₦airaland Forum

Brent crude prices hit their lowest in over 11 years on Monday, hounded by a relentless rise in global supply that looks set to outpace demand again next year.

Oil production is running close to record highs and, with more barrels poised to enter the market from the likes of Iran, the United States and Libya, the price of crude is set for its largest monthly percentage decline in seven years.

While consumers have enjoyed lower fuel prices, producers have cut spending and thousands of jobs and the world's richest exporters have been forced to revalue their currencies, sell off assets and even issue debt for the first time in years as they struggle to repair the holes in their finances.

OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, will stick with its year-old policy of compensating for lower prices with higher production, and shows no signs of wavering, even though every dollar lower in the oil price brings fresh pain to its poorer members.

Brent futures LCOc1 fell by about 2 percent to as low as $36.05 per barrel on Monday, their weakest since July 2004, and were down 41 cents at $36.47 at 1115 GMT.

Brent crude prices have dropped by nearly 19 percent this month, their steepest fall since the collapse of failed U.S. bank Lehman Brothers in October 2008.

U.S. crude futures CLc1 dropped 31 cents to $34.42 a barrel, their lowest since 2009.

"With OPEC not in any mood to cut production ... it does mean you are not going to get any rebalancing any time soon," Energy Aspects chief oil analyst Amrita Sen said.

"Having said that, long-term of course, the lower prices are today, the rebalancing will become even stronger and steeper, because of the capex cutbacks ... but you're not going to see that until end-2016."

Investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS.N) believes it could take a drop to as little as $20 a barrel for supply to adjust to demand.

The price of oil has halved over the past year, dealing a blow to economies of oil producers such as Nigeria, which faces its worst crisis in years, or Venezuela, which has been plunged into deep recession.

Even wealthy Gulf Arab states have been hit. Last week Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain raised interest rates as they scrambled to protect their currencies.

"Really, I wouldn’t like to be in the shoes of an oil exporter getting into 2016. It's not exactly looking as if there is light at the end of the tunnel any time soon," Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen said.

Reflecting the determination among the biggest producers to woo buyers at any cost, Russia now pumps oil at a post-Soviet high of over 10 million barrels per day (bpd), while OPEC output is close to record levels above 31.5 million bpd.


http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-global-oil-idUKKBN0U401220151221

It seems every aspect of our economic sector is riddled with massive corruption...

The fuel subsidy scam probably broke the ceiling in a room crammed with some of the worst corporate perfidy. Nothing could more sabotage the economic interest of a nation, many Nigerians thought.

But then came the rice import quota scheme, an unholy romance between politicians and businessmen, at the moment stretching corporate bad practices in Nigeria to an incredulous length.

About N117 Billion is there for the pick. A total of 26 companies are involved; two of which are owned by a former Attorney General of the Federation and a former civilian governor of Kebbi State respectively. Predictably, in the all-too-familiar Nigerian fashion, not all of the 26 companies selected for the scheme made the list on merit.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2014 disclosed that Nigeria spent an average of N800 Billion annually on the importation of rice. Unofficial import receipts through the Cotonou corridor was not captured in the CBN figure.

But the business of importing rice, a staple in Africa’s most popular nation, is so huge and attractive that four neighbouring countries of Benin, Togo, Cameroon and even landlocked Niger Republic have technically factored transhipment or smuggling of rice and allied commodities into Nigeria in their national economic plan.

A recent figure from the CBN indicated that Benin Republic imports almost as much rice as China and nearly as much frozen chicken as the UK. Most of the commodities are smuggled into Nigeria.

Disturbed by the nation’s huge import bill, the President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2014 came up with a new rice policy to fast-track national self-sufficiency in rice production.

The policy specified that owners of existing rice mills and new investors with verifiable backward integration in the rice value chain will be allowed to import rice at10 per cent duty and 20 per cent levy (30 per cent); while merchants who have nothing to contribute to local production in the form of rice farms or mills will be charged 10 per cent duty and 60 per cent levy (70 per cent). Technically, it was a subsidy aimed at building local capacity in rice production.

Subsequently, an inter-ministerial committee was set up to work out the national rice supply gap and allocate import licenses with appropriate quotas in order to bridge this gap, same time advancing the objectives of the national rice policy.

On paper, this committee was to determine beneficiaries and allocate quotas based on four key criteria that assess investment of individual companies into local rice production.

The criteria included a Domestic Rice Production Plan (DRPP) that demonstrate evidence of current or planned investment in domestic rice production over a three-year period. The DRPP was also expected to show the size of investment, proof of land acquisition and establishment of rice fields and paddy production.

The second criterion was called paddy purchase outlook from Paddy Aggregation Centres (PAC). This should demonstrate a clear plan of purchase of paddy from PACs, location of the PACs and volumes of paddy to be purchased.

The third criterion was paddy purchase outlook from outgrower farmers and farmer cooperatives. This should include location of farms, volumes of paddy to be purchased, etc.

The last criterion was proof of ownership of integrated rice milling facility with par boilers and dehuskers. This should include size of planned installed capacity and evidence of acquisition of integrated rice milling equipment.

Sources within the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment told this reporter that the then Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, by-passed the inter-ministerial committee in the selection of beneficiaries and commensurate import quota. Mr. Akinwunmi, now President of the African Development Bank (ADB), was Chairman of the inter-ministerial committee and took key decisions as the arrowhead of President Jonathan’s much-vaunted Agriculture Transformation Agenda.

Mr. Akinwunmi was easily outwitted by merchants and politicians who did not want a change in status quo, and were known to have resisted such in the past, industry insiders said.

Although the turf is different, the strategy is the same. The same way Nigeria’s oil refineries were put in comatose to pave way for massive and lucrative import of refined petroleum products, the same way entrenched interests known in the industry as Rice Mafia, are sabotaging local rice production to sustain the rice import business.

In the final analysis, the rice policy was scuttled to serve everything but national interest. Companies who have no investment in the rice value chain were granted quota. These companies in turn sold the quota to other importers who already had vessels on the sea.

The sellers of quota made huge profits without any investments in Nigeria’s local rice production and indeed did so without taking risk or lifting a finger.

The same sellers have been working hard to get more quotas in the bid to get more money from the scheme without any investments, thus holding the domestic rice policy to ransom.

Investigations by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that the 26 companies that benefitted from the rice import quota scheme included Milan, Bua, AA Ibrahim, Stine Rice Mills, JMK Foods, Labana Rice Mill, Elephant Group, Honeywell, Kerksuk Farms, Wacot, Mikap Rice, Golden Penny, Stallion, Umza International Farms Limited, Dangote and Olam. Others were Tara Agro, Ebony Agro, Atari Rice Industry, Ashi Foods, JAI, Arewa Rice Mill, Onyx Rice Mill, Bansara Rice, Danmodi and Klysat.

Investigations revealed that Mikap Rice is owned by a former Attorney General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa, while Ebony Agro is owned by Charles Ugwu, a former minister of commerce and industry.

