The Nation Newspaper

Tag: mess

  • Inexcusable mess

    Evidently, the planned payment of the entitlements of ex-Nigeria Airways workers needs better planning.  Over 4,000 ex-workers of the defunct national carrier were expected to be verified for payment of their retirement and severance packages, following an announcement that the Federal Government had approved N22.68bn out of the N45bn owed them.

    The Ministry of Finance had issued a statement saying bio-metric data of the beneficiaries would be captured before the payment. The exercise was scheduled to start on October 15.  But, according to reports, the Lagos centre, Sky-Power Catering, Murtala Muhammed Airport, has been a scene of disorder since the verification began.

    One of the retirees was quoted as saying:  “The whole arrangement is chaotic and logistics is very poor and traumatising. Most of the people here are over 70 years old, so you can imagine subjecting them to this kind of situation. On Monday, nothing could happen; people spent the whole of the day here but there was no power back-up for whatever they were doing; they claimed that the server was not working.”

    The complaint continued: “Today (Tuesday), they are claiming that the printers are not working when there is so much to do. They are not attending to people and many people are becoming restive and unruly.”

    The exercise is scheduled to end on October 21. The reported disorderliness doesn’t help matters. For the retirees, it has been an agonising wait for the payment of their entitlements since the then President Olusegun Obasanjo liquidated the national carrier in 2004.

    From the look of things, the long wait is not over. Apart from the complication of the disorganised verification, there is no information about when the payment would begin. One of the ex-workers was quoted as saying:  “We don’t know when the actual payment is going to start; there is no statement from anywhere.”

    This is not how to plan a long-overdue payment. A process that should be a relief to those who have been waiting for their terminal benefits has only compounded their distress. The mess is inexcusable.

  • Of Maina, mess and mesmerism

    Of Maina, mess and mesmerism

    Words land with a thud in the innards of the elder. Perish the thought; this is not a Hardball original, it is ancient wisdom of the Yoruba. Oro de inu agba se gbi is how it is rendered. Hardball is particularly enamoured of this saying not just for its onomatopoeic cadences but for its laconic thriftiness and its rich, if you like, mysterious connotations.

    So many words have been landing rather thunderously in the belly of elders (and not so elderly) of the land recently. What with so many strange and befuddling things happening in rapid successions. To the point that very few can still keep track – it is at this point of utter ‘overwhelmingness’ that elders can hear nothing but the heavy thuds of words in their bellies.

    Of course one of such occurrences that make the people bend over double is the now infamous Maina-gate. Though it is only one of the numerous ‘gates’ this government has managed to generate in its short tenure, it is a blockbuster tale that is surely defining this administration.

    Maina-gate can be said to have travelled on a crazy trajectory – moving roaringly from a scandal to a messy affair and now to mesmerism of a farcical kind. The most apt way to describe this calamity is to see it as a form of terror attack on Nigeria, nay on the presidency. Yes, the presidency, because the lead dramatis personae are the president’s top men. Consider the lineup: the number one law officer of the land, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation; chairman of the number one graft agency in the land, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA); Office of the Chief of Staff to the President (CoS); Office of the Directorate of State Service (DSS); Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF); among others.

    Even the president has been mention in this expanding web of intrigues.

    And the abiding question is: how did a lowly (no, let’s say a not so highly placed) civil servant get picked in the first place to reform a multi-trillion pension scheme? How did he allegedly get access to the funds of an agency he was supposed to set on the path of rectitude? How was one civil servant known as Abdulrasheed Maina able to seemingly corral, if not compromise the highest levels of government functionaries across two regimes? How does he manage to set one top government agency against the other?

    But most telling, how has this Maina fellow, supposedly a wanted man become elusive, invisible and indeed, invincible. Call him the man that cannot be arrested.

    Why, even the president seems mesmerized and trapped under the Maina spell!

  • Maina mess

    Certain developments in this country, oftentimes cast serious slur on our commitment to high standards of morality in public office. Even as our leaders regale in high-sounding ideals and platitudes, what you find on ground is often, a mismatch between precepts and practice.

    The failure of most government programmes and policies is largely attributable to dissonance between policy formulation and implementation. We are not lacking in new ideas. Neither are we in short supply of the needed interventions to extricate the country from the myriad of challenges that left citizens as hewers of wood and fetchers of water despite our huge resources endowments.

    When it comes to implementation, what you find is an uncanny display of negative ingenuity by some people to sabotage new policies for self-serving interests. Extant structure of our federation where the centre holds everything and controls everything, accentuating primordial competition has been fingered for this attitudinal dysfunction.

    That may also explain the current mess where a former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed  Maina, declared wanted four years ago on allegation of mismanaging N2 billion of the funds, could sneak into the country, reinstated into his former office, promoted and paid arrears of salaries and allowances. He had carried on in this infamy under questionable security protection for six months until the lid was blown off a fortnight ago.

