₦airaland Forum

Sambo’s taste hikes cost of VP’s home to N16b

Posted by: Onyedi Ojiabor Posted date: December 24, 2012 In: Featured, News | comment : 38


Facts have emerged on why additional N9 billion is required to fix the N7 billion residence of Vice President Namadi Sambo.

The extra cash is needed to make the quarters suit Sambo’s culture and religion, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Senator Domingo Obende told reporters in Abuja, quoting Julius Berger, which is handling the project.

According to Obende, a Julius Berger engineer told the committee that the design of the house was intended for then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan but Sambo whose culture and religion are different suddenly emerged as vice president.

Obende, who represents Edo North Senatorial District, was asked what the extra N9 billion being sought by Julius Berger was meant for.

He said: “I like being factual and I like addressing issues the way I understand them and in the perspective that I believe will throw light at a situation.

“I recall one of Julius Berger engineers saying, ‘well the design of this building was made to accommodate a vice president but now we have another vice president whose culture and religion are different from the intended user or end user of the building.

“I remember asking him what are you talking about? When you are designing a vice president’s residence there must be a standard.

“You don’t know who is going to be there.

“It could even be a handicapped person that will occupy the building.

“So you have to make provision for that.

“In other words, the design must be functional such that even a disabled person will be able to live there comfortably and without any amendment.

“Because you now have a vice president whose culture, tradition and religion are different you are re-designing, adding some other features costing you as much as N9 billion when the original contract sum is N7 billion.

“The size of the land has not changed. I really don’t understand what kind of private structure on a land that is less than 20,000 square metres will take about N16.5 billion to complete.”

Noting that Nigeria ’s money must be used judiciously, Obende said the committee’s Chairman, Senator Smart Adeyemi, was bitter about the astronomical increase in the project’s cost.

He said: “My chairman was very bitter about this issue.

“I made my observations. We are discussing with them.

“Yes we know because of the long period of the job there could be need for variation and if there are additions but this must be commensurate with the original contract sum.

“Not a variation being more than the original contract sum, it is unacceptable.

“We understand that he is the vice president of this country, his security is paramount.

“Nobody wants the security of his vice president compromised but that money for security is too much”.

The committee, Obende said, had requested for specifics such as the additional work, the drawing, bill of quantity, how much they collected, how much they have committed to the building so far, the bill of payment and then the original job.

“These are the things we have asked for and until that is done substantial work cannot continue on that structure”.

Obende added: “So I can assure Nigerians that with the kind of chairman, we have in FCT Committee and me also as vice chairman who understands the indices of such structure, I think that we will be able to look at the situation and we will not lose our money to contractors who may be doing the right thing at the wrong time.

“We want contractors that will do the right thing at the right time so that Nigeria’s money will be used judiciously.”

Two weeks ago, the Senate Committee on FCT during its oversight visit opposed the proposed extra cash for the building renovation.

Adeyemi, who spoke at the site of the project, said such a huge sum was uncalled for especially at a time when most Nigerians cannot afford three square meals.

Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) Adamu Ismail told the lawmakers that the job was awarded to Julius Berger in 2009 for N7billion.

Ismail said the cash was needed for furniture, fencing, two additional protocol guest houses, a banquet hall and other security gadgets.

He said these were not captured in the original scope of work.

But Adeyemi said: “The National Assembly is not going to appropriate additional N9billion for the project especially at a period in this country where people cannot get three square meals.

“The N9billion is far more than the original cost of the project.”

Ismail replied by the that the amount had been slashed to about N6billion Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).

He said: “We have worked out the details and passed to BPP for consideration.

“They (BPP) have sent it back to us with their observation.

“We requested for N9billion but now it came to about N6billion.”

The vice president’s residence is a sprawling one-storey building sitting on a wide expanse of land beside the Millennium Park and behind the Yellow House Headquarters of the State Security Service (SSS).

The building has a wide outer and inner parlours with rooms.

There is a chapel and mosque on the left and right hand side of the house.

The building has been plastered and work is going on the central cooling system.

The inner parlour has marble tiles. The sewage and water system has been completed.

There are no furniture items or any furnishing yet. The doors and windows are yet to be fixed.

The landscaping of the compound has commenced but the roads are not tarred nor the floor tiled.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/sambos-taste-hikes-cost-of-vps-home-to-n16b/

Next year ‘ll be better, says Jonathan
On December 23, 2012 · In News 8:54 pm

By Ben Agande

President Goodluck Jonathan, Sunday, assured Nigerians that despite the various challenges facing the country, his government was determined to ensure that next year would be better than the previous years.

He spoke in Kaduna shortly after he laid the foundation stone of Living Faith Foundation’s Bible College.

According to the President, Nigerians should not to lose hope in the country as his administration is committed to ensuring that there is positive change in Nigeria.

He said: “Let me assure all of you and indeed all Nigerians that 2013 will be better for us than 2012 in all aspects of the nation’s history. The New Year shall be better for us in terms of job creation, wealth creation and improved security among others.

“Sometimes, challenges make people doubt the sincerity of government, but I am confident that God knows everything.”

He said he was aware that people find it difficult to continue to believe the government because of the challenges they are facing.

The President said like the biblical Job who lost everything he had, God wants Nigerians to learn some lessons from the challenges they are facing, adding that God means well for the country.

While assuring Nigerians that the improvement being witnessed in the area of power supply would be sustained, Jonathan said his wish was that Nigerians could live without buying power generating sets.

He said his administration is committed to increasing the power generation in order to boost small scale businesses.

“Small scale businesses such as barbing salons cannot continue to buy generators to operate and break even. My wish is for Nigerians not to have generating sets,” he added.

Speaking on the security challenges in the Northern part of the country, the President said security operatives were working hard to contain the situation.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/next-yearll-be-better-than-previous-years-jonathan/

Tunde Bakare

Maku

Criminals in power

Nollywood actress Nkiru defies Police, pays N8m ransom to abductors

Posted by: Okodili Ndidi, Owerri Posted date: December 22, 2012 In: Featured, News | comment : 14

The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Baba Adisa Bolanta, yesterday disclosed that the abducted Nollywood actress and Special Assistant to the state governor on Public Affairs, Miss Nkiruka Sylvanus, paid N8 million as ransom to her kidnappers to regain her freedom.

The commissioner, who addressed newsmen in the Command’s Headquarters in Owerri, the Imo state capital, said the family of the actress defied the repeated warning from the police not to negotiate or pay any ransom to the abductors, adding that they did so outside the knowledge of the police.

The police boss added that “initially, the family paid N7million to the kidnappers and the police who laid ambush swooped on them at the point of collection and recovered the money that was locked in the trunk of their car as they escaped. We brought a lot of pressure on them and they were jittery and could no longer contact the family members”.

According to him, “after we returned the money to the family, they went behind us and paid N8milliom to the kidnappers. Surprisingly I saw Nkiru in my office after she was released, and I was told they paid N8million to secure her release”.

Bolanta, however, said that the fleeing kidnappers would be brought to book. “Let me assure you that this will not go unresolved like previous cases. Anyone involved will be brought to book. We have made some arrests, and very soon the ones that are at large will be apprehended”.

Meanwhile, Governor Rochas Okorocha has ordered the release of N500 million as a Christmas package for security operatives in the state.

Okorocha, who gave the directive during an expanded Security Council meeting at the Ahajioku Centre in the state capital, instructed that every security agent operating in the state should be given N10, 000 each from the largesse, saying that the gesture was to appreciate the security agencies for fighting crime in the state, especially the successful release of the kidnapped actress.

Commending the state Police Command, Okorocha reiterated the commitment of his administration in partnering with security agencies to stamp out crime in the state, especially kidnapping and other heinous crimes, reaffirming the earlier ban on the unauthorized use of vehicles with tinted glasses and siren in the state.

The Governor also chided legal practitioners in the state for aiding and abetting kidnappers by frustrating the efforts of the state to prosecute them.

