The Nation Newspaper

Tag: stink

  • The stink of Buhari’s ‘change’ (2)

    (Boko Haram, a shady budget and Buhari’s ‘expensive shit’)

    Thumbs up to President Muhammadu Buhari. On his watch, the Nigerian military routed terrorist group, Boko Haram, from Sambisa forest, its major stronghold in Borno State. Although the terrorists’ defeat exceeded the timeline given by Buhari, the President deserves praise for aiding the military’s decisive victory against the group. Let’s hope he doesn’t lose himself in the maze of hyperbolic praise and amplification of his exploits by career sycophants milling around him.

    While some of his overexcited ministers, among other lackeys, would argue that he be canonised for the military’s exploits, Mr. President should never forget that running over Sambisa forest was simply one promising step in ridding the country of the bogey of terrorism and religious extremism, among other afflictions.

    Sambisa may have fallen and the military may beam with pride over the 1, 200 terrorists allegedly arrested during its campaign against Boko Haram but that is simply one battle in the country’s protracted anti- terrorism war. Buhari should lead Nigeria to desensitize her youth to vicious philosophies and poisonous tenets that baits them to romanticize terrorism.

    The anti-terrorism war should shift from the killing fields, into the valleys of wit and constructive ideology. But has Buhari nurtured such practicable and justifiable sociopolitical ideology? Can he? Beyond his mantra of ‘change,’ and its hackneyed sound bites, does he truly possess the courage and catholicity of will to rid Nigeria of her extremist leanings?

    The President must understand that Nigerians are eager to see him arrest and prosecute the masterminds of Boko Haram’s campaign of violence and death. His declaration of victory against the terrorist group is thus premature and hasty, given his inability to identify and reveal the brains behind Boko Haram’s bloody siege.

    In an era when the Nigerian state prides herself on exploits of her military and secret services on the intelligence fields, it is extremely shameful that the incumbent government is unable to deploy such formidable intelligence to uncover and arrest the evil men and women responsible for Boko Haram and its campaign of carnage.

    Buhari should never forget that extremism fluorishes and fertilises in minds riddled by poverty and thwarted by corruption. It is easier to indoctrinate and radicalise impoverished, jobless youth. It is easier to make terrorists of youth at the receiving end of various forms of extremity. Such youth are ever willing to serve as cannon fodder in the dastardly plots of devious masterminds.

    Has Buhari been able to chart practicable blueprint to empower the youth and revitalise the country’s economy? Can he? What are his plans to rehabilitate the northeast? And are there similar plans to rehabilitate other troubled zones of the country, like the militant Niger Delta and religiously volatile Kaduna? These represent a smidgen of the country’s security problems.

    There is also the recurrent ghastliness of herdsmen’s murderous attacks on their host communities and transit townships across the country. In this respect, the president has been disconcertingly quiet and apathetic. Lest we forget the terrifying reality of seeing disbanded Boko Haram soldiers morph into guerrilla cells across the country. Is Buhari’s military intelligence capable of preventing fleeing terrorists’ from  establishing operational bases across the country and thus become even more invisible and deadly? How many arrested terrorists have been successfully prosecuted? Who are their sponsors and enablers?

    Will Mr. President, in prosecuting Boko Haram members, subscribe to the principles of political expediencies as he currently does in prosecuting established looters of public fund? Will he shy from revealing and prosecuting the masterminds of Boko Haram just as he fails at prosecuting looters of Nigerian’s public till?

    Buhari has become disappointingly timid and terrified of the ‘change’ he preached in order to earn Nigerians’ trust and win their votes. His mutation from a disciplined, moral, hardnosed ascetic to politically-expedient-Buhari is tragic and mind-boggling. As you read, Buhari breaches too many of the promises he made at election time.

    This moment, Buhari’s version of ‘change’ resonates as a corny phrase he had to chant to achieve an epic sweep at the polls. No doubt, it worked for him as it did for his fellow public officers on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). It is however, interesting to see him  bluster through his second spell in office, chanting ‘change’ yet denouncing it in conflicting tenor and undertones.