    For a regime that touts the war against corruption as one of its three cardinal programmes, the incident was such a monumental embarrassment that President Buhari, brushing aside all protocols ordered his immediate sack. The propriety of the president’s intervention in such a purely civil service matter has been questioned. It however, shows how bad the situation had become.

    But that is beside the point. The key issue is that a man declared wanted by the EFCC and placed on Red Alert by INTERPOL beat our security architecture and returned to the country unnoticed. And without answering to charges hanging on his head, he was re-absorbed into the civil service on promotion and even scheduled for another promotion examination. It is not clear how the correspondence for his re-absorption arose in the first instance. All that we have been told is that the letter for his re-engagement emanated from the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.

    How the mater got to Malami before he issued his advice is yet unclear. We are yet to be told if Maina petitioned Malami directly or he acted unilaterally. Available records indicate that Malami issued a letter to the Federal Civil Service Commission FCSC in April to give consequential effect to the judgment that voided the warrant issued against Maina which formed the basis for his query and subsequent dismissal.

    The FCSC deliberated on the matter and requested the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation OHSF to advise the permanent secretary, Ministry of Interior to consider the AGF letter and make appropriate recommendation to the commission. The OHSF consequently advised the Interior ministry which at its Senior Staff Committee meeting on June 22, considered the AGF letter seeking the re-instatement of Maina on grade level 17 but recommended that he be re-engaged on grade level 16 instead.

    This was communicated to the OHSF which in turn forwarded the recommendations to the FCSC for action. The FCSC considered the recommendation from the Interior ministry and approved Maina’s re-instatement with effect from 2013, the date he was sacked from service. The commission also approved his participation in the next promotion examination to grade level 17. That is the level of correspondence that smuggled a fugitive accused of corruption back into the civil service.

    We are not privy to the critical details and other observations by the OHSF and the Interior ministry. But it is strange that the official file of the suspect containing the grounds for his sack could pass the various departments and commissions without anyone raising questions. This suggests high level of conspiracy in the turn of events that brought about the mess the Maina affair has become. But even as the critical details of all that culminated in this sordid pass are yet to be unravelled, it is clear both the AGF, Abubakar Malami and the Minister of Interior, Abdulraman Danbazzu cannot escape culpability for this national embarrassment.

    It is curious Malami relying on the said voiding of the warrant of arrest, glossed over the serious case of corruption hanging over Maina’s head. Not done with clearing him for the alleged offence, he went further to recommend his re-instatement and promotion. One had expected the chief law officer of a regime that trumpets anti-corruption campaign to have taken more than a casual perspective of the Maina situation. He should have been in the fore front of raising questions with recommendation for the suspect to clear himself of the alleged offences. Either by errors of omission or commission, he failed this procedural test.

    More than any other character to the controversy, Malami has serious questions to answer. Though collusion between him and Danbazzu cannot be ruled out, details of how the former’s advice was sought before he issued the contentious memo must be unravelled. And it is only after that has been ascertained that the faces behind the mask will emerge.

    It is clear the president is not on the same page with some of his lieutenants in the war against corruption. Perhaps, that accounts for the nosedive in the anti-corruption campaign. Aside the occasional seizures and forfeiting of properties of officers of the former regime, it does appear the war means little to some of the current office holders. And the tepid handling and cover up of suspected infractions by the same government have not remedied matters.

    Nobody will be surprised if the government comes up with excuses seeking to extricate the two ministers neck deep in the Maina mess. It will not sound strange if those responsible for the security privilege Maina enjoyed since his return are not exposed to face the wrath of the law. Reports that his re-instatement was in preparation for him to join the APC and contest the governorship election in Borno State in 2019 makes the matter more ridiculous. Buhari must act very fast to disabuse the impression gaining currency that anti-corruption meant little for people in his government. He must move fast to wield the big stick before the action and inactions of some of his officers rubbish whatever credibility is left of his anti-graft war. He should set example with some of his officers mired in one form of corruption scandal or the other.

    The attempt by some of his aides to blame imaginary sympathizers of the former regime for bringing back Maina makes no sense at all. Not with clear evidence of those who authorized the re-instatement. Not with the disclosure by the family of Maina that he was lobbied, persuaded and brought back to the country by this government. Not with the revelation by the same family that the same government was responsible for providing him DSS security. The government contrived this mess and must take clear steps to clear it. The way this matter is handled will say a lot about the much touted anti-corruption campaign.

    One vital point the opposition brandishes is that most of the people jailed during Obasanjo’s regime or impeached for corruption related offences were their party members and governors. That point cannot be wished away. And it has become more relevant in the face of attempts by regime supporters to blame loyalists of the former government for any and every thing including the most ridiculous. Buhari must demonstrate that he can wield the big stick against officers that give bad name to his administration. Or in the alternative, not bother us with the noise his anti-corruption campaign has become.

