By Afolabi Ogunde on June 7, 2012
Pastoral Resolve (PARE), a non-governmental organization focused on
solving the perennial conflict between farmers and pastoralists
occasioned by poor access to land and water, is looking to raise N 5
billion in order to establish six grazing centers in the Northern part
of the country.
The President of
PARE Alhaji Ahmed Joda said the pilot states would be Adamawa, Bauchi,
Benue, Kogi, Nassarawa and Niger States. He explained that population
explosion and desert encroachment had led to scarce availability of
pastoral lands in the North causing nomadic herdsmen to move southwards
in the search of land and water for their livestock. This southern
movement often leads to ethnic conflict based on economic hardship.
Alhaji Joda said governments lack of will to enforce grazing laws only compounded the problem further.
“These problems have their genesis in the fact that grazing laws are
deliberately ignored, thereby encouraging encroachment of gazetted
grazing reserves.
“Lack of political will and total neglect of
the livestock sub-sector by the various governments has resulted in
massive encroachment into both gazetted, proposed grazing reserves and
blockage of stock routes in the country.
‘’The policy and
legal vacuum serve to exacerbate the conflict between pastoralists and
crop producers, a situation that continues to escalate over much of the
northern and the middle-belt states of the country.”
Joda said the tension between farmers and herdsmen constituted a threat to peace and national security.
“I can see no peace, if we don’t solve this problem. As important as
oil and the manufacturing sectors are, the livestock industry provides
nutrition and jobs, among other economic benefits.
“At the rate we are going, there will be no grazing land and this might result to a war along ethnic and religious lines.
“If we have peace and stability, we do not need security checks which
drains the national economy, if we can develop the livestock industry
and eliminate tension associated with it,’’ he said.
According to PARE the livestock industry has the potential to generate $20 billion but currently generates only $ 1.5 billion.
A network of companies for Aliko Dangote and Sayyu Dantata
With a staggering $15.4 billion wealth, Nigeria’s businessman and
industrialist, Aliko Dangote, is on Forbes Rich List as the richest man
in Africa. But does Mr. Dangote pay his fair share of tax in Nigeria or
is he hiding assets abroad? That remains unclear. Yet that question has
become even more relevant across the globe following discoveries of
several secret shell companies linked to the businessman, his allies and
relatives.
According to internal data of the Panama-based offshore-provider,
Mossack Fonseca, obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung
and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
(ICIJ) with PREMIUM TIMES and over 100 other media partners in 82
countries, Mr. Dangote, his relative, Sayyu Dantata, as well as his
business allies have over the years used shell companies domiciled in
controversial tax havens in their business transactions.
The unprecedented year-long investigation involving 11.5 million
secret documents – which stretch from 1977 to December 2015 – expose the
hidden underground of the world economy, a network of banks, law firms
and other middlemen that utilize shell companies, sometimes using them
to hide illegal wealth.
The 2.6 TB files, involving 214,488 entities, also reveal hundreds of
details about how former gun-runners, contractors and other members of
the spy world use offshore companies for personal and private gain.
The investigation unveiled the cloak of secrecy provided by Mossack
Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that specializes in creating offshore
companies, some of which have been used by con men and women to hide
Ponzi schemes, predatory lending scams, and other financial frauds from
their victims and from the authorities.
Mossack Fonseca has, however, in a statement to ICIJ denied
wrongdoings, saying, as a registered agent, it merely helps incorporate
companies, and that before agreeing to work with a client in any way, it
conducts a thorough due-diligence process, “one that in every case
meets and quite often exceeds all relevant local rules, regulations and
standards to which we and others are bound.” Aliko DangoteMr. Dangote and the game of shares
Mr. Dangote is one of the most prominent clients of Mossack Fonseca,
and in Panama alone, based on company registration addresses provided by
shareholders, 13 shell companies registered by the firm are directly
linked to persons and companies who in turn are linked to the
billionaire and his allies.