    He has failed to prosecute looters of public fund – it is shameful to see him reveal the amount retrieved from looters while shielding their identities. Does he know that Nigerians are jailed for stealing N500 and pots of soup while he gives looters of public funds cum mass murderers punishments ranging from a slap on the wrist to a pat on the back. He has failed to rescue Chibok girls like he promised. He is unable to fulfill his promise of a ridiculous N5, 000 pittance to the impoverished and unemployed. He has failed to fulfill his promise to employ 500, 000 unemployed graduates. And it is increasingly worrisome to see him compromise in the spirit of ‘political strategy’ and ‘expediencies’ as certain aides and lackeys in his cabinet continually urge him.

    This minute, President Muhammadu Buhari is a far cry from aspirant Muhammadu Buhari and president-elect Muhammadu Buhari. The man who claimed to “belong to everybody and belong to nobody,” is undoubtedly owned by ‘somebody.’

    This changes the narrative about Buhari. Even his most ardent apologists are beating a retreat from Camp Buhari. His most virulent critics hurl unprintable missives at him and dubious fence-sitters contend that they had always seen him as an overhyped moralist inspired by a sense of  entitlement to power characteristic of most politicians of his ilk.

    At the backdrop of these depressing realities, the federal government produces a ludicrous budget on Buhari’s watch. Although Mr. President won’t be spending approximately N1billion as annual feeding expenditure, unlike his predecessor, former President Goodluck Jonathan, his 2017 budget is undoubtedly an eyesore and downer to his status as moral crooner, religious ascetic and symbol of honesty.

    In the 2017 budget proposals, christened budget of growth and recovery, Buhari will spend N42 billion on State House, with expenditure on food, cooking gas and kitchen utensils to gulp well over N850 million. Of the figure, about, N100, 820,300 would be spent on cutlery and kitchen utensils. Food stuff and catering materials will swallow N360 million while cooking gas is expected to take N63 million. The President also budgeted a horrid ?53 million just to drain the State House’s septic tank. This means he will burn about ?145,000 daily to drain Aso Rock’s waste tank. Jonathan budgeted ?5 million for the same purpose in 2015 and Buhari budgeted N6 million for the purpose in ?6 million. This figure went up by 1050 per cent compared with Jonathan’s 2015 budget and 850 per cent compared with Buhari’s 2016 budget for the same purpose. Apology to Saatah Nubari.

    Yet Nigeria’s education sector will receive less than the 26 percent of national budget, as recommended by UNESCO. A paltry six percent of the N7.30 trillion budget is allocated to the education sector contrary to Buhari’s gospel of literacy and youth empowerment. Specifically, N398.01billion was allocated to recurrent expenditure and the balance of N50billion allocated to capital projects.

    A partner and co-founder of BudgIT, a transparency monitor, allegedly described some of the spending proposals as “suspicious and wasteful” amounting to N111.32 billion, which includes N53.7 million repeated 52 times, N37.8 million which appears over 369 times, and a N3.9 billion allocation for the presidential clinic that exceeds funds designated for all 17 of the country’s teaching hospitals combined…

     

    • To be continued

  • The stink of Buhari’s ‘change’

    In the run-up to the last general elections, Nigeria’s former ‘first lady,’ Patience Faka Jonathan, described her husband, Goodluck Jonathan’s arch rival, Muhammadu Buhari, as ‘brain dead.’ She undoubtedly perverted truth in manic, uncouth rage at Buhari’s candidacy via the All Progressives Congress (APC). Buhari was not and has never been brain dead. He is simply incapable of genius. This is surely interesting given the APC’s shrill marketing and presentation of Buhari as the best thing that would be happening to Nigeria in a long while.