  • Unearthing the mess in the judiciary

    Unearthing the mess in the judiciary

    SIR: A society where the last hope of the common man is reduced to an avenue where justice is peddled and sold to the corrupt and mighty is no better than Hobbesian society where lives are brutish, nasty and short. Here in Nigeria, the last hope of the common man has over the years been reduced to an epitome of crudity and unbridled greed.

    Nigerian judiciary has become a playground for professional politicians and their cronies who engage the services of highly influential personalities at the bar to get favourable judgments whenever they are charged to court for financial crimes or corrupt practices.

    In the past, judges were the conscience of the state; their judgments were pronounced without fear or favour, hence the reason the court of law is referred to as the last hope of the common man, not until they allowed themselves to be contaminated by the spoils in the political office. The rot in the Nigerian judiciary like decomposing corpse left to rot has been stinking to high heavens. Several cases abound where cash was exchanged for justice, where court injunctions/restraining order became the only language of the bench and in the process delayed and denied Nigeria justice. Those who were supposed to be in jail were acquitted, some on few occasions asked to pay a fine from their wallets or back of their boots.

    How can we make any meaningful progress in the war against corruption when the institution saddled with such responsibility is being used to manipulate and frustrate the process with hard currency induced judgments?

    The reported manhunt and arrest of those at the bench who have been alleged to have received bribe in hard currencies from desperate politicians to rule in their favour has unearthed the Augean of mess in the judiciary. It is a right step in the right direction but it shouldn’t be limited to judges alone; Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), court registrars and all those who have aided and abetted in thwarting justice in the past should also face the melody of prosecution, it will go a long way in sanitizing the system and restoring trust and confidence to the once revered and sacred judicial system.

    How and why the bench allowed themselves to be dragged by agents of corruption-infested politicians into the murky waters of politics is what many of these judges will be explaining to Nigerians in subsequent days when they appear in court, same court they have used to deny Nigeria justice. What an irony!

     

    • Joe Onwukeme,

    unjoeratedjoe@gmail.com

  • APC: PDP mess must be cleared for better life

    APC: PDP mess must be cleared for better life

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has listed new instances of the alleged looting of the treasury by some officials of the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    The party, in a statement in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said: ‘’Those who would rather give comfort to the looters by dismissing the media exposure of looting cases as mere hell-raising should realise that no sane person can be silent in the face of what is unfolding as the worst cases of brazen stealing of public funds in Nigeria’s history.’’

    The party’s statement reads: ‘’On August 16, 2015, we listed some instances of the breath-taking looting of the treasury by some officials of the immediate past administration. Today, we bring three more heart-rendering cases to the attention of Nigerians. We will not relent until closure has been brought to this issue,’’ it said, listing the new cases as:

    • A mind-shattering $2.2 billion-arms scandal.
    • A $6.9 million-fraud by the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to President Jonathan, committed under the guise of buying three mobile stages for the ex-President.
    • A N2.5 billion-scam involving the renting of house boats.

    ‘’While those charged with handling these cases are finalising the details of bringing the suspects to justice, our immediate concern is the attempt by the PDP, under whose umbrella the looting took place, to blame the Buhari administration for the mess and then infer that things have been worse in Nigeria in the past three months under the APC-led Federal Government than in the 16 years under the PDP. This is totally provocative, shameless and uncharitable.

    ‘’They say we are yet to fulfil our campaign promises to Nigeria, but they have forgotten that if only the PDP/Jonathan administration had not stolen Nigeria blind, there would have been more than enough money to give school children in Nigeria not just one but three meals a day and even pay N5,000 to 50 million most vulnerable Nigerians, not just the 25 million we promised in our manifesto,’’ APC said

    “Despite the almost daily discovery of cases of corruption under the Jonathan administration, the party assured Nigerians of better days ahead, as all its campaign promises will be kept because of the commitment and determination of President Buhari not only to cleaning the Augean Stable but also ensuring purposeful governance for the benefit of Nigerians.

    ‘’It is clear to Nigerians that the debilitating impact of 16 years of PDP’s misrule cannot be reversed in just three months. It is an obvious truth that it is always easier to destroy than to construct, but nothing will stand in the way of the Buhari administration’s commitment to improving the quality of life of Nigerians and making our country to function again,’’ it said.

    It said a major cog in the wheel of faster progress for the new Nigeria under President Buhari has been the discovery that the pot housing the commonwealth has been licked dry by the looters of yesterday, hence the need to work meticulously to recover the looted funds and facilitate the delivery of good governance that will manifest in abundant jobs, strong economy and improved welfare and security for Nigerians.

