Waivers Fraud : Punch Newspaper Rips Okonjo-Iweala’s TEDxEuston London Speech

Minister for Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

By Punch Editorial Board

What do you do when you find yourself in a slimy hole?  Wisdom dictates that you stop digging. But for Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, this treasured American dictum makes no sense as far as the issue of the corruption-drenched waivers and exemptions goes. In yet another desperate attempt to defend the misuse and abuse of import duty waivers, exemptions and concessions, she pointedly singled out The PUNCH for attack, accusing this newspaper of “trivializing corruption” at the TEDxEuston forum in faraway London.
In her latest blunder, she once again faulted our insistence that import duty waivers have become, in the hands of successive Nigerian governments, instruments of massive corruption and not of economic stimulation as she claims. After “entertaining” her audience with what she called “a whole series of newspapers with their negative reports,” the minister went on, “I had an example recently of this trivialization from one of our national newspapers, ‘The PUNCH newspaper’; they claimed that a government policy where we give incentives to industries or business people to spur them to invest in the economy was a bunch of corruption.”
But if you accuse someone of lying, you must be prepared to prove it. If you are a government minister, backed by all the power and integrity that should go with the position, that onus of proof becomes double. Not our eminent minister. As she was grandstanding in London, fresh revelations were being made back home of the magnitude of the loss to the economy of the fraudulent waivers.
The minister, in her response to a 50-point query from the House of Representatives, had claimed that only N170.73 billion worth of waivers and exemptions were granted in three years. She said waivers and exemptions worth N55.96 billion were granted in 2011, N55.34 billion in 2012 and N59.42 billion in 2013.
But her figures contrast sharply with the document from the Nigerian Customs Service. The NCS had said N603 billion was lost in duties that should have been collected between January and September last year alone.  She will also need to convince Nigerians that the Daily Trust report of January 22, 2014, How Nigeria lost N1.4 trillion to waivers between 2011 and 2013, is wrong and hers right.  The report alleged that N480 billion was lost in 2011 and a similar figure in 2012. Though the NCS denied “making any accusation of corruption in the implementation of the waivers” in a newspaper advertorial, it nevertheless confirmed that “the document credited to it was presented to the National Assembly in November 2013 upon invitation of the latter to explain shortfalls in projected revenue collection.”
Significantly, her false declaration that The PUNCH “did not even look” at her published list of waiver beneficiaries is proving to be in character. Her fighting words:  “So, when the newspaper wrote an editorial and said this was corruption. We pointed out that, ‘Yes, in the past, it wasn’t good but now we have been running a different system for two years.’ They dared us to publish those who got these waivers; and guess what? Last week, we sent it to them; yes we did. But you know what? They refused to even look at it. And they continued to insist that this was excess bite of corruption.”
This is unfair and patently false. We duly reported her claims in a story, “Nigeria lost N65.23bn to waivers in 24 months,” on December 2, 2013. Yes, we insist that, in spite of her celebrated reform, the waiver regime, even under her watch, is still dogged by corruption because her flaunted list further reinforced our position. We found waivers granted to the Gombe Central Mosque in 2011 to import 13 cartons of the Koran and carpets, and waiver to the Catholic Church, Makurdi to import children’s Bibles. What is the economic trade-off in these? In 2012, the Akwa Ibom State Government got a waiver of N271.2 million for a private aircraft, while Taraba got N13.06 million for a helicopter. In 2013, Rivers State got waivers worth N2.18 billion for a Bombardier aircraft and two Bell 412 helicopters.
