The Nation Newspaper

Tag: USA

  • Same-sex storm

    Law against same-sex marriage is in tandem with our cultural belief

    The raging global controversy over same-sex marriage has been expanded by a formal Nigerian standpoint with President Goodluck Jonathan signing the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill 2013 into law. Interestingly, it is reflective of the contentious debate that notable Western nations, the United States of America (USA) and Canada, as well as the European Union (EU), have separately criticised the new law, with a common thread alleging a violation of “fundamental human rights.” Indeed, Canada reportedly cancelled Jonathan’s scheduled state visit in February on account of issues related to the law. Instructively, the prominent international rights organisation, Amnesty International, also expressed grave misgivings, and described the law as “discriminatory.”

    It would appear that these negative reactions to an essentially local development mirror the burden of countries in the context of a so-called global village. The line between internal and external affairs seems to have become so blurred that outsiders now take it for granted that they have a say in another country’s domestic issues.

    American Secretary of State, John Kerry, and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird, who issued statements saying that their countries were “deeply concerned”, hinged their positions on the question of rights and freedoms. Kerry argued that the law “dangerously restricts freedom of assembly, association and expression for all Nigerians,” adding that it is “inconsistent with Nigeria’s international legal obligations and undermines the democratic reforms and human rights protections enshrined in its 1999 Constitution.” Also expressing concern about the anti-gay law, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, Catherine Ashton, in a statement declared that “The European Union is opposed to discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.”

    In a significant sense, these voices could be regarded as belonging to interlopers, which was implied by the country’s presidential spokesman Reuben Abati, who said, “We have received enquiries from some foreign embassies on why the bill was signed into law and told them our cultural values do not tolerate same-sex marriage.” He added: “More than 90 per cent of Nigerians are opposed to same-sex marriage. So the law is in line with our culture and religious beliefs as a people. And I think that this law is made for a people and what the government has done is consistent with the preference of its environment.”

    The country’s criminalisation of homosexuality, which means that anyone in a same-sex marriage or union would face up to 14 years in prison, also makes it illegal for anyone to operate or participate in gay clubs, societies and organisations, or to officiate, witness, abet or aid the solemnisation of same-sex marriage, which attracts a 10-year jail term. In addition, such partnerships concretised overseas are considered void in Nigeria. Fundamentally, the law states that “Only a marriage contract between a man and a woman shall be recognised in Nigeria.”

    At bottom, this disagreement is actually about cultural evolution. It is not only illogical but also domineering for the West, which claims to accept the actuality of human and cultural diversity, to insist that its own cultural perspective must prevail. It goes without saying that even the reality of increasing globalisation must accommodate the idea of cultural sovereignty. What is more, the fact that the law emerged from a democratic process, which the West is always quick to promote, should be a validation.

    It qualifies as meddlesomeness, this apparent disrespect for the country’s own viewpoint on publicised same-sex relationship. It should be pointed out that the world is far from an agreement on this oddity, and no one should assume the authority of forcing it down the throats of people who have different values. It is objectionable that the Canadian spokesman, perhaps speaking the minds of the gay supporters’ circle, went to the extreme of explicitly calling for the repeal of the law.

     

  • Gold in Kogi

    A firm has discovered gold in commercial quantity in a field in Yagba West, Kogi State.

    Chief Executive Officer Kinsfield Energy Adekunle Akintola said: “We have done geological mapping, geophysical survey, geochemical sampling and contracting core drilling of the gold fields.”

    Akintola said gold mining is a lucrative business next to petroleum and it is internationally priced.

    “Our vision is to pursue an aggressive policy of acquisition and development of gold and bitumen fields across Africa.”

    He said Kinsfield Energy is committed to utilising the extractive opportunities in Africa and North America.

    Akintola is an extractive mining expert, specialising in mining and oil & gas.

    Kinsfield Energy, which operates in Abuja and Houston in the United States (USA), has secured two Exploratory Licences (EL) for gold fields in Yagba West Area.

  • ‘How to combat terrorism, money laundering’

    ‘How to combat terrorism, money laundering’

    Terrorism and money laundering are twin evils. But how can Nigeria, despite being delisted from countries identified as jurisdictions with significant deficiencies in Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) campaigns, tackle these problems? It is by building systems, says Head, Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) office in Nigeria, Timothy Melaye. In this interview with COLLINS NWEZE, he insists that intelligent and influential people are behind money laundering.

    One of the key issues your organisation addresses is terrorism financing.

    Nigeria is faced with this problem believed to be funded externally. How relevant is your organisation in this matter?

    Well, you see, who would have thought that terrorists would blow the World Trade Center in the United States of America (USA) or would have thought that the Kings Court Station in the United Kingdom (UK) would be blown up by terrorists. There were cameras; there were digital information; there were intelligent gathering and all of that. Recently, there was bombing in Boston.

    So, the issue of terrorist activities is borne out of the fact that there is increase in evil people. Evil people plan evil every day. When out of 600 plans, that one that succeeded will make news more than those 599 that were averted. That is the case with terrorist activities. Of course, GIABA did not state in clear terms that it is fighting terrorism. No! Our work is issues of combating the financing, and in this case, certainly, there is funding.