    APC said while the PDP, ever steeped in the pursuit of lies, presents the recently released data on job creation and economic growth as ‘clear signals’ that President Muhammadu Buhari was failing Nigerians, the disgraced party mischievously omitted the fact that those numbers were basically a manifestation of the disastrous final days of ex-President Jonathan’s failed economic policies.

    ‘’The PDP omitted the fact that these numbers measure job creation and economic growth for the second quarter of 2015, which covers April to June 2015, a period in which ex-President Jonathan was in office for two months while President Buhari was only just settling in to discover even more of the mess left for him to clear. No one in his or her right mind will hold someone more accountable for actions in just one month and exonerate another who was in the same office for two months.

    ‘’Since the PDP has become insular to global events, the APC will also like to educate the party that every country in the world is struggling to adjust to the effects of a global downturn at the moment. Only very few countries, if any, are growing as fast as they did, in say two years ago. From China, India, Russia, South Africa, to Ghana, Malaysia and Brazil, every country is feeling the effects of a sustained slowdown in global growth.

    ‘’The APC will also like to categorically say that it supports the policies of the CBN in its quest to ensure greater transparency in the forex market and eliminate currency substitution in our economy. The CBN’s policy to stop cash deposits of foreign currency is in line with global best practices and has led to a drastic reduction in BDC exchange rate for the Dollar.”

  • The man who would clear NNPC’s mess

    The man who would clear NNPC’s mess

    The hammer finally came down on the former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Joseph Thlama Dawha early in the week. In his place, President Muhammadu Buhari announced the appointment of the former Executive Vice Chairman/General Counsel of ExxonMobil (Africa), Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as the new boss of the corporation.

    The termination of Dawha’s appointment no doubt marked the end of an era in the all important organisation in whose hands the financial fate of the nation literally lies, but which, unfortunately, has been bedeviled by mega corruption. Only on Tuesday, an international governance watchdog, the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) released a report in which it accused the NNPC of failing to remit $12.3 billion (about N2.46 trillion) into the Federation Account, being proceeds of sales of one of Nigeria’s crude oil grade over the last 10 years.

    In the report titled ‘Inside NNPC Oil Sales: A Case for Reform in Nigeria,’ the NRGI said its research found no evidence that NNPC forwarded to the treasury any revenues from sales of Okono crude between 2005 and 2014, totaling more than 100 million barrels with an estimated value of $12.3 billion.

    “In other words, the corporation has provided no public accounting of how it used a decade’s worth of revenues from an entire stream of the country’s oil production,” the report stated.

    The report further disclosed that the NNPC’s approach to oil sales suffered from high corruption risks, adding that the company had failed to maximize returns for the nation. According to the report, over the last 38 years, the NNPC has neither developed its own commercial or operational capacities nor facilitated the growth of the sector through external investment. Instead, NRGI noted, it has spun a legacy of inefficiency and mismanagement.

    The governance watchdog lamented that in spite of the failings of the NNPC, especially in its debilitating consumption of public revenues, successive governments have made no effort to undertake a reform of the corporation.

    NRGI said: “We find that management of NNPC’s oil sales has worsened in recent yearsand particularly since 2010. The largest problems stem from the rising number of ad hoc, makeshift practices the corporation has introduced to work around its deeper structural problems.

    “For instance, the NNPC entered into poorly designed oil-for-product swap deals when it could no longer meet the country’s fuel needs. Similarly, it began unilaterally spending billions of dollars in crude oil revenues each year, rather than transferring them to the treasury, because NNPC’s actual budget process fails to cover operating expenses.

    “Some of these makeshift practices began with credible goals. But over time, their operation became overly discretionary and complex, as political and patronage agendas surpassed the importance of maximising returns. “These poor practices come with high costs.

    “Average prices for the country’s light sweet crude topped $110 per barrel during the boom of 2011 to 2014. Yet during that same period, treasury receipts from oil sales fell significantly. While volumes lost to oil theft explain some of the decline, NNPC’s massive revenue withholdings and an increase in suboptimal sales arrangements are also to blame. “Mismanagement of NNPC oil sales also raises commercial, reputational and legal risk for actors worldwide. The sales involve some of the world’s largest commodity trading houses, are financed by top banks, and result in the delivery of crude to countries across the globe.”

    The alarm raised by NRGI was a corroboration of earlier ones by concerned Nigerians, including Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State who, advocating a radical solution to the menace the NNPC had constituted to the nation’s progress, said the corporation should be abolished and replaced with a new one.

    “NNPC must die! If you don’t kill NNPC, it will kill Nigeria,” he said at the 7th Wole Soyinka Centre Media Series in Abuja on July 13.

