₦airaland Forum

billante: Some corrections and clarifications to die hard critics!

Nigeria needs airport in every state,some state even needs two like lagos! The population is there to make use of all those aiports...if nigeria hav large and low cost airlines dat charges at most 6000 naira for an hour flight like in other countries PH airport will be overwhelmed.
The economy activities which will drive this believe me is creeping up everyday... lots of investments and companies are being set up as I speak which you may not know....

A point worthy of note to die hard apologists:
Nigeria is a federal state; construction of local airports should be the
responsibility of state governments and not the federal government.
If state governments cannot open their states up for business and commercial activities,
they don’t have any business being in the business of government.
If a state governor can offer a public officer $15M bribe
(25% of the amount approved by FEC to build the proposed airstrip in Bayelsa) free of charge without sweat,
what do the state governors really spend their monthly subventions on?
The Bayelsa airstrip project is simply another clear case of corruption and misuse of privileged position(s), period.

Why do we keep going round and round in circles?

Ngige is the Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on power,
a body that is vested by law to exercise oversight functions on the activities of the executive?
Was the request and appropriation of funds for the power project by OBJ not approved by the senate?
Was the project not subjected to due diligence before Senate’s approval?

If OBJ had wasted our common wealth on a bogus project, he did so with the collusion of the Senate.
If Ngige and his colleagues at the NASS are serious people, they should have commenced moves to prosecute
not just only OBJ but all the other public officials who have been fraudulently and systematically depriving
us of our common wealth.

Of course, they will always keep quiet during the awards of contract to protect their selfish pockets and then
continue to hoodwink themselves in philosophical talk about the need to correct crimes perpetrated against the
Nigerian state not by prosecuting the culprits but through the awards of new contracts on the same old projects.

A body and its membership responsible for oversight functions on the activities of the executive cannot absolve
itself of complicity and culpability on the wrongs of same executive.

Does he want us to start reeling out executive incompetence and mismanagement under the watchful and supportive
eyes of the NASS?

Sorry, I forgot, this is Nigeria and it’s a PDP party affair.

The Innoson story is a welcome relief from all the nauseating stories of corruption and ethnic bigotry barrage we daily have to contend with on this forum. The foresight and prowess of the founder of the organization should have attracted recognition beyond just a government meritorious award to a full professorship elevation in any of our science and technology universities as practised by the Germans.

Secondly, government needs to build a credible high-tech institution around Innoson’s operations where adequate research and documentations should commence in earnest to improve “know how” and train Nigerians (without disenfranchising the locals currently responsible for most of the production of the various parts being manufactured) in Innoson’s activities and beyond.
Innoson’s achievement apart from being a regional feat is a national achievement. The Ibos have always been known for their industrial ingenuity and one wonders why it has taken successive Nigerian governments eternity in recognising this and providing incentives and an enabling platform for further research in the various achievements the Ibos have recorded over the years in industrialisation.

Beyond the assembling and manufacturing of CKDs which Innoson is championing, there is a need to invest in the invention of our own steel moulders and to further encourage local innovators in designs and technology appropriate for our people, sub region and beyond. A genuine revival of our comatose steel industry will be very crucial in this regard.

The efforts of some government arms to mandate the purchase of Innoson’s product should not be viewed from the negative perspective in terms of quality and safety standards, if anything, the need for quality and safety standards should in fact spur government into looking at relevant agencies that can work with Innoson to deliver to internationally acceptable standards.

Encouraging and mandating the purchase of Innoson’s products should be a national agenda. Similarly, discouraging competitive products comparable to what Innoson is producing through a revolutionised import duty scheme will ensure that Innoson gets needed revenue to sustain and improve its operations.

In addition, government should be looking at synergising the interplay of technology by quickly promoting and harnessing skills and expertise from other innovators and sectors in the enlarged society to directly compliment the activities of Innoson such that investors, including the corporate sector can be encouraged to start looking at industrialisation as a profit making and exportable venture.

The Chinese are playing a critical role in the acquisition of the technology currently being adapted by Innoson, therefore, government should provide incentives to the Chinese and other foreigners desirous of transferring technology to our people i.e., tax breaks, free land, free accommodation, grants etc.