He said: “The lawyers are the worst enemies of Imo State. Every kidnapper has a lawyer he pays to wriggle him out when he is caught up with the law”.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/nollywood-actress-nkiru-defies-police-pays-n8m-ransom-to-abductors-2/

Maku

Oronto Douglas, Special Adviser to the President on Research, documentation and Strategy

Pension: We leave Maina to God – Senate panelists


Posted by: Onyedi Ojiabor and Sanni Onogu Posted date: December 19, 2012 In: Featured, News Update | comment : 3

The Senate Committee probing the management of pension funds on Wednesday adjourned its sitting indefinitely.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Aloysius Etok, who announced the indefinite adjournment of the committee, blamed the measure on the frustration members of the committee have suffered due to the continued absence of the Chairman, Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Dr. Abdulrasheed Maina.

But while members of the Senate committee were waiting for Maina, the PRTT boss was said to be busy addressing his supporters who stormed the National Assembly gate in their numbers.

Apart from Maina’s supporters who carried various forms of placards, another group also protested the continued stay of Maina as PRTT boss.

It was very difficult for Senators and House of Representatives members to gain access into the National Assembly Complex due to the large number of protesters.

Some of the lawmakers made a decoy to follow the Aso Rock Villa gate to enter the National Assembly.

While some of the protesters shouted the praises of Maina and asked the Senate to leave him alone, others demanded the immediate removal of Maina as chairman of PRTT.

Some of the placards read: Leave Maina alone, Maina is a good man, Maina has saved pensioners, Maina has done what nobody could before him, the Senate committee has been bought over by pension thieves.

Etok, who could not hide his anger over Maina’s alleged disrespect for his committee complained that even the Inspector- General of Police who was mandated to bring him to the National Assembly failed to comply with the order.

He said, “We have been here and believing that we want to give the Acting Director of Customs, Immigration and Prison Pension Office (CIPPO), Abdulrasheed Maina fair hearing.

“Because we have been sitting and adjourning for the sake of making sure he is here so that we can give him fair hearing because in the other pension public hearing he said he did not have fair hearing.

“Today we have been here and we have kept these people waiting for one hour and incidentally the Inspector General of Police is not here.

“The Senate under the leadership of the Senate President issued a warrant of arrest and directed the IGP to present and compel Maina’s appearance before this committee by 12 O’clock today.

“We have been waiting here for more than one hour and we have not seen him.

“Today we are not going to waste your time and since we have promised we want to make sure we give him fair hearing.

“After due consultation with members of this committee, we have decided to adjourn this sitting indefinitely.”

The Co- Chairman of the committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya, also expressed frustration.

Gaya said, “I have information from the police that Maina is at the gate addressing his supporters instead of coming here.

“We wanted him to be here. So the committee will decide what to do.

“One thing is that we have been honest and sincere. We want to put it on record. God knows we have tried. We leave him to God.”


http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news-update/pension-we-leave-maina-to-god-senate-panelists/

Saving The Nigerian Family In The US – Nigerian Men Regretting Getting Married To Nigerian Women In The US?
Posted: December 17, 2012 - 16:56


By Paul Omoruyi
Shooting in Connecticut and Matters Arising in the Nigerian Families in the US – By Paul Omoruyi

The grotesque and senseless killing of 20 innocent kids at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut in the United States is something every parent dread daily in the US. Early reports already show that the shooter’s parents were divorced since September 2009 and the mother had custody of the shooter. The mother had exposed the shooter to guns!

With the unprecedented divorce rate in the Nigerian community in the US, Nigerian families in the US are increasingly becoming engrossed in all the family related patterns and miasma leading to these kinds of incidents.

Early this year, I wrote an article in an African Abroad newspaper that was widely published in the New York area. This writer has been disturbed for some time now about the state of the Nigerian marriage and family in the United States. Below is the original article:My phone rang. It was a call from my buddy that we started life together in the US. We talked about those early days when we just immigrated. Those are the days that will remain etched in our minds and indelible in our memories. Like so many Nigerians, we worked and went to college full time non-stop for many years concurrently as if we were machines. The impetus to achieve the American dream and not disappoint our families was the catalytic enzyme running through our veins. Till this day, we still cannot fathom how we did it. But we did anyway. It’s one of those kinds of experience that you can only say “if not God”.

We were in our twenties with all the Adrenaline and testosterones running wild. The stories of Nigerian men that have been messed up by “child support” because they got married to “akata” were sufficient enough for us to respect ourselves and control our sexual drives. My friend would always say “I go just die or go back to Naija than for me to find myself in a child support situation. Akata no go fit cook Naija food and then she go come still take me to child support? Over my dead bodi”. These concerns (or should I say fear?) were reasons my buddy did not go into any relationship with some of his college female friends who were not Nigerians. He wanted a Nigerian woman as a wife so they can speak pidgin English together, eat Egusi and Okro soup yanfuyafu (otherwise with Akata wife, na Burger King go kill am!). It was all too common a joke back in the days.

Many years have since passed. My guy is married now with a degree attached to his name and has a middle-class job. Obviously, you can say he’s living the American dream. As we reminisced and laughed about those Kodak moment days, in a split second unguarded moment, he suggested that there was nothing special anymore about getting married to a Nigerian woman in the US. “They are now even worse than the so called akata”, he said. The comment struck me and I pushed a little for him to elucidate. I listened in awe as he told me what he’s experiencing at home. While he poured his heart to me, he kept asking me “do you think say Akata or even Caribbean woman go behave like that”? Apparently, it appears his expectations have been dashed.

One that struck me most was the story of a young Nigerian teenage girl living in the shelter. Her Nigerian parents are now divorced. According to her, her parents’ marriage broke after her mother systematically stopped cooking for the family, became increasingly narcissistic and disrespectful to her dad. As if that was not enough, her dad was infuriated when he discovered that her mom had secretly bought a piece of property in Nigeria without his knowledge. Two years later, the parents divorced. Unfortunately, the young lady became pregnant while still in high school. “I just could not stand my mom and live with her. If my parents were still married, I would not have fallen for this stupid crap”, she was quoted as saying, as tears rolled down her eyes.

Although I understand that these narratives might be loop-sided but it seems to typify what most Nigerian men are complaining about lately behind closed doors. There are numerous cases of marital fuss and upheaval that have permeated Nigerian families in the US in recent years. Some people say it is the American culture shock that is rocking the boat of traditional Nigerian family structure in the US. Others claim that it is Nigerian women narrow-mindedly over stretching the American provisions. While some lay blame on Nigerian men refusing to wake up to the realities of the disparities between the American and Nigerian approach to marriage.

It is heartbreaking to hear a Nigerian man refer to his wife as my “baby mother” and a Nigerian woman says my “baby father”. Just some couple of years ago, this was a taboo terminology in the Nigerian marriage. It was actually used to surreptitiously mock the so called “akata”. Now it’s becoming a common mantra in the Nigerian community as single mothers and fathers balloon to an alarming and astronomical rate.

This is no time to pass blame or point fingers or to clamor over who is right or who is wrong. The hand writing is on the fall. This writer is whole-heartedly concerned and perturbed by the downward spiral of our marriages and families in the US. The younger generation is watching, confused and scared to death of what to expect from taking that marriage bold step.

In the spirit of finding a solution, I will proffer the following suggestions to reduce this scourge that is eating deeply into the fabric of our families:

1. Each spouse should not think that the world revolves around you only –Either my way or no way mind set is a recipe for marital failure.
2. Think twice “welu welu” before you let loose the heavens and lock that door against your spouse – you might be endangering your children’s future for life!
3. Marriage is a symbiotic and not a parasitic relationship.
4. At life’s end, the fight over dollars will be no more. Your spouse and your children will become more important than anything else.
5. There is no perfect woman or perfect man. The only perfect marriage is one that the man and woman have learned how to resolve their differences and work together through thick and thin.

People, we are better than this. Let us all fine tune our dispositions and propensities to make our marriages and families happier right here in the US. We have come too far away from home to kill ourselves in a distant land. The system is ready to tear us apart if we open that door. Do you have an opinion or experience that you would like to share? Shoot me an email. May God bless you, your family and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Blog: www.diasporasope.com
Email: eng.p.omoruyi@gmail.com



The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters

http://saharareporters.com/article/saving-nigerian-family-us-%E2%80%93-nigerian-men-regretting-getting-married-nigerian-women-us

Gbawe! Gbabe!