Mr. Dangote, alongside his half brother, Sayyu Dantata, the founder
of MRS Holdings (a leading West African oil-marketing firm, which
acquired Chevron-Texaco’s downstream assets in 2007) bought equal shares
of 12,500 each from OVLAS S.A, a shell company registered in Seycheles,
on October 6, 2003.
Seychelles is a well-known tax haven used by businessmen and
politicians and celebrities to perpetrate shady business deals. On the
same date also, a company they both own as at 2003, MRS Oil and Gas Co.
Limited bought 25,000 numbers of shares from OVLAS S.A.
According to the documents, three years after they existed as
shareholders of the company, the trio – Dangote, Dantata and M.R.S Oil
and Gas Company Limited – ceased to be shareholder in the company. That
was on April 12, 2006.
But in an arrangement that seems curious, Mr. Dangote was issued a
higher amount of shares – 250,000 – on the same day he resigned.
In the same manner, his brother, Mr. Dantata, was issued the same
amount of 250,000 shares. That means the businessmen simply resold the
shares back to themselves. Their company, MRS Oil and Gas, was re-issued
500,000 shares. Mossack Fonseca’s office Panama … Picture Credit: ABC Australia
After three years of holding the shares, they all ceased to be
shareholders. Again, they resumed possession of the shares again as in
the previous time, but this time it seems Mr. Dangote sold his shares to
Mr. Dantata and M.R.S Oil and Gas Company Limited.
Mr. Dangote ceased to be shareholder permanently on July 6, 2009, and
Mr. Dantata’s amount of shares doubled to 500,000 shares while MRS Oil
and Gas CO, LTD retained its 500,000 shares. Documents show Mr. Danatata
never sold, transferred his shares or ceased to be a shareholder till
date. Petrowest S.A: Same folks, same tricks
Before Mr. Dangote ceased to be shareholder of M.R.S Oil and Gas
Limited, himself, Mr. Dantata and their co-owned company, M.R.S Oil and
Gas Co. Limited, was used to buy shares in Petrowest S.A, another
company registered in Seychelles on October 6, 2003.
Messrs Dangote and Dantata bought equal shares of 12,500 each from
Petrowest S.A. MRS Oil and Gas Co. Ltd also bought 25,000 numbers of
shares from Petrowest, just as was done with OVLAS S.A.
Again, three years after they existed as shareholders, the trio –
Dangote, Dantata and M.R.S Oil and Gas Company Limited ceased to be
shareholders in the company. That was also dated April 12, 2006. Sayyu Dantata… Photo Credit: http://joblanda.com/
Like in the case of Ovlas S.A, Mr. Dangote suddenly ceased to be
shareholder. According to documents available to PREMIUM TIMES, on the
same day, Mr. Dangote was re-issued a higher amount of shares – 250,000.
In the same manner, his brother, Mr. Dantata, was issued the same
amount of 250,000 shares. This literary means they resold the shares
back to themselves. Their company MRS Oil and Gas was re-issued 500,000
shares. Shady Petrowest and Ovlas name swap in Seychelles
In what appears a plot to blur the trace to the Ovlas in Seychelles,
the shareholders quickly filed for a change of name to Petrowest S.A.
A document seen by PREMIUM TIMES, reads “Republic of Seychelles, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT, 1994…Company No: 018606…
This is to certify that OVLAS SA. has changed its name and is now
incorporated under the name of PETROWEST S.A. on this 27‘” day of April
2011. Given at Victoria, Seychelles.” Differrent story with Petrowest S.A and Ovlas S.A in Panama
In a separate document, it was shown that while Petrowest swallowed
Ovlas S.A in Seychelles in 2011, courtesy of the name change, Petrowest
S.A Panama only bought 100 units of shares at $100 each from Ovlas to
become shareholder in the company. That happened on October 12, 2012. A web of intrigues, companies within companies
Specifically, Messrs. Dantata, Anil Kumar Ahluwalia and M.R.S
Investments Company share same company address – Plot 6, Block 2,
Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos Island – in entities incorporated for them
offshore by Mossack Fonseca.
The M.R.S Investments Companies mentioned earlier is a subsidiary of MRS Holdings.
