dreaded Boko Haram sect to advance its political, religious and sectional interests.

    Minimah spoke in Abuja while delivering his valedictory address at the Pulling-Out-Ceremony. He said the counter insurgency campaign would have recorded more success if these elite had supported government’s efforts.

    “The insurgency snowballed into a graver dimension because these people exploited the security challenge to further sectional, religious, and political interests”, he said.

    He appealed to the citizenry to support the Federal Government and the security agencies in the fight against insurgency.

    The ex-Army chief urged Nigerians to take practical steps against the terrorists and other criminal elements to ensure lasting peace and security in the country.

    His words: “In the last decade, we have seen the extent to which people who harbour evil against their fellow humans can go to inflict pain and death on innocent people.

    “This is the time for us to rise in unison against the activities of the Boko Haram terrorists and other criminal elements to foster peace and security in our society.

    “Perhaps, if we had stood against the terrorists at the outset, we would not have been where we find ourselves today.

    “We must therefore unite and support our government and security forces to tackle the current security challenges,” Minimah said.