    Yeah, Buhari happened to Nigeria. He defied the odds and emerged president in a keenly contested election. At his emergence, a great segment of the citizenry, this writer inclusive, heaved rhythmic sighs of relief. Everybody waited devotedly to experience Buhari and the APC’s gospel of ‘change.’ Having sacked Goodluck Jonathan and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP), not a few Nigerians believed the country would eventually be rid of corruption, mismanagement and a legion of deviously orchestrated misdemeanours characteristic of Jonathan’s PDP. But like a recalcitrant bug that will not go away, mismanagement, corruption and a legion of more carefully orchestrated misdemeanours have resurfaced in the nation’s corridors of power, on Buhari’s watch.

    However, this writer would be committing duplicity similar to that which Buhari and his APC inflicts on Nigerians even as you read, if he fails to acknowledge the flashes of competence betrayed by Buhari and his bumbling government. Buhari’s initiative at establishing one purse for the Nigerian government is worthy of commendation. Mr. President’s military campaign against the dreaded Boko Haram is barely commendable too. Although, he has failed woefully at keeping his promise to rescue Chibok girls and exterminate the terrorist sect within his professed timeline, the military has succeeded considerably, at containing the terrorists’ activities. This does not excuse the fact that the Nigerian military still suffers the affliction of saboteurs, inadequate funding, lack of essential weaponry, among other ills.

    Buhari also promised to rescue Nigerians from the moral failings of his predecessor’s leadership. He hasn’t. And it is impossible for him to do that while his cabinet reeks as a cesspit of individuals with damaged character. It is no doubt heartrending to see the president discard his cloak of sanctimoniousness to wine, dine and sing the praises of men he earlier identified as corrupt and unworthy of public office.

    Sycophants and Buhari groupies would deem his radical mutation as a happenstance borne of political expediency. They will tell Buhari that “In politics, there are certain compromises that you have to make…Occasionally, you to wine and dine and hawk your soul to the devil (s).” And Buhari, has undoubtedly, mastered the art of such political expediencies.

    Governing Nigeria is vastly more complicated than Buhari thought. All kinds of things can go wrong. A lot of things have gone wrong. If Buhari understood his limitations, he has done too little to cushion the consequences on the citizenry. Besides peopling his government with ‘milk men,’ characters whose chief expertise subsists in milking the proverbial cow even as they are grossly ignorant and inept at nurturing the cow and preserving it, he has failed in several spheres of governance.

    Despite taking several months to seek out his ‘winning, extraordinary team,’ Buhari ended up afflicting Nigerians with ‘over-recycled characters’ many of whom came with hideous baggage around their necks.

    The real test of his Presidency came with the continued fall in oil prices and the fall in the value of the naira. Buhari’s reaction was predictable: he sought to defend the naira by keeping its official exchange rate relatively low even as the currency fell irretrievably in the black market.

    Inflation sky-rocketed across the country causing hardship that permeated class boundaries. Businesses collapsed, banks executed mass retrenchment of staff, sole proprietorships floundered and suffered gruesome, excruciating death. At the backdrop, PDP and Buhari’s APC governors owed salaries even as they threw extravagant parties across the seas.

    Buhari and his ministers enjoyed the luxuries and entitlements of office while they preached cold, bitter truth to Nigerians screeching: “You need to suffer now to make amendments for the wastage of the past; Jonathan and the PDP destroyed everything; PDP is the cause of your hardship; Things will get better in 2017 only if you persevere.”

    Buhari also failed to deliver on his lifeboat palliative; that is, the ridiculous N5, 000 pittance promised to the unemployed and impoverished at election time. He has also gone back on his promise to employ 500, 000 unemployed graduates as teachers. His government recently announced that these teachers would be trained under its social welfare scheme to serve as voluntary teachers.

    His brazen offensive against institutionalised corruption has yielded to his targets’ immoderate lust for riches and priapism of want. Even his ‘change’ agents are currently tarred with these perversions widely regarded as the fault of dupes and satyrs. As you read, President Buhari’s much professed anti-corruption campaign is being interpreted in several quarters as arrant posturing. Till date, Buhari and his anti-graft missioners are unable to see to a fruitful end, the prosecution of established looters of public fund among other perpetrators of corruption.