Ashi Foods is owned by the immediate past governor of Benue State Gabriel Suswam. Milan Group is a business interest that also owns Intercontinental Hotels while Bua is owned by billionaire Ishaku Rabiu. Honeywell is owned by Oba Otudeko while Elephant Group is owned by Tunji Owoye. Labana Rice is owned by former Kebi State governor Adamu Aliero while Keresuk is owned by one Rotimi Williams.

Investigations revealed that for instance, Umza Internationa Farms Limited has a rice mill in Kano with a capacity of 30,000 MT. Beyond this mill, Umza has no other investment in local rice production. However, the company was given import allocations in two categories: 36,000 MT under existing miller allocation and also got 49,207 MT under investor allocation.

Dangote and Golden Penny have no existing mills but got 115.204 MT and 91,887 MT respectively. Stallion got a total allocation of 89,989 MT; that was 59,989 MT under investor allocation and 30,000 MT under existing miller allocation. It has two mills – one in Kano and another in Markurdi.

Investigations further revealed that Mikap Rice, owned by Michael Aondoakaa, has a very small scale mill of between 15,000 to 20,000 MT. The mill itself is government-funded. Mr. Aondoakaa got 82,897 MT of import quota.

Wacot is in seeds business only while Labana has two mills in Kebbi State. Many of the beneficiaries were found to have no investment in the rice value chain. They include Wacot, Honeywell, Elephant Group, AA Ibrahim, Milan, among others. Kersuk Farms has no mill. Stine Rice has a mill but it is not in working condition. Bua has only brown rice mill. It does not have parboiling capacity; the mill is defunct. However Bua received a total import allocation of 109,448 MT.

Ebony Agro owned by Charles Ugwu made wrong investment decision. It built rice mill in a place where there is no paddy. The same wrong investment decision of building a mill where there is no paddy was also made by Tara Agro. Many of the quota beneficiaries sold their allocations to importers. Mikap sold its quota to Elephant Group. Stine Rice sold its quota to a company called PJS. Elephant Group in May 2015 also received through the Jama’tul Nasril Islam (JNI) waiver to import 100,000 MT of rice. The religious organisation had applied for and was granted waiver by President Goodluck Jonathan to import the said metric tonnes of rice and 25,000 metric tonnes of cooking oil described in a letter from the Budget Office of the Federation as ‘donated foodstuff’.

One smoking gun on sale of import quota is found with Umza International Farm Ltd. Shipping documents obtained by this newspaper showed that shortly after the release of quota allocations and Umza was named one of the beneficiaries, a letter dated December 20, 2014 instructed Marietta Bolten (owners of a ship MV Marietta) to divert a cargo of rice originally meant for delivery at Cotonou Port to Lagos Port. The cargo in question was a 15,500 MT Thai Parboiled Rice 100PCT Sortexed of Thailand Origin. The letter reads in part: “The above cargo was shipped on the above vessel … for delivery at the port of Cotonou – Benin but we, Navision Shipping A/S, hereby request you to order the vessel to proceed to and deliver the said cargo at Port Lagos – Nigeria to Pearl Universal Impex Ltd, 7A Asa Afariogun Street, Off Osolo Way, Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos, Nigeria.

The same Navision Shipping on the same day gave two more instructions to Marietta ordering it to divert another cargo of 3900.650 MT Thai Parboiled rice to Port Harcourt for Pearl Universal Impex. This second cargo, originally meant for Cotonou Port was originally consigned to STE Premiere Sarl, Niamey, Niger Republic. The third cargo, 18,500MT Thai Parboiled rice, originally destined for Cotonou Port was diverted on instruction to Port Harcourt.

A visit to Pearl Universal Impex in Ajao Estate, Lagos, showed that the company is no more at No, 7A Asa Afariogun Street, the land address used for the shipping transaction. There was no forwarding address. Pearl Universal Impex is a major rice importer owned by a group of foreign businessmen that include the Chairman Pulkit Jain, Nimit Jain, Pranshu Goel and Ramanathan Srinivasan. Pulkit Jain was quoted in a recent media report that his company “has been a major importer of rice in the country with imports of 350,000 metric tonnes of rice annually in the past”

Given that Nigeria is the only country that consumes parboiled rice, any cargo of parboiled rice going to Cotonou is in the first place is meant to come into Nigeria through land borders.

All the cargoes diverted belonged to Umza International Farm Ltd, one of the companies that benefitted from government subsidy.

Shipping documents show that diverted rice cargoes with the following bill of lading: MRT1409-01(10,000 MT), MRT1409-03(1,000 MT), MRT1409-04(1,000 MT), MRT1409-05(1,000 MT), MRT1409-09(1494.650 MT) and MRT1409-20(806.000MT) were consigned to Umza International Farm.

Yet another document showed that Umza International Farm Ltd has been importing rice from Thailand purportedly to be transhipped to Niger Republic. In October 2014 Umza, using the same ship MV Marietta imported 1,000 MT of Golden Standard brand of parboiled rice to Cotonou for ‘transit to Niger’. The Umza cargo has bill of lading MRT1409-03.

The same 1000 MT of same bill of lading MRT1409-03 is named in the instruction letter to the ship owners Marietta Bolten on 20th December 2014 to be diverted to Port Harcourt shortly after Umza was named as a beneficiary of Federal Government rice import quota. So also was another cargo of bill of lading MRT1409-04 with Niger Republic as its original destination.

Industry stakeholders are confused as to how consignments of parboiled rice are transhipped to a country that does not consume parboiled rice. Maritime experts say this is another red flag of irregularities and sabotage of the rice value chain adding that parboiled rice is not the only item ‘officially smuggled into Nigeria’ in the guise the goods were meant for Niger Republic.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/195509-investigation-inside-the-massive-fraud-in-nigerias-n117billion-rice-import-quota-scheme.html

As son of Dr Raymond Dokpesi got married in Abuja on Saturday, political allies of the embattled Chairman of the Africa Independent Television (AIT) were found wanting in attendance. The wedding of Williams Dokpesi to his heartthrob, Diane at Emerald Park and Recreation, Area 3, Abuja, which would have would have been a jamboree of some sort were the AIT Chairman not to have found himself in troubled waters, turned out to be scanty and was attended by few friends and family members. Neither the church service nor the wedding reception was attended by any of his political friends or popular faces in the Nigerian polity. Photos from the event showed that the wedding fell short of expectations, as the venues were deserted. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a popular figure in the national polity, said the troubled Daar Communications owner got shunned because of his ongoing battle with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to him, the wedding would have become the talk of town but for the recent scandal which none of his politician friends want to get associated with. “It’s a pity that all his politician friends have left him at the most trying times. Nobody wants to associate with him because of his EFCC trouble. We all know that anyone who attends or appears in the photos, might be picked up on by EFCC as an accomplice in the ongoing probe. It’s better to be safe,” he said. The EFCC arrested Chief Dokpesi in connection with money disbursed from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. Dokpesi was later docked before the Federal High Court in Abuja where he is answering to a 6-count criminal charge that was preferred against him by EFCC.
He was arraigned before trial Justice Gabriel Kolawole along with his firm, Daar Investment and Holdings Ltd. The anti-graft agency alleged that he received about N2.1billion from the office of the National Security Adviser between October 2014 and March 19, 2015, specifically for PDP’s presidential media campaign. The prosecution maintained that the transaction was in breach of provisions of the Public Procurement Act, Money laundering Act and the EFCC Act. Meanwhile, Dokpesi pleaded not guilty to the entire 6-count charge. Justice Kolawole has however fixed February 17, 18 and March 2 and 3, to commence full-blown hearing on the case.


http://dailytimes.com.ng/political-associates-friends-shun-dokpesis-sons-wedding/

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the next restructuring phase of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the corporation’s group managing director, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, disclosed on Thursday.