Anil Kumar Ahluwalia, whose company name is Santosh Investment
Limited S.A is connected to a Panama shell company called Lotus Trust
Services Sarl.
Similarly, MRS Investments Company Limited is a shareholder company
to Chalmers Shipping Incorporation, which in turn is directly connected
to another shell company named Afrex Sal, also domicilled in Panama.
Afrex Sal is a client company for Mr Dantata and Dangote’s Ovlas
Trading based in Monaco France. Ovlas Trading is co-owned by Sayyu
Dantata and Patrice Alberti in the name of Ovlas Trading S.A., for 75
shares with a par value of US$ 100,00 each; and in the name of Karbelina
Investments LLC, for 25 shares with a par value of USS 100,00 each.
Messrs Dangote and Dantata have allegedly used their multiple
companies in Nigeria and other countries to secure huge loans. For
instance in 2010, the management of Bank PHB, a Nigerian bank, dragged
M.R.S Holdings Limited, owned by Mr. Dantata, to court over the non-
payment of Fifty-Eight million dollars ($USD 58M) loan the bank granted
it to purchase Chevron Texaco in 2008.
In a similar development in September 2014, Sani Dangote, younger
brother to Mr. Dangote, was dragged before a Federal High Court in Lagos
over his alleged failure to liquidate about N5 billion loan granted him
by Union Bank.
In its suit, Union Bank alleged that in a bid to evade payment of the
loan, Sani Dangote made efforts to deplete funds in his accounts by
diverting them to Dubai, Canada and Switzerland. A network of companies for Aliko Dangote and Sayyu DantataA dark corridor
Shell companies constitute some of the darkest, sometimes convoluted,
corridors in global illicit finance. Shell companies are usually
domiciled in notorious tax havens like Cayman Island, Monaco, Panama,
Samoa, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore, Lebanon,
Mauritius, British Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Belize, Macao and close to
a hundred others; usually tiny countries.
Owners create Shell companies for a host of dodgy business reasons.
Some people own shell companies so that when they acquire assets like
private jets and real estates, governments do not find out to demand
tax. Some others set up shell companies to raise funds before starting
operations, to attempt a takeover or as a front for an illegal business.
The purpose (s) for which Mr. Dangote and his allies set up their own
secret companies is not exactly clear. But shell companies are not
illegal, and not all owners use them to avoid tax or hide assets.
However shell companies are at times used for tax avoidance. This
they do through Transfer Pricing, a complex structure that allows
businesses often in Third World countries to shift profits to shell
companies overseas to allow them pay little or no tax in the country
where they made the money.
Evidence abounds in the data that the Panamanian company, Mossack
Fonseca, offers clients aggressive “reinvoicing” services that are
specifically designed to help companies avoid/evade taxes. It remains
unclear whether Mr. Dangote and his associates used their shell
companies to buy any such service from Fonseca. Many people using
offshore companies do so legally and offshore companies indeed have many
legal purposes.
Shell companies, experts say, are entities that have no active
businesses and usually exist only in names as vehicles for another
company’s business operations. In essence, they are corporations that
exist mainly on paper, have no physical presence, employ no one and
produce nothing. They are frequently used to shield the identities of
owners and/or to hide money.
Because shell companies are at times associated with fraud, their
activities are of big concerns to international bodies such as the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Money laundering, billing schemes, fictitious service schemes,
bankruptcy fraud, tax evasion, and market manipulation are some of the
fraudulent activities facilitated by shell companies, several past
investigations by ICIJ and this newspaper have shown.
Given that they at times have nominee directors, often have no phone
number, no e-mail address, no physical address, no company logo, no
contact person and no federal identification number and because the host
country deliberately did not collect enough ownership information on
company formation documents, there are usually no paper trails for law
enforcements to trace back to a particular individual or individuals in
most financial investigations. More actors uncovered
Using data-mining techniques and working in collaboration with a
global network of investigators with access to secret databases, PREMIUM
TIMES was able to uncover several Nigerian business players associated
with shell companies.