    If somebody drove a car, he did not bring the car from the road. Probably, he used money to buy the car. Even though cases have shown that some of them were snatched, or stolen, but either we like it or not, there are funds involved in terrorism. Some of them carry AK47 rifles, you can’t buy such from the street, it costs huge sums of money and with this of course, and there are issues of finance.

    You cannot fight terrorism. It is just like if you want to kill a fish, just drain its water and leave the fish inside. In no time, the fish will not survive. So, what we are trying to do is to identify the means of draining the resources from those who finance terrorism.

    If you really want to kill a fish without your bullet, obviously, you have to drain out the water from the pond. What we are doing is just working virtually and systematically with member-states to ensure that all of these are done, and those people doing this will no longer have a hiding place.

    Nigeria was delisted from the list of non-coooperative countries. What does it mean to be non-cooperative; does it mean that it is cooperating or no money laundering is going on in the country?

    Like you know, money laundering is a derivative crime. What do I mean by a derivative crime? It is not a crime you commit directly now. You must have committed criminal offence to get illicit wealth before you can lander it. So, it is a crime you are deriving from another crime that has existed before. So, you cannot stand here and nobody anywhere in the world can say there is no money laundering going on here or there. No! Every country is trying to ensure that it is minimised. The people who are involved in money laundering and other proceeds of crime are intelligent, articulate, have access to resources and sometimes, influential. So, if they say a country is complying, that means a country is meeting those recommendations; putting in place the structures that I have mentioned. That means, your jurisdiction has built the structure that will protect it from money laundering.

    As I am talking to you, what if somebody is buying jewelry with stolen money? That means money laundering is taking place. He just goes into a jewelry shop and they tell him this gold will cost N20 million, and he says oh! No problem put it in my bag.

    They tell him another one will cost N16 million and he says no problem, and picks it up. Because he knows that is the treasure he can hide his money, because jewelry, especially gold, anytime you want to sell it, you can just take it back to the market and resell your thing. He has cancelled the source of the money. He has made it to appear like clean money. That is what money laundering is all about.

    And it will be reintegrated into the system. Now, we are saying that the jewelry seller should pay the money into his account. And when they see money in his account, he will say ‘ha you don’t know it was the jewelry that I sold?’ The origin has changed. So, what will they do? So that is what happens in many nations.

    When we say that a country is complying, and it is enlisted on public statement, that means that the country is complying with the regulations, putting up necessary structures; the laws, awareness, and implementing them. Banks are following the Know Your Customer (KYC), due diligence and other things required from them by the regulators.

    The awareness is created, and all the offences are criminalised in law. And money laundering itself is an offence in the law. So, when you have all those things in place, that means the country is cooperating. It is putting up structure so that its domains, its territories, are not a haven for those who launder money and finance terrorist activities.

    The CBN took some key policy actions close to the time GIABA and FATF team came to Nigeria for on-sight inspection. There was a change from Wholesale Dutch Auction System to Retail Dutch Auction System and enforcement of other anti-money laundering rules to ensure that Nigeria was delisted from the list of non-cooperating countries. Why did the CBN go that far?

    Well, I can not speak for Nigeria because I can’t say that I am directly working for GIABA or for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and what we do here is to talk for the region. So, I cannot speak specifically for Nigeria, what they did and why they did it as at the time they did it.

    But I know that in Nigeria, both the government and the operators have shown commitment towards ensuring that the country complies with those standards. So, of course, for you to comply, you have to put up what is required of you. The country did not just got into the list. The country was in the list before it came out in 2004. Of course, Nigeria Mutual Evaluation Report took place in 2007 and was adopted in 2008 after the adoption, the GIABA and FATF expected Nigeria to make some significant progress in case of follow up report on that mutual evaluation and the gaps required to fill.

    And when those gaps were not filled up sufficiently, as at the time it was expected, that was why Nigeria went back to the public statement. So, what the country needed to do if it wanted to come out of the public statement, the gaps that have been identified had to be filled. If you see a lot of policies coming up, the policies are intended to fill those gaps and if they didn’t fill it, they will still be on a public statement.

    By the time you finished filling these, it doesn’t matter whether you will fill all of them at once or five years or 10 years, the longer it takes, the more the country will degenerate from the green list to black list to all kinds of things like that.

    So, the country therefore, would have done what it needed to do to get out of the list. Whatever it has done would have been as a response to the fact that the country is working hard to comply with all necessary regulations.

    A lot of laws were passed, bills were sent to the National Assembly, those laws will enhance the policies of the banks, the policies of designated non financial sector, and all kinds of issues would be put in place. Now that the country feels that it has addressed those challenges that have been identified in the Mutual Evaluation report, then, it would be presented to the plenary session of the FATF.

    Why doesn’t the acronym of GIABA match its full meaning? I ask this question because it means Group Inter-Governmental d’Action Centre le Blanchiment d’Argent en Afrique de l’Quest.

    That is the English name but, the acronym actually, is a French acronym as the Intergovernmental Action Against Money Laundering in West Africa, does not synchronise with what we have on the acronym as a GIABA.