The minister’s propensity to defend scandals and question even credible findings is distressing. How do waivers for aircraft to accommodate the luxurious lifestyles of state governors boost the economy or create jobs? How many jobs were created by the N450.7 million waivers to massage the First Lady’s ego to host the African Women Peace Mission, an NGO? How about the waivers given to the National Sports Commission for “motor spare parts”? Or the N141.2 million to the Delta State Government in 2013 for furniture? Nigerians need explanations also for the waiver of the N5.9 million to the Maiduguri Central Mosque in 2012 and N14 million for the “Watchtower Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses” to import “building materials and cabinet parts for kitchen door drawers.”
This is not all. The Customs were also cited to have reported how under “other goods,” as listed in the categories for concessions, goods such as fish, bulletproof vehicles and kola nuts were imported. How do these create jobs in Nigeria or stimulate local production? The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mohammed Makarfi, said the upper chamber had found that waivers were being granted for goods that had no benefit to Nigerians. He deplored the revenue shortfall of the NCS amounting to N243.69 billion in 2013 due to factors that included questionable waivers, concessions and exemptions. The PUNCH did not make up any of these allegations.
Sadly, under Okonjo-Iweala’s watch, the abuse of waivers by beneficiaries is still rampant. No one can discountenance the testimonies of the business community that has unanimously condemned the misuse and abuse of the system.
Just how deep is this cesspool? N603 billion in nine months or N1.4 trillion in three years, or N65 billion in two years or N171 billion in three years as she claims? Only our all-knowing coordinating minister has the answer. One sure clue is that she had not convincingly faulted the perverse results of the policy. But her arrogance will not allow her to admit publicly what everyone knows, including the audience of young people she addressed in the United Kingdom. The National Assembly should probe this economic rip-off.
The waiver issue will not vanish as she appears to wish. Highlighting it in the mass media does not distract from the destructive issue of corruption that has laid Nigeria low, rather, it places it on the front burner of public discourse. She does her reputation no good by continuing to defend a corrupt system and talking down at critics and stakeholders. The use of waivers here is corruption-driven and it is the responsibility of every Nigerian to put a halt to this abuse. Okonjo-Iweala cannot solve the problem as long as she continues to live in denial or to take every criticism personal. Safeguarding public finance is not about personal ego or intolerance for public scrutiny by public officials.
The grave flaw in Okonjo-Iweala’s temperament is the arrogance that makes her believe her own myth. She really thinks she is performing an economic miracle when she has done nothing of the sort as the economy is still in trouble. It is such a letdown that we are not even sure if she has any intention of getting off her high horse. Her hectoring as if she is the only one that understands the strategic economic use of waivers and concessions is rather odd and amusing.
Our waiver policy is set on the wrong course. Rather than us, it is Okonjo-Iweala that is trivialising corruption the same way she failed to confront the massive fuel subsidy fraud of 2011 before the January 2012 mass protests across the country silenced her and her specious experts.  She is up to the same bullying tactics rather than investigate the complaints of Customs, business operators, lawmakers and the media that beneficiaries routinely abuse and misapply the waivers. It is still a system driven by corruption and patronage.
As for The PUNCH, our long-standing reputation for objectivity and as champions of the anti-corruption war cannot be assailed by a temporary occupant of public office. This is our stand.
 