    His inability to address the degeneracy within his political party and cabinet has become counterproductive to his efficiency as president and anti-corruption crusader. The APC has become a cesspool of Nigeria’s dreaded elements. Like this writer intoned in an earlier piece, of Buhari’s ministers and ‘compatriots’ in the APC, too many are vectors, mortal agents of the worst kind of viruses. They have made his government food for worms.

    From the moment of their acceptance into the fold, the infestation of Buhari’s administration commenced but Buhari and his political groupies naively maintained that if the head – that is, Buhari – be moral, the body (his cabinet and underlings) too will have no choice but get with his program.

    He is either naive or duplicitous to dream of transcendental reforms and recourse from the country’s plummet down the ravine of corruption while he hobnobs with vectors of corruption.

    Is Buhari like his ministers, a dubious change agent feigning a moral growth crusade? Unlike certain APC and PDP governors and senators, Buhari and his ministers were expected to epitomise a moral, philosophical rampart that will continually uphold the strife of contraries by which true, positive ‘change’ evolves.

    Sadly, they aren’t. Thus the incumbent APC government manifests as yet another disease of governance and civilisation. Yet Buhari started out as a man devoted to wiping out corruption. He sought to do that while conveniently turning a blind eye to his inadequacies and self-imposed handicaps, or compromises, if you like. He forgets that nature and history only cares to identify individuals as intrinsic part of species and never as a lone genus.

    Buhari’s mantra of chastity and change is diametrically opposed to the realities of his politics and mutating ethics. Our president has diluted his moralist communion with toxic liquor. Thus he evolves as a revolutionary of the comedies. He won’t eliminate besmirched society by redeeming morals with the amoral. Our Buhari has eventually lost himself shying from the pathway of moralist dystopia.

    Let’s hope he rediscovers his groove in 2017. Our Buhari, the presumed ‘change’ agent, may yet pamper us with ‘change’ we can believe in and prosper by.

  • Stink and the Nigerian ‘saint’

    •(Of desperate philanthropists and advocacy gurus)

    There is no odor as dire as that which arises from tainted goodness. I will not deny any bit, the praise that is due to philanthropy, I simply say that we demand sincerity of all whom by their works and lives, pose to be a blessing to the country.

    This is the age of charity. And trust Nigerians, they are desperately exploiting generosity for all its worth. Thus everybody is a philanthropist; even youngsters as green as dug-up spinach have caught the bug – which explains the preponderance of self-acclaimed “youth leaders,” “advocacy gurus,” “motivational speakers” and “philanthropists” afflicting our world like plundering locusts at harvest time.

    A youngster on national youth service constructs tables and chairs for the school in which he’s serving and he pleads with selected mainstream media to mention it; then there is the advocacy guru who donates literature to a school library and pays the mainstream media to report it too, after which she posts it on Facebook and other social networking sites for all to see.

    Both characters among other things elevate and give expression to mankind’s greatest vanity: lust for applause and unearned greatness. In Nigeria, this has become social currency particularly among the youth. Youth seeking instant wealth and acclaim daily exploit the hackneyed terrains of philanthropy and what they perpetrate as “advocacy,” passionately praying and hoping that their exertions attract the attention and “goodwill” of local and international sponsors with deep pockets.

    “There is a clear-cut difference between philanthropy and advocacy,” many are probably jabbering by now. Agreed; but both fields of human endeavour are essentially set to the attainment of similar goals; sustainable development and the improvement of humanity.

    Philanthropy and “advocacy” as currently practiced by Nigeria’s youth is devoid of humanity. It is in essence, a partial and transitory act, projected in constant superfluity until the motives of the philanthropist and advocate are achieved. And what really are the motives? A fat bank account, a posh vehicle, a spectacular mansion, higher status, acclaim and unalterable greatness to mention a few.

    Greatness should be earned. The seekers of unearned greatness and material benefits are merely social parasites, moochers, criminals, who are too deficient in intellect and character to pioneer the oft tasking and spirited march to eminence. Essentially, they are a threat to humanity and the advancements we dream.