Industrial emancipation is a tool the western world is currently using to perpetually keep third world countries enslaved, whilst we must give kudos to the Chinese for working in partnership with Innoson, there should be a clear clarion call from government to Nigerian scientists and innovators all over the world irrespective of their ethnicity to come over to Nnewi to see the progress being made and to contribute their quota. However crude, the activities of Ibos at industrialisation can be percieved, the region should be granted a special industrialisation hub status with appropriate grants for continued research and development.

Government needs to create that enabling environment to attract relevant interests and recognising Innoson’s achievement through policy statements rather than meritorious statements will go a long way in opening the floodgates of renewed efforts at industrialisation.

May God continue to bless our fragile union Nigeria and somehow open the eyes of our self acclaimed leaders to what is right and good for the country.

A big heartfelt Kudos to Innocent Ckukwuma and all and sundry associated with the Innoson Group.

Priorities, priorities….…and Nigeria continues the match to oblivion.
Did anybody hear NASS talk about oversight functions on these contracts before they become albatross of corruption? Hell no, they will only start their show of shame when the principal officers are not able to deliver NASS’ share of egunje on these contracts.
By the way, government decided to buy an air ambulance after the aftermath of the recent floods?
Really? How will states like Kogi, Bayelsa, Delta etc had benefitted from the use of such an aircraft without any standard airstrip? Hmmm………what about the numerous aircrafts in the presidency’s fleet? What are they used for in times of national emergency? Guess the president will soon join the creed of Nigerians with private jets hence the need for an airstrip in Bayelsa.
Meaningless contracts upon meaningless contracts, and you wouldn’t hear the likes of Ngozi, Sanusi, etc talking about fiscal discipline at these bogus meaningless contracts.
Priorities, priorities…..and Nigeria continues the match to oblivion.

Maxymilliano: I quite agreed with some of your assertions but to the bolded, apart from the Lagos that contribute 65% of non-oil GDP and the South South region, with the exception of the North, what exactly does the remaining region contributes to the center?

Absolutely nothing and that precisely is why the likes of Mr Abdullahi from any parts of Nigeria should remain mute if they cannot steer discussions toward wealth creation for the country outside oil.

Even though Oil was discovered pre independence, the regions generated their respective incomes from their natural resources, kept 50% of their turnovers and contributed 50% to the centre.
After the civil war, Gowon abrogated the sharing formula and rather than a blanket contribution of resources to the centre, oil became Nigeria’s major means of income and 100% of the revenue was decreed to be paid to the centre to be shared based on the principle of derivation. Funny enough, our history clearly shows that Northern Nigeria has been drawing more funds from the national wealth based on fake population censors and glorified lopsided uneconomic local governments created.

Two questions Mr Abdullahi should answer are;

(a) Which part of Southern Nigeria apart from Lagos as Federal Capital was developed using the 50% contributed by all the regions to the centre?

(b) How much does Northern Nigeria currently contributes to the centre and on what resources, minerals and produce?

If he can’t answer these questions, then he should adopt the posture of a mule.

The position of the number one citizen in any country is delicate and should be unambiguous.
Whilst it is human to err, a president has to exercise caution and discretion in words and actions.
Some of you peeps can say, so what’s the big deal after all he corrected the misinformation.
The “Benghazigate” in America currently is not so much that American diplomats were killed in Libya, but the misinformation that came from the presidency’s source afterwards.
The question you guys should ask yourselves is “what about the damage already done?”
Can the president as the commander in chief of our armed forces ordered the army into war and then retracts to say he was misquoted? How many of you will say it doesn’t matter?
Our leaders are simply reckless, irresponsible and unaccountable to the people, period.

victorD3: Are we forgetting that Canada just deported 2 Nigerian students studying in Canada for working beyond the working hours earmarked for students. Well this happened despite plea from the federal government. In real countries deals are sometimes scraped if diplomatic talks and arrangements fail.

Stop tagging everything to corruption.