Saharareporters

Nigerian legislators should work part time – Pius Adesanmi

PIUS ADESANMI

The don also called for a one chamber legislature.
Following the common notion that Nigeria’s legislators have underperformed in their duties of creating enabling laws, a PREMIUM TIMES columnist and Visiting Professor of Africa Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon, Pius Adesanmi has advocated for legislators to work part time.
Mr. Adesanmi, who was the lead speaker at the 2014 Obafemi Awolowo’s Commemorative Birthday Symposium held in Lagos, Tuesday, also called for the scrapping of bi-camera legislature for a single chamber legislature.
“Given the fact that to describe our NASS as corrupt and indolent is being nice, we need only one chamber and lawmakers should be working part time,” he said.
Mr. Adesanmi who extolled the legacy of the late Premier of the defunct Western Region, Obafemi Awolowo, popularly called Awo, also pushed for the adoption of independent candidates during elections, an idea Awo criticised.
Mr. Adesanmi argued that with the “idea poverty” within the country’s political parties “is it not time to give consideration to independent candidates? I should be able to rise above the rot and present myself to the people.”
True Federalism
The don said late Awo was the pioneer and the loudest advocate of true federalism in the country. He said, according to Awo’s autobiography, he started his pursuit for true federalism in 1928 when he was 18 years old.
“Awolowo was demagogic and vatic and that made him the loudest of Nigeria’s founding fathers that tried to direct Nigeria to the road path and not the bush path.”
“He spent also about 30 years before the era of independence, developing and applying his mind to the constitutional existence of a country. His effort at getting Nigeria’s constitution framework right was documented in series of essay, books and articles written by him over the years.”
“He championed the federal system of government as a binary opposition to unitary system recommending it repeatedly to Nigeria as the road while otherwise is forest.”
Mr. Adesanmi said what we call federation in Nigeria today is what Awo consistently criticized as unitarism. Awo warned that unitary constitution is always a source of conflict and once a federal constitution is introduced with adequate recognition for all the constituents with regional autonomy, all bitterness and hostility vanishes.
He told the audience at the symposium that Awo backed his call for true federalism with scientific and empirical research claiming that he had analysed the constitutional system of government of all the countries in the six continents of the world and concluded that any country where people with diverse religious groups, ethnicity or tribes, and most importantly, language differences are united, federalism is the best way to live together.
An appreciative South West
Also speaking at the event, the Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, said if not for the developmental legacies of Awo, the situation of the South West will be as dire as that of the North East.
Mr. Aregbesola said the late Awo did everything to stamp out poverty and ignorance in the South West.
“Awolowo had no enemies in human beings. His enemies were poverty and ignorance and these were what he fought, for the entire span of his life, as he strove all his life to fight them.”
He said because Awo tackled poverty and ignorance head on, the region was emancipated economically.
“The creation of all shades of middle class by the Awolowo legacy is what is able to sustain our disjointed social structure. If not, what will happen in the southwest will be worse than what is happening in the south-south, south east and north eastern part of the country,” he said.
He praised Awo for initiating a free education policy and several successful economic policies. He however lamented that subsequent leaders in the region have failed to borrow a leaf from Awo’s leadership, thus the erosion of gains of Awo’s legacies.
A motivational speaker and pastor, Fela Durotoye, took a swipe at Nigerian leaders for failing to make commitment for the future like Awo did. He said this lack of future commitment is the reason the country has failed.
“People who benefitted from Awolowo’s free education but won’t let their grandchildren go to such schools having watched and let the schools collapse, are what has failed the country. Did we inherit education as we are giving it today?” He asked in reference to the decay of education across Nigeria.
 

PremiumTimes

Why Jonathan sacked Nigeria’s Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi

Talatu Usman

Mr. Abdullahi is believed to be loyal to Bukola Saraki.
The politicking in Kwara State is the main reason President Goodluck Jonathan fired Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, presidency sources have told PREMIUM TIMES.
A new Sports Minister, Tamuno Danagogo, was announced by Mr. Jonathan before the commencement of Wednesday’s meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation, FEC. The president made no mention of Mr. Abdullahi.
Mr. Abdullahi, apparently aware of his sack, was absent at the FEC meeting.
However, the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Reuben Abati, confirmed the sack of Abdullahi, but did not give any reason for the decision.
Presidency sources, however, told PREMIUM TIMES that the sack was necessitated by the politicking in Kwara, the home state of Mr. Abdullahi.
Mr. Abdullahi was first appointed Minister of Youth Development in 2011 and later asked to supervise the Sports Ministry. He was appointed substantive minister of sports in May 2012. He is believed to have been nominated s minister by Ex-Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki.
Mr. Saraki who had initially shown interest in challenging Mr. Jonathan for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential ticket in 2011 was a major supporter of Mr. Jonathan during the 2011 elections. He, however, recently joined the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, along with his supporters in Kwara including the state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed; and has since been a critic of the Jonathan administration.
Rumours had been rife since Mr. Saraki’s defection that Mr. Abdullahi, a known loyalist of Mr. Saraki in Kwara, would be relieved of his job as minister.
But Mr. Abdullahi held on, perhaps due to the seeming successes in sports that Nigeria was achieving under his supervision, including Nigeria’s victory at the last African Nations Cup.
However, the straw for Mr. Abdullahi broke on Monday when Mr. Jonathan visited Kwara to welcome decampees to the PDP, presidency sources said.
A presidential source said it is the tradition that when the President is to visit a state, the minister from the state goes ahead to make sure all is in place. But in Mr. Abdullahi’s case, he stayed back to go with the president’s entourage.
The source who pleaded anonymity also said that “even during the rally his people complained bitterly over his attitude towards them and said the problems they are having in the party at the state level were caused by his disloyalty.”
The source told PREMIUM TIMES that the prominent decampees told the President that they cannot work with Mr. Abdullahi in Kwara, where they face the herculean task of dislodging Mr. Saraki.
They explained that “that was why he (Mr. Abdullahi) was not given any role to play during the president’s visit,” the source said.
Two of the major decampees to the PDP were Dele Belgore, the governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011, and Gbemisola Saraki, a former senator and sibling of Bukola Saraki.
“At the Emir’s palace, it was also learnt that he (Mr. Abdullahi) had been fronting for Senator Saraki” a source added referring to Mr. Jonathan’s visit to the Ilorin Emir’s palace during the Monday Kwara visit.
Mr. Abdullahi has, while serving as minister, always publicly declared support for the Jonathan administration, but has never denied being a Mr. Saraki loyalist. With his removal as minister, he is expected to now define his political stance.
 