Among them are Sayyu Dantata, Aisha Dantata and Mariya Dantata who
are listed as shareholders of Koggi Shipping Incorporation with
registered location as Plot 688, No 4 Winnipeg Close Street, Maitama,
Abuja, Nigeria. Mariya Dantata also has a registered location at Plot
70, Sharada Industrial Area, Phase 3, Kano, Nigeria.
In addition, Sayyu Dantata owns a total of 25 million units of shares
in Corlay Global S.A, a company that is a client to Afrex Sal and also
located at Plot 70, Sharada Industrial Area, Phase 3 Kano, Nigeria.
A few other other allies of Messrs Dangote and Dantata were also
flagged as shareholders in the shell companies used for their Panama
deals. They include Ola Rosiji, a shareholder of Excalibur Holdings
Services Incorporation; and Alex-Duduyemi Oyekunle, a traditional chief
known as the Aro of Ife Kingdom.
Mr. Oyekunle is a shareholder of Sunnigdale Assets, S.A, a company
that also shares same registered location with MRS Holdings Limited at
Plot 70 Sharada Industrial Area, Phase 3 Kano, Nigeria.
MRS Holding particularly popped up regularly as multiple shareholder
company for other companies linked to Messrs Dangote and Dantata in
Panama.
Corlay Global S.A. and SID Holdings Group are among other companies
owned by MRS Holdings and Dantata. They are Afrex S.A clients in Panama.
It is a similar story in Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 islands in
the Indian Ocean off East Africa, where Afrex S.A and Bulldog Global
Financial Services LLP act as client for Mr. Dangote and Dantata’s
companies. Documents show that Sayyu Dantata owns 250,000, 125,000 and
50,000 share units in PetroWest S.A., Paseo Trading Limited, and
Arkinton International Limited respectively.
Other business allies who are shareholders in companies located at Plot
70 Sahrada Industrial Area, Phase 3, Kano, Nigeria, include Ayokunu
Tajudeen Sowemimo and Arjun Thadani.
Mr. Arjun Thadani controls 2,500 units of shares in Mitarj
International Corporation, a client company to USA Corporate Services
Incorporated (New York), which also operates from Seychelles.
On his part, Mr. Sowemimo owns 15,000 share units in Capital
Development Solutions Limited which is a client company to Orion House
Services (HK) Limited operating in Samoa. Samoa is one of the various
countries used as tax havens by large corporations. Dangote and a business of secrecy
A 2015 investigation by PREMIUM TIMES, in partnership with French
Daily, Le Monde , the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists, and a host of other major media organisations around the
world, had named Mr. Dangote among some of Nigeria’s wealthiest
industrialists, former government officials and their relatives, who
operated highly secretive foreign accounts with the Swiss branch of
banking giant, HSBC.
Some of those named in that global investigation were found to have
concealed their identities for years and using codes perhaps to shake
off tax authorities from accounts, some of which held illicit assets
from criminals, traffickers, arms dealers and other outlaws.
That investigation, published in February last year showed how HSBC
profited doing business with people who stole from their countries and
some of the world’s most notorious con artists, including people who
made a fortune fuelling wars in Africa.
The bank helped questionable characters conceal their wealth despite
knowing their sources, and devised ways to hide the identities of the
owners of the secret accounts from governments around the world.
At least 100,000 secret bank account operators who owned about $100
billion were exposed in the leaks, unsettling investigators in several
countries.
Among those accounts were that of Mr. Dangote, who became an HSBC
private account client in July 2003. The account appeared in the name of
Development Projects Corporation, its registration address in Tortola,
in the British Virgin Islands, a notorious tax haven, where individuals
and corporations usually incorporate shell companies to hide assets. Mr.
Dangote’s account was in operation till August 2004.
It is not clear to what use Mr. Dangote put the account and perhaps
because he closed it long before the data were stolen, bank records did
not indicate any balance on the account. Our hands are clean – Dangote Group
Despite several documents linking Mr. Dangote to those offshore
companies, the businessman’s spokesperson insisted he never had any
relationship with the offshore entities.