Very true, but the interests and welfare of a whole nation cannot hinge on the misdemeanour of two foreign students. There are other diplomatic avenues for retaliatory actions. This is corruption, in its lowest form, period.

Billyonaire: Lets keep conspiracy theory aside cos the dynamics of the world today has been speedily altered by internet and the awareness it brings. I did mention that OBJ did not follow due process in selecting that company and the contract sum is ridiculous. Yaradua hibernated that contract cos he did not want to hurt OBJ & Crew, but GEJ is risking all relationships with the old to set an unforgettable record. The voice of the opposition to this policy will be very loud, but facts always prevail. Lets do this right, let there be bidding, let us not let our old generation diehard milito-political cabals use their press to drum negative energies into your psyche. Let there be bidding, an open one, and let there be light. And again if PHCN is plunging us into darkness, do we enjoy the darkness ? We have to do all it takes for the bulbs to illuminate our ways, our minds and our thoughts.

Due process? When are we going to wake up from our slumber?
A transparent system is one that offers explanations to clear ambiguity and doubts. If the government does not operate by these tenets, then the termination of Manitoba’s contract is simply a fraud. How come government failed to specify unequivocally the areas of the due process that were breached? Are governments contracts no longer open to the people? If the government has the balls to come clean on this Manitoba issue, they should also provide answers on exactly what the conflict of interests are on Bart Nnaji’s resignation. Government should provide the facts and allow Nigerians to discern the truth.
Nigeria is obviously asphyxiated by a “very known cabal “that has over the years stripped us of our rights, stolen our wealth and kept us in eternal solitude by using our stolen wealth to criminally acquire our national assets.
The termination of Manitoba’s contract, a company with proven track records in electricity generation, transmission and distribution services is not only an insult on our collective intelligence but a clear manifestation of our rotten leadership.
On PHCN’s workers protest: should government be protecting a workforce (PHCN) that has perpetually kept us in darkness; a workforce that is clearly over bloated and inefficient just to provide jobs for Ngerians?
If our local electricity experts and professionals failed to solve the perennial outages we have been having since the extinction of ECN they should shamefully try other vocations.

The problems with Nigeria are best perceptible from the various comments here. Is Ohaneze a political party group? Tinubu does not represent the voice of the SW people because he is the leader of a political party. There are millions of westerners who have allegiance to other political parties and as such Tinubu’s position will at best be partisan and not all inclusive. That to me is the flaw with this thread.
Personally, I do not believe in the sincerity of the NASS to conduct a review of the constitution that will satisfy the aspiration of majority of Nigerians. It is very unlikely that the NASS will agree to the modification of the current system of government that will see them loose the perks they currently enjoy. This conjecture notwithstanding, do we really have bodies or groups with selfless interests that represent the voice of the majority of the people from each region in Nigeria?
Ohaneze as a regional group has made its position known on the review of the constitution. There are other Igbo interests canvassing for different positions. Unless there is a referendum at the regional levels that seeks to harmonize the desire and demands of the majority of the people in each region, Ohaneze’s position which ironically I agree with 75% of the way remains the voice of a group and not that of the people.
We have been told by the NASS that Memoranda will be collated from various interests and groups for harmonization. Whether Tinubu agrees with true federalism or not, the desires of the SW will be articulated by other groups and interests, so this thread is like putting the cart before the horse.

“He said as a member of the global community, the country was entitled to some concessionary windows, which were reserved for poor countries”.
This statement undoubtedly is my singular objection to the loan. Nigeria is seen in most parts of the world as one of the richest countries in Africa. Not with the huge salaries and allowances our law makers earn and the incredible percentage of our income that is devoted to unaccounted security votes can we qualify as a poor country.
Ngozi and her cohorts should stop fooling us if they cannot recommend and fight for fiscal discipline in government.

la furia:
he does bussiness with the government, thats where the idea of him being corrupt came from. oil or disel markerters collect subsidy money from the govt, the could inflate the quantity they claim to have imported. unlike adenuga or dangote who dont collect a dime from the govt for glo bussines or flour/cement business.