    This is because GIABA is an organisation that is formed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). And ECOWAS, of course, has membership across all West African countries, and there are 15 ECOWAS members that formed ECOWAS.

    So, because it also has English speaking, French speaking and Portuguese speaking, since the name is always called in English, we prefer that the acronym be in French. It is a way of creating sense of ownership to all the member states. However, most documents of the organisation come in English, French and Portuguese to represent the combination of the whole components.

    ECOWAS established GIABA in the year 2000 because of the need to see issues relating to money laundering and terrorist financing to be addressed within the region. After the establishment of GIABA in the year 2000, they were setting up process and all of that. The initial mandate of GIABA was to work assiduously in combating money laundering and terrorist financing within the region. They are to ensure that people do not have access to launder the proceeds of crime within the region. That was the core mandate of GIABA as it was given by it statutes.

    In essence, all the work we do revolves around this mandate. Working with all the member states.

    Two other countries, Sao Tome and Principe have also joined. Though Sao Tome and Principe is not member of ECOWAS but it is a member of GIABA, because GIABA has more opportunity to add more members that would address issues concerned. This country made GIABA members to be 16 instead of 15 ECOWAS countries.

    What is the relationship between GIABA and Financial Action Task Force (FATF)?

    The FATF is the global standard setting body for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) while GIABA, is an associate member of FATF.

    This gives GIABA the opportunity to be part of every decision making at the FATF. In terms of relationship, GIABA is also what they call the FATF Style Regional Body. What they mean by FATF Style Regional Body (FSRB) is the body that covers this jurisdiction.

    For instance, there are over 180 countries that have signed into the FATF, and Jurisdictions. FATF will not be able to cover all these countries effectively and so they have SRBs that manage the jurisdictions. For instance, GIABA is the FATF SRB in West Africa. So, the role of FATF is being played by GIABA within West Africa.

    For instance, they conduct mutual evaluation which is the peer review mechanism to assess a county’s performance in terms of plans to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.

    In conducting mutual evaluation, what are the issues always considered?

    The mutual evaluation exercise is usually to check, in the whole form of it, a country’s compliance with the recommendations. FATF has what it calls “40 Recommendations” it used to be 40 plus nine, but after the revision, it was revised to have 40 recommendations that comprises money laundering, issues of terrorist financing, and proliferation of light weapons and weapons of mass destruction which they call proliferation financing.

    Also, countering the finances of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or light weapons. So, these are the key issues that are addressed in those 40 recommendations, and what countries needed to do to prove standards.

    Mutual evaluation is to identify gaps that countries have based on these recommendations.

    For instance, the recommendation is talking about the enactment of adequate legislation, laws that will combat terrorism. In a lawless society, it is criminal to be law abiding.

    So, it is to make sure that all the member states have adequate legislation, laws that combat money laundering because criminals will be looking for countries where laws do not exist to go and operate, so even when you catch them, there is nothing you can use to prosecute them.

    What we do for instance, is to ensure that all countries have adequate legislation. You remember that sometimes ago, in Nigeria they said had anti money laundering law but did it have law against terrorist financing?

    So, we look at all the issues of legislation, we look at financial institutions. What role are they playing? Are their platforms available, readily confirmed? Do they prepare transaction report? Do they remit to transaction report, and were those reports well processed? What roles do they have to play, and their impact in terms of moving finances/ money from one country to another?

    So, all are those areas that we are looking into. Customers due diligence, the customs, the immigration, movement of cash and goods and all the other areas, even the designated non-financial businesses and profession; could be somebody who deals with the issues like property. If someone wants to launder money through property and he decides not to take the money to a bank, he can approach a property firm and decide to buy 20 duplexes in choice areas. He is laundering the proceeds of crime. He is not taking the money to the bank, but he is making transactions and payments and the money is going into property.

    Later, when you ask him where he got the money he would say, you don’t know that I am into property business? I have been buying property bit by bit and now I even have over 40 properties. I have 200 houses, and I am into estate. And he has successfully hidden the source of his estate wealth. So, we will be looking at designated non-financial businesses and professions.

    That could be the hardest part of your job?

    Yes! And that is because we have a very large informal sector. Informal sectors where things are not going through formal processes. For instance in Nigeria, they have what we call Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML). For you to operate in any business, you have to register with them now as a regulation body.

    May be Bureau de Change, may be estate agents, may be law firm, may be accounting firm, and all of those things, because if you want to buy a property now, you will need a lawyer who will do the agreement. You need an estate manager who will make all the perfections and check the papers. All of them now are compelled to register with SCUML If you register with SCUML, any transaction you do within certain threshold will be reported as suspicious transaction. For instance, if I come to you and I work as a civil servant, and I say, I want to buy 200 houses, it is a suspicious transaction.

    My salary as a civil servant may be at that time, just N200,000 and I want to buy a property of about N250 million. It is a suspicious transaction. You will go ahead to do your transaction but, you report it to the financial intelligent unit. It is their work to investigate, to identify, and to know if it is something to be looked into or not so that no stone is left unturned, no loophole is created in the system.