    According to the governor, in three years between 2012 and 2015, the corporation failed to remit the sum of N3.670 trillion, which he said amounted to 42 per cent of the moneys it earned during the period. He explained that NNPC made about N10.463 trillion in the period but remitted only about N6.793 trillion and could not showcase proper record for the rest.

    He said: “The long and short of the situation of our oil industry is best exemplified by the parallel government called the NNPC. In 2012, it sold N2.77trillion of ‘domestic’ crude oil but paid only N1.66 trillion to the Federation Account. In 2013, it earned N2.66 trillion but paid N1.56 trillion to FAAC, in 2014 N2.64 trillion but remitted N1.44 trillion, while between January and May 2015, it earned N733.36 billion and remitted only N473.2 billion!”

    “That means that the NNPC only remitted about 58 per cent of the monies earned between 2012 and the first half of 2015. A company with the audacity to retain 42 per cent of a country’s money has become a veritable parallel republic.”

    But the party appears to be over with the appointment of Kachikwo as the new GMD. His pedigree as a First Class Graduate of Law from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the Nigerian Law School, with master’s and doctoral degrees in Law from the Harvard Law School to boot, seems to testify to the quality that is being brought to the management of an establishment that is clearly the nation’s economic nerve centre. So also is his record of service with the Nigerian/American Merchant Bank from where he moved to Texaco Nigeria Limited before he joined ExxonMobil where he functioned as the Executive Vice Chairman/General Counsel before his appointment as NNPC’s GMD.

    He has already wielded his winnowing fork, sacking the eight group executive directors of the company and merging the eight directorates into four, less than 72 hours after his appointment. Nigerians definitely expect more.

  • It’ll take time to clear Jonathan’s mess, says Presidency

    It’ll take time to clear Jonathan’s mess, says Presidency

    •PDP urges Nigerians to pray for govt

    The Presidency said last night that it will take time to clear the mess created by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, contrary to the call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Nigerians need to pray for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    PDP National Publicity Secretary Olisah Metuh made the call in his 30-day appraisal of the Buhari administration.

    The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement, said Nigerians were already on the side of the administration, which he noted was on course.

    “It requires scrupulous and painstaking planning to clean the PDP’s Augean Stable,” Adesina said, adding:

    “It is amusing to read what the National Publicity Secretary of the defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, considers a 30 days appraisal of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

    “He wants Nigerians to join hands in prayers for the government, so that things would begin to move. What he does not know is that Nigerians had long formed such coalition. They are hands in hands, and that was what gave victory to President Buhari in the March 28, 2015 poll.

    “They had teamed up to uproot an administration that had brought the country to her knees, and was about to tip her off the precipice. And Nigerians have resolved that never would they allow any government to divide them along regional, religious and ethnic fault lines again.

    “The Buhari administration is naturally contemplative because there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the way PDP ran the country, particularly in the immediate past dispensation. That is why the Augean Stable is being cleaned now, and it requires scrupulous and painstaking planning.”

    Stressing that national life was devalued across all sectors under PDP, Adesina said: “And it takes meticulousness and sure-footedness to repair all the breaches. This, the Buhari administration will deliver.

    “Metuh talks of people around the President conniving with bureaucrats to syphon money from the treasury. This must be deja vu, as it was the pastime of the immediate past administration, and the enormity of the sleaze will be evident when stolen money, to the tune of billions of dollars, is recovered, and returned to the national treasury soon.”

    He said that only time will offer Nigerians the opportunity to compare the current administration with the past in order to know which one has come to serve the people.

    He said: “In the process of time, after all that is being planned by the current administration has matured, and bearing fruits, Nigerians will be able to determine who is serving them acceptably, and who has taken them for a ride. It is just a matter of time.

    “Meanwhile, Metuh and his masters can only rue the missed opportunities to make salutary impact on the lives of Nigerians. They have a long road of regrets to travel.”

    A statement yesterday by Metuh noted that the enormity of the confusion surrounding the government and the ruling party in the last one month had made it imperative for Nigerians to pray as the success or failure of the Buhari administration would not only affect the President and his party but also the entire nation.

    The statement said: “We urge Nigerians to join hands in prayers and offer useful suggestions to President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC because with what we have seen in the last 30 days, the present administration is finding it very difficult to get its bearings right while showing no inclination towards implementing its numerous campaign promises for which they were voted into office at the centre.

    ”We are deeply worried that the President, who promised to unveil his cabinet two weeks after his inauguration, has not been able to decide on key appointments, such as ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief of Staff and advisers in key sectors of the economy.

    ”This is more so as the delay has brought government business in ministries, departments and agencies to a dangerous standstill with coordination of important policies vested on ministers and the SGF now in tatters while the system drifts.

    “This situation also creates loopholes through which overzealous persons around the President can connive with unscrupulous elements in the bureaucracy to syphon public resources in addition to possibly misleading the President to violate due process by spending beyond and outside his statutory limits.