ol2012: While I'm not holding brief 4 Otedola on dis issue, its however important 2 let u know dat d diesel mkt has bin deregulated a long time ago. What govt presently subsidizes in PMS & kerosine import. I think d ?s Nigerians should ask Tambuwal's reps include 1.)Why was Zenon initially listed & then de listed by Farouk(reasons)? 2.)Why did Farouk deny collecting d bribe money initially, but later admit collecting & handing over same 2 Jagaba(who also denied receiving it from Farouk.) Lets not also 4get dat Farouk appeared b4 d reps ctee set up 2 investigate d matter BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. When Otedola was invited by d ctte, he insisted on AN OPEN HEARING, only 2 be insulted by d ctte chair. D ctte later agreed 2 Otedola's request after public outcry. I'm stil wondering why d ctte never invited Otedola again, since thier report(2 be considered nxt wk) is now ready.

Dangote and Adenuga are not clean of corruption. In fact, the rich in Nigeria have succeeded in hoodwinking impoverished Nigerians into believing that providing jobs using our stolen wealth makes you honourable. The biggest rape of our economy and advancement is the group of corporate Nigerians who apply for foreign exchange at government reduced rates under the guise of importation and ends up selling it locally at higher rates via the black market. Their activities have perpetually kept our currency exchange rate to major international currencies so high that the amount spent in buying a car in the early 80’s can hardly fuel a vehicle today. You guys should wake up.

This forum so far only confirms one thing; Africans are simply ignorant backward people.
Personally, I don’t agree with this opinion and I know there are a lot of people on this forum who disagree as well
Europeans don’t trust each other and are quick to take a bash at each other whenever it is convenient. This notwithstanding, they recognise the need to come together politically, economically and socially for the benefit and in the best interest of their people.
A strong politically and economically strong Ghana will be an immense benefit to West Africa and to a larger extent Africa just like a strong Nigeria or any of the remaining 51 African countries too.
How do we develop as Africans economically if we don’t share human, material and technological resources positively as a people?
So Ghana wants to deport illegal immigrants running businesses in the informal sector of their economy; that is simply just practical economics because people in the informal sector hardly pay income and business taxes talk less of illegal immigrants who are completely untraceable.
If our own leaders in Nigeria can’t see the logic and practicality of such thinking, why blame the Ghanaian policy makers for good thinking? Why should people who are not part of your budgetary and physical planning data and are not contributing to the growth of your economy formally be running your economy down just as we experience in our own land with our policy makers turning blind eyes?
No one country can lay claim to any major technological advancement in the world without the input of other countries, which is why the internet to me remain the most phenomenal technological tool of our generation. Let us embrace its usefulness and benefits positively.
Instead of dwelling on the negative, why don’t we start to learn from each other to make our continent greater?

Nigeria is simply one huge joke where politicians clown with public trust and the people are left applauding their own coveted destruction. In fact, it is simply mind boggling how crazily conspicuous our legislators showcase their bias and hatred for Mrs Otteh the DG of SEC.
Whilst I’m not holding brief for Mrs Otteh; is it not disturbing that our hard working, internationally recognised bureaucrats are ridiculed publicly under the guise of probity by accusers who are themselves known felons?
We all know that over valuation of shares was responsible for the near collapse of the capital market in 2009, and the main culprits are our banks. The question is, could SEC have saved the Capital Market if the Apex Bank and NDIC the regulator and monitor of bank’s solvency failed to carry out their functions?
The speed at which the Chairman of the committee called for Mrs Otteh’s head for her non appearance yesterday says it all. Why have they not issued a warrant of arrest for the CBN governor who failed to honour their invitation but sent a deputy governor to the hearing when the Apex Bank was in fact the main actor in the systemic theft of our investments?
To add salt to our injury, that obese kleptomaniac who claims to be a teacher at Harvard, the woman that stripped us of our National Assets in collaboration with OBJ when she was the DG of NSE, was now given a field day to gloat over our heads with impudence. A woman who sold off The Nicon Nuga Hilton to herself and OBJ under Transcorp, was elevated to the status of national lecturer to further debase our collective intelligence under the theatrical satire they call Capital Market Probe.
As if this was not dehumanising enough, she was even encouraged to offer the nation palliatives for saving the Capital Market. I found myself laughing in Chinese at this institutionalised Nollywood actress. It was not surprising that she was quick to mention privatisation as one of her palliatives.
Do these people really ever steal enough
If that is what she teaches at Harvard, then our children and grand children are doomed.