    If it is jewelry or you sell cars, all manner of things, same procedure will be followed. And if you are caught not reporting when you should, then you know that you are aiding and abetting. The law covers not only the perpetrators of the crime but also the people who knew but conspired not to report it.

    When the SCUML policy was introduced, many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) kicked against it. Is the policy still being implemented?

    Yes, it is being implemented. A lot of organisations subscribe to it including non-governmental organisations and faith-based organisations. You may have your grudges but you have to subscribe to it.

    If you say you don’t like traffic lights, that will not make you not to obey traffic lights. If you break the rules, there are sanctions. Fine, it has been spelt out that this is the process to go. Fine, some people may not like it and would prefer to hide their identities, maybe they don’t want to be part of it, but the day they are caught by law, they will pay for it. Recently the SCUML implementation deadline was extended to allow more people to take part.

    People are already keying into the SCUML policy because it will get to a point that you would want to do your business as an agency and they will ask you to produce your SCUML registration certificate.

    Banks will begin to demand that for you to open an account, you must provide SCUML registration certificate. By the time you want to open an account and your account officer says that you must produce your SCUML registration for that to happen, then you will know that it is very important. And overtime, they will find out that there are no options and they will have no other choice but to go and register.

    So, these are the kind of processes that are being put in place and this is what will help. And you know also that there have been reductions on the volume of cash people can carry. So everybody is compelled one way or the other, through processes and systems, to go into the banking system.

    You want to just carry your money around, to go and pay N5 million and withdraw it when you need it, the bank will demand that you explain why. There is a limit to what you can take now. If you are taking outside of it, it is something that can be reported. If you are taking more than the threshold, they will charge you and also report it. A follow up is going to be made on that personality, to find out if there are any issues of money laundering or any form of terrorist financing going on there. So, these are some of the issues.

    It is not about the noise, it is not about the media, it is not about the type of things people want or people don’t want. It is about putting structures and systems that will make it work.

    For instance, if I drive a Range Rover and the traffic light stops me but nobody sees me, if I beat the traffic light, I will just go away, as far as, there is no police in the front that is going to stop me. I have beaten the traffic and I have escaped it. But, if I beat the traffic in London, I am not supposed to see the policeman there, I will just beat the traffic and go, so, in the evening, they will just bring the fine bill to my house if I am a first offender but if I am a second or third offender, sometimes, it is even possible for me to go through legal processes.

    So, these are the systems that we must put in place. Systems that will not allow you to see the police but will chase you when you beat the traffic as it is done in London or in New York city. The systems are what we are trying to build because, every cars that is driven in UK is registered with the owner’s phone address, emails with residential address of the person who registered the car. Whoever is driving the car, the camera is there to pick its number plate and the owner will be identified. If you are not the one that drove the car when it contravened the law, you will provide the person that drove it because records are there. So, it is not because people want to obey laws but because there are systems to check people’s excesses.

    Every country, every nation has excesses. There are criminals everywhere. What we are trying to do is to put the systems that will work and will not allow criminals to go undetected. If the criminals know that they no longer have a hiding place because they will be detected, that will reduce the number of people that may wish to go into criminal activities.

    So, if I know that it doesn’t matter whether everybody is seeing me or not, as far as I passed it at the wrong time, the camera will see me, all I need to do is just to be there, and once the light passes me, I will move. When the system is there, you will know that when you break the law, there is something that will find you and bring you out to face justice.

    What we are trying to do now and I think the Nigerian government particularly, is making effort to help us. The CBN and other financial regulators are working on those systems, and as soon as they are in place, you will find out that the proper structure to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in this country and this region will b e minimised.

  • Why we moved against Boko Haram, by US official

    •Washington unhappy at corruption in Nigeria

    THE decision of the United States government to designate the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, a foreign terrorist organisation was aimed at providing Washington “tools that will assist the Nigerian government in addressing these problems,” the Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, in the Department of State, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has said.

    Speaking on Channels Television yesterday, Thomas-Greenfield said the USA is already assisting Nigeria with equipment such as non-lethal materials and vehicles.

    “The military is working with the government on the list of requirements. We are also assisting with coordination tools so that various elements of the government security sector coordinate better with each other,” she said.

    She said it is important for Nigeria’s various security agencies to connect well if they must win the fight against terrorism.

    “One of our major failures after 9/11 was the fact that our security agencies did not have communications that allowed them to communicate cross-agencies,” she said of the experience of her country.

    She was unhappy about the current level of corruption in the country, saying: “This is something that embarrasses all Nigerians, I know. Given the fact that corruption has been pervasive in Nigeria for so many years; I think additional political will is required to address the issue.”

    Current effort by government to deal with the problem, according to her “is not cutting it, and it is not cutting it in many places in Africa, not just in Nigeria, and it is a deterrent to investments coming into this country.”

    “I know that there are people who want to invest but they changed their minds because they get pushed in a different direction because of corruption.”

    She said that but for corruption Nigeria ought to be “the African tiger in terms of economic growth.”

  • US trains 23 anti-bomb policemen

    Twenty three policemen in the Anti-Bomb Squad have been trained by the American Government to fight terrorism in the country.