Kachikwu said at a town hall meeting with journalists and civil society organisations in Abuja that the next phase of the restructuring, as approved by the president, would see the state oil company broken into four different autonomous profit-oriented companies.

According to him, the four firms to emerge from the exercise are the upstream company, the downstream company, midstream company, and the refining group holding company.

All of them would operate independently with quasi-managing directors and remit profits and taxes to the coffers of the government.
Kachikwu said: “Right now I have just received the president’s approval to embark on the final phase of the restructuring we are doing.

“That restructuring effort will unbundle this company into four key components: the upstream company, the downstream company, midstream company which is the gas and power company and then of course, the refining group holding company.”
He further explained that the effect of the restructuring would enable NNPC to focus on individuals who will lead as quasi-managing directors to run the entities with the aim of delivering profits for the organisation.

He explained, however, that there would still be other managing directors at the corporate level.
“A lot of the non-performing but asset-based subsidiaries that we have, we will put them into a venture company where we will begin to help manage them to profitability and hopefully either spin them off ultimately or make them so profitable that we may decide to keep them.

“This is the sort of financial model that we are going to be dealing with over the next few months and trying to set up a performance index that is comparable with the very best in the world,” he explained.

The minister also spoke on some of the activities that he would focus on in 2016. According to him, cutting production cost; growing crude oil production to 2.4 million barrels per day (mbpd); cutting government’s subsidy on domestic supply of petrol through market-based methods; helping the country exit the onerous cash call regime in joint venture operations; reducing the industry’s contracting cycle to six months; and reengineering a profitable operational model for the country’s four refineries, would be his focus in the coming year.

He said: “For upstream, some key essentials: average production for this year was about 2.1 million barrels per day, but we think we ought to be able to move forward a little bit to about 2.4 million barrels per day in 2016.

“To do that, there are key things that need to be looked at. Oil majors have major issues in terms of funding; there are lots of cash call arrears which we need to look at. So a lot of financial engineering will be needed to enable us support that industry.

“Finance is key, cost is key. In an era of declining price of oil, it is going to be very essential that we are able to produce the most competitive oil in the market and that is the OPEC philosophy, we must be the least cost producers and so our energy is going to focus on working with NAPIMS and every other directorate here to bring down substantially the cost per barrel of oil in this country.

“Other than the cost element, obviously, is speed. One of the greatest problems we have in the upstream is the turnaround time for the approval of projects and on the average it is two-and-a- half years. We are committed to taking that to six months.”
In the downstream segement, he said: “Downstream problems obviously have been the systematic degradation of our ability to deliver services on time.

“That comes to the issue of pipeline ruptures; the issue of the inability of our refineries to perform; and not just being able to manage the entire infrastructure we have to be able to deliver services.

“We need to focus quite frankly on reengineering through investments in some of these facilities and some of the things we are looking at in 2016 would be joint ventures with technical partners to come and help us run some of these plants.”

While acknowledging that financing would be key to all his plans, Kachikwu said: “New models of financing will have to emerge. The country does not have the sort of resources to continue to finance the industry and as we go upstream, we will see a lot of innovative financing mechanisms to provide funding for the industry and I hope that by the end of 2016, we will completely exit the cash calls and be able to find our funds one way or the other to support our businesses.”

He said on the refineries and government’s plan to end the subsidy on petrol: “We have four refineries, none is in the best state but we can get them back because refineries never die as long as you do what you need to do.

“Ultimately, technical support, technical services, technical joint venturing will be models we are going to be looking at for the refineries. The whole idea is find the funds, find the right skills that you need and try and deliver above 90 per cent for the refineries.”
He also dispelled the misconception that the federal government has concluded plans to increase the pump price of fuel from N87 to N97 a litre from January 2016.

Kachikwu noted that the discourse has long left the realm of subsidy removal to a more scientific price modulation approach which entails an elastic price mechanism regime to be reviewed periodically to reflect the prevailing international price of crude oil.
He explained that when operational, the novel price modulation system would place a N97 per litre cap on the price of fuel to ensure that Nigerians are insulated from the vagaries of the global crude price.

“I did not say that refined petroleum products will sell for N97 per litre next year. I said that between a band of N87 and N97 we are going to be looking at prices and today the prices are largely close to N87, So there is no need to change the price,” he said.

The minister noted that to determine the price of petroleum products in future, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) would undertake quarterly reviews of the crude market situation.

“I have not put a static figure. PPPRA will have to do the calculation to be able to announce at what price petrol will sell in January; but we do not anticipate any major shift because of the price of crude today.

“I think what you will find next year on pricing of petrol is a bit more flexible management of the pricing system so that we are as close to what the prices are today and reflective of what the price for crude is, but in a way to create an incentive for marketers to feel free to get out.

“What we hope to do, is to reduce the level of federal government’s subsidy, if any, to the industry so that the industry can grow on its own strengths and we can do that without the mechanism of saying that subsidy is being removed but have a benchmark approach to setting pricing.

“We are going to see a lot more of the quarterly-type analyses of what prices will be in the downstream industry relative to prices of crude oil,” he added.

NNPC also announced that it had appointed 21 firms to lift Nigeria’s crude under new one-year term contracts.
A statement by its spokesman, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, said: “The exercise witnessed the unprecedented public harvesting of 278 bids submitted by indigenous and foreign firms seeking to secure contracts for the sale and purchase of the 26 Nigerian crude oil grades on offer.

“A breakdown of the 2015/2016 crude oil term contract off-takers for the 991,661bpd Nigerian equity crude indicate that 240,000 bpd representing 24 per cent of the total volume on offer is awarded to four refiners classified as major current receivers of Nigerian crude with capacity to process all of Nigerian crude grades.

“The off-takers in this category include: Emirates National Oil Coy (ENOC) Indian Oil Corporation, CEPSA Refinery Madrid and Sara SPA Refinery. Each of the off-takers in this category was awarded 60,000 bpd.”