Petroleum Minister Allison-Madueke Returns To Hospital In London
Posted: December 16, 2012 - 23:32

By SaharaReporters, New York
Nigeria’s controversial Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, has returned to a London hospital to continue treatment for an undisclosed ailment that is believed to be cancer.

Saharareporters sources said today that Mrs. Allison-Madueke made the journey last week, and began a daily therapy. She is yet to return to Abuja.

Her one-week absence from Abuja has emboldened those Nigerians who have been calling for her removal to further pressure President Goodluck Jonathan to sack her as Minister of Petroleum Resources. She is frequently cited on allegations of corruption and mismanagement, but is also known to be a close friend of the President’s.

Recently, the French government impounded a private jet that was carrying Jide Omokore, a business associate of the Minister, on suspicions that the jet-a Bombardier Global Express XRS- belongs to her.

Investigations show that the jet was purchased by the Bank of Utah Trustee in June 2012 through the same process that was recently used in purchasing private jets for the governors of Rivers and Akwa Ibom States.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/petroleum-minister-allison-madueke-returns-hospital-london

Azazi, Yakowa Tragedy: Crashed Navy Helicopter Had ‘Engine Failure’ After 10 Trips

Posted: December 16, 2012 - 20:37

Sahara Reporters

The Nigeria navy executive Agusta 109E helicopter, which crashed yesterday killing Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa, former NSA Andrew Owoye Azazi and four others, had engine failure, naval sources have said.

SaharaReporters learned that the pilot of the helicopter communicated with the control tower in Port Harcourt to report the problem before it crashed to the ground and caught fire. The chopper belonged to the Nigeria navy, but it had been placed at the exclusive service of the president in the Niger Delta region.

The navy has had three Agusta 109E helicopters. In 2007, one of them crashed due to bad weather as it approached the Owerri airport in the night, accompanying INEC election materials. Four persons died in the crash.

The other two, NN07 and NN08, which actively worked the Bayelsa airspace yesterday, were commissioned in 2009.

Sources told SaharaReporters that the choppers had been placed almost exclusively at the service of President Goodluck Jonathan and his cronies, which is the reason why they were deployed to carry VIPs to and from the Port Harcourt International Airport for a private burial event of presidential aide Oronto Douglas that had no official value.

Prior to yesterday's deadly flight, the naval choppers also carried VIPs to the funeral of President Jonathan's brother, Meni, less than two weeks ago.

At the time of the crash, the helicopter had reportedly done 10 shuttle trips between Port Harcourt and the burial place of Mr. Douglas's father in Okoroba. Landing and taking off from the soccer field of a decrepit local school in the town.

The flight was reportedly the last one, but the engine failed some ten minutes after takeoff, leading to the fatal crash.

President Jonathan, who had earlier attended an overnight “Holy Ghost Congress” at the Redeemed Church of God on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway then issued a terse statement which revealed the names of crash victims and the usual promise that a probe of the crash will be conducted.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jonathan has ordered two new luxury helicopters from the same manufacturer, AgustaWestland, the Anglo-Italian helicopter company based in Italy. The two AW 101 VIP helicopters will cost Nigeria $40 million. In 2010, Mr. Jonathan ordered three presidential jets as soon as he took office.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/azazi-yakowa-tragedy-crashed-navy-helicopter-had-%E2%80%98engine-failure%E2%80%99-after-10-trips

National Assembly shouldn’t approve N161b request

Posted by: Our Reporter Posted date: December 14, 2012

Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday raised posers over the N161 billion Presidential request to fund fuel subsidy, a few days to end of the year.

According to him, given the explanations made in the past about the N888.3 billion appropriated this year had been disbursed, the National Assembly should not approve the request to appropriate as requested by President Goodluck Jonathan.

He urged the National Assembly to invite Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to explain why the figures are not adding up.

In a statement, he said: “In 2011, the National Assembly appropriated N245 billion for fuel subsidy. In violation of the Appropriation Act 2011 and the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, the Central Bank of Nigeria paid N2.3 trillion for fuel subsidy on the basis of the fraudulent recommendations of the Federal Ministries of Finance and Petroleum Resources.

“However, following the investigations conducted into the fuel subsidy scam by the House of Representatives, the sum of N888.3 billion was appropriated by the National Assembly for fuel subsidy in 2012.

“While defending the 2013 budget before the House of Representatives a fortnight ago, the Executive Secretary of the PPPRA Mr. Stanley Reginald, disclosed that a total sum of N679 billion had been spent on fuel subsidy from January – October, 2012 and that the sum of N670 billion had been saved by the Federal Government.

“At an average of N67.9 billion per month, the sum of N135 billion is required to settle the fuel subsidy bill for the months of November and December, 2012. If the said sum of N135.8 billion is deducted from the N208 billion in the fuel subsidy account, there should be an outstanding balance of N72.2 billion in the account at the end of the year.

“In the light of the foregoing, the National Assembly should not approve the Supplementary Appropriation Bill of N161 billion for fuel subsidy to cover November and December, 2012.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/national-assembly-shouldnt-approve-n161b-request/

Democracy suffers when officials of the Federal Republic bar journalists from doing their job

A few weeks ago, right there in one of the chambers of the National Assembly, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, smashed the tape recorder of a reporter covering a joint hearing on her ministry. She simply refused to be put on tape by the journalists, and when they persisted, she reached out and swiped the tapes off the table with so much impertinence. Of course such grave acts went unsanctioned – not from the Federal Government or any journalism body.

Impunity unchecked will often breed even more impunity. This was exactly what happened last week during the aviation ministry’s budget defence before the Senate Committee on Aviation. According to report, before the proceedings commenced, the aviation minister, Ms Stella Oduah had requested that journalists be barred from the session. She was quoted to have told the chairman of the committee, Chief Hope Uzodinma: “Can you please, kindly allow me to present this budget behind closed doors and therefore, we shall need to ask the journalists to excuse us.” To this request, Uzodinma was said to have acceded without as much as a frown.

The first point that comes to mind is that this is a reflection of the quality of personnel occupying high offices in the country. This suggests that some of the public officials do not know the first thing about the role of the media as clearly enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic; that they are ignorant of the basic fundamentals of the democratic process and the basic right of the people to know. Were these public officials attuned to these rudimentary principles, the very thought of the minister’s action would have been a taboo, and to have the temerity to voice such before a Senate committee would have been unthinkable. In a place like the United States of America, this action would have cost the minister her job and the senator his seat.

What was it that Ms Oduah wanted to keep away from the purview of the people in the defence of her aviation budget? If the budget is for promoting the good of the people, why shroud it in secrecy? If the minister truly holds her office as a public trust, she ought to understand the sacred duty of transparency and accountability to the people. Needless to say that the Appropriation Bill under consideration is a public document and the people need to understand it in detail so that they can make meaningful contribution to the debate.

We wager that someday soon when Ms Oduah would have left office, she would be keen to know the details of Nigeria’s aviation budget and she would take umbrage if a sitting minister denied her that right, especially with a dash of impunity. We often tend to forget that a minister (or any public official for that matter) today, is an ordinary citizen tomorrow.

No doubt the Senate committee debased itself and made a charade of the exercise by so gleefully condoning the minister’s impertinence. The Senate is expected to be the last redoubt of Nigeria’s constitution and the touchstone of finer democratic practice. We are taken aback when the legislature allows violent breaches of this sacred document. Need we remind that our democracy is the victim of such flagrant impunity as demonstrated by Ms Oduah.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/editorial/whipping-boy/

Labaran Maku

Labaran Maku

Labaran Maku’s Funeral By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo
Posted: December 5, 2012 - 16:21

If you want to kill a politician, make him or her the minister of information.