    The policemen were trained in Explosive Incident Counter Measures Course at the Academy Training Centre, Moyock, North Carolina, USA.

    It was gathered that the policemen who returned home last Monday, will train 160 personnel that will be drawn from the various units of Explosive Ordinace Device (EOD) in the Federation during a two weeks training/seminar.

    The Commissioner of Police in charge, ‘B’ Department (EOD) Force Headquarters, Abuja, Abdulmajid Ali, said: ” In order to maximise the benefits realised from the course, the Command deemed it expedient to organise the seminar aimed at capacity building, predicated on the same contents that will enable the participants internalise the contents and also disseminate the knowledge so acquired to their subordinates in various EOD formations nationwide with a view to keeping them abreast with contemporary skills and technology in line with global best practices”.

  • ‘It’s unfair not to honour authors of the national anthem’

    ‘It’s unfair not to honour authors of the national anthem’

    Professor Babatunde Ogunnaike, Dean, College of Engineering, University of Delaware, USA, is one of the five authors of the national anthem who have remained unacknowledged for their work. In continuation of our series on the writers of the words of the anthem, Prof Ogunnaike, a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering , in this interview with Lekan Otufodunrin recalls his involvement in the writing of the, anthem and the state of the nation.

    Can you recall your involvement in contributing to the national anthem?

    I recall being on my national service (NYSC) in 1977 (in Port Harcourt) when the announcement came out for contributions to the new National Anthem. And I recall reading some of the submissions because they were then routinely published in the Evening Times (this was the evening version of the Daily Times).

    I recall thinking that I might be able to submit something that might be just as good, if not better, than the ones I had read.  So I did.

    What lines of the national anthem are yours?

    I believe that most of the second verse of the national anthem (if not the entire thing itself) was the second verse of the poem that I submitted.  My first verse had a line similar to “The labours of our heroes past” which ended up in the anthem; I am also sure that many of the other submissions had lines similar to this one.

    I think that my line emphasised “sacrifice” instead of labour and I don’t think I used heroes. I do not have the original submission with me, alas; and that was some 36 years ago now, so it is difficult for me to recall precisely what was in the first verse.

    What informed your composition?

    A sense that Nigeria had a lot of potential that was untapped; and that we needed good and selfless leadership; and that with divine guidance and dedication to national progress, we can become a great nation.

    Were you compensated or acknowledged in any way for your contribution?

    A telegram was sent to my home address in Ibadan, but I had left for graduate school in the United States by the time it arrived.  My father forwarded a copy to me.  I did not receive any compensation.

    Has the country been fair to the authors of the anthem by not honouring them with a national award like it did to the composer of the music, the late Pa Odiase?

    Of course it is unfair not to honour someone for such major contributions.

    What should be done about honouring you and other co-authors?

    I am not sure what should be done, but most other nations acknowledge the authors of their national anthem in some way or other.  I have lived in the US now for about 25 years and everyone knows that Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the national anthem (even I, a recent immigrant, know this). At the very least, the people of Nigeria should be told who wrote their national anthem.

    You were quoted in a previous interview that you usually feel a sense of pride and sadness when you hear the national anthem.  Can you expatiate on this?

    A sense of pride to have been involved in writing the words, but sadness because 50-something years after independence we still have not realised even the very basic aspects of what a modern nation should be. That is sad.

    The message of the national anthem seems not to have been imbibed by Nigerians, how can this be done?

    That takes leadership modelling for the nation what our collective values should be; it takes parents modelling it to their children, and elders in the villages showing examples to the younger folks. People who take pride in their nation, people who have reason to be proud of their nation, are often inspired by the lyrics of their national anthem.  People who are struggling to put food on the table; who feel like their leaders do not care about them; who are disconnected from the fabric of society—such people have no time to imbibe any message in any anthem—they are too busy with the task of surviving.

    Why has the country not been able to accomplish the dreams of our founding fathers considering the abundant resources we have?

    This is very simple: extremely poor—and incredibly selfish—leadership.  It is not “politically correct” to say this, but we have not been blessed with inspirational or selfless leaders with vision and the moral strength and courage not only to do the right thing, but also to challenge the nation to be the best that it can be.

    Our leaders have mostly failed miserably. The only leader that was anything close to being inspirational was Murtala Mohammed and he was gunned down before he could do much.

    You and Dr Sota, a co-author of the national anthem, are among many accomplished Nigerians outside the country. How we can limit the high rate of the brain drain we have been experiencing?

    You may or may not know this, but I lived and worked in Nigeria from 1982 to 1988 as an assistant professor at the University of Lagos.  I had to leave in 1988 when I could no longer support my family!  The salary of a senior lecturer was paltry; I was not corrupt; I don’t know how to sell cement and rice—the only thing I knew how to do was to teach and do research.

    I could not do any of that and still make a living in Nigeria at the time.  I had no option but to leave if I wanted a decent life for my children. In addition, the entire system (people in the customs, and the police, NEPA, tax office, even the banks)  all made life difficult.  I couldn’t clear my things through the customs after I arrived because everyone wanted a bribe, but I was a poor graduate student coming back home after finishing my PhD.