He added that three notable international trading companies, namely Trafigura PT Ltd, Mercuria Energy Trading SA and Vitol SA, won the bids to lift 32,000bpd of crude oil based on their pedigree as large-scale buyers of Nigerian crude with structure for short-term freight intervention and storage.

The off-takers in this category represent about 10 per cent of total crude volume on offer, Alegbe said.
Also, trading affiliates of international oil companies consisting of ENI Trading and Shipping SPA, TOTSA Total Oil Trading SA, Exxon Sale and Supply LLC and Shell Western Supply and Trading received term allocations of 32,000bpd each, representing about 13 per cent of total volume of crude oil on offer.

Nigerian downstream players with wide experience in crude trading and large asset bases accounted for 405,000bpd, representing about 41 per cent of total crude volume on offer.

In this category, Emo Oil & Petrochemical Coy/China Zhenhea – an NNPC long-term trader was allocated 45,000bpd. Other off-takers in this category included Forte Oil, 45,000bpd Northwest Petroleum and Gas Ltd, 45,000bpd, Oando Plc, 60,000bpd, Sahara Energy Resource Ltd, 60,000bpd, A.A. Rano Nig. Ltd, 45,000bpd, Eterna Oil, 45,000bpd and MRS Oil &Gas Coy Ltd 60,000bpd.
NNPC trading companies – Calson/Hyson with 32,000bpd and Duke Oil Incorporated, which got 90,000bpd – account for about 12 per cent of total volume on offer.

“Apart from ensuring transparency, the companies were carefully chosen based on their track records and trading experience to ensure that Nigerian crude cargoes are not left unsold,” Alegbe added.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/buhari-approves-nnpc-s-unbundling-into-four-autonomous-units/228279/

Good development

A man who accused Danladi Yakubu Umar, the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), of demanding a N10 million bribe declined to show up at a public hearing held yesterday by the House of Representatives Committee on public petitions at the National Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

The petitioner, Ikenna Ekezie, and his lawyer, Osuagwu Ugochukwu, were conspicuously absent at the venue of the hearing, even though they had been fully notified by the committee. Meanwhile the CCT chairman, Mr. Umar, arrived at the public hearing with large number of lawyers and documents meant to refute the bribe allegation. But the committee prevented the CCT chairman from making any presentation because of the petitioner’s absence.

The chairman of the public petitions committee, Nkem Uzoma Abonta, adjourned its sitting to December 9 and 10 to enable the petitioner to appear. He stated that the spirit of fairness dictated that the petitioner be present to either defend or substantiate evidence. .

A group known as Anti-Corruption Network had written a petition against the CCT chairman alleging Mr. Umar of receiving N10 million bribe and misappropriating N522.6 million allocated to the tribunal in the 2013 budget.

Mr. Umar is currently presiding over the Code of Conduct Tribunal that is trying Senate President, Bukola Saraki, over alleged false declaration of assets.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/12/04/petitioner-n10m-bribe-allegation-against-code-conduct-chairman-fails-show-hearing

N4.6bn for 'spiritual purposes' - well no wonder GEJ was busy giving money to pastors, imams, traditional rulers & even the various groups like OPC etc...

N2.1bn for Dokpesi for election campaign.

Now we know the identify of some of the goats who are yam eaters!!!

But how can N2.1 bn be given for electoral purposes?

If true this is serious, the Office of the National Security Adviser has been turned by the last government to an ATM for election cash disbursement.

No wonder the security of the country was in jeopardy, Mallam Dasuki and others have so many questions to answer.

Yet with the 'supposed' amount received by Dr Dokpesi, the staff of AIT are still be owed many months salary.

The question folks should be asking is that, is the Office of the National Security Adviser mandated to deal in the negotiating & procurement of military hardwares in Nigeria? If so, then Mallam Dasuki is doing his job in line with the NSA mandate with the huge budgetary allocation for getting the Nigerian Armed Forces the necessary hardwares.

On the other hand, if his mandate does not include the NSA in dealing in military hardwares, then Mallam Dasuki has serious questions to answer.

I think that mandate is that of the Ministry of Defence.

I think Dr Saraki should have keep quiet in relation to the latest news by SR, he just played into SaharaReporters hand by issuing a press release. I'm certain SR have got lots of incriminating documents about Dr Saraki which they will release in bits just to prolong his fate.

With all the high profile arrests, many heads will roll with more people to be implicated soon.

Just the arresting of those high-profile individuals is a good thing - it shows nobody is above the law.

If the arms-for-cash scandal can be successful prosecuted in the law courts without any prejudice, then everybody will sit tight and understand that 'stealing is corruption'.

The arms-for-cash scandal episode gets more interesting!!!

A minimum sentence of 15years in jail with hard labour if Dasuki & others are found to be guilty of this alleged corruption.

Election rigging has been an accepted practice in the voting process in Nigeria and does not change the status of the winner unless they can be seen as proven guilty in courts of law. Usually, a lengthy process that allows the rigger to legitimize the vote result as long as they hold the office.

Many of the tools of rigging are easily used by groups in power during the election period to influence vote outcome. Of course, rigging can be used by groups out of power too. But the opportunities and resources to rig or manipulate are much greater for those in power which can control paramilitary, military, legal, and bureaucratic resources including the infrastructure of election process itself. It's been proven that using as many techniques as possible increases chances of a successful rigging of a vote and even manipulating election results.

The tilting of the electoral playing field in Ekiti State that brought Mr. Ayodele Fayose, the ex-danfo driver, the star of Ekitigate, and the lunatic Governor of Ekiti State to power was the result of a sophisticated election rigging coordinated by President Goodluck Jonathan and other big wigs of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).

While Ekiti State was getting ready for the elections, Fayose and his PDP gang were setting the stage for the chaos that has consumed Ekiti State. Fayose and his cohorts in a windowless office worked their mischief. Those present in the room were: Governor Ayo Fayose, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Minister of Police Affairs Jelili Adesiyan, Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, ex-Minister of State for Defense, Captain Sagir Koli, and Honorable AbdulKareem, National Assembly.

During the meting, strategies and plans were tactically mapped out. Voters would be intimidated. Electoral fraud would be perfected. Here is the detailed rigging plan as reported by Premium Times:

(1) The use of the Nigerian military by the PDP to assist in electoral manipulation. (2) The creation of a list of APC members to arrest. (3) The use of stickers to be used to identify persons not to be harassed and detained by the army. (4) Deployment of “Special Team” including a “Special Force.” (5) The Minister of State for Defense bribing military personnel with the offer of promotion if he carries out the “strategy.” (6) A gubernatorial candidate admitting to electoral fraud by copying material provided by the INEC. (7) The reprimanding of military personnel for mistakenly detaining PDP members engaged in electoral fraud. ( The minister explicitly states he was instructed by the President of the Federal republic of Nigeria to execute this plan. (9) The candidate Fayose explicitly state he was given assurances by the Chief of Army Staff to execute this plan.