The spokesperson for the Dangote Group, Tony Chiejina, in response to
enquiry by PREMIUM TIMES, said, “Thank you for your enquiry concerning
our alleged relationship with the following off shore companies namely:
Paseo Trading Ltd, Seychelles; Petrowest S.A.,Seychelles; SID Holdings
Corp, Panama and Chalmers Shipping Inc, Panama.
“I wish to state categorically that neither Aliko Dangote nor Dangote
Industries Ltd (DIL) has any form of relationship with these alleged
four off shore companies. The Group has four quoted companies on the
Nigerian Stock Exchange and we cannot afford to tarnish our reputation
or conduct our business in an unethical manner given this profile.
“Our reputation is paramount to us and we are conscious of the
downside of it. We thank you for upholding the principal ethics in
journalism – ‘when in doubt, check’.
Mr. Dantata could not be reached. The contact numbers listed on MRS
Holdings website failed to connect the several times our reporter
called. We’re not liable for crimes by companies we register
Mossack Fonseca, the company behind the registration of the shell
companies, said it does not direct the companies it incorporates for its
clients and therefore cannot be held liable for the uses to which the
firms are put.
“Filing legal paperwork to help incorporate a company is a very
different thing from establishing a business link with or directing in
any way the companies so formed,” Carlos Sousa, the company’s public
relations director, said in a statement to ICIJ.
“We only incorporate companies, which just about everyone
acknowledges is important, and something that’s critical in ensuring the
global economy functions efficiently. In providing those services, we
follow both the letter and spirit of the law.
“Because we do, we have not once in nearly 40 years of operation been
charged with criminal wrongdoing. We’re proud of the work we do,
notwithstanding recent and willful attempts by some to mischaracterize
it.” The African Network of African Reporting Centres (ANCIR) contributed reporting for this story.
A former Senate president, David Mark, has finally responded to
report exposing his link with offshore shell companies in breach of
Nigeria’s code of conduct for public officers.
On Tuesday, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported Mr. Mark’s links with
eight offshore companies in British Virgin Island as shown by the leaked
database of Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm reputed for helping
clients register shell companies, some of which are used for illicit
purposes.
The Mossack Fonseca database shows that Mr. Mark is one of Nigeria’s
most extensive users of offshore shell companies, even while being a
public official.
The companies are Sikera Overseas S.A, Colsan Enterprises Limited,
Goldwin Transworld Limited, Hartland Estates Limited, Marlin Holdings
Limited, Medley Holdings Limited, Quetta Properties Limited, and
Centenary Holdings Limited.
In the documents, Mr. Mark was repeatedly marked as a politically
exposed person, and at a point the former Senate President had to send
documents, across to Mossack Fonseca to prove that he was clean.
Before the report was published on Monday, Mr. Mark declined to respond to PREMIUM TIMES inquiry.
But on Thursday, he responded through a statement by his media aide, Paul Mumeh, denying link to any offshore company.
In his response Thursday, Mr. Mark claimed he had gone through the
#PanamaPapers database and that he was never mentioned anywhere.
However, Joshua Olufemi, Project Manager at the Premium Times Centre
for Investigative Journalism, has punctured the former Senate
president’s claims.
“It is the height of falsehood for David Mark to claim he has looked
through the database, and that he didn’t find his name,” Mr. Olufemi
said. “The database is not public, and the strict security protocol
around it will not allow unauthorised users to access it. So which
database did he check?
“It is sad that a man who was the number three official in our
country will cook up this level of lies. If he indeed has access to the
database, he should look again, and he will find his name and his
companies listed there. The earlier he accepts that reality the better.”
Mr. Olufemi said his centre will, through its parent newspaper,
PREMIUM TIMES, release additional information on Mr. Mark’s case as
necessary.
It remains unclear what businesses Mr. Mark conducted with the companies he incorporated in the named tax havens.
While not all owners or operators of such offshore entities are
criminals, owning or maintaining interest in private companies while
serving as a public official is against Nigerian laws.
Section 6 (b) of the Code of Conduct Act says a public office holder
shall not, “except where he is not employed on full‐time basis, engage
or participate in the management or running of any private business,
profession or trade. DAVID MARK’S RESPONSE IN FULL
Our attention has been drawn to spurious Media reports on the Panama
papers in which former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark was
alleged to have operated offshore companies.