At this year’s Nigerian Independence Parade in New York City, I listened to Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, as he addressed Nigerians. The drama of his experience at the podium reminded me of that line in William Butler Yeats’ famous poem, The Second Coming.

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity.”

Maku was full of passionate intensity that day. But it did not rub off on his audience. At times he was booed for making outrageous claims. It happened when he claimed that electricity supply in Nigeria had improved so much that some places enjoyed 24-hour power. It happened again when he claimed that great trains were running again in Nigeria.

He was talking to a special audience. Gathered there were patriotic and optimistic Nigerians. They were not whiners. They were not Nigerians who hated their country. Many of them were very young, boiling with enthusiasm. In their protected innocence about the Nigerian project, this group was itching to forge ahead and do great things in spite of the challenges. They could take bad news as long as they could sense a genuine focus on the dream.

But Maku was more interested in fooling them. He was ignorant of his audience’s sophistication. He was unaware of his audience’s deep network inside Nigeria and their clear understanding of the ‘situation on the ground.’ He deployed old-fashioned propaganda in an ipod age.

You don’t tell people who stepped out of the New York subway that the second hand trains Nigeria has been picking up from junkyards of the world would amount to the best train system in Africa. You do not tell people who had not experienced power outage once in ten years that some parts of Nigeria now enjoy 24-hour power supply and expect them to clap for you. Certainly not when many of them spent their summer holidays in Nigeria and did not experience such anywhere.

Maku had the best audience he could find anywhere in the world -boys and girls who wore green and white attires, painted their faces the color of the Nigerian flag. And he blew it. And right there, I lost hope in his ability to make it anywhere.

I was, therefore, not surprised that, while hanging out in London with the former British Minister for Africa, Lynda Chalker, Mr. Labaran Maku declared, "The Nigeria media is so negative about the country. They are not interested in believing the progress being made in the country. They are running the country down".

Mr. Maku is a child of the media. He surely knows something about how the press works. He knows that “the only countries where newspapers are full of good news are those countries where the prisons are full of good people.” Maku is just not letting it out. Or maybe not. Maybe he was living a lie all these years that he was a Student Union activist and reporter. Maku, a former editor, knows that editors worship the devil. And politicians do everything in their power to keep the devil around the political arena. It is a symbiotic relationship.

Mr. Maku, in case you have forgotten, this is how the press works -the press reports the news. In a developing country like ours, the bulk of the news comes from the government- in this case, your government. The rest comes from what members of the press see around them.

Here are your typical news story headlines of each week:

Boko Haram bombs this church killing this number of people.
This international organization ranks Nigeria last in this or that development index.
Kidnappers pick up this prominent Nigerian and are demanding tens of millions
An investigative committee unearths billions of naira stolen from this government agency
Nigeria borrows this millions of dollars from China for development
Police officer kills bus driver for refusing to give N20 naira bribe
A pregnant woman dies at the hospital because she couldn’t pay N20,000 deposit
“90% of rape cases is self-inflicted,” says this state Attorney-general
Former government official buys billions of naira home in Abuja
Youth unemployment rises to 75%
Government official flown to Europe for medical treatment

Maku, these are the typical news story of every week in your Nigeria. Which of them makes the media negative? Which of them do you want the media to underreport? Wait, wait, wait, don’t tell me. I know what your answer will be. None. All you want is for the media to balance it up. Publish the good news as well as the bad news.

Ok, lets go through your typical good news of each week.

The eight wonder of the world, the Eko Atlantic Project, is in progress.
JTF has killed another Boko Haram commander
Nigeria’s GDP grows by 7.8%
Bank ABC has declared a profit of hundreds of billions
Another pastor buys a private jet.
Nigeria’s foreign reserve grows

Maku’s job of selling good news is made difficult not by the cynicism of the Nigerian people but by the epic river of corruption swelling around the government he defends. In Nigeria, bad news does not interrupt good news, instead it is good news that interrupts a stream of bad news. People feel the pulse of the nation based on what they see in their family and their corner of the country. It is not based on GDP figure.

To compound Maku’s problems, the mainstream media has lost its control over what people read, view or hear. While Maku’s predecessors could buy up the media, it is hard to bribe millions of citizen reporters who are busy on their cell phones snapping pictures and twitting away. Poor rankings of Nigerian in healthcare, education, life expectancy and infant mortality are not just statistics. There are people behind the figures. And these people now have a means to have their say about what they feel. In a connected world the expectations of these people are increasing. Just the same way President Jonathan was entertained in Ethiopia with beautiful cutleries and he came back and added hundreds of millions to Aso Rock budget for kitchen wares, Nigerians are becoming aware of the standard of life in other parts of the world and they want a piece of it.

In a government full of tragic individuals, Maku is the most tragic of them all. He spent years fighting the establishment. But once he became part of the establishment he finds himself screaming at the top of his voice that there is no establishment anymore.

Maku has the right to use his life-long mastery of the language of compliant to feign ignorance and self-righteousness. He does so while he tortures the truth, sacrifices the wretched and flatters the corrupt. It is falsehood that demands spin. Truth ascends to the surface no matter how many heavyweights fighters are holding it down. Haunted by a dark desire to keep the irony of his existence private, Maku is left to marvel at his unflinching failure to convince.

Maku is already guilty of intellectual dishonesty. He is capable of much more. But not to worry, it is his own funeral.

Subsidy budget: Oil marketers accuse Okonjo-Iweala of deceit
December 13, 2012 by Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja

Coordinating Minister for the economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

OIL marketers on Wednesday said the N161bn supplementary request by President Goodluck Jonathan had vindicated their insistence that the government’s provision for fuel subsidy for the year was inadequate.

The marketers, under the aegis of the Jetties and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners, said the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had only been deceiving the citizens that the N888bn earmarked by government to pay subsidy on fuel would be enough.

“We have said it continuously in the past that the N888bn fuel subsidy budget for 2012 was inadequate but the finance minister has been proving stubborn and deceiving Nigerians that the amount would be enough.

“We have been in this business for a long time and we know what the trends are. I am happy that our position has been justified,” Secretary of the oil marketers association, Mr. Enoch Kenawa, told one of our correspondents in Abuja.

Kenawa urged the National Assembly to promptly approve the President’s request for additional funding of subsidy payment, saying it was only by so doing that there would be fuel supply during the Yuletide.

He said, “We are calling on the National Assembly to quickly pass request of the President so that supply of products can increase.

“Once the money is approved, Nigerians are assured of a good holiday period to ensure adequate supply of fuel during Christmas.”

Jonathan on Tuesday wrote to the National Assembly asking for additional N161bn to offset arrears of subsidy claims and ensure payments till December 31.

The President told the federal lawmakers that the government had so far spent N881bn to pay subsidy this year.

Okonjo-Iweala, had on October 21, said that there would not be a supplementary appropriation for petroleum subsidy payments.

According to her, the N888bn allocated for subsidy payments in the 2012 budget should be enough to pay petroleum product importers.

She said that the fund had not been exhausted and should be enough to pay the subsidy bills for this year.

“We have not exhausted the fund and there may not be a need for a supplementary budget,” Okonjo-Iweala had said.

The oil marketers’ secretary also said that the N917bn budgeted for fuel subsidy in 2013 would not guarantee adequate supply of the product next year.

He said, “N917bn will not be adequate because the government wants to put Nigerians in double jeopardy. They said they are subsidising fuel yet people can’t see fuel to buy and where they have fuel, people still pay very high to get this product.

“The N971bn for fuel subsidy will not be adequate. At 35 million litres of fuel per day, the money can’t be enough. If they want to remove subsidy let them remove it instead of what they are doing right now. Based on the demand, the amount that would be reasonable for fuel subsidy in 2013 should be between N1.2tn and N1.5tn.”

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives on Wednesday suspended debate on the

fresh N161.6bn request by the President Goodluck Jonathan to fund fuel subsidy.

The House, after the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, read the President’s letter on Tuesday, had scheduled it for debate on Wednesday. But no sooner had the debate commenced than the Speaker halted it and said the members needed to be briefed by some Housee committees in order to properly debate the request for additional funding by Jonathan to pay subsidy.