The excited and intoxicated PDP hatchet men made no effort to conceal their machinations. The indisputable evidence – the Ekitigate video – is a testament to the saying that “what people uncover, God will cover, what people cover, God will uncover.” Hear Fayose as recorded in the video by Koli in the electoral fraud war room: “We agreed in Abuja on the modalities to work, we agreed on a sticker, that any vehicle you see that sticker, you allow the sticker. That sticker is on those vehicles, his own was sent to him, mine was sent to me to give to them. There is no vehicle that left this place without that sticker.”

“Today, they went to “efon” they carry all the …,” continues Fayose, “When we are supposing to be collating the thing INEC gave to us, soft copies we now printed and everything, because they see INEC thing on top of it...” “Chief of Army Staff called me,” Fayose continues, “he told me, you are in safe hands, he (Gen. Momoh) would perform and if you have any issues, call me. He told me that I have made it clear to him that I am Jonathan for this election. We have to call the president and let him know. This people are doing somethings they would not even serve police that wants to help us, we can't continue like this. (general cuts in “are you working with a different police?”).

Fayose has waged an unrelenting campaign to exploit every weakness and anachronism in our judicial system. In his attempt to escape being impeached, Fayose assembled Okada (bike) riders and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to cause mayhem and pandemonium in the state. He embarked on barricading roads leading to the state capital, Ado-Ekiti with buses, logs of woods, and bonfires. He chased out the 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) legislators out of state and locked the State House of Assembly thereby precluded the APC legislators from doing their job. Fayose slapped Justice John Adeyeye of High Court 3 in Ado-Ekiti, and ordered his thugs to beat the judge up. Twenty thugs pounced on Justice Adeyeye, beat him up and tore his clothes.

The PDP led by Mr. Jonathan used powers and resources of the presidency to inject rigging and instill fear in Ekiti people and through the ranks of Ekiti State bureaucracy. With soldiers and police in place, and their coffers filling up, the PDP systematically disenfranchised Ekiti voters.

APC members were subject to intimidation, arrest, and other forms of persecution throughout the election process in the state. APC offices were raided. Many prominent APC party leaders, civil society leaders and human rights defenders were arrested on spurious charges.

The Ekitigate video has added irrefutable, hard evidence of fraud. In addition, through voter suppression and legislative tricks, PDP and Fayose managed to rig the Ekiti State elections.

Fayose, a politician with almost zero national profile has now declared himself unofficial spokesman of the PDP. Stinging from the loss of the Presidency, Fayose is more than eager to lead the PDP scalawags into a new confrontation with President Muhammadu Buhari. Fayose has drawn a dangerous lesson from the previous Ekitigate: Brinkmanship works.

Of all the PDP disabled remnants, Fayose is the most sadistic, confrontational, antagonistic, and hell-bent on attacking the person and administration of President Buhari with senseless and baseless false accusations. Fayose's strategy is clear: he's using psychological war fare to intimidate and preempt Buhari's administration from legally pursuing him for his star role in Ekitigate. But, it won't fly.

His madness has also ratcheted up the danger of catastrophic vomit from his diarrhea mouth. “President Buhari seized late Chief Obafemi Awolowo's international passport,” claims Fayose, “and prevented him from traveling abroad for medicare in 1985, thereby leading to his (Awolowo) untimely death in 1987.”

More than a year ago after he stole his reelection after being impeached, it is safe to say that Fayose has gotten away with the crime. Fayose got to power and remained in power by pursuing a campaign of violence and vengeance against his political opponents.

A tiny yeast affects an entire loaf of bread. In the same way, a little sin can spread and ruin a person. Fayose, little by little is being destroyed by his stubborn pride. The life of Fayose illustrates the ancient truth in the Book of Proverbs: “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.” Fayose celebrates frolics and nonsensical babbling. His foolishness and heretical behavior makes people laugh.

Fayose is a riddle wrapped up in mystery inside an enigma. It has well been said that “the greatest ability is dependability.” Fayose is unpredictable and undependable because he's double-minded, and a “double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

Fayose looks bold in physique but weak in morals. Empowered by his position, but yields his body to the appetites of the flesh. He claimed he was called to serve Ekiti people, but turned number one enemy of his own people. He fights the people everyday. He offers scavenger animals as dinner for Ekiti people, and his leprous attitude is a blemish on the state known as the land of honor and the fountain of knowledge. He disobeys the laws of the state and of the land with impunity. He disobeys the moral tenets and thrives in filthy lies. He ends up in darkness blinded by pride, greed, and hypocrisy.

He has lost control of his tongue. He constructed lies and riddles out of the experience of his sins. He doesn't take seriously the fact that he has violated the cardinal laws of nature. It's bad enough to disobey the natural laws, but when he makes a joke out of it, he sinks to new depths of spiritual madness.

It is reassuring that President Buhari has set up a military inquiry into the Ekitigate election scam. The inquiry will be incomplete without the prosecution of the civilians involved viz: Fayose, Obanikoro, Omisore, and. Adesiyan. They must all be brought to justice without further delay.

Laws and restrictions bring out the absolute worst in people. Rules are meant to be obeyed. Fayose broke all the rules and all the protocols. His thuggery and hooliganism know no bounds. He's rough, uncouth, uncivilized, barbaric, indecent, uncultured, loquacious, morally filthy, unrepentant, and inhuman. It's time for Fayose to offer Guilt offering. Guilt offering is required for sins for which restitution of some kind needed to be made. Fayose must stand trial.

For now, Fayose is holding back the tide. But sooner than later, he's going to get swamped.

bjoluwasanmi@gmail.com

http://saharareporters.com/2015/11/30/time-ex-danfo-driver-ekitigate-star-and-lunatic-governor-ayodele-fayose-stand-trial-bayo

All hail the court jester!!!

Yoruba heritage - savings lives since 1400s

Laws should be enforced that children below certain age should & must be in school.

Maybe it's time to also enforce one-child policy in every family, to curtail people from giving birth to many children they can't afford to look after.

Now the Police Force cannot complain that they didn't have patrol vehicles to do their jobs.

El-eufai seems to be the only active governor in the federation!

The fine on MTN group has risen by $622,000 as a commercial court in Uganda ruled that the telecommunications firm pay for sabotaging EzeeMoney Limited.

According to an Ugandan newspaper, Daily Monitor, Henry Adonyo, the presiding judge ordered MTN Uganda to pay Shs800m ($239,520) in general damages for loss of business and Shs1.5b ($449,100) to EzeeMoney as punitive damages, saying it would deter uncompetitive business tactics.

In October, MTN was fined $5.2bn (N1.04tr) by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), for its refusal to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered subscribers.

As MTN seeks to review its fine in Nigeria, it has also appealed the $622,000 imposed on it by the Ugandan court.

“Take notice that the defendant being dissatisfied with the decision of the Commercial Court, intends to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the whole decision,” MTN said in a filed appeal notice.