    The entire Nigerian system is hostile to people like us.  Not sure what else can be done, but if Nigeria wants people to stay (and many of us truly want to be in Nigeria), perhaps some of these artificial barriers can be removed.

    Also, it is difficult to function in a country where there is no rule of law, and where the government is essentially not very competent.  I do not want to go on complaining about the government, but it really has a significant role to play in keeping its resources at home instead of literally forcing them away (as they did for many of us).

    Tell me more about yourself and your involvement back home.

    I come back to Nigeria as often as I can, mostly to help with a relatively new World-Bank sponsored University in Abuja (The African University of Science and Technology). I am now involved with the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, having been fortunate enough to have been inducted with the class of 2012.

    I love Nigeria and would love nothing more than to be able to put something back into the system that gave me a great foundation.  It pains me that I can be successful in another country and do many things for that country, but I do not have much of an opportunity to do the same for my own country of birth.  I am grateful to the US for providing me the opportunity to study for my PhD here, and in a sense, it is proper for me also to put something back into the US system for what they gave to me.

    But I would also love the opportunity to be able to do the same for my country of birth, where my education foundation was laid.  I just do not want to have to sacrifice my family in the process.

     

  • Quote of the day

    “The death of these two Nigerians, who are out to earn their daily bread, is really heart-rendering, worrisome and pathetic. It is barbaric, inhuman and condemnable in all ramifications.” Chairman House of Representative committee on Diaspora affairs – Abike Dabiri – Erewa condemning the killing of Nigerian cab drivers in Washington DC  and New York, USA.

  • U.S. seizes Alamieyeseigha’s mansion

    U.S. seizes Alamieyeseigha’s mansion

    The United States of America (USA) has put further dent on the recent pardon granted former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, by seizing a house belonging to him.

    A federal judge in the US approved the Justice Department’s forfeiture order against the $700,000 Rockville, Maryland, house.

    The forfeiture was executed at the weekend, according to the Wall Street Journal.

    It said District Judge Roger W. Titus granted the Justice Department’s motion for default judgment against the property said to belong to Alamieyeseigha.

    Prosecutors branded the former governor’s assets as the proceeds of corruption.

    Alamieyeseigha has previously denied the allegations in court filings.

    His lawyer was unavailable for comment, the WSJ said. The forfeiture is said to be part of an initiative launched by the Justice Department to seek out assets in the U.S. linked to high-level foreign corruption.

    Alamieyeseigha had, last year, also forfeited a $401,931 Massachusetts brokerage fund following a motion granted by a federal district judge in Massachusetts.

    “Foreign officials who think they can use the United States as a stash-house are sorely mistaken,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman said in a statement.

    “Through the Kleptocracy Initiative, we stand with the victims of foreign official corruption as we seek to forfeit the proceeds of corrupt leaders’ illegal activities.”

    Alamieyeseigha was jailed for two years in 2007 for failing to declare assets in Nigeria, South Africa and the U.S. Prosecutors said he bought more than $8 million in properties with bribes he received from contractors while serving as governor. He pleaded guilty to money laundering on behalf of two companies he controlled—Solomon & Peters Ltd. and Alamieyeseigha and Santolina Investment Corp.

    The former governor had last year, also forfeited a $401,931 Massachusetts brokerage fund following a motion granted by a federal district judge in Massachusetts.

    President Goodluck Jonathan granted Alamieyeseigha an unconditional pardon in March, sparking outrage.

    The Presidency defended its action, saying Alamieyeseigha had shown remorse.

    The former governor himself said he deserved the pardon having helped in bringing about peace in an otherwise restive Niger Delta region.

    The home in Rockville, a suburb of Washington, D.C., is owned by Solomon & Peters Ltd., a shelf company controlled by Alamieyeseigha, according to court papers. The Justice Department and Alamieyeseigha offered drastically different accounts of how the house came to be in his possession.

    A Justice Department spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about whether or not the funds would be returned to Nigeria.

  • Boston’s day of vigil for justice

    Boston’s day of vigil for justice

    “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” — Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884) 

    Last Friday and Saturday, the entire world stayed glued to their satellite stations watching the CNN. They were eager to witness the denouement to the search for the surviving on-the-run suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing in the United States of America (USA). That night, the US system showed the entire world why its remains world’s number one country.

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother, Tamerlan, 26, from the same mother and both resident in the US, were the suspected masterminds of the dastardly act that claimed three lives, critically injuring 180 others near the finish line of that marathon race. Both of them were born in former Russian territory known as Kyrgyzstan and are of Chechen descent. In their bid to escape from justice, Tamerlan was killed in Watertown, Boston while Tsarnaev escaped on foot, albeit fleetingly. The manhunt for Tsarnaev brought out the best of America’s disdain for terrorism and her readiness to protect the sanctity of human lives and property in her territory.

    The FBI and the Watertown police launched a citywide lockdown by conducting a house-by-house search for the alleged killer. The federal and the Watertown police displayed professional agility and civilised disposition in the discharge of their police duties. They were well kitted with the best of police combat costumes as they drove round Watertown in armoured patrol vehicles. This must have informed the confidence and commitment displayed by these men.