One thing is crystal clear; Nigeria as it is presently constituted is a failed state.
I heard the press statement by the AGF on Channels yesterday evening and quite sadly I realised this is the beginning of the end for the country.
There are two major issues here, the (probe) and (the report).
Unlike the report which was the private conclusion of the House Committee, the probe was televised publicly and we all heard and saw the endemic rots in the oil subsidy policy of government.
Maybe the AGF needs a rocket scientist to explain what transpired to him, I don’t think Nigerians are as foolish.
Whether individuals or organisations indicted in the reports are guilty or not, don’t we (the electorates) deserve an explanation and clarification from the Government we elected about abuse of legislated and constitutional processes and procedures from its appointed agents and agencies?
Now our legal minds on NL want us to see the judicial procedural lapses mentioned in the AGF’s statement, Haba!
Even cases that appeared not properly investigated are taken to court to establish if prima facie evidence exists to commence prosecution, this does not in any way impede the power of arrest.
Worse still, how do you investigate crime perpetrated when possible suspects are given free day to run and manipulate the crime scenes?
Is our depleted treasury not enough evidence to start inviting people for questioning?
Maybe at the end of the day, we do deserve the type of government we have, since some Nigerians see the rest of us as docile, gullible, educated illiterate people.
I wonder where the finger(s) is pointing.

GEJ apologists should applaud themselves. They have spoken the minds of Niger Deltans. Hooray!!!
To me, the worst form of slavery and self-colonisation is ignorance.
Prof Wole Soyinka took on OBJ and others before him on corruption without much result, yet he has remained steadfast in his call for a National Conference to change the same system you’re moaning about. If your argument about the lopsided nature of the polity is your reason for being against prosecuting fraudulent Nigerians, how much has the Prof benefited directly from oil subsidy? How much has majority of Deltans benefited from Ibori’s loot, or Bayelsans from Alams? How many Yorubas or Hausas massively benefitted from the past blatant criminally minded award of oil blocks?
Before you condemn us Niger Deltans to the dustbin of history, let us ask ourselves one question:
Can we change the system if our reactions to criminality, fraud and corruption are selective and ethnic based?
Personally, I do not believe in Bakare’s SNG impartiality as a professed politician himself, but in my opinion as a Deltan, I will support 100% any step or action embarked by anyone designed to stem the rot in our communities. When we begin the process, we can always sift the wheat from the chaff. The president’s constituency is Nigeria and not Niger Delta, if the Yorubas and Hausas before us could not do it, it doesn’t not mean we cannot.
Change has to start from somewhere; we should not miss this opportunity.

Wow!!!! A glimpse into some minds on Nairaland reveals so much diversity and ethnic bias
that one has to wonder why we try to glue ourselves together under the caricature of brotherhood.

Let me help the pro president’s peeps here and also try to disappoint the anti Jonathan pessimists.
First, corruption is corruption under whatever guise it manifests and no tribe in Nigeria is immuned from it.
The problems with Nigeria are Nigerians playing the country like a card game without rules and you will be
surprised at how versatile and knowledgeable Nigerians are when it comes to rules.

In Nigeria, aces don’t necessarily represent winning cards if the person holding the aces is not
part of the ruling clique made up of tribesmen and hawkish politicians.
Simply put, a person with a lost hand in a card game can be declared a winner in Nigeria if
the umpire is of common ethnic or political creed.
That is the Nigeria we have today where laws, rules, policies, decorum, you name it are discarded
with impunity in favour of political and ethnic favouritism and prejudice.

The big question is; can we really fight corruption as one indivisible people when we are already
divided? The answer is no, and there is no better place to get that answer than reading the posts
here on Nairaland. The diversity that is supposed to be our strength has now become a curse.