    “The situation is taking its toll on the economy sector, which has in the 30 days witnessed unprecedented decline with a terrifying crippling of foreign and domestic investments, including activities in the money and capital market sectors. Under President Buhari, the stock market has lost over N238 billion while the All-Share Index fell by 849.87 basis points as at June 19.

    ”In security, apart from the directive to relocate the counter terrorism command centre to Borno State and seeking assistance from foreigners, no other concrete step has been taken in the fight against insurgency which the President in his April 22, 2015 CNN interview promised to end within his two months in office.

    “Instead, the anti-terrorism effort has completely lost steam in the last 30 days, with insurgents, who had already been pushed to the verge of surrender in the Sambisa forest by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and spreading into the country.

    “We also urge for adequate respect for all organs of internal security, such as the Directorate of State Security (DSS), which is answerable to the Nigerian state and as such should not be publicly ridiculed by an aide of the President.”

  • Unending mess

    Both the government and fuel marketers are to blame for the current scarcity  

    With the truce brokered by the Senate Monday last week, under which fuel marketers and transporters agreed to resume lifting of products, the nation would appear to have taken a breather from the crippling shortages that nearly brought Africa’s largest economy to its knees. At this time, the question is how long the truce would hold in the event that the main issues at the heart of the crisis have merely been passed over.

    Today, if the activities in the terribly opaque, fraud-ridden fuel import-distribution chain under which Africa’s largest oil producer is fleeced in multiples of hundreds of billions of naira annually are any revealing, it is the increasingly unchallengeable power of a cabal that only needs to cough for the entire economy to catch cold. Ordinarily, it would seem unimaginable that a dispute over N200 billion bill, which the oil marketers insisted must be paid – and which the government claims legitimate basis to query– could throw the country into fortnight-long spasm with reverberations across the broad spectrum of the economy.

    For once, Nigerians must worry that a tiny segment of economic players like the oil marketers not only continue to hold the country by the jugular but are ever so ready to enforce a total shut-down without minding the costs to the national economy. It must also be seen as worrisome that the national security implications of the act appears to have been lost to the feuding parties.

    Of course, the crisis merely presents the familiar symptom of the age-long disease afflicting the nation’s downstream petroleum sector – the failure by Nigeria to meet its domestic requirement in refined petroleum products locally. Every other thing – from marketers’ intransigence to the latest revelation of the astounding knowledge gap of those only too eager to be cited as authorities in our public finance, including the failure to have a firm handle on the book-keeping and accounting practices of the petroleum downstream sector after several years – are merely its derivatives. Needless to state that the riddle of how much fuel the nation consumes and how much is imported to qualify for the so-called subsidy lies in-between.

    Unlike the erstwhile finance minister that would rather demonise the marketers, the position of these actors, most of whom trade with borrowed funds obviously deserves some understanding. Dismissing their fears as baseless as the government did is certainly unhelpful to the extent that the government itself has not acted with utmost faith and responsibility towards them.

    Having said that, we must say that we find their latest action as one too many. Hyping their fears only to turn round to prey on the crisis they created is not only wrong, it is irresponsible and immoral. Immoral because the marketers have done little else than profiteer from the agonies of fellow citizens, selling fuel at cut-throat prices while at the same time pressing for their subsidy claims.

    But then, just as culpable was the Jonathan administration that opted to do nothing even when the marketers started to make good their threat. Was the administration lulled into sleep on the basis of the so-called 28 days strategic stock? Couldn’t the government have seen the grave national security challenge thrown up by the paralysis enough to have put measures in place to get the stock to the pumps?

    Going forward, the lessons would seem clear enough: while the current cycle of import-dependence continues, the country would continue to experience cyclic disruptions from the activities of disparate players in the fuel supply chain. And just as we have always said, boosting the nation’s refining capacity by getting more refineries on board would seem the surest bet to remove potential hiccups and the countless parasites along the value chain.

  • Soldiers relish new Officers’ Mess

    Soldiers relish new Officers’ Mess

    Professionally, they are saddled with defending the country against external aggression. They are also called to assist should there be any internal insurrection that may lead to the breakdown of law and order. Though they are soldiers, they are also social beings.

    In peace time, they socialise with family members, friends and associates. After the day’s work, they relax and, most times, make merry at their recreation centre known as Officers’ Mess.

    However, the facility became decrepit and there was the need for a new and befitting one. Happily, a modern facility has been built for the comfort of the soldiers. It was inaugurated by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-General Kenneth Minimah.

    Its inauguration at the headquarters of the 34 Artillery Brigade Obinze, Imo State, was a proof that, for the Army, it is not just fighting and warfare as portrayed by their mien. The Officers’ Mess, built at the centre of the headquarters’ premises, has all the trappings of a first-class relaxation centre.