For the avoidance of doubt, in the released materials of the Panama
Leaks, his name is not listed anywhere in the database of Mossack
Fonseca Law Firm.
We reiterate categorically, that he is not directly or indirectly
connected to any of the companies registered, operated or managed by the
Mossack Fonseca Law Firm.
We challenge all those behind this propaganda and Media outburst to
prove or show that Senator Mark’s name was mentioned in the leaks. He is
prepared to stand and defend himself against any accusation in relation
to this matter.
Senator Mark’s Media team has carried out its own search of the
Mossack Fonseca database and found no statement, item or any connection
to Senator David Mark or his Family. It follows that there is no record
whatsoever of any impropriety or wrongdoing.
We recall that in his quest for Senate Presidency in 2007, there was
an attempt to bring a similar issue to the fore in order to stop him. So
what are their fears now in 2016 for regurgitating the same issue?
Once more, Senator Mark has distanced himself and any member of his
family from the said Mossack Fonseca Firm and has no affiliation
whatsoever with any company operated, registered or managed by Mossack
Fonseca.
Senator Mark has not contravened any laws of the land and he is
treating this for what it is, an attempt to blackmail and tarnish his
hard earned image by some political elements.
As a public officer, Senator Mark has maintained a high level of
decorum, respects and observes the laws of the land and believes in the
sanctity of the rule of law. He will not be distracted by what is
clearly a deliberate mischief and propaganda.
Records of all his assets are available with the relevant government agencies and can be verified.
He has consulted his legal team and will take this up accordingly.
state congresses.
Onaiwu during the reconciliation tour
Onaiwu during the reconciliation tour
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/edo-2016-pdp-aspirant-osaro-onaiwu-ends-reconciliation-tour/
An
aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the forthcoming gubernatorial
election in Edo State, Osaro Onaiwu, has ended a tour he embarked upon to
reconcile aggrieved members of the main opposition party in the state. Onaiwu,
whose reconciliation train has so far visited PDP Secretariats in 16 local
government areas, in the state, pointed that the tour was aimed at reconciling
aggrieved party members as a result of the aftermath of the state congresses.
Onaiwu during the reconciliation tour Onaiwu during the reconciliation tour
Speaking during a meeting at the PDP Secretariat in Orhionwon LGA, Onaiwu said
“I believe there is need to reconcile aggrieved members of our party after our
state congress. I appeal to party members and loyalists to put behind them
issues arising from the state congress held about a month ago. I am a party
man. I believe in the PDP. I believe that for any party to win an election, it
must first put its house in order, hence my appeal to aggrieved members to do
away with issues that will divide the party.” He urged members and chieftains
of the party to embrace peace and put the PDP first in their political
endeavors, adding that “the party is the foundation and structure to any
country’s democratic process. In politics, individuals do not own political
structures. The political party is the structure.” Meanwhile, during a visit to
Chief Samson Esemuede, a PDP chieftain in the state, Esemuede expressed
satisfaction with Onaiwu’s reconciliation tour. “I have been following your campaign
and I’m glad to describe you as an apostle of peace. What the Party organ is
supposed to be doing is what you are doing. With your reconciliation meetings,
I can categorically say, you are one of those giving life to the PDP in Edo
state. As DG of the PDP Governors’ forum, you have behaved well,” he said.
Also, the Assembly of Benin Aborigines, ABA, has commended Onaiwu for the
reconciliation tour, saying, “Your action according to the Assembly is a
manifestation of your undiluted desire and passion to serve your people in an
environment of peace and tranquility. What the Party should have done is what
you have taken upon yourself to do.”