PremiumTimes

Confab: Lawyer Sues Jonathan

Kunle Olasanmi

A Constitutional lawyer, Dr. Tunji Abayomi, has asked a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to stop the federal government from going ahead with the proposed national conference.
The plaintiff, in the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/ 167/204 and dated March 3, 2014 argued that the President does not have the power to convoke or convene a national conference without a law backing it from the National Assembly.
Joined as defendants in the suit are the Attorney-General of the Federation, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In the suit, the plaintiff asked the court to determine whether a national conference can be convened by the President and/or government of Nigeria without a law made by the National Assembly enabling them to do so.
In the affidavit in support of the suit deposed to by Mr. Patrick Bisong, a litigation clerk in the office of the plaintiff, the plaintiff said that the federal government had planned to spend billions of public money to fund the conference despite the absence of any law enabling the President to convoke the conference and notwithstanding the limited power vested in the President to use money to execute law or authorise national idea.
He prayed the court to restrain the federal government from going ahead with the conference adding that if they are not restrained, billions of tax payers money will be spent unconstitutionally.
He further argued that the President is working with deliberate speed to convene the conference.
He said that to settle the rights of the parties to the action, urgent attention to the cause of action was necessary.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the matter.
Leadership

Appointing Namadi Sambo As Vice President Is A Nigerian Tragedy, By Reuben Abati

“We now have a Vice President”, the television networks announced enthusiastically, the moment Namadi Sambo ‘s name was released as President Goodluck Jonathan’s nominee for the post of Vice President after a whole week of needless pussyfooting and nearly endless politicking. You would think it was the election of a new Pope that was being announced, but this was no Papal birth, rather the politics of Namadi Sambo’s nomination and his eventual emergence draw further attention to the lack of sense in the Nigerian political process, the triumph of politics over service and how the electorate continues to be discounted in virtually everything that is important.
I shall explain how, and to do that, we only need to travel quickly to the United States where a useful lesson can be learnt about the process of nominations to high office in accordance with the fine traditions of democracy. The same week that Jonathan announced his nominee for the position of Vice President, US President Barack Obama needed to fill a vacancy on the US Supreme Court Bench and announce a nominee, and he did – Elena Kagan who is due to go through the rigour of Senate nomination hearings. A Supreme Court Bench seat in the United States is just as important as the Vice Presidency of Nigeria, and I invite you to compare and contrast how the two processes are being handled. Kagan’s name has been sent to the US Senate; Namadi Sambo’s name to the Nigerian National Assembly.
In the former case, both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are out there lobbying for both legislative and popular support for their nominee. In an internet posting, Joe Biden has taken the special trouble to explain again, only last Friday, why the Obama administration considers Kagan the best (wo)man for the job. He points out that the woman was interviewed for the job along with other possible nominees and she came out the best. She is also being put forward because of her character, her commitment to service, and her track record as a trailblazer. Joe Biden writes:
“This week when the President first told me he’d chosen Elena Kagan to serve on the Supreme Court, I couldn’t help but smile. I had a chance to interview many great candidates but Elena stood out. I met her nearly 20 years ago, when she took a break from teaching to join my staff in the Senate. She helped to confirm Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and even then, it wasn’t hard to picture a day when we’d be helping Elena to prepare for confirmation hearings of her own. Since that time, I’ve followed her career, and today, I believe Elena Kagan is an inspired choice for the Supreme Court.
Throughout her career, she’s been a trailblazer, breaking glass ceilings in both academia and government. She’s been a consensus-builder, earning praise for her work with Republicans in the Clinton White House and her support for the free exchange of ideas as the dean of Harvard Law. She’s flat-out brilliant, easily one of the best legal minds I’ve ever met. But most importantly, she’s also someone who understands that the application of the law holds real consequences for Americans in all walks of life. Now her nomination goes to the Senate, I’ve been through this process more than once, and I’ve learned that the success of any nomination is influenced by the public response in the first few days.”