Let us look at Nigeria like a corporate public liability organisation, where we the people are
the Shareholders represented by the Judiciary and the Legislators are the Board of Directors (BoD)
and the Presidency including all its direct and indirect operating arms and agencies are the Management,
with the president as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

If a company fails, the general norm is that the CEO is usually the first casualty because he has
the responsibility of managing management. Therefore, activities inimical to the growth of the organisation
will not be tolerated by the CEO because he knows his head is on the line if the system fails, that is
why you have the BoD to keep him in check.

Just like government where the president is allowed to pick his management team i.e, Ministers,
Chairmen of parastatals, DGs etc, the CEO is also within permissible bounds allowed to pick his
management team. And just like corporate organisations where the heads of departments report to
the CEO, Ministers, Chairmen of parastatals DGs etc report to the president.
By extension, the civil service headed by the president’s appointed Ministers report to the president.

Why then is it that In Nigeria, the presidency is not accountable for the actions of its agents
as universally recognised and practised?

Recently, the president fired the IG for complicity on security grounds and this was widely lauded
but the same president under this current administration has not relieved any DG or Minister of their
position even with Nigerians inundated with daily escalating corruption and fraud cases.

Were these individuals not appointed by the president? OR is corruption related offences outside
the exclusive list of the president?

We can argue this back and forth but really, the best way to solve corruption in Nigeria is to always
pass the buck of inefficiency in the arms and agencies of government squarely back to the president’s table.
If our system of governance and shared responsibilities is designed to first indict the CEO,
Chairmen of Local Governments, Governors and the President when there are negatively consuming lapses
in administration and management that should have been nipped in the bud by relieving them of
their positions and thereafter go the whole hog in prosecuting the actual perpetrators,
then we will start to see a visible decline in corruption.
Until we adopt that policy, people will always fly the ethnic kite to promote corruption.
For example, if the president knows his job is on the line because of fraud perpetrated by a
ministry or parastatal under his watch, there will be no need for any ad hoc legislative committee
to carry out probes since the president would have fired the individuals responsible for fear of being
indicted himself and this will make the relevant agencies responsible for investigative duties bring
these people to book.

Not doing anything is an indirect admission that the president has his hands deep in some of the rots
and it is also the reason why no one has ever been convicted directly of fraud related offences.

Before I forget, let us look at the functions of the BoD under corporate organisation again and then
try to juxtapose it with legislative oversight functions. Apart from policy formulation, the BoD can
relieve the CEO of his position just like the national assembly is empowered to execute but unlike the
BoD the national assembly cannot carry out this function independently without the state legislators and
as it is always the case in Nigeria, there is the added hurdle of attaining two third majority in a vote
to impeach the president.

Why then can’t we have a law that makes it simpler with fewer bottlenecks to indict and remove the president
where there is a proven case of negligence and dereliction of duty?
If part of the functions of the National Assembly includes oversight function on the administrative functions of
the presidency, then a probe of any Ministry or Parastatal of government by law makers is without doubt an
indictment of the president’s inability to manage its arms and agencies well which is the same as the CEO being
relieved of his position by the BoD in a corporate environment.

If we agree that the judiciary is the voice of the people, the representative arm of the shareholders,
the interpreters of laws guiding the activities of the Presidency and legislators,
why then is our common wealth being pilfered blatantly with the judiciary incapable of steming the rot by
achieving one convincing conviction with appropriate punitive and discouraging judgement for future offenders?
Why is our children’s and grand children’s future being fragrantly mortgaged by all for a pot of porridge?
‘’Paddy paddy government’’ if you ask me.

Definitely, we need a radical law to address corruption in Nigeria. Laws that will be so simple and straight
forward that clowns who parade themselves as the representative and voice of the people will no longer be able
to manipulate our collective will to our disadvantage as a people.