“MTN respects the decision of the court but fundamentally disagrees with it. MTN is aggrieved by the judgement primarily because EzeeMoney is not a licensed communications provider.

“MTN cannot be in breach of the law that prohibits anti-competitive conduct with regard to licensed communications service providers when EzeeMoney is not licensed and does not provide communications”.

MTN further said EzeeMoney was no threat to its business in Uganda, saying it cannotbe hostile to the plaintiff.

“It is wrong and inaccurate for EzeeMoney to state that MTN perceived EzeeMoney’s innovative offerings as a threat when all MTN did was to require EzeeMoney to engage MTN directly and to require EzeeMoney to use the prepaid services.

“MTN’s position is that these can never be hostile and underhanded actions or abuse and predatory anti-competitive behaviour as alleged.”

The telco has a presence in over 20 countries in Africa, with Nigeria being regarded as its cash cow.


https://www.thecable.ng/ugandan-court-slams-622000-fine-mtn

A mild drama occurred on Wednesday at Wuse zone 2 magistrates’ court, as two lawyers, Gabriel Egbule and Vincent Obetta, battled each other to determine who would represent Nnamdi Kanu, director of Radio Biafra.
Kanu is standing trial on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, intimidation and belonging to unlawful society, which he pleaded not guilty to.
At the resumed hearing of the case, Egbule, who represented the accused when he was arraigned, announced appearance for Kanu.
But Obetta, an Enugu-based legal practitioner, also announced appearance on behalf of the accused.
The double appearance resulted in serious argument.
Egbule tendered a letter from Kanu’s wife to represent him in court, but Obetta told the court that he received a consent letter from kanu’s father and the indigenous people of Biafra to represent Kanu.
Obetta also said that it was as a result of his inability to appear at the arraignment that Egbule was briefed to appear in the matter.
Prosecution counsel, Moses Idakwo, informed the court that the accused was not in court.
Idakwo said their inability to bring the accused was as a result of the application challenging the jurisdiction of the court to try the matter.
In his ruling, Shuaibu Ahmed, the chief magistrate, said that in a criminal trial, it was binding on the prosecution to bring the accused to court as required by law.
Ahmed adjourned the case till November 23 to enable prosecution produce the accused and for Kanu to choose his legal representative among the battling lawyers.
Follow us on twitter @thecableng

https://www.thecable.ng/nnamdi-kanu-one-accused-2-defence-counsels

Boko haram doing all it can to be in the news.
So sad that this sect is still causing huge carnage everytime.

http://punchng.com/fielding-jonathan-a-mistake-pdp/

By: Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party has asked Nigerians to forgive the party for its inability to meet their yearnings in the past 16 years.
The party said it was aware that Nigerians were angry with it because of some actions it took in the past 16 years when it was in power.
It said the party was ready to mend fences and this was why it was organising a national conference where all issues affecting the former ruling party would be discussed.
Chairman, National Planning Committee of the conference, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, said this at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday.
Dokpesi, a chieftain of the party from Edo State, was flanked at the briefing by members of the planning committee for the conference.
The defeat of the party in the last general election came to its leaders as a surprise.
Apart from losing the presidency to the All Progressives Congress, the PDP also lost in some states where it was hitherto popular.
Dokpesi attributed the defeat to many errors committed by the party and its leadership, but asked Nigerians to forgive and forget.
He said, “We are aware that there were errors we made. We admit that we made mistakes and we have not met the expectation of Nigerians and we tender unreserved apologies for these mistakes.
“You must have seen the Ike Ekweremadu report on why we are apologising. There was no internal democracy, there was impunity within the party and there was no level-playing ground for members of the party.
“Zoning principles of the party were abandoned and a gamut of all other issues, which will come out during the conference and for all these and the people who have been offended, for people whose toes were stepped upon, we also tender unreserved apology.
“These are the reasons why we are begging and apologising. We want to assure every founding member of the party that we deviated from their visions, and that’s why we are going to have all our founding fathers like Adamu Ciroma, Dr. Alex Ekwueme and other members of the G.34, to come and talk to us at the conference.
“For every and any mistake we have made, I therefore say, we tender our unreserved apologies.”
Asked if the mistake of the party included the fielding of the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, as its presidential candidate in 2011 and 2015, he said it was wrong for the party to have abandoned zoning in preference for the former President.
Dokpesi said the party ought to have allowed the northern part of the country to complete its term when former President Umaru Yar’Adua died in 2010.
He said, “The party in 2010 and 2011, made the first round of mistake of not allowing the north to complete its term.
“That was when the party gave a special favour for the then President who came to compete the term of Yar’Adua to be allowed one term to finish.
“The same small leaders of the party came forward in 2015 to state again and refused to return the party to allow the north to field the party’s presidential candidate, they manipulated the party to do the same.”
He added that, “Make no mistake, the PDP is aware that there were errors made along the way. We admit that at certain times in our past, mistakes have been made, we did not meet the expectations of Nigerians.
“But the past is exactly what it is. While we should not forget the past and its errors, We must look forward and begin to show true leadership within and outside our party.”
He said the forthcoming conference would be used to reinvigorate, re-engineer and restructure the party, which he said would be handed over to the youth.

http://punchng.com/fielding-jonathan-a-mistake-pdp/

Neurologists

Neurologists specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases or conditions occurring in the brain and nervous system, as well as their supporting systems and tissues. Some focus on neurophysiology, using diagnostic tests such as electroencephalograms and electromyography to detect neurological conditions. Others specialize in the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders, attempting to manage cerebral palsy, learning disabilities and similar chronic conditions. Neurologists might also specialize in pain management, treating patients with debilitating chronic pain or acute short-term pain. Vascular neurologists study and treat conditions of the circulatory system that affect the function of the brain or nerves.


Neurosurgeons

Neurosurgeons use a variety of therapies, from endoscopic microsurgery to radiation to traditional open surgery, to treat neurological conditions. These include traumas of the brain and spine, tumors, strokes and aneurysms, and many other conditions of the spine, brain and skull base areas. These are complex areas of practice, and neurosurgeons' work often overlaps with that of neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, and plastic or reconstructive surgeons. Often, several of these practitioners will work collaboratively with a single patient to ensure a successful outcome in complex procedures.

Similarities and Differences

Neurosurgery is closely aligned with neurology, and both require an in-depth understanding of the nervous system and its functions. Conditions that require management, or can be improved by medications or other therapies, are generally treated by neurologists. Neurologists are also more likely to act as diagnosticians, isolating and defining neurological conditions for neurosurgeons to rectify. When diagnosis reveals a physical cause for neurological conditions, neurosurgeons can usually perform a surgical procedure to remove or correct that condition, often bringing about a dramatic improvement in the patient's condition. Both neurologists and neurosurgeons can use minimally invasive endoscopic or catheter-based procedures, using miniature instruments to repair or reinforce blood vessels in the brain.