Impressive? Persuasive? I think so, yes. In subsequent paragraphs, Vice President Joe Biden talks about Ms. Kagan’s character and public spiritedness; the whole purpose of his internet and e-mail lobby is to secure popular support for the Presidential nominee. It is a simple and cultured way of admitting that the people matter. The Obama Presidency could have ignored the people, offer no explanations and simply do a deal with the Senators, and get Kagan onto the Supreme Court seat. But what we are being told is that in a serious democracy things don’t work and should not work that way. Every process must be value-driven. Nomination to a Supreme Court Bench in the United States is a serious matter, as was clearly demonstrated by the Anita Hill sex and justice scandal which saw a brilliant man, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas almost losing a life-time opportunity because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut in the presence of a tempting, beautiful woman. It is through such rigorous screening in spite of attendant excesses, that society reminds everyone else of a national ethic of accountability.
The humility that shines through Joe Biden’s market place lobby for Elena Kazan is further confirmed when he says: “Will you stand with the President and me to support Elena Kagan? Sign on to help us show that the American people back her nomination.” A website is then provided: http//my.barackobama.com/supportkagan where anyone who is so persuaded can drop a word of support. Joe Biden’s lobby may or may not influence the process, as Elena Kagan seems certain to be taken through rigorous screening in and outside the Senate (her sexual orientation; her short hair, love of plaids and softball); her perceived support for expanded executive powers, her position on military recruitment, and her record so far as Solicitor-General.
But ordinary American people must feel good that their opinion is being considered. And I have not read any reports that Elena Kagan is being imposed on the Obama Presidency by any Godfather, former boyfriend or girlfriend, boss or colleague, or the Governors Forum, the Justices’ Forum or any such mongrel. She is the incumbent Solicitor-General of the United States, even that does not translate into automatic confirmation, nor is she likely to be asked to take a bow and leave (as is done in Nigeria); last year, she had appeared before the same Senate as nominee for the position of US Solicitor-General. Whether or not Elena Kagan gets onto the Bench eventually, everyone would have been convinced nonetheless that her screening process was thorough and that the American people had a chance to have their say in the matter.
Now quickly, let us compare this with the process of nominating and screening Namadi Sambo whose name has been sent to the Nigerian National Assembly for confirmation as Vice President of the Federal Republic. I have not heard anybody high up in government or politics trying to communicate the process of choice and nomination to the Nigerian people whose siren-bearing cars Sambo would soon start driving all over Abuja, whose Aguda House he will be occupying, and over whom he will preside as His Excellency the Vice President. Sambo is the Governor of Kaduna State but to the majority of Nigerians, he is a great unknown. Did anybody interview him for the job? Nobody has told us, and you can bet he didn’t need to be interviewed. He will be Vice President simply because it serves some people’s purpose to put him in that chair and they really don’t care what the Nigerian people think. From what we know so far about Namadi Sambo, he will emerge as Vice President (the National Assembly nomination screening is a rubber stamp process- it has always been!), not because he is “flat-out brilliant,” (in Nigeria, that will be a minus), not because he has been a “trail-blazer” in anything, (in Nigeria, you don’t need any special trails), not because he places service above opportunities, not because he understands anything or believes in Nigeria (who cares?) but because he fits into some other people’s calculations at this time. It is a measure of the integrity of our democratic process that this is what determines such high profile appointments.

I have tried to read all the media explanations as to the reason why Namadi Sambo has suddenly become the anointed one for Vice President and they are all reasons that should compel every Nigerian to shed a tear or two for this country. He is said to have worked as a professional architect and entrepreneur, leading three companies: Coplan Associates – a firm of architects and engineering consultancy, Nalado Nigeria Ltd, specialising in energy, water supply, and waste disposal; and Manyatta Engineering Services Ltd “which supplies hospital equipment and airport maintenance.”