    There is nothing as deceptive and neurotic in concept as unearned greatness as it makes a wretch of the individual who seeks it. To substantiate it is in fact, impossible, thus the nation’s youth like her under-achieving ruling class, is caught in the web of such deceitfulness.

    Using ostentatious, indefinable sound-bites of altruism and collectivism as crutch, they struggle to give plausible form to their nameless vanity. Ultimately they seek to anchor it to reality to substantiate their deception to themselves and oft unsuspecting victims.

    Such deception never lasts. There is no short-cut to greatness. The best generosity and “advocacy” subsists in honest work. Be you a lawyer, doctor, accountant, journalist or accountant, your commitment to your calling represents the best form of advocacy.

    If you build a library, toilet or bathroom for your alma mater, why plead with the media to report it? Why package your so-called philanthropy or advocacy for the viewership and applause of all? It is only con-artists and social parasites that do that.

    Heartfelt, repetitive acts of diligence and altruism are sooner remembered and celebrated by the world. The world will accord you a listening ear and pay you the homage you deserve at fate and fortune’s appropriate hour. But a greater number of youth aren’t wired to accept such fact. They would rather seek the shortest cut to affluence. If by towing such path, they achieve their goals, they claim to be “smart,” but if they fail in their quest, they blame the government, their parents, the society and everyone else but themselves for the failures their lives become.

    It is our tragedy today that Nigeria still parades ‘promising’ youth with the heart of a lion and the wit of a hyena. It’s our tragedy that we still talk the talk of champions and walk the walk of cowards. It is infinitely heartbreaking yet amusing to see the Nigerian youth toil to harvest sugarcane where he planted thistle.

    The talk is of ‘seed.’ By every philanthropic act or showy advocacy, the lot of the unfortunate improves, it is claimed. Bet the “unfortunate,” ignorant recipients and audiences of such acts do not know that every such “charitable” act they approve, they applaud no humanity; rather they subject themselves as middling marks for their crafty philanthropists and “advocates” to rip off.

    By consenting to be deceived, the society establishes and confirms its shameful ignorance and it’s purely illusory foundations.

    This generation considers itself to be more intelligent than the one that came before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it thus its inexorable quest to outclass both bastions of our past and future. It is not clear however, how well it would fare in this arduous quest but many a youth have argued that it’s about time the “wasted generation” moved over.

    They claim that a new breed of Nigerian youth is fast evolving. This breed, they claim, do not seek handouts from the country’s under-achieving ruling class; no, they simply want the government to facilitate an enabling environment in which the youth could engage in gainful industry and thrive.

    By enabling environment, they speak of stable electricity, safe and usable road networks, security, access to free and quality education, free and affordable healthcare, and a corruption-free society to mention a few. I agree that such wonderful environment is overdue in Nigeria, but for what manner of youth should the government create such enabling environment? Resourceful, mean, currency-activated “youth leaders,” “advocacy gurus,” “philanthropists,” “motivational speakers” et al? Should Nigeria become more habitable for such characters and pretenders to humanity to flourish?

    To rebel against the established order, to criticize the current ruling class and in the same breath, court it; to lament the existing reality and confound extravagant hopes of the future by pillaging off the same reality are the common dispositions of a greater number of Nigerian youths. Add self-acclaimed genius to the mix, and you have yourself a perfect portrait of our leaders of tomorrow.

    You need to learn to crawl before you walk. It’s the way the universe is ordered. It’s about time the youth got busy doing honest work. The best advocacy occupies a crucial niche in honest industry.

    There is a sweet tang to success earned following years of slugging it out in the trenches. Career philanthropy and advocacy only encourages you to become a fraud unto yourself and your immediate society. There is no smart or street-savvy path to the good life. If you see certain people living large and amassing fortunes by circumventing honest sweat and industry, they are simply conning themselves off the rewards they ought to enjoy in their twilight.

    You need to be extraordinary at something before you earn recognition for it. Fortune seeks out he who has paid for it in sweat and honest toil but the lust for vanities steer importunate fools to the path to tragic twilight.