    Speaking during the inauguration, the President of the Mess Committee, Col. A.T Adedoja, said the construction of the Officers’ Mess began few years ago but was delayed as a result of the death of the contractor. The situation, he said, stalled the work.

    He noted that the Mess was built with the best quality finishing which will provide maximum comfort and serving as a perfect relaxation centre for officers.

    He said: “It took the dexterity and commitment of the Commander, Brigadier General Lanre Bello to complete and equip the Officers’ Mess. It was also made possible through the assistance of friends of the Command who had donated generously towards the building of the edifice.

    “We are appealing to the authority and other public-spirited Nigerians to assist the Command in offsetting the remaining cost incurred in furnishing the Mess with first-class furniture and electronic gadgets.”

    Declaring the Officers’ Mess open, Lt.-Gen. Minimah, who was accompanied by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division Enugu and other top military officers, praised the Command for achieving the feat, noting that it would go a long way in assisting the officers in relaxing after their daily routine.

    He further said soldiers should make out time to relax and socialise with one other in order to promote cohesion and unity.

    In a chat with reporters shortly after the inauguration of the facility, the Army boss, who was on a familiarisation tour of the 82 Division, said the Army is winning the war against terrorism.

    He also allayed the fears of Nigerians in the Southeast over possible infiltration by members of Boko Haram sect, adding that the few security threat recorded in the zone may not be connected with the insurgents.

    The Army boss noted that the two incidents in Imo and Abia states allegedly linked to the Islamic Sect may have been the handiwork of some elements within the zone which wanted to take advantage of the insurgency in the country to cause mischief.

    “What happened at the Winners Chapel Church in Imo and the arrest made in Abia State cannot be totally blamed on the insurgents because some mischievous elements can be making bombs to cause trouble and make it seem as if Boko Haram had carried out the action.

    “Some elements within the states may want to cause problem. Some mischief makers might want to take advantage of the insurgency in the country to foment trouble. But the Military is ready to check all forms of security threats,” Minimah said.

  • AYILA’S MARITAL MESS …The inside story

    AYILA’S MARITAL MESS …The inside story

    THEY cut the image of two love birds who would live and be happy forever; but the once vibrant love between Super Eagles’ erstwhile midfielder, Yusuf Ayila, and Aishat Gbemisola is heading for the rocks amidst claims and counterclaims between the hitherto well known Romeo and Juliet of Aguda, Surulere in Lagos!

    Last week, both serious newspapers and local tabloids were loaded with the stories of how Ayila allegedly abandoned Gbemisola and their two children in the cold weather region of Ukraine. He has also purportedly married another wife with whom he now resides in Turkey where he is on loan to Orduspor from Dynamo Kiev.

    But it seems the last may not have been heard on the face-off between Ayila and his estranged wife, Gbemisola, following the latest disclosure by a close confidant of the Super Eagles’ star at the 2010 World Cup that Gbemisola was ostensibly shown the red card for engaging in some diabolical act.

    “Ayila didn’t neglect his family: the truth is that the so-called wife, Gbemisola, wants to kill and inherit his properties,” squealed Ola Muhammed, a confidant and publicist for the former Super Eagles’ star. “Whatever I’m telling you is as good as hearing it from the horse’s mouth because I have the mandate of Yusuf to let the public know the true story. Gbemisola just wanted to curry the sympathy of the public with her spurious claims of being abandoned with the kids.”

    But what could have led to the breakdown in the relationship of what looked like a marriage made in heaven? Years ago, Yusuf and Gbemisola were lovey-dovey with sunny smiles in beautiful family portraits. There was this iconic photo of Yusuf cuddling a pregnant Gbemisola who was then carrying their second child but all of that is now a distant memory with the duo living separately in Turkey and Ukraine.

    “First and foremost, I’ll like to state categorically that Gbemisola was never Yusuf’s legal wife as widely reported, rather she only had two kids for him,” Muhammed further stated. “They met years back and started casual dating but one thing led to another and that was how she had two children for him.”

    Our correspondent gathered that Gbemisola was actually staying in Nigeria at one point while Yusuf was out there in Europe eking out a living. But the rumour mill was flowing with alleged escapades of Gbemisola with a top Lagos-based Fuji crooner on one part, even as she reportedly fell out with her mother in-law.

    “ Trouble started when Yusuf requested that Gbemisola travel to Ukraine with the kids for holidays, but that was when everything he had been hearing about the mother of his children came into the fore, “ Muhammed alleged.“ Yusuf had heard so much about Gbemisola long before she arrived in Ukraine, but he didn’t take them seriously until one day when he opened her wardrobe only to find different charms including a dead snake inside a bottle filled with gin.”