Income

One key difference between neurology and neurological surgery is income. Neurosurgeons out-earn their neurologist peers by a substantial margin, beginning in their first year of practice. Medical recruiting firm Profiles, which specializes in new physicians, reports a median first-year income of $190,000 for neurologists, while neurosurgeons starting practice earned a median income of $395,000 a year. Across all career stages, the American Medical Group Association reported a median income of $236,500 for neurologists and $592,811 per year for neurosurgeons. Staffing firm Jackson and Coker found an even broader disparity, reporting an average salary of $209,394 for neurologists but $671,086 per year for neurological surgeons.

http://work.chron.com/difference-between-neurosurgeon-neurologist-6843.html

When will the culprits be prosecuted & given lenghty jail sentences or even death penalty.

This sort of news is so disheartnening. These amount of figures can cripple some other countries economy, yet some individuals are feasting on our commonwealth.

Barrister Leo Ekpenyong's Open Letter To His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari

Your Excellency,

SENATOR GODSWILL AKPABIO, IBRAHIM LAMORDE, IGP SOLOMON ARASE, THE CONSPIRACY THEORY AND THE JUDGEMENT OF HISTORY

I write with a deep feeling of melancholy to further bring to your notice my earlier concerns about the war against corruption under the notorious leadership of Ibrahim Lamorde led-EFCC as expressed in my previous letter to you dated 19th October, 2015.

It would be recalled that sequel to my petitions against the former Governor Akpabio’s administration dated 8th, 22nd June and August 3rd respectively, the Senate Minority leader was invited by the EFCC and after his departure from the Commission he bragged to his supporters that Lamorde was under his control and nothing reasonable would come out of his investigation. It was against this background that I raised an alarm urging the federal government to sack Lamorde since it was apparent that justice would not be done to our petitions taking into consideration the deliberate and unnecessary delays at investigations and possible prosecution.

During my interview on a guest show (O and M) televised by AIT, I accused Ibrahim Lamorde of having interests in contracts awarded by Akwa Ibom State government. This fact Senator Akpabio mentioned to me on June 22nd, 2015.

Ostensibly angered by this allegation, Lamorde summoned me on October 26th via the head of its economic governance unit and for nine (9) hours battled by compulsion to get me recant my allegation and withdraw my petitions against Akpabio. I stood my ground and maintained that the EFCC leadership was “hand in gloves” with Senator Godswill Akpabio.

On November 2nd, one DSP Chuks Ibe from the FCT Police command invited me to answer to a petition written against me by Lamorde. During the course of this interrogation, DSP Chuks Ibe dictated how I should write my statement and personally informed me of his interactions with Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Consequently, on November 5th, 2015 during my routine interview session at the FCT command, I was led before the Gudu district Upper Area Court on a malicious charge of defamation and giving false information.

The excruciating persecution between the EFCC and the Nigerian Police reveals the conspiracy theory involving the trio of Godswill Akpabio, IGP Solomon Arase and Ibrahim Lamorde.

Your Excellency, I cannot agree less with you that unless we kill corruption, corruption will or may kill us. The actions and desperation of IGP Solomon Arase and indeed Lamorde is a clear case of deliberate intimidation, orchestrated falsehood and a diversionary attempt to actualize their aim of ensuring that Senator Akpabio evades Justice.

We recall the dark era of IGP Arase’s tenure as Commissioner of police in Akwa Ibom under the leadership of former Governor Akpabio and the unholy alliance of the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde with Akpabio. This is indeed a very dangerous trend of amalgamating PDP forces to paint the image of this administration in bad light.

At this juncture Mr. President, let me assure you of my unalloyed and irrevocable commitment to your avowed zeal to fight corruption and put Nigeria on the path towards National development amongst the comity of Nations. No degree of intimidation and persecution will derail my resolve to pursue and stand by my petitions to its logical conclusion.

My passionate appeal to you is that you strengthen our anti-graft agencies with incorruptible helmsmen and scrutinize the activities of the Nigerian Police Force under Arase before it gets out of hand. Without mincing words, the duo of Arase and Lamorde are still acting out the script of their former paymasters, the PDP and this is most unacceptable.

As for the malicious prosecution orchestrated against me, I take solace in God Almighty, who is a just judge to vindicate me at the end of this malicious trial.

I humbly urge you sir, to intervene and call these centrifugal forces to order.

Finally, your Excellency, and without much ado, the time to relieve these unpatriotic elements of their duties is now.

Yours truly,

Barrister Leo Ekpenyong

9th November, 2015.


http://saharareporters.com/2015/11/09/letter-president-buhari-warns-against-leadership-efcc-boss-lamorde-and-senator-akpabio

Why was the man only given some lashes and the lady have to die a horrible death in the hands of these men.

Yet our muslim friends will make us to believe that Islam protects and respects women

Still suprised that not one muslim on this forum after reading the article and watching the video have condemned the babaric acts towards the lady. So much for religion of peace.