  • Stink and the Nigerian ‘saint’

    There is no odor as dire as that which arises from tainted goodness. I will not deny any bit, the praise that is due to philanthropy, I simply say that we demand sincerity of all whom by their works and lives, pose to be a blessing to the country.

    This is the age of charity. And trust Nigerians, they are desperately exploiting generosity for all its worth. Thus everybody is a philanthropist; even youngsters as green as dug-up spinach have caught the bug – which explains the preponderance of self-acclaimed “youth leaders,” “advocacy gurus,” “motivational speakers” and “philanthropists” afflicting our world like plundering locusts at harvest time.

    A youngster on national youth service constructs tables and chairs for the school in which he’s serving and he pleads with selected mainstream media to mention it; then there is the advocacy guru who donates literature to a school library and pays the mainstream media to report it too, after which she posts it on Facebook and other social networking sites for all to see.

    Both characters among other things elevate and give expression to mankind’s greatest vanity: lust for applause and unearned greatness. In Nigeria, this has become social currency particularly among the youth. Youth seeking instant wealth and acclaim daily exploit the hackneyed terrains of philanthropy and what they perpetrate as “advocacy,” passionately praying and hoping that their exertions attract the attention and “goodwill” of local and international sponsors with deep pockets.

    “There is a clear-cut difference between philanthropy and advocacy,” many are probably jabbering by now. Agreed; but both fields of human endeavour are essentially set to the attainment of similar goals; sustainable development and the improvement of humanity.

    Philanthropy and “advocacy” as currently practiced by Nigeria’s youth is devoid of humanity. It is in essence, a partial and transitory act, projected in constant superfluity until the motives of the philanthropist and advocate are achieved. And what really are the motives? A fat bank account, a posh vehicle, a spectacular mansion, higher status, acclaim and unalterable greatness to mention a few.

    Greatness should be earned. The seekers of unearned greatness and material benefits are merely social parasites, moochers, criminals, who are too deficient in intellect and character to pioneer the oft tasking and spirited march to eminence. Essentially, they are a threat to humanity and the advancements we dream.

    There is nothing as deceptive and neurotic in concept as unearned greatness as it makes a wretch of the individual who seeks it. To substantiate it is in fact, impossible, thus the nation’s youth like her under-achieving ruling class, is caught in the web of such deceitfulness.

    Using ostentatious, indefinable sound-bites of altruism and collectivism as crutch, they struggle to give plausible form to their nameless vanity. Ultimately they seek to anchor it to reality to substantiate their deception to themselves and oft unsuspecting victims.

    Such deception never lasts. There is no short-cut to greatness. The best generosity and “advocacy” subsists in honest work. Be you a lawyer, doctor, accountant, journalist or accountant, your commitment to your calling represents the best form of advocacy.

    If you build a library, toilet or bathroom for your alma mater, why plead with the media to report it? Why package your so-called philanthropy or advocacy for the viewership and applause of all? It is only con-artists and social parasites that do that.

    Heartfelt, repetitive acts of diligence and altruism are sooner remembered and celebrated by the world. The world will accord you a listening ear and pay you the homage you deserve at fate and fortune’s appropriate hour. But a greater number of youth aren’t wired to accept such fact. They would rather seek the shortest cut to affluence. If by towing such path, they achieve their goals, they claim to be “smart,” but if they fail in their quest, they blame the government, their parents, the society and everyone else but themselves for the failures their lives become.

    It is our tragedy today that Nigeria still parades ‘promising’ youth with the heart of a lion and the wit of a hyena. It’s our tragedy that we still talk the talk of champions and walk the walk of cowards. It is infinitely heartbreaking yet amusing to see the Nigerian youth toil to harvest sugarcane where he planted thistle.

    The talk is of ‘seed.’ By every philanthropic act or showy advocacy, the lot of the unfortunate improves, it is claimed. Bet the “unfortunate,” ignorant recipients and audiences of such acts do not know that every such “charitable” act they approve, they applaud no humanity; rather they subject themselves as middling marks for their crafty philanthropists and “advocates” to rip off.