    But much of Muhammed’s claims on behalf of Ayila have been debunked by those who are privy to the relationship right from the outset. These ones believe that Ayila is merely concocting stories in the bid to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. The Nation Sport & Style spoke with several parties and it was obvious that there was more to this love story that has unfortunately gone sour.

    First to rise in defence of Aishat was her older sister, Ololade Gbonigi, who maintained that the unseen hand in the squabble is no other than her sister’s mother-in-law, adding that peace would return to the homes of Yusuf only at the behest of his mother.

    “I’m not surprised that Aishat directed me to speak to you on her frosty relationship with her husband because there was nothing that was hidden from me,” the businesswoman told The Nation Sport & Style when her sister earlier declined to speak. “We are really surprised about all these funny allegations from Yusuf and I wonder what he wants to achieve with this.”

    However, she admits that that the union between Yusuf and Gbemisola was not without challenges expected in any relationship. She as well as others who spoke with our correspondent claimed that the clog in the wheel of the marriage is no other than Yusuf’s mum who incidentally rained curses on this reporter when pressed for her own side of the story.

    “It is just unfortunate that Yusuf despite his age and exposure still remains a mummy’s boy,” she stated. “From past experiences we have seen that it was his mum that was controlling the lever of the marriage.

    “ Long before our mum passed away, there were occasions she had to go and beg Yusuf’s mother anytime there was a quarrel between Gbemisola and her husband and you wonder what kind of man is that?” she asked rhetorically.“As a family, we have tried to see that this issue is resolved but we are shocked with the dimension they are now introducing by accusing Gbemisola of being fetish.”

    Similarly, Alhaji Abdurrahman Olasunkanmi Gbonigi, who incidentally is the father of Gbemisola, was even more forthcoming, saying he’s surprised at the length Yusuf is going in order to destroy his daughter.

    “I’m a Muslim and a good one for that matter,” he said in measured tones. “The only thing I believe in is the Holy Quran which I used to train my children and whatever I’m telling you is the truth on this matter.”

    According to him, Yusuf undoubtedly loved his daughter, but what he found inexplicable was the recent cause of action which has shocked even the player’s close allies.

    “I’m a straight-forward person and I have spoken to Yusuf’s mum repeatedly on the need to settle the issue between our children, but we have not achieved much because somebody somewhere and somehow is being economical with the truth,” noted Alhaji Gbonigi. Equally disturbed is Ayila’s father, who described Gbemisola in glowing terms.

    “Gbemisola is my daughter and I wish I could travel to Ukraine to resolve this matter but unfortunately it is a far distance,” said the man who long parted ways with Ayila’s mum. “There is little I can do in this matter because the only person they should talk to is my former wife.”

    It was learnt that Yusuf and Aishat had been dating since the late 1990s when they were students at Ansar-ud-Deen Secondary School (along Randle Street) in Surulere and everything was going smoothly until she finally left for Ukraine in 2011 to live with him.

    The Nation Sport & Style spoke with one Bobby, a close ally of Yusuf, who is based in Kiev. The Cameroonian is still in a state of shock about the turn of events.

    “I was one of the few people that advised Yusuf to bring his wife to Ukraine,” he said in his passable English. “I asked him, why would you leave your wife and children in Nigeria and you say you love them?

    “So I was happy that he brought them here. But we don’t know what happened between them when Yusuf left his family to rent another apartment before he eventually went on loan to Orduspor in Turkey,” he volunteered.

    But there is no smoke without fire, the break-up between Yusuf and Aishat may not be unconnected with the former’s alleged secret marriage to one Lolade Aderogba.

    “The accusation that Yusuf eloped with a mistress and abandoned his children is all lies,” Mohammed stated emphatically. “Yusuf is a good Muslim and a responsible father who loves and still caters for his children till date. The lady in question is not a mistress, because he’s legally married to a very responsible, God -fearing lady who is his wife and not a mistress.”

    While Yusuf seems to be enjoying a new lease of life in Turkey with another woman, his first family is barely surviving in Ukraine as their benefactor has allegedly failed to meet up with his responsibilities.

    Apart from confiscating the travelling documents of Aishat and her children, Yusuf has reportedly refused to pay for their upkeep in last four months to the bewilderment of close friends and associates.

    “I knew about the problem between Yusuf and Aisha because we are close family friends,” Super Eagles defender Taye Taiwo told The Nation on Sunday. “I have told my friend, Yusuf, to settle this unfortunate quarrel with the wife at least for the sake of their two lovely daughters.”

    Taiwo is miffed about the messy affair since it would create a negative impression about Nigerian footballers in Ukraine and beyond, praying that reason would prevail eventually.

    “As a friend, I would continue to assist Aishat and the children,” he said. “ Whatever is the problem between Yusuf and Aishat, the children should not suffer and I just hope that they would soon resolve things amicably.”