Tambuwal said it was necessary for the House committees on Finance, Petroleum Resources (Upstream); Petroleum Resources, (Downstream); and Appropriation to brief members on the details of the supplementary budget.

Tambuwal noted that lawmakers had raised several “critical questions and issues” in the course of the debate for which answers had not been provided.

The speaker ruled to “suspend the debate until we meet tomorrow (today)” for the House to be briefed by the chairmen of the four committees.

“The debate will continue tomorrow”, he added.

Before the suspension, however, some members had sought to know the extent of the implementation of the Subsidy Re-Investment Programme since government had chosen to make additional budget for subsidy.

But while defending the President’s request, House Majority Leader, Mrs. Mulikat Adeola-Akande, claimed that it was a proactive step taken by Jonathan to prevent fuel scarcity during the Christmas and New Year period.

“I appeal to members to support the second reading of this bill”, she stated.

http://www.punchng.com/news/subsidy-budget-oil-marketers-accuse-okonjo-iweala-of-deceit/

Before Sarah Bonetta’s fame she posed for this water colour by Octavius Oakley, who was known as a painter of gypsies and personalities including Joseph Paxton. The painting went on sale in London in March 2000 priced at £7,500 when the catalogue subtitled it “the Dahoman Captive”.

Sarah Forbes Bonetta - The African Princess in Brighton


Author: Toyin Ashiru

Miss Sarah Forbes Bonetta, was a West African Egbado Omoba of royal blood, who was orphaned in a brutal massacre in her home country at the age of eight.

She was captured and later given to Queen Victoria by Captain Fredrick. E. Forbes of the Royal Navy who received Sarah as a gift from King Ghezo of Dahomey. Mr Forbes then gave her to Queen Victoria as a present "She would be a present from the King of the blacks to the Queen of the Whites, he later wrote in his journal.

The Queen was immediately impressed by the girl's natural regal manner, exceptional intelligence and gift for academic studies, literature, art and music that she gave her an allowance for her welfare with Sarah becoming a regular visitor to Windsor Castle. Sarah's genius became admired throughout the royal court and she continued to outshine her tutors with her advanced abilities in all studies spending her life between the royal household and Sierra Leone where she was educated.


Video


Sarah was raised as Queen Victoria’s goddaughter in the British middle class and went to the Church Missionary Society to be educated, she also attended the Female Institution in Freetown, Sierra Leone. When she was 12 years old, Queen Victoria commanded that Sarah return to England, where she was placed under the charge of Mr and Mrs Schon at Chatham.

Sarah would later gain a long lasting cough that was caused by the climate transferring from Africa to Great Britain which would later prove to be fatal.

In August 1862 Sarah was sanctioned by Queen Victoria to marry James Pinson Labulo Davies at Nicholas Church in Brighton . Davies was a Yoruba businessman of considerable wealth for the period. The wedding party, was an extravgent affair and Sarah arrived from West Hill Lodge, Brighton in ten carriages and pairs of grays. There were sixteen bridesmaids and the wedding was made up of white ladies with African gentlemen, and African ladies with white gentlemen the couple later moved back to their native Africa after their wedding and Sarah was baptised at a church in the town of Badagry, a former slave port.

Shortly after her marriage, Sarah gave birth to a daughter and was granted permission by the Queen to name the child Victoria - the Queen also became her Godmother.

Sarah visited the Queen in 1867 with her daughter and then returned to Lagos where she had two more children.

James Davies later became very concerned about Sarah having a bad cough that would not go away, and she was later diagnosed with tuberculosis dying at the age of 37 in 1880 she was buried in Funchal Madiera.

Later, upon Sarah's death the Queen wrote in her diary: "Saw poor Victoria Davies, my black godchild, who learnt this morning of the death of her dear mother". So proud was Queen Victoria of Sarah's daughter, that when she passed her music examination, teachers and children had one day holiday.

Her daughter Victoria was given an annuity by the Queen and she continued to visit the royal household throughout her life.

In his journal Captain Forbes gave an account of his mission with relation to Miss Bonetta.

I have only to add a few particulars about my extraordinary present The African child” in a former portion of these journal I have mentioned the Okeadon war; one of the captives of this dreadful slave-hunt was this interesting girl.

It is usual to reserve the best born for the high behest of royalty and the immolation on the tombs of the diseased nobility . For one of these ends she had been detained at court for two years: proving, by her not having been sold to slave dealer, that she was of a good family.

So extraordinary a present would have been at least burden, had I not the conviction that, in consideration of the nature of the service I had performed, the government would consider her as the property of the crown.

To refuse, would have been to have signed her death warrant: which, probably, would have been carried into execution forthwith. Immediately on arriving…
Of her own history she was only a confused idea. Her parents were decapitated; her brother and sisters she knows not what their fate might have been .
For her age supposed to be eight years. She is a perfect genius; she now speaks English well, and have and great talent for music. She has won the affections, with but few exceptions, of all who have known her, she is far in advance of any white child of her age, in aptness of learning, and strength of mind and affection: and with her, been an excellent specimens of the Negro race.

http://afroeurope..ca/2011/09/sarah-forbes-bonetta-african-princess.html
Sarah Forbes Bonetta

Corruption: Jonathan’s govt not to blame for Transparency International rating – Presidency
On December 10, 2012 · In News 9:50 pm

ABUJA—The Presidency said Monday that the current rating of the Transparency International was not the fault of the present administration but due to decades of endemic corruption in our polity.

Faulting claim by the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, which placed the blame for rating of Nigeria as the 35th most corrupt nation, at the door step of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe said such claim “is preposterous and lacking in credibility, and can only be best described as pure political mischief.


President Goodluck Jonathan
He said, “Lai Mohammed knows they, in the Action Congress, live in glass houses and should not throw stones because his party is home to some of the most notoriously corrupt Nigerians ever. He should not throw stones just to score cheap political points. His party has no moral leg it can stand to pontificate about corruption.

According to Okupe, “Nigerians are not fools and cannot be fooled for too long that there is endemic corruption within the rank and file of his party. It is an undeniable fact that corruption is a major challenge to the nation and its people, and everyone agrees it is endemic and has been with us for over three decades.

“Few days ago we spelt out details of commendable efforts of this administration in fighting corruption and also confirming the demonstrable political will of this administration to take up this onerous challenge.

Critics of this administration appear to be deliberately undiscerning, confusing incidences of corrupt practices unraveled by this administration and legal steps being taken by the administration as being corrupt practice of the same administration.

Part of this mischief and attempt to bring opprobrium on this administration was the assertion by President of the Campaign for Democracy, CD, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin. She said N5 trillion was stolen under Jonathan, and that “the non-implementation of the Farouk Lawan report as well as the Nuhu Ribadu Presidential Task Force findings has completely killed the fight against corruption in Nigeria.”

The above calls to question her respect for facts because it is a fact that the Lawan report has been handed over to the EFCC, and there are ongoing prosecution deriving from this, while the President just set up a White Paper committee on the Ribadu report. How do you implement a report without a white Paper?.

We reiterate that the conclusion that N5 trillion was stolen under President’s Jonathan’s watch is gross misinformation and absolute falsehood. Nowhere in the Ribadu was that conclusion reached. It never happened, and it is wholesomely untrue.

“We want to state categorically, for the umpteenth time that it was this administration that exposed the oil subsidy scam, pension scam, and also set up the Nuhu Ribadu committee to look into the rot in the oil sector.

“We must state that the fight against corruption is not a short boxing bout, but a long fight that will be systemic, strategic and institutional. The role of the judiciary in bringing culprits to justice cannot be underestimated in the war against corruption. No matter the Federal Government’s commitment , the President has no power to jail any suspect by presidential fiat. Therefore he should not be made a scape goat for the failure of other arms of government who fail to judiciously discharge their responsibilities. It is also not true that lack of funding is stalling the fight as concluded by Chairman, Coalition Against Corruption, Debo Adeniran. We must not forget what the EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde said recently about how judges and lawyers stall trials of high profile suspects. The two trials of James Ibori inNigeriaand theUnited Kingdomfully underscore this point.