    By consenting to be deceived, the society establishes and confirms its shameful ignorance and it’s purely illusory foundations.

    This generation considers itself to be more intelligent than the one that came before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it thus its inexorable quest to outclass both bastions of our past and future. It is not clear however, how well it would fare in this arduous quest but many a youth have argued that it’s about time the “wasted generation” moved over.

    They claim that a new breed of Nigerian youth is fast evolving. This breed, they claim, do not seek handouts from the country’s under-achieving ruling class; no, they simply want the government to facilitate an enabling environment in which the youth could engage in gainful industry and thrive.

    By enabling environment, they speak of stable electricity, safe and usable road networks, security, access to free and quality education, free and affordable healthcare, and a corruption-free society to mention a few. I agree that such wonderful environment is overdue in Nigeria, but for what manner of youth should the government create such enabling environment? Resourceful, mean, currency-activated “youth leaders,” “advocacy gurus,” “philanthropists,” “motivational speakers” et al? Should Nigeria become more habitable for such characters and pretenders to humanity to flourish?

    To rebel against the established order, to criticize the current ruling class and in the same breath, court it; to lament the existing reality and confound extravagant hopes of the future by pillaging off the same reality are the common dispositions of a greater number of Nigerian youths. Add self-acclaimed genius to the mix, and you have yourself a perfect portrait of our leaders of tomorrow.

    You need to learn to crawl before you walk. It’s the way the universe is ordered. It’s about time the youth got busy doing honest work. The best advocacy occupies a crucial niche in honest industry.

    There is a sweet tang to success earned following years of slugging it out in the trenches. Career philanthropy and advocacy only encourages you to become a fraud unto yourself and your immediate society. There is no smart or street-savvy path to the good life. If you see certain people living large and amassing fortunes by circumventing honest sweat and industry, they are simply conning themselves off the rewards they ought to enjoy in their twilight.

    You need to be extraordinary at something before you earn recognition for it. Fortune seeks out he who has paid for it in sweat and honest toil but the lust for vanities steer importunate fools to the path to tragic twilight.

  • Ports stink, says ICPC

    From the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has come a damning report about the ports: they stink.

    Port operations, the report said, were riddled with corruption, adding that most of the units are manned by unqualified personnel.

    The report, titled: “Corruption Risk Assessment  in Nigerian ports”, was presented to the public in Abuja by the ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta.

    The study was carried out in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms, the Bureau for Public Procurement, the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network, the Nigerian Ports Authority and others.

    It focused on ports in Calabar, Tin Can, Apapa, Warri, Port Harcourt and Onne to identify gaps and vulnerabilities to corruption in the ports and offer remedies to the menace.

    Nta said the ICPC was empowered under Section 6 (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 to “examine the practices, systems and procedures of public bodies and where, in the opinion of the commission, such practices, systems or procedures aid or facilitate fraud or corruption, to direct and supervise a review”.

    Although he said the study was an assessment to prevent corruption and not an investigation, the ICPC boss stressed that the commission would not hesitate to prosecute corrupt persons.

    Nta said: “Corruption Risk Assessment is a preventive tool but it goes hand in hand with the enforcement of sanctions against unacceptable behavior. The study conducted was an assessment to prevent corruption and not an investigation.

    “While all is being done to prevent corruption, the commission will not hesitate to prosecute corrupt persons. In addition, we shall continue to deny corrupt persons the enjoyment of the proceeds of their crime through asset seizures and forfeiture.

    “Nigeria, the international business community, clients and all other stakeholders want to see transparent and clean corruption-prone free processes at the ports.”

    The report indicted Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) officials for manipulating clearance processes at the port to short-change the government for personal gain, saying this explains the reason for the apathy displayed by the service towards the exercise.

    At the launch of the report in Abuja, Nta described it as a “corruption prevention tool which is applied in collaboration with organisations’ management to identify vulnerable areas that are prone to corruption and develop integrity plans would strengthen accountability and transparency”.