Anyone who is familiar with the Nigerian system will know immediately that all of this means the man who would be Vice President has been a government contractor, enjoying contract opportunities that the Nigerian system can throw up – from supplies (a very famous Nigerian engagement!) to design and waste disposal – a complete package that is designed to trap anything that is possible, including wastes! So what is the man’s track record? What and what has he done? What spectacular things has he done as an architect, as a public officer, as a supplier of hospital equipment and as a waste collector? Are his companies still operational and have they benefitted from contract awards in Kaduna state under his watch?
From being an entrepreneur, Sambo became a Commissioner for this and that and then in 2007, he was anointed by Ahmed Makarfi (then Governor of Kaduna State and now Senator), as the candidate for the Governorship position in Kaduna state and he won the seat. This doesn’t sound impressive to me. But what has he done as Governor since 2007? Sambo according to some newspaper reports introduced in Kaduna state, “Operation Yaki,” an anti-robbery squad which in the language of his image promoters “has stamped out armed robbery in Kaduna state” (I’ll rather ask the residents); he has also built an urban rail transit (which company got the contract?); and a 1, 000 bed hospital (I want to assume that the hospital equipment was not supplied by the aforementioned Manyatta or any of its subsidiaries or associates), the Sambo administration has also built we are told, a water works (hopefully his Nalado Nigeria Ltd has nothing to do with that!).
What we are left is the fact that Sambo has been nominated for selfish political reasons. First, he is from the North West. So that takes care of the rebellion of those who insisted that since the late President Yar’adua came from the north west, the vice president nominee must also come from that geo-political zone otherwise they will pull down the country. Thus, Sambo’s emergence is a triumph for the tribalists. In 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae emerged as presidential candidates because Abiola who is from the same south West as the duo, died and the region needed to be pacified. How can Nigeria make progress in this manner? Second, the Northern Senators Forum had approached President Goodluck Jonathan with the name of Senator Ahmed Makarfi as their candidate from the North West.
This was meant to checkmate the Governors Forum, an increasingly powerful lobby group which had put out a statement that the next Vice President must come from among its ranks. In the selection of the Vice President, the key issue was not ability but politics and this was what happened in the end. Third, and so it happened, that the Governors had a meeting with Goodluck Jonathan and nominated Namadi Sambo, their colleague from Kaduna state, with the trade-off that Vincent Ogbulafor the PDP Chairman who has been indicted by the anti-corruption agency, ICPC, will lose his chair. The same Ogbulafor has now, following the script, resigned his position but he says he has acted “in the national interest.” He should tell that to the Marines, and thereafter, he must have his day in court.
Before us is a game of poker being played by mischievous children, trying to upstage each other and placing the cards badly. Although Sambo had been helped to office by Ahmed Makarfi, his predecessor, the two men soon quarreled and became rival contenders for the soul of politics in Kaduna state. By pushing Sambo forward, the Governors Forum have by that stroke neutralised the rival Northern Senators Forum and with Sambo as Vice President, Makarfi who is known to be interested in the 2011 Presidency has been smartly checkmated. Between now and 2011, Makarfi will be busy trying to hold on to his political base in Kaduna state, if Sambo allows him, and certainly the fight between the two will further divide the North West. It couldn’t have been difficult for Jonathan to agree to the Sambo recommendation! It serves his purpose, moreso as he must have been assured that Sambo will not try to upstage him in 2011.
Last Tuesday, Sambo reportedly went to the Presidential Villa with a “powerful delegation” from Kaduna state to pay homage to the new president. The vocabulary of common political discourse in Nigeria is cheap and stupid. Every delegation is “powerful,” every politician is either “honourable or distinguished,” and every idiot in the corridors of power is “a statesman.” By next week, we are likely to have a Vice President about whom the President may not be able to write up to two paragraphs, but who he is ready to accept because the Governors Forum that recommended him is such a powerful lobby group that will determine who gets the PDP Presidential flag for 2011. And Jonathan wants that. And the people don’t matter at all.
In the light of all this, it is clear that the so-called screening by the National Assembly of Namadi Sambo’s nomination is an organized charade. That is why nobody is explaining anything to the people or seeking their opinion. Close to a week ago, the House of Representatives had in fact told us that it was prepared to support anybody nominated by the President. Next Tuesday, the lawmakers will endorse Sambo and probably praise the President for his “wisdom.” But all the moves that Jonathan has made so far which give the impression that he is working towards his own full-term presidency in 2011 can only further heat up the polity, distract his administration, create enemies, and cause disaffection within the PDP. I saw an advert in the papers on Friday about a book titled “101 reasons why Goodluck Jonathan must run for president in 2011.” It looked like a voluminous book: Was that written in one week of the Jonathan Presidency? And the authors are planning to do a public launch (to collect people’s money certainly!) Why is Nigeria so unlucky?
This article was written by the now infamous Dr. Reuben Abati of The Guardian Newspapers in May 2010.