    Their ceaseless security vigil since the day the bomb blast occurred became fruitful when Tsarnaev was eventually nabbed, after a brief gun duel with the police, in a tarp-covered boat he had been hiding in the backyard of a house. The Watertown police siege scenery was a reminder of what policing in Nigeria should be but which unfortunately, it is not. The kits adorned by the American police were procured with money and it is not as if this country does not have the funds to procure such. But corruption has been the greatest inhibition to our goal of attaining that security standard. The lives of those America police are insured against the hazards of their profession. Nothing of such is available for their Nigerian counterparts. Billions of naira is yearly budgeted for police equipment, welfare, training and overall national security but the money never gets down. Yet, we expect such policemen officers to be the veritable aegis for maintaining peace and security in our country.

    It would not happen because it is what is sown that would be reaped. That brings us down to the handling of Boko Haram insurgents in the country. Quite unlike what we all witnessed in Boston, the handling of the insurgents by the Nigerian police, military and intelligence agencies has been laughable. The handling of this intractable problem by security agencies has made mockery of the nation’s competence in making her territory a safe haven for inhabitants. Could the problem be that of waning motivation among security operatives? Could it be one of incompetence or even misplaced priority of how to handle security, especially police affairs in this country?

    For instance, the police institution that is the pride of the US has become an albatross in, especially, the northern part of the country today. Even the intervention of the military through the Joint Task Force (JTF) has exposed the military as suffering from the same official lethargy that has become the lot of the police and other security agencies in the country. At the same time the US police was commendably hunting for, before eventually apprehending Tsarnaev, the Nigerian military was struggling in a battle with the Boko Haram miscreants. At the end of that battle, not less than 185 lives were lost in the gun duel between the JTF and Boko Haram insurgents.

    Most of the people killed, according to reports, were women and children. About 2000 houses and more than 50 motorcycles were burnt in the commercial town of Baga, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. Baga is a fishing town on the shore of Lake Chad adjacent to the Chadian border. It is a shame that a military general commanded JTF has not succeeded in its attempts to reclaim 10 local government areas in Borno State including Marte, Magumeri, Mobbar, Gubio, Guzamala, Abadamin, Kukawa, Kaga, Nganzai and Monguno that have been taken over by Boko Haram killer members. This exercise is a complete mockery of the essence of the Nigerian military which is to quell insurrection against the state that the Boko Haram is currently championing. Yet, Mr. President could not rescue the already bad situation.

    Sometime last year January, not less than 186 people were killed in coordinated attacks by Boko Haram fighters in Kano State. Tens of others were killed, even in military barracks, by the unscrupulous sect members in other northern states at different occasions without any clue being gotten by security agencies. The approach of government has always been like begging the issue without any concrete result coming out of bombings that have become routine in the country. Could this kind of things happen in the US for this long period without a solution being arrived at by the security agencies and the government, even if there is northern elite complicity as being insinuated in the current case in the country?

    Whilst President Barrack Obama rose to the occasion as witnessed in the Boston’s case in the US, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria turned to his cliché of calling for an investigation into the matter. As usual in the latest Borno state Boko Haram shootouts with the military, he has ordered a powerful probe, that would be a shameful end to the incident. He sits in the comfort of Aso-Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, from where he is demanding from Brig.-General Austin Edokpaye, Commander of JTF in Borno State, a comprehensive brief of what transpired which even when given to him, he most possibly would not act on. The question is: Will Obama take the same position if the Boko Haram were to be in America? The question is no! The American government would have wiped them out of its territory. That is a sign of a country with serious leadership focus of how its affairs must be administered. President Jonathan’s arm-chair Commander-in-Chief approach to security matters especially, has become serious embarrassment to credible citizens of this country. The venomous situation, currently witnessed in most parts and the displayed inefficient official disposition, cannot continue if the Nigerian project is still of importance to those in the corridors of power.

    Whether against Boko Haram insurgents, unscrupulous militants or even armed robbery/kidnappers siege, when is Nigeria going to witness the type of effectively triumphant security agencies that kept vigil for humanity in Watertown, Boston last weekend? This is a food for thought for all reasonable Nigerians within the country and in Diaspora that want the country to witness peace/stability. Eternal vigilance, as deployed by America in Boston, is truly the price of liberty – apologies to that great thinker, Wendell Phillips.

  • SUPER EAGLES: Pray Nigeria, pray

    Nigerians are prayer warriors no doubt. I want to wager that no other country prays more fervently than the raucous millions of the Niger area. What I do not wish to find out however, is how much of our prayers break through the atmosphere and up into heaven. Would God in his omniscience, open up the heavens for us in order to reveal the flow of our prayers and benedictions, most of us would be surprise how we have been firing blank. We pray long, we pray noisy, we pray with vehemence and exertion, we keep vigil and go into lengthy dryness and observances yet to no avail it seems. We as a nation, as a people, as families we are still overtaken and tormented by the evil one.