    Nta maintained that although the Corruption Risk Assessment was a tool to prevent corruption, it was not a substitute to investigation and prosecution function of the anti-graft body, as the Commission would not hesitate to bring anybody found wanting to book.

    “Corruption Risk Assessment is a preventive tool but it goes hand in hand with the enforcement of sanctions against unacceptable behavior. The study conducted was an assessment to prevent corruption and not an investigation. While all is being done to prevent corruption the commission will not hesitate to prosecute corrupt persons,” he said.

    Speaking on the findings of the report, the representative of Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR), Mrs Lilian Ekeangannu, noted poor facilities as well as lack of operational procedure which, she said give “port officials discretionary powers and sometimes inordinately delay the processing of document, often without consequence”.

    She explained that the NCS used ASYCUDA++ (UNCTAD’s Automated Customs Date Management System) to handle Customs clearance related processes to ensure transparency.

    Customs officers, she claimed, often conspired with clearing agents to influence the process which is electronic in nature to involve human contact for selfish interest, noting that officials deceive the public by saying that they had reduced clearing process to 40 per cent manual.

  • Ports stink, says ICPC

    From the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has come a damning report about the ports: they stink.

    Port operations, the report said, were riddled with corruption, adding that most of the units are manned by unqualified personnel.

    The report, titled: “Corruption Risk Assessment  in Nigerian ports”, was presented to the public in Abuja by the ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta.

    The study was carried out in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms, the Bureau for Public Procurement, the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network, the Nigerian Ports Authority and others.

    It focused on ports in Calabar, Tin Can, Apapa, Warri, Port Harcourt and Onne to identify gaps and vulnerabilities to corruption in the ports and offer remedies to the menace.

    Nta said the ICPC was empowered under Section 6(b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 to “examine the practices, systems and procedures of public bodies and where, in the opinion of the commission, such practices, systems or procedures aid or facilitate fraud or corruption, to direct and supervise a review.”

    Although he said the study was an assessment to prevent corruption and not an investigation, the ICPC boss stressed that the commission would not hesitate to prosecute corrupt persons.

    Nta said: “Corruption Risk Assessment is a preventive tool but it goes hand in hand with the enforcement of sanctions against unacceptable behavior. The study conducted was an assessment to prevent corruption and not an investigation.

    “While all is being done to prevent corruption, the commission will not hesitate to prosecute corrupt persons. In addition, we shall continue to deny corrupt persons the enjoyment of the proceeds of their crime through asset seizures and forfeiture.

    “Nigeria, the international business community, clients and all other stakeholders want to see transparent and clean corruption-prone free processes at the ports.”

    The report indicted Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) officials for manipulating clearance processes at the port to short-change government for personal gain, saying this explains the reason for the apathy displayed by the service towards the exercise.

    At the launch of the report in Abuja, Nta described it as a “corruption prevention tool which is applied in collaboration with organisations’ management to identify vulnerable areas that are prone to corruption and develop integrity plans would strengthen accountability and transparency.”

    Nta maintained that although the Corruption Risk Assessment was a tool to prevent corruption, it was not a substitute to investigation and prosecution function of the anti-graft body, as the Commission would not hesitate to bring anybody found wanting to book.

    “Corruption Risk Assessment is a preventive tool but it goes hand in hand with the enforcement of sanctions against unacceptable behavior. The study conducted was an assessment to prevent corruption and not an investigation. While all is being done to prevent corruption the commission will not hesitate to prosecute corrupt persons,” he said.

    Speaking on the findings of the report, the representative of Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR), Mrs Lilian Ekeangannu, noted poor facilities as well as lack of operational procedure which, she said give “port officials discretionary powers and sometimes inordinately delay the processing of document, often without consequence.”

    She explained that the NCS used ASYCUDA++ (UNCTAD’s Automated Customs Date Management System) to handle Customs clearance related processes to ensure transparency.

    Customs officers, she claimed, often conspired with clearing agents to influence the process which is electronic in nature to involve human contact for selfish interest, noting that officials deceive the public by saying that they had reduced clearing process to 40 per cent manual.