“The Federal Government, mindful of this judicial stumbling block, has put together a bill to reform the criminal justice system, so that justice will no longer be evaded through sundry abuses of court processes.

“We assure Nigerians that in spite of the persistent and perplexing mischief of deceitful politicians, and some unpatriotic Nigerians who never sees good in whatever government does, the administration will continue its unrelenting fight to rid our society of this menace.

This is a war the President has set for himself and he has demonstrated the will and capability to prosecute same.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/corruption-jonathans-govt-not-to-blame-for-transparency-international-rating-presidency/

Alamieyeseigha

Wogu and Orubebe: We are waiting
On December 5, 2012 · In People & Politics 8:17 pm

By Ochereome Nnanna

IF President Goodluck Jonathan will lose his bid for re-election he will have only himself to blame. It will not be because of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s laughable political busybody antics, whereby he pretends to still have the clout to determine whom to give power to or take from.

It will not be due to Northern sectional political warlords who deliriously believe they still have the power and divine right to rule and to give and take power from anyone of their choosing.

If Jonathan fails to be re-elected, it will be because Nigerians, by 2015, will be so fed up with his perceived lack of firm leadership (which masquerades in a myriad of corruption and allegations of corruption within and around his government) that they will vote for Anyone-But-Jonathan, ABJ. This might include Islamic fundamentalist, Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan and his ethnic kinsmen may provide the “banana peel” for his downfall unless the President gets up and takes action against the high corruption perception around his regime.

The Federal Government has not cleared the air on the allegation that over N5 trillion(or nearly $35 billion!) has been stolen, embezzled or defrauded from our coffers and petroleum resources within just 30 months of the Jonathan era (May 2010 and now). That’s more than this year’s federal budget and enough fund to reverse our national infrastructural deficit. Also, the regime has not reacted in any way to allegations that certain ministers have not lived above board.


President Goodluck Jonathan
Stories have been circulating about the Minister of the Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe’s alleged Abuja mansions said to be “gifts” by contractors. I hope these won’t turn out to be Greek gifts. Of particular mention is a magnificent “multi-billion naira” edifice in highbrow Mabushi, allegedly donated to Orubebe by a construction company. We have waited for Orubebe to respond to these allegations but we have been met by deafening silence. We want Orubebe to open up to us. Silence will not do him – or the rest of us – any good. Happily enough, the House of Representatives has set up committees to probe these allegations. We eagerly look forward to his appearance and response.

Orubebe’s case is pathetic considering that his Ministry has not done much to reduce the developmental challenges of the Niger Delta; in particular the East – West Road. A Ministry of Niger was one of the trumpeted panaceas to the problems of the region during the dark days of armed militancy. Now that we have it and Niger Deltans as President and Minister, we wonder why we are no further than where we were.

A second minister recently joined the queue of Jonathan’s men accused of participating in defrauding the nation through the odious subsidy claims. His name is Chief Emeka Wogu. He is obviously a privileged Jonathan minister, having come back to a second term in the Ministry of Labour and Productivity after the 2011 elections, just as Orubebe did. Is it not strange that it is these ministers who were reappointed on their presumed meritorious handling of their respective portfolios during Jonathan’s “interim” presidency that are now being connected with this mess?

Wogu is reported to own one Pinnacle Contractors Ltd, which allegedly defrauded the Federal Government of N2.7 billion in the petrol subsidy racket. However, unlike Orubebe who has remained mute, Wogu mandated a hapless civil servant to debunk the allegation, saying he had sold his stake in the company before the alleged crime was committed. A Doubting Thomas on Nairaland, a discussion forum on the Net, asked whether Pinnacle was like manufacturing giants, Dangote Cement that someone should find it of interest to buy!

Advocacy groups and the Conference of Political Parties, CNPP, have commendably joined the swelling voices of well-meaning Nigerians calling for Wogu’s real involvement in this scandal to be probed. I am on the same proverbial page with them. This same Wogu is, incidentally, the Chairman of the White Paper Committee on the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, PRSTF, which was headed by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. It is saddled with the job of checking if companies like Pinnacle is guilty as the Ribadu Committee and others indicated.

It makes sense that Wogu must step down from this Committee, as he cannot be a judge over a case in which he is an accused.

Most observers of the Wogu saga are not convinced that selling his stake in Pinnacle Contractors (which an advocacy group led by Dino Melaye, has traced to Wogu’s family) automatically means he will no longer “play” for them from his privileged position in the Jonathan government. It also does not necessarily mean he will. This is why we must find out if he did. We want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That’s all.

It is important for us the settle the Wogu/Orubebe cases quickly and decisively not only because they are serving ministers but also because each of them is reportedly eyeing the government houses of their states come the next election.

If indeed they have questionable baggage we must not allow them to vie for any post in 2015, especially as Wogu and Orubebe are already touting themselves as Jonathan’s anointed candidates. This is why they must level with the public, pronto. We are waiting and watching.

Unless the President clears these corruption allegations concerning his officials he will not be able to escape the consequences of their actions come 2015. Even Alhaji Shehu Shagari, a “saint” by Nigerian standards, never did. The other day President Jonathan advised ministers and political appointees with political ambition to quit now. No one has done so, yet most of them are actively stoking up financially and otherwise for electoral contests in 2015, mainly at the expense of the public treasury.

If they will not go willingly why not show them the way to the gate before they damage this government?

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/wogu-and-orubebe-we-are-waiting/

Wogu & Orubebe

$1.09b Malabo payment: I’m not a crook, says Adoke
Posted by: Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja Posted date: December 08, 2012


Tempers flared yesterday during the session by the Leo Ogor-headed ad hoc committee investigating the transaction involving the Federal Government and Shell/Agip companies and Malabu Oil & Gas in respect of Oil Block (OPL 245).

There was a heated exchange of words between the committee members and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke.

Adoke, who was at the hearing, alleged that there has been efforts to malign his name over the payment of $1.09b to Malabo Oil & Gas by the Federal Government.

According to him, he was not to blame for the payment of $1.09b. He said he did the best he could to mediate in the matter by telling those who wrote a petition over the matter on the right course of action to follow.

Adoke said there had been various inferences linking him to the payment and painting pictures that he connived with the Minister of State for Finance to pay the huge sum to Malabu from the Federation Account.

The drama began when he was asked by the committee if he facilitated the payment to Malabu.

Adoke replied: “I was not that irresponsible and I did not authorise the payment of money from the federation account to Malabu. The perception there was that the Attorney-General and the Minister of State for Finance connived to pay some money to Malabu”

Another question from a committee member, John Dyegh ( ACN Benue) who insisted that the Minister knew about the payment to Malabu got him angry.

“A letter from Shell was transmitted to the Ministry of Finance who carried out the instruction of those who put money in the escrow account.

“My duty was to say to the Minister of Finance that conditions have been met and to pass it on to the Finance Ministry and the Accountant General of the Federation.

“By the time the petition came in, the issues had already been resolved. The process was irreversible. And I also advised those who wrote the petition that the appropriate thing was, as this was an internal dispute, to go back and resolve it themselves or go to court or report to the appropriate agencies of government.

“The Malabu matter has been on for 12 years and this latter day claimant did not come forward to lay claim to the oil bloc. This latter day claimant waited till after the transaction had been resolved and the issue had become irreversible before writing a petition to the AGF.

“The office of the AGF is not an investigative office. I directed them to take that petition to the appropriate agency. I directed them. I know where this question is coming from. Ask me and I will give you the answer. I am not a crook and I don’t support crooks!”

But Dyegh retorted: “You are calling yourself names. Nobody is calling you such a name.”

At this juncture, the Chairman of the ad hoc committee, Leo Ogor, intervened.

“AGF, we are in the green Chamber. We don’t presume. We are here on a fact finding mission. Members can ask any question, no matter how foolish you presume it is,” he said.

The Minister promptly replied: “Mr Chairman, I also ask you to see reason with me. I cannot be unduly maligned by people who have been the architects of the ruins of this country.”