    The prince of darkness seems to have found his domain and refuge here in Nigeria. The chief principality of this realm seems to have built his operational headquarters on our shores from whence he fans out evil, misery and pain to the rest of the world. Before you think one is exaggerating, is there any other land on the face of the earth blessed with so much riches and yet abounds with so much human misery? There is no other place in the world today where there is such criminal round-tripping of crude oil; that is the rich endowment of a country’s crude oil is shipped out to surrogate refineries abroad and the bye products returned to Nigeria as expensive and economically unviable commodities.

    Now this treasonable economic crime has gone on for nearly three decades and still continues till tomorrow. No other major oil producing country in the world imports petroleum products; on the other hand, they export to the rest of the world so as to maximize the benefits of their God-given resource for the good of their citizenry. But the reverse is the case here. This is a country where a mere civil servant could access and purloin state funds in billions. Consider the recent example of a certain civil servant named John Yesufu who stole all of N27 billion naira; he is only a deputy director, imagine what directors, directors-general, auditors-general, accountants-general, permanent secretaries, ministers, governors and presidents who have better leeway to the treasury, would have. We are in a country where numerous public servants are so rich they can buy up a country or two, they are so shamelessly rich because they hijack and cart away entire budgets of their ministries, departments and agencies. And they are so proud about their ‘achievements’, the have no qualms whatsoever and indeed, they are the most voluble prayer warriors at the least opportunity.

    Praying football prayer

    But pray we must for where would we be without the vigil of the faithful. In prayer we must persist, especially where there is no trace of HIM like in Nigeria, to paraphrase Pastor Adeboye above. Let us pray for the Super Eagles, our national football team not because we need the Africa nations’ cup so badly or that the lifting of it would change our unrepentant evil ways and make our leaders and public officers less greedy and covetous. We pray for victory if only for that brief moment of ecstasy and uproarious revelry; for that ephemeral moment of national ‘unity’ and ‘rejoicing’. We must pray, hoping that in that moment of ‘white’ madness, some wellness would be triggered in our leaders and the scales would fall from their eyes so that they can see their monumental failings, so that they may see Nigeria’s missed opportunities; so that they may see that Egypt, Britain, USA and such other places they are quick to shuttle off to are built by leaders who are better than them only because they are patriots and they are truly godly. We will pray hoping that our God who works in wondrous ways might just adapt our moment of national ‘joy’ into our hour of national salvation and redemption.

    We all should rise as one to pray this football prayer hoping that this flitting gold cup would not ‘pass over us’ this time. It is not because the hollow metal is worth its weight in gold, no, we are praying, hoping that our leaders may be led into a sudden burst of inspiration to see the untold potentials in organizing our football and sports properly. We pray that they would realize that if they get just our sports right, millions of our youths who are jobless and broken today would not only be engaged but gainfully so; and not only in Nigeria but all over the world. Nigeria has the capacity to furnish the world with one tenth of its outstanding sportsmen and women. One of the greatest natural resources God has endowed us with is awesome physical strength combined with speed and acute power of mental co-ordination. It is a rare gift only found in few other countries in Africa and Latin American countries. Carefully harnessed, the result is a human specimen of immense grace and spectacular physical feats. Applied to football, basketball, boxing, wrestling, tracks and field events, etc, it is a talent that is in hot demand all over the world. It is a resource that could yield as much revenue to Nigeria as crude oil.

    But here we are, unable to manage our stadia; we allowed a forest to grow in our number one stadium in Abuja right under the nose of the presidency. Our national stadium in Lagos has been in a state of decay for more than ten years. The national league is in perpetual turmoil having been infiltrated by ragamuffins, the sports associations are comatose with most so called administrators scurrying about looking for morsels. Nobody is thinking or attempting to seek out and groom talents. School sports where virgin talents were plucked is long dead and forgotten. For instance I have a 13-year old who has been sprinting with seniors and running invitational relay since she was 11. In serious places, she would have been placed under special watch but nobody cares.

    160 million voices praying

    Another reason we must pray is that our opponents, Burkina Faso, prays too. They probably pray better than us. Did you see them after their grueling duel with Ghana last Wednesday how they went on their knees – players and officials, forming a large circle and pointing heavenwards, showered thanksgiving to heaven? Something tells me that our match on Sunday would be first a divine showdown. I see a game of celestial favours; who does our Maker want to favour most? Who needs it most, who is seeking and knocking and asking more? As we meet in the mosques, churches and even in our homes, let us all say a prayer for the success of the Super Eagles on Sunday February 10, 2013 – if 160 million people, in spite of their blemishes pray, our God is bound to hear. Amen.

    LAST MUG: National Assembly and 2013 budget: as it has become our practice, the 2013 Appropriation Bill is yet to be passed into law. The National Assembly and the Presidency continues to squabble while the country bleeds. Dawdling over the budget has become a national pastime in the last few years. NASS, one must say, is mainly to blame for this; the body still does not seem to assimilate the magnitude and import of this document. It seems to view it more from the prism of contracts and ‘constituency’ projects. It cannot exact proper oversight on the executive if it has its hand deep in the cookie jar. We need a high minded NASS.