₦airaland Forum

The Otasanya royal family, Alawun village, Sagamu, Ogun State, has alleged that the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Ajagungbale, and Chief Asiwaju Dauda Ayinla are currently encroaching on their family land.

The royal family therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun, the Ogun State House of Assembly, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, and the obas in Ogun State, to come to their rescue.

According to a statement dated March 5, 2016, and issued on behalf of the aggrieved royal family by Prince JImi Olatunji, "The entire sons, daughters, chiefs, Baale, ijoye's, omojas, and head of family of the Otasanya royal family of Alawun village, Sagamu Local Government Area (LGA) of Ogun State, hereby cry to the incumbent president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Governor of Ogun State, Ogun State House of Assembly, National Assembly, the Inspector General of Police, the Obas in Ogun State to rescue us from the hands of the Commissioner of Police (CP), Ogun State, the Area Commander, Sagamu Remo, AIG Zone ll, Onikan, Lagos, Chief Asiwaju Dauda Ayinla Adeleye, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), land speculators and a host of other persons hiding under persons so mentioned above.

"We have been in Alawun land for over 300 years. But recently and particularly on March 1, 2016, the persons herein mentioned invaded the village with thugs, hoodlums, suspended members of the disbanded Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), who were all armed with guns and other dangerous weapons and started shooting sporadically, saying RCCG and Chief Asiwaju Dauda Ayinla Adeleye sent them to take over our land.

"The invaders were assisted and aided by policemen from Elewe-Eran in Abeokuta, Sagamu Area Command, Zone ll Police Command, Mowe and Redeem Camp Police Divisions.

"Members of our family were arrested, taken and detained at the Redeem Camp Police Division and Zone ll Command while the land grabbers started bulldozing our family land and destroying our millions of naira property.

"They stationed themselves on the land. Some of our family members’ vehicles were taken away for no just reason."

Earlier in a letter dated September 18, 2014, and addressed to the Managing Director (MD), SAMFAT Property Care Nigeria Limited, Ogun State, the Otasanya royal family, had issued a warning to the property company, its heirs, agents and representatives, that it was the unanimous agreement of the family, "That no individual/branch of Otasanya family should act on behalf of the family without the consent of other people/branches of the family."

The said letter, signed by Sakiru Otasanya added that, "Secondly, in a meeting held at D/4, Gbasemo Compound, off Ijagba, Sagamu, Ogun State (Head of the family's house), between the family representatives and the seven branches of Otasanya at Alawun, the family representatives warned all the seven branches of Otasanya at Alawun community, that none of them should acquire the service/assistance outside the family single-handedly or collectively without the consent of the family representatives and the general family.

"Thirdly, based on the above statements, SAMFAT Property Care Nigeria Limited, your heirs, agents and representatives are hereby informed, that we (Otasanya family), may, later, acquire your service (s) as the land agent at Alawun Community. Though, we heard that one (1) or two (2) branches of Otasanya family brought you to Alawun community as a land agent without the consent of our representatives and general family, which is against our resolution mentioned above.

"Finally, as from now henceforth, we, the Otasanya family, do not need/want your service(s) as a land agent at Alawun Community via Simawa, Makun, Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria.

"Therefore, you, SAMFAT Property Care Nigeria Limited, your heirs, agents, and representatives must stop parading yourself/acting as land agent(s) at the aforementioned community.

"We hereby advise you, your heirs, agents and representatives to remove all signs that show you are a land agent to any person/branch(es) of Otasanya family at Alawun Community."

ECONOMISTS have long found Nigeria to be something of a conundrum. The macro picture has always appeared compelling – large population, oil reserves, mineral reserves, endless tracts of arable land, land and sea borders for regional domination. Indeed, the absurdity of our underperformance is only surpassed by our ability to accurately quantify our losses and missed opportunities.

In the short period that I have been privileged to serve as Minister of Finance, I have observed that even the most basic systems and controls over the management of our resources are in dire need of strengthening. While we are regaled with and shocked by details of amounts stolen, diverted or wasted, we must face the cold reality that such acts are facilitated by weaknesses in our systems.

Even if we successfully prosecute and jail every looter, ghost worker and other economic saboteurs, there is every risk that those caught will only be replaced by persons who are just as bad, or worse – unless we radically strengthen our systems and institutions.

Our President’s brave and committed fight against corruption and waste is as much an economic crusade as it is a moral one. The objective is not just to stem the corruption and loss but to execute an economic plan to channel those monies into much-needed areas that will support and reposition the economy.

In short, the fight against corruption is not about “retribution” and meting out punishment, it is about releasing funds for our economy. I am humbled to be part of the ongoing work on recovery and can report that the urgency of the work, especially our interface with nations where our money has been stashed, is propelled by our need for funds to invest in our economy.

Our economic plans are not about austerity and frugality; if that were the case then we would not be attempting an expansionary budget. We could have pursued fiscal consolidation and maintained 2015 budget size, and then introduced severe public spending cuts to balance the books by laying off workers and cutting projects. Had we done so, we would by now be the darling of the IMF and other multi-laterals.