Part of the petition by the supposed rightful owners of Malabu reads: “We also understand that Mr. President directed right of ownership of the OPL on all the true owners of Malabu Oil and Gas Limited, but unfortunately, the AGF, the Minister of State for Finance and the Minister of Petroleum acted to the contrary and circumvented the presidential approval through various dubious resolution agreement which was crafted dubiously, planned and executed as shown in the conceited move.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/1-09b-malabo-payment-im-not-a-crook-says-adoke/

Jonathan: Combating Corruption By Conversation By Sonala Olumhense*
Posted: December 6, 2012 - 23:18


Columnist: Sonala Olumhense
There is a growing clamor for the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Emeka Wogu, and the Minister responsible for the Niger Delta, Mr. Godspower Orubebe, to resign their appointment, or for President Goodluck Jonathan to kick them out.

Every Nigerian knows they will not resign. But will Jonathan fire them?

Here is a part of the story:

Mr. Wogu chairs the White Paper Committee on the Petroleum Revenue Task Force (otherwise known as the Nuhu Ribadu Committee).

In the days before he received this whitewashing appointment, it turned out that, as part of the ongoing buccaneering in the oil sector, the government had lost N2.7 billion to a company called Pinnacle Contractors.

But none of the fuel for which it was paid twice was ever delivered, and the Coordinating Minister and Minister of Finance , Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced Pinnacle to be one of the companies that had not only defrauded Nigeria, but also simply disappeared along with the loot. Like a thief in the night.

Pinnacle Contractors was so good at what it did (or did not do) that it could not even be found in the database of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

A true thief in the night: converting daylight into an ally. Abracadabra!

And then, mysteriously on November 30, just one week ago, Pinnacle Contractors suddenly appeared in the books of the CAC.

And then, just when you were about to say you had seen it all, it turns out that Pinnacle Contractors belongs to Mr. Wogu and his family. This, remember, is the same man Jonathan has charged with reviewing the contentious work of the Ribadu Committee on the oil sector.

Demonstrating equal abracadabra dimensions is the story of Elder Godspower Orubebe, the powerful Minister of the Niger Delta who is so close to the president they might as well be brothers.

Suddenly, Mr. Orubebe is being probed by the House of Representatives.

How? Mr. Orubebe, famous for trying to bribe visiting representatives of the Save Nigeria Group at Aso Rock two years ago, currently resides in an opulent mansion in the Mabushi District of Abuja, a gift he allegedly received from the construction company, Setraco. The spread in Mabushi is said to be a billionaire’s paradise: not because Mr. Orubebe spent a billion on it but because it was allegedly built for him for billions.

Critics, notably in the House, say he did not even declare the property with the Code of Conduct Bureau. Those critics are somewhat unkind: what if the Minister is unsatisfied with the quality of the shopping malls or the soccer pitches? Perhaps he should not declare it as an asset before it has met his discriminating tastes?

Orubebe, anyhow, is alleged to have been taking advantage of his office to collect similar gifts. Representative Odeneye Kehinde, who sponsored the motion in the House, said among others, “The minister’s financial escapades and liaisons are in Dubai and other corruption shelters overseas.”
He also said Orubebe has “paid for so many phantom projects.”

In response, Mr. Orubebe dismissed the allegations as the work of his detractors and mischief-makers and extortionists. It is remarkable how the rich and the powerful always seem to attract to themselves and their exploits such undesirables…jealous people who cannot invent a Setraco of their own?

Seriously speaking, these are bizarre, shameful stories. Were we Ghana or South Africa, or even Niger Republic, I would have agreed with those who say it is in the interest of Mr. Jonathan’s “offensive” against corruption to move the two men sideways until they have cleaned up their records. After all, only the United States fights corruption with more solid uppercuts than Mr. Jonathan’s government, as Mr. Jonathan himself has said.

But it is Nigeria, and it is too much to expect that the government would be embarrassed or concerned by matters as minor as these. Wogu is dealing with allegations relating to a miserly N2.7 billion, and Orubebe with a mansion said to be just “billions.”

These are infinitesimal amounts of money. These are amounts that are far too small to attract the attention or respect of Mr. Jonathan.
As usual, therefore, he should simply ignore these petty issues and keep his cabinet as it is.

There are several reasons for this. By refusing to listen to the public, Mr. Jonathan will once again demonstrate that he is his own man, and not accountable to anybody. That is the stuff of which powerful men are made. An approach of this nature will enable him to focus on the most important element: winning the 2015 re-election race.

Second, at least one of the two men is a personal friend of Mr. Jonathans. No friend of Nigeria’s most powerful man is ever corrupt, for that would suggest that he eats and drinks with corrupt people and is himself corrupt. Mr. Jonathan should simply tell his hecklers, “I don’t give damn!”
But the most important reason why Mr. Jonathan should ignore these complaints is obvious: how can he fire these two men and let others in his cabinet be?

Remember: several have been accused of various acts of corruption, and Mr. Jonathan looked in his pockets, like a man searching for coins, and simply did not find a damn to give.

They said Diezani Alison Madueke, Her Excellency the Minister of Petroleum Resources, was corrupt. Several reports have made a variety of allegations in that regard in the past few years. One of them, 234NEXT newspaper—God rest its soul—did an elaborate, intensive investigation that was so compelling its reporters and editors won at least one international award.

The President rummaged in his pockets, and again, did not find a dime—I mean, damn. The matter died, especially when that pesky NEXT newspaper died. Hallelujah!

Other reports also said that the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, was corrupt. They alleged that he illegally authorised the transfer of N165 billion federal funds into another one that was being controlled by a felon. They were funds originally paid by to the government for the famous oil block OPL 245. The matter will die.

Earlier in January, Adoke, according to a website which claimed to have dug hard and deep, was also found to be the owner of multi-million dollars in secret bank accounts. And the site published details.

The Minister acknowledged he owned those accounts, but said he owned no such funds.

He may have been telling the truth, but the word will never know because as is his custom, President Jonathan did not give a damn, and he allowed Mr. Adoke to carry on.

This is the background. That history of not giving a damn is yielding us a deteriorating international image—whoever knew that was possible—in the hands of this government.

That is why, in Mr. Jonathan’s own eyes, he has a harmonious, productive cabinet. They are a good team. When they look across the table at each other during each Wednesday’s contract-awarding ritual, each person knows that he or she is part of a story that is funnier than anything in Nollywood. All they have to do is stick together, and like a good soccer team, attack and defend for each other.

They have as a leader a man who tells the time by how much of a damn he does not give: a man who combats corruption with conversation, knowing that when he looks down the table, he will see the tragic figures of Labaran Maku and Allison-Madueke.

In a moment, one will step outside that door and tell Nigerians to shut up, stop complaining and take their medicine like strong citizens. The other will blame the country’s terrible image on the media and the people for their loudmouths.
No, Mr. Jonathan, you do not need to fire any Ministers, because there may not be many left standing. Let your philosophy remain that there is neither corruption nor integrity. That is how the Americans do it, right?

And some Ministers are right in one thing: Unless Nigerians wasn’t to bring some heat, they should simply shut up. They know exactly how we got here.

*sonala.olumhense@gmail.com

http://saharareporters.com/column/jonathan-combating-corruption-conversation-sonala-olumhense

Federal character breeds mediocrity, says Sanusi

Posted by: Nduka Chiejina Posted date: December 06, 2012


The Constitution encourages mediocrity, especially with the federal character principle enshrined in it, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said yesterday.

Sanusi demanded to know the relationship between the federal character principle and the number of ministers in the cabinet.

He spoke on the last day of the Nigeria Economic Summit (NES) in Abuja.

Sanusi said: “As intelligent and as educated human beings, what is the connection between the number of states and the number of ministries at the federal level. We are talking about federal character, so if you have 50 states today, you must have 50 ministries; if you have a 100 states you must have 100 ministries?”

He criticised the Constitution for saying that there must be a minister from every state. Sanusi said: “If we create a state for the Southeast since they say they want one more state, then you must have one more minister and create a ministry, even if we don’t need it. So, because you have created one more state, the federal government must have a minister from that state”.