Finally, if you are thinking once again about that ethnic and tribal dimension to this, please go get a life.
Yes, I am from the Niger Delta and there is nothing wrong in anyone calling the president names if they are not
happy about his performance. The position of president is not forced on anyone. People put themselves forward to
serve their country and they have to be accountable for their actions.
They can resign voluntarily like civilized politicians if the heat is too hot. To ask us to be praying when our
fellow Nigerians are being killed daily under the guise of marginalisation is criminal particularly if it has
to take the Presidency and CBN to play the roles of state governments in providing basic amenities.
Why are States Chief Executives not accountable for the appropriation of the monthly subventions they get from
the federation account? why did Ibori have such a field day in looting our treasury in Delta state and it has to
take the courts in England to convict him?

Personally, I believe President Jonathan can rewrite our history by confronting the so called cabal in our
political sphere and particularly in his own government headlong and also prove that he is not one of them.
The South South has a unique opportunity which might not present itself again for a very long, long, long time to come.

If Nigeria can be rebuilt, I am more than convinced that a minority president has a better chance of
pushing through radical changes in the system than our majority kins and it would not be a bad idea if the
current president takes up that challenge.

Let him make even a haphazard start in the war against corruption and let us see if he will not have our
absolute and collective support. Corruption has been institutionalised in Nigeria and we are all playing an
ethnicity card game where there are no pre defined rules.

It is high time we came together with one voice to condemn corruption in whatever form and guise.

God bless Nigeria!

@mapet: I don't quite see the direction the issues of her personal expenses have to do with the crash of the stock market. We have witnessed several probes already and there hasn't been one probe where the expenditure of the management team of any of the parastatals has been a front burner issue. Something doesn't add up with this capital market probe in my opinion...

I'm not surprised. In his submission to the house, he claimed it was actually Madam DG that oferred the house a bribe of N30 Million Naira. Hmmmmmm.....................Why was this not disclosed before or during the hearing before Madam DG made her allegations? Well, Nigerians can judge for themselves....

Is this probe in respect of the crash of the stock market or the excesses of the DG? How has the activity of the DG compromised investors' funds in the stock market? I am completely at a loss to the charade we have been subjected to these past two days. If indeed lawmakers are paid to sit to carry out probes of this nature, then we are in deep trouble. I was particularly irked about the Chairman asking for the adjournment of the hearing so they can go and eat the beautiful lunch that was prepared for them. That statement alone tells me a lot about what is the driving force behind the probe. What I have not seen, is how the allegations against the DG were meant to address the problems with our declining stock market. Whilst the DG may be guilty of certain procedural flaws, which obviously have negative costs implications, are we saying there are no government agencies the House of Representatives could have engaged to carry out in depth investigation to address the anomaly? Nigerian investors who have lost money investing in the stock market are waiting impatiently for revelations that will indict the person(s) or organisation(s) responsible for their losses. There was an interesting revelation about the termination of the investigation by the DG into the activities of five banks that was hushed up. This was one of the issues that should have been pursued and exhausted in the interest of investors and Nigerians. What we are seeing instead is just a bunch of public officers who are misappropriating our collective wealth further. What is even more disgraceful is the competency level and educational background of the various heads of departments in director’s cadre under the civil service as epitomised shamefully by the SEC team. There is no doubt that the professionalism and integrity of SEC management is questionable. I am sure this is prevalent in the civil service as a whole and needs to be tackled urgently. If the probe is not going to address the concerns of investors in the stock exchange which is on the decline right now, then we the tax payers should call for an immediate halt of the hearing and mandate the necessary government agencies vested with the appropriate means, instruments and tools to carry out proper investigation execute their functions. Since the beginning of the probe, the stock market has been on the decline. I wonder if the lawmakers are in any way disturbed about this development?

There is nothing to glee about when foreigners enrich themselves at our expense. When we come down hard on public officials who make it happen then we would have started the journey to self discovery and cleansing ourselves of the filth called corruption.  Food for thought!! How come the same law makers passed a bill some years back to ensure that politicians caught for embezzlement should be let off the hook as long as they refund the money? How come no one has ever asked Theophilus Danjuma to return the $500M profit he made from the sale of the illegal and unconstitutional oil block gift he received from Late Gen, Abacha?