Actually, I got this title from a friend whose close relative is a Customs officer. He would list all the atrocities of Customs officers in the presence of the close relative and end his spiel with “Customs o ni ku’re” – Customs officers will not die well. In fact, he believes that nobody should trust Customs officers no matter how close they are. “Customs and police officers will sell their mother and children if it would lead to acquisition of illicit money for them”, he often says. I became fully converted last year when I shipped a 40-footer container to Lagos from California, USA.
My shipment had contained all of my household goods – furniture, electronics, kitchen utensils, books, clothes and one SUV - as I was planning to relocate to Nigeria upon my retirement. My shipping agent in California had requested an itemized list of the contents of my shipment, which I duly provided. The clearing agent in Lagos also requested the same thing, and, of course, I obliged.
Upon the arrival of my container in Lagos, the agent informed me that the DSS inspector asked for N10,000 in order for him to not inspect the container and just give it a “pass”. I told him that if it was the practice for the security people to inspect the container, he should let him do so because I did not want the container to be detained by any other agency on the approval chain. We did not give the DSS guy the N10,000 bribe.
And so, during inspection, he found six pairs of my old military uniforms in the container. My itemized list had included clothing as a general item but not specifically “six pairs of used military uniforms” which bore my name, service and rank. The security guy now detained the whole container on suspicion of connection to “Boko Haram”. I would be so stupid as to send six pairs of uniforms with my name and rank on them to Boko Haram in Borno via the port in Lagos. And Boko Haram was really in such a bad shape that it was waiting for my used uniforms. I sent a photocopy of my international passport, military ID card and other documents that proved I was duly authorized to possess those uniforms. The DSS released my container to Customs after about two weeks. But that was when my ordeal really started.
Customs now said since the DSS had to get approval from its headquarters in Abuja before releasing my container, they too had referred my case to their headquarters in Abuja and I would have to wait for approval from there. One month, two months, three months, four months and five months went by and they still had not gotten approval from Abuja. I engaged a couple of my friends in Lagos who knew the terrain and what I heard was that plans by some of the senior officers were already afoot to confiscate my container, “auction” its contents off to themselves and declare the case closed. Outraged, I flew to Lagos from California to see with my own eyes which Customs officer would have the temerity to confiscate a container that did not contain any brand new item; any item of commercial value or any contraband item. I met a very senior officer at one of their Apapa offices. He sympathized with me and gave me all the assurances in the world that if he could help, he would; but the case was out of his hands and my file was on the desk of the Comptroller-General – Dikko Inde Andullahi. And only he could authorize the release of my container. What! What had I gotten myself into? I couldn’t believe it. The whole CG had to approve the release of one container that did not carry nuclear bomb?
The DSS found forks and knives in my container but did not detain it for those. It detained it for six pairs of military uniforms. It was as if you found syringes in a container shipped by a medical doctor, or books shipped by a professor and you seized the container. No guns, no drugs, no explosives, no “dangerous” manuals were found in my container. Yet, the Comptroller-General had my file! And he was all the way in Abuja. Each time I went to the Lagos office from Ibadan, I was told the CG in Abuja had not “treated” my file because he was on tour of this zone or that zone. At one point, he even went on the lesser Hajj while my container kept incurring an unbelievable amount of demurrage charges at the port.
Finally, a friend introduced me to another senior Customs officer who got the CG’s office to release my container. So, indeed, the CG had to personally approve the release of my container! How not-so-busy could he be!
Now, I had to deal with the Apapa Ports management and that of Maersk - owners of the container, who’s combined demurrage/rent charges were in excess of N3.5 million! This did not include the N1.2 million I already paid the clearing agent as regular clearing fees and ports charges. The same Customs officer was able to talk to both the Ports and Maersk people and got my charges down to a little over N2 million. I paid it and took possession of my container. (Please note that neither the DSS nor the Customs removed any of the uniforms from the container.) I was allowed to keep them. Basically, I was made to pay over N2 million that I should never have paid. And if the uniforms were meant for Boko Haram, I could go ahead and send them. Wow!
So, how do you think I felt when CG Dikko Abdullahi, the face of indolence, ineptness and corruption at Customs, was fired by President Buhari in August? Ecstatic! The man was a piece of human feces. How do you think I felt when the new CG, Col (rtd) Hameed Alli, fired those Deputy Comptrollers-General - John Atte (Finance, Administration & Technical Services); Adewuyi Akinade (Tariff & Trade); Austin Nwosu (Strategic Research & Policy); Musa Tafir (Enforcement, Investigation & Inspection) and Ibrahim Mera (Human Resource Development)? Jubilant! All five of them shamelessly “resigned” on one piece of paper as if they were all hired on the same day. They were all pieces of raw garbage. And how do you think I feel knowing that 29 other officers, including three Assistant Comptrollers-General - Madu Mohammed (Secretary to the Nigeria Customs Board); Victor Gbemudu (Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘A’) and Bello Liman (Assistant Comptroller-General, Headquarters) are going to kiss the dust with many more to follow? Of course, I am so exited I will throw a party! They will not and should not die well if they ever contributed to the grief of any innocent customer of Customs.
If you look up the definition of Corruption in any modern dictionary, it will be illustrated with the uniform of the Nigeria Customs. That organization needs to be turned upside down and inside out. The pervasiveness of corruption in that place makes every single officer look like a thief…even those who are not. And there could very well be some who are not corrupt in that place. In my odyssey with that organization, I came across three officers who struck me as decent people. But I keep remembering what my friend says about them; do not trust them past how far you can throw them. He has one of them in his family and has dealt with many of them in the past. He should know.
With my container experience, you can imagine my irritation this past July as I drove through the Idi Iroko border on my way to Benin Republic when a female Customs officer, slouching on a chair as if she was in her bedroom, tried to delay my passage because I refused to pay N10,000 to cross with my family. Something about N10,000 with these people! Not until I asked her to show justification for such a fee did she let me go. A European friend of mine who is a diplomat later told me he had to pay N10,000 at the same border even after showing his diplomatic credentials and after threatening to report the illegal charge to his country. They just don’t care anymore. The impunity with which they fleece people and carry out other kinds of nefarious activities now knows no bounds.
Another friend based in Texas, USA, told the story of how he was levied N400,000 at one of the Apapa Customs offices before he was allowed to clear some vehicles he had shipped legally into Nigeria. “They pointed to a cardboard box in one corner of the office and told me to drop my money in there. The box was full of raw cash. One of them told me the money was meant for their senior bosses and whether I liked it or not, I had to pay; or else my vehicles would go into demurrage”, he told me. Right there in the Departure and Arrival halls of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, in full glare of everybody, Customs officers demand and receive “levies” for taking (non-commercial quantity) foodstuff out of the country and for bringing (non-commercial quantity) gift items into the country. Only in Nigeria would a family of six visit home and on their way out, they cannot take with them two bowls of Gari or yam flour without being surcharged by those useless Customs people at the airport. Only in Nigeria would you be coming home from overseas and you can’t bring shoes and dresses and wristwatches as gifts for your nieces and nephews without those useless Customs officers taking their cut. I can’t begin to list here all the countries I have been; but none….none…either in Europe or America nor even in the rest of Africa was I ever questioned about food in my luggage, except Nigeria. Only in Nigeria would you have Customs officer deep in towns and cities, several hundred kilometers from borders, collecting “levies” from motorists and farmers. What went on at Customs was no longer corruption. It was rape…rape with unlubricated hot rods (Please pardon the language. It is the way you feel after encountering these beasts).
So, for me, it is celebration time knowing that the axe is falling on all those officers who have made life miserable for innocent Nigerians. May their roads forever be rough. And may they lose all they have illicitly acquired.
Do you know any Customs officer? Check their standard of living. Most of them live well above their incomes. Yes, they are relatively well-paid. But they are still living too much above their incomes. Maybe if they just stole government money directly from government like their politician friends do, things would be different. But stealing directly from innocent people is too cruel. I know that all those Customs officers who were part of the reason I paid over N2 million extra for my container will never know peace.
My friend, the one who gave me the title for this piece, once asked me to research the lives of Customs officers; that I would find they always wore tattered clothes in the twilight of their lives. He was speaking in the presence of the family member who was a Customs officer. I hope that is the fate of all Customs officers who make life difficult for innocent people. If I had not resolved to get my container out no matter what; or had not known somebody who knew somebody; or did not have the financial wherewithal to pay the demurrage, those useless people would have stolen the fruits of my hard labor, especially some items to which I have sentimental attachment. For that, they will wear tattered clothes at the twilight of their lives. And when they die, it will not be near their valuables.
By Abiodun Ladepo, Ibadan, Oyo State

http://saharareporters.com/2015/11/02/customs-officers-no-go-die-well-abiodun-ladepo

I still can't believe that it has come to this, Dr Abati being dragged through some muddy waters.
More dirts to be dished out soon.