He described these as political issues that must be addressed. Sanusi lamented that Nigeria has “a constitution that makes it impossible for us to develop”.

Defending his position, he said: “We are required by law that the President must appoint a minister from every state. So, you have 36 and there is a system now where after the 36, again because of the federal character, you now have one per geopolitical zone. So, you have 42. We cannot develop, if we continue to have so much of our resources where government is spending 70 per cent of the nation’s revenue on itself and leaving 30 per cent to the people. Is that a sensible situation?”

The solution he explained “is to face this reality”. “Now, we are amending the constitution, why do we need 500 legislators?And let’s ask ourselves why is it that no African country has adopted this political structure? Only Nigeria, not even South Africa.”

He described himself as “a strong believer of diversity, but as a country, we have taken this diversity beyond a reasonable limit.

“We have focused so much on diversity and have succeeded in enthroning mediocrity so long as the diversity requirement is met.

Sanusi added: “The greatest challenge facing this country is the challenge of a people that have lost sight of the importance of merit.

“You have 42, you do cabinet reshuffle and bring in another 42 and I’m sure between 1999 and now, we have had more than 200 ministers and how many of them can we really remember?”

Because there are too many ministers in the cabinet, Sanusi said, “their jobs are so poorly defined and you cannot remember what they did because the only way to remember a man is based on what he did”.

Using himself and his state as an example, Sanusi said Kano State “used to be one state”. “But now it is Kano and Jigawa. When it was one state you had one governor and maybe nine or 10 commissioners. I went to King’s College and Ahmadu Bello University on Kano State government scholarship. My parents didn’t pay. I was in King’s College and the state government even paid for my rail ticket from Lagos to Kano and back and I wasn’t the only one.”

However, that one state, Sanusi said, has become “two states , two governors, two deputy governors, 40 commissioners, maybe 80 legislators and only God knows how many special advisers and assistants”.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/federal-character-breeds-mediocrity-says-sanusi/

Free for all as Osun hold Enugu to draw in football
On December 4, 2012 · In Sports
10:42 pm

It was free for all on Tuesday after Team Osun held their Enugu State counterparts to a 1-1 draw in the football event of the ongoing 18th National Sports Festival.

Trouble started when at the end of the preliminary game, an Enugu State player went to register his displeasure about the officiating to the referee.

The players from Enugu state claimed they were intimidated by the match officials.

However, security men at the venue at Yaba College of Technology Pitch prevented him and his colleagues from having access to the referee.

But trouble worsened when the coach, players and fans of the Enugu State side allegedly beat up an unidentified lady whose was among the people jeering at them.

The development led others to retaliate before the situation was brought under control after the Osun team and the match officials were taken away to safety by policemen.

Meanwhile, about five players and the coach of the Enugu team, Benedict Ugwu, were taken to the Sabo Police Station, Yaba, for allegedly beating up the lady.

The coach of the Enugu team Ugwu told newsmen that a situation where players and their officials were not satisfied with the outcome of matches was not in the best of the festival.

He called for more objective assessment of matches by officials to engender credibility and growth of the round leather game.

“We suspected the antics of the referee from the beginning of the game.
“We earned a free kick that was not awarded and he went ahead to award a penalty to Osun which was uncalled for.

“The fans as you can see are not comfortable with what happened here today (Tuesday) and with things like this, football will never grow in this country,” Ugwu said.

He regretted that the fight broke out and urged the organisers to ensure that officiating was fair to avoid such situations.

YABATECH had recorded similar troubles in the match between Gombe and Kwara and physically challenged athletes almost marred the game between Gombe and Osun football teams.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/free-for-all-as-osun-hold-enugu-to-draw-in-football/

Anti-Corruption Network Asks Guild of Editors to Sanction Presidential Spokesman, Reuben Abati, For Violating Professional Ethics
Posted: December 5, 2012 - 16:17

Posted by siteadmin

caption: Reuben Abati

By SaharaReporters, New York
Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) has called on the Nigerian Guild of Editors to sanction Dr. Reuben Abati, the spokesman to President Goodluck Jonathan, for breaching the ethics of journalism.

In a statement signed by its chairman, Olarewaju Suraju, CSNAC affirmed that truth is the cornerstone of journalism, according to the Code of Ethics for Nigerian journalists, and every journalist should strive diligently to ascertain the truth in every event.

Quoting the Code of Ethics, it said, “The public has a right to know. Factual, accurate balance and fair reporting is the ultimate objective of good journalism and the basis for earning public trust and confidence. The journalist therefore should refrain from publishing inaccurate and misleading information”.

On that ground, CSNAC said that Abati has on several occasions breached the provision, citing the following:

• Stating that the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, was hale and hearty a claim contradicted by the President during a media chat on November 18 where he confirmed that his wife was recuperating from illness;

• Releasing a statement to the media on November 14 on behalf of the president stating that the president had cancelled the Manitoba Power contract, a statement also contradicted by the President during the media chat when he said that the contract had not been revoked but was being regularized as due process had not been followed in awarding it.

• Telling State House correspondents on August 26 2012 that the Government was in talks with Boko Haram, a claim dismissed by the President at the media chat when he categorically said, “There is no dialogue between Boko Haram and Government.”
Calling for professional sanction on the presidential adviser CSNAC reminded the Guild of Editors, “We trust that in line with the provisions of your constitution, you would preserve the traditions and standards of the practice of journalism in Nigeria by canvassing a strict adherence with the code of ethics of the profession.”

CSNAC is a coalition of over 150 anti-corruption organizations whose primary aim is to constructively combat corruption vigorously and to ensure the effective monitoring of the various anti-graft agencies in the fight against corruption and to enthrone transparency, accountability, probity, and total commitment in the fight to eradicate corruption in Nigeria.

Text of the press statement:
CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK AGAINST CORRUPTION,LAGOS

THE PRESIDENT
NIGERIAN GUILD OF EDITORS

Dear Sir;
PETITION AGAINST DR. REUEBN ABATI

Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) is a coalition of over hundred and fifty Anti- corruption organizations whose primary aim is to constructively combat corruption vigorously and to ensure the effective monitoring of the various Anti-graft agencies in its activities in the fight against corruption and to enthrone transparency, accountability, probity, and total commitment in the fight to eradicate corruption in Nigeria.

According to the Code of ethics for Nigerian Journalists, truth is the cornerstone of journalism and every journalist should strive diligently to ascertain the truth in every event. The Code of ethics further states under the provision for accuracy and fairness that,

“The public has a right to know. Factual, accurate balance and fair reporting is the ultimate objective of good journalism and the basis for earning public trust and confidence. The journalist therefore should refrain from publishing inaccurate and misleading information”.

We believe, Dr. Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, has on following occasions breached the above provision;

Dr. Abati stated that the first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan was hale and hearty. The president contradicted this statement during a media chat where he confirmed that the first lady was recupperating from illness.

On Wednesday, 14th November 2012, Dr. Abati, released a press statement to the media on behalf of the president stating that the president had cancelled the Manitoba Power contract. However, during a media chat with the President, on Sunday, November 18th 2012, he said that the contract had not been revoked but was being regularized as due process had not been followed in awarding the contract.

On Sunday 26th August 2012, Dr. Abati told the state house correspondents that the Government was in talks with Boko Haram. The President dismissed this claim stating that “there is no dialogue between Boko Haram and Government”

In the circumstances and by virtue of the code of ethics for Nigeria journalists whom Dr. Reuben Abati is a renowned member, we request that Dr. Abati be sanctioned for breach of the code of ethics for Nigerian Journalist.

We trust that in line with the provisions of your constitution, you would preserve the traditions and standards of the practice of journalism in Nigeria by canvassing a strict adherence with the code of ethics of the profession.

Yours sincerely
OLANREWAJU SURAJU
Chairman

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/anti-corruption-network-asks-guild-editors-sanction-presidential-spokesman-reuben-abati-vi

Minister of Labour and Productivity Emeka Wogu