TheParadigm

2015: Sambo Heads Jonathan’s Declaration Committee

Osa Okhomina

Ahead of President Goodluck Jonathan’s bid to declare his second term ambition in May this year, he has appointed Vice President Namadi Sambo as head of the committee to work out the modalities for the exercise.
A presidency source confirmed to LEADERSHIP Weekend in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital yesterday that President Jonathan has appointed Sambo as head of the committee to work out the modalities for his declaration for re-election in 2015.
It was also gathered that the development led to the summoning of all stakeholders of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from the North-West to a meeting aimed at stemming moves against Sambo.
The presidential aide disclosed that after the meeting with stakeholders, President Jonathan directed Vice President Sambo to put together a “compact team to work out measures that will herald a hitch-free declaration tentatively fixed for May this year.”
“President Goodluck Jonathan cannot wait for too long in the face of all that is happening in the polity because doing so will be inimical to several interests, particularly the interest of the PDP. Against this backdrop, we insisted that he gives a semblance of readiness which he did last week asking the Vice President Namadi Sambo to set up a closely-guarded team to work between now and May tentatively fixed for the declaration of Mr President for a second term in office,” he said.
The source further hinted that Sambo had co-opted former Works Minister and chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, former chairman of the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Bode George, and six governors, one each from the geo-political zones to work out modalities for the May declaration.
Leadership

N13bn Budget Cut: We Will Not Be Able To Pay Salaries – IGP

Adesuwa Tsan And Edegbe Odemwingie

As the nation grapples with insecurity, the inspector general of Police, Mohammed Abubakar has lamented the cut of  N13 billion personnel cost in the 2014 budget of the Nigeria Police Force, saying if passed that way, salaries and allowances of men of the Force will not get paid.
Abubakar, made this disclosure when he appeared before the House Committee on Police Affairs to defend the budget of the police yesterday.
The IG urged the lawmakers to ensure that the issue is addressed before the budget is passed by the National Assembly to avert a likely crisis that could ensue as a fallout of the action.
“Mr. Chairman, this is a serious shortfall. Very soon, it means that we will not be able to pay salaries.
“I urge the committee to address this in order to avoid a likely crisis; this has to do with the welfare of our personnel”, he stated.
Going further, the IG lamented that the overhead cost for police operations has been on the decline since 2009 and all at a time when the police is over-stretched by insecurity across the country.
Explaining the decline in funding of police operations, he said in 2009,  the overhead cost was N10.8bn; in 2010, it was N15.6bn; in 2011, it was N5.5bn; N8.1bn in 2012; N7.6bn in 2013 and N6bn in 2014.
For example, he said the N6bn voted for personnel cost could not cover the cost of fueling the 10,232 police vehicles scattered all over the country.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the committee, Hon. Usman Kurmo, aligned himself with the submission of the Police boss, saying the committee had noticed the reduction and have started taking action on it by asking the budget office to sort it out.
Kurmo said, “As a committee, we have done a calculation on what the IG is saying; the money is about N13bn.  “That is the much that was reduced in the personnel cost of the police force in the budget”, he stated while noting that in 2013, the personnel cost of the police was N293.5bn and reduced to N279bn in the 2014 budget.
The lawmaker said the cut comes as a surprise considering that there was no retrenchment nor heavy retirement carried out by the police in the last one year that could lead to a reduction of N13bn from their salary budget.
Kurmo also explained that the director general of Budget Office, Dr Bright Okogu gave assurances that the office started an integrated salary payment system across all agencies since 2013, resulting in cuts for many of them and that “what is provided for the police will be enough for the personnel cost” even as a provision for a  shortfall has been made with money drawn from Service Wide vote.
The lawmakers however urged the committee to prioritise it’s expenditure so that important areas will be given more funds while lamenting that, “if we want to transform the country, then we must first transform the security agencies”.
 Leadership