Conversely, we are undertaking an ambitious countercyclical strategy to stimulate our sluggish economy and expanding government spending with a focus on infrastructure, the true catalyst for economic growth. This will have contractors returning to the site and re-engaging workers, it will see new projects commencing, arrears released and economic activity reinvigorated across the nation. We plan to take advantage of low global prices for commodities and contract prices. Existing contracts are being renegotiated downwards, with significant savings recorded and new projects priced to reflect current commercial realities. Our spending stimulus is private sector driven, supported by a robust procurement system that will see permanent local capacity built in a number of sectors including oil and gas, housing construction and agriculture. However, and this is the key differentiator, we plan to spend in a disciplined manner that will extract the maximum value for every naira spent.

The process of building the internal control framework to support this need for disciplined spending has begun in earnest. Our Efficiency Unit has reviewed four years of detailed expenditure data to identify trends and is already negotiating volume discounts that appropriately reflect the buying power of government. Personnel remains our largest cost. In addition to the BVN driven cleaning of our payrolls that has so far removed 23,000 fraudulent entries, we have initiated significantly stronger controls over our payroll

These efforts will exert a constant downward pressure on personnel costs until such a time as we have the assurance that every payment is accurate and valid. A similar process is now commencing in Pensions. The N160 Billion spent monthly on personnel and pensions related costs demands this as an absolute minimum.

The revenue focus is non-oil. We are revisiting historical decisions that are no longer in the best interests of the national economy. The establishment of various Boards and Parastatals to undertake the operational and revenue generating business of government was a well-intentioned attempt to provide separation from policy makers. However, as the economy has grown, so too has the revenue earned in these agencies and their financial autonomy has grown in a manner that no longer fully serves the public interest. Port charges, maritime charges, airport landing fees, visa charges, passport charges, telecoms license fees, among many others, must be tracked and accounted for.

While the Fiscal Responsibility Act was designed to provide control, actual compliance has been poor. The result has been leakage on a staggering scale, as findings from our ongoing audits suggest. This is a serious issue. The upside is a significant revenue opportunity which the TSA implementation has given us a sight of, and which we are supporting with a proactive drive for improved accountability.

At the same time, our traditional revenue sources are being supported to be more effective. In Customs, we are making the necessary investments in container scanners and other equipment required to improve collection efficiency. This is combined with the results of a compensation survey which will see the introduction of performance related pay, to reduce corruption and create an alignment of interest that will enhance revenue generation. With FIRS, there is a well-defined plan to enhance compliance by widening the tax net.

Using data to drive tax compliance, we will ensure that the tax regime is efficiently administered and that everyone pays their fair share. There is a need for a disciplined and effective system of managing our financial resources to ensure maximum value. We will no longer measure performance by the size of our budget or the amount disbursed; we must measure by the impact of that expenditure on the lives of Nigerians. To measure and manage this we have already made some key changes in the way funds are released. We have abandoned the old system of capital releases that funnelled a proportional share of available funds released to each Ministry, Department and Agency. We have a robust system in place where funds are tied to specific outcomes as documented by each agency. This is being supported by follow-up reviews to ensure implementation.

As Benjamin Disraeli once said, “We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance.” I am firmly convinced that Nigeria is on the right path. The path of discipline will confront some age old destructive habits. It will challenge some unwritten rules, and I personally will step on some highly placed toes on this journey. All this I am fully prepared for, and so I do not expect nor do I particularly want to be popular.

However, I will act in the best interest of all Nigerians to ensure that we build the economy that we desire and richly deserve.

A call has gone out to President Muhammadu Buhari, to come to the rescue of Nigerians who are in incarceration in various prisons in China.

Making this appeal was a civil society group, Patriotic Citizen Initiatives (PCI), at a stakeholder's forum in Lagos.

While pointing out the pathetic conditions and experiences of Nigerians languishing in China Prisons, the group through its president, Comrade Osita Osemene, explained that there are about 8000 Nigerians trapped in China prisons who allegedly committed immigration offences ranging from invalid travelling documentation and over-staying, to smuggling.

Osemene added that in spite of the fact that some of the offences are drug-related, most of the allegations are neither properly investigated nor proven.

He added that a lot of innocent Nigerian citizens have been unfairly roped into crimes they never committed.

According to Osemene, "An average of 40 Nigerians are being executed every year. Nigerians are used for slave labour in prisons. Many inmates have complained about the mysterious death of Nigerians in various prisons in China.

"There is also the grave allegation of organ harvesting from Nigerians by Chinese officials.

"We are also calling on the government to look into allegations of lack of access to medical facilities, the grossly inhuman treatment and lack of fair hearing by the Chinese government."

The PCI boss equally added that Nigerians are given life imprisonment and death sentences in China without a proper and fair hearing.

Osemene said, "We hereby urge President Buhari to urgently intervene on this matter by setting up a presidential inter-agency assessment delegation to China to properly investigate and ascertain the veracity of the experiences of Nigerians in China prisons and their alleged offences.

"The office of the SSA to the president on Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora should convene special stakeholders/interagency summit on the plights of Nigerians in China prisons which also should cover other European and Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia.

"The National Assembly should, as a matter of public importance and urgency, conduct public hearings on this subject matter."

In attendance at the forum were the representatives of family members of Nigerians in China prison and recent prison returnees from China.