AHEAD of the 2016 governorship election in Edo
State, there are indications that governors of the Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, may have thrown their weight behind the co-ordinator of the Governors’
Forum, Mr Osaro Onaiwu. Vanguard gathered that the PDP governors gave their nod
to Onaiwu’s ambition last week after a meeting of the governors in Abuja. A
source close to one of the two PDP governors in the North told Vanguard that the
governors feel more disposed to their coordinator, because, “They want to deal
with somebody who they know very well. They have dealt with Onaiwu over the
years and since he has indicated his interest to run for the governorship of
Edo State, they believe this is the best time to pay him for the services he
has rendered to the Governor’s Forum over the years. “The governors believe
that the coordinator has imbibed the necessary experience to deliver if
elected. When the issue of Edo governorship election was raised, one of the
governors told his colleagues that the coordinator (Onaiwu) has been there at
the formative stage of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and has demonstrated
uncommon loyalty to the party and therefore, should be given the necessary
support for the governorship,” the source stated. Other PDP governorship
aspirants for the Edo 2016 governorship race includes Senator Ehigie Uzamere,
Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Matthew Iduoriyekemwen and Chief Solomon Edebiri.
John Shiklam in Kaduna
Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, disclosed wednesday that
the raw gold deposits in one local government of the state is larger
than the entire mineral deposits in the Republic of South Africa.
The governor said this at the opening of
the Kaduna economic and investment forum at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua
Indoor Sports Hall, Murtala Square, Kaduna.
According to him, “We have just
confirmed that Kaduna State, indeed Birnin Gwari Local Government Area
alone, has more gold than South Africa. This is proven, this is
verifiable; we have all the data and we are collaborating with the
Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals.”
The governor said solid minerals alone
would attract about N40 billion investment to the state, and urged
investors to explore the opportunities in the state.
He said the new vision of his
administration is to make Kaduna a state programmed for abundant
investments, economic opportunities and prosperity.
The governor said further that his
government had put all mechanism in place to ensure peace and security,
good governance, improved quality of lives, and social inclusion for the
people and investors coming to do business.
He said discussions were ongoing with a large international mining company to come and explore gold reserves in state.
“We are focusing on mining and
agriculture in creating jobs in this state. The mining company we are
discussing with is going to take our local miners, train them and group
them into cooperatives so that they would be like sub contractors to
them and be able to work with them.
“We are working with the federal government very closely to ensure that this happens” he said.
The governor said the government was also taking advantage of its
abundant agricultural resources to woe investors, adding that Kaduna has
the best ginger in the world and that N5 billion would be spent on
ginger production in the state.
He expressed the determination of his government to tackle the daunting development challenges that are facing the state.
Though the Peoples Democratic Party did
an almost irreparable damage to the economy through a deranged
prodigality and declivity in nobility, President Muhammadu Buhari and
his deputy have the integrity and puritanical panache to mitigate the
destruction. But they must be given time to do this. Nigerians must
trade in a Greece-like collapsed future with an ephemeral life of
hardship in the present. Eleven months trajectory cannot do the magic
even though magic is now a national anthem.
The saboteurs cannot hold Nigeria down
for long. This fuel conundrum is going to become history with honesty of
leadership and the forex palaver would ease out ultimately.
Nigeria cannot have any better deal than
with a President who will not steal and will not allow his lieutenants
to steal. One more year of such sanity should translate into a quantum
gain insulating the economy from the vagaries of oil distortions.
President Goodluck Jonathan willingly
handed over power knowing that the fundamentals of the economy have been
irretrievably assailed and any attempt to refuse to hand over would
provoke a damning outrage that could lead to a self-inflicted abnegation
for him at least he cannot be denied the comfort of Caesar fiddling at
the conflagration of Rome.
Nigerians must be circumspect enough not
to play into the hands of the PDP and fifth columnists using the media
to discredit the painstaking efforts of the duo of Buhari and Yemi
Oshinbajo even as the economic parametres are being atrophied on a daily
basis.
Merits of devaluation in an import
dependent economy are not yet advanced beyond the Breton Wood
neo-colonialist stereotypes and the President must not sacrifice the
welfare of the majority navigating an already devalued currency on the
altar of elitist populism.
As Nigerians are pushing through this
unwarranted pains and depravations, the opposition party at the root of
all these is closing ranks to stage a comeback with the same indicted
political outlook.
Nigerians must choose between ephemeral
pains being attenuated with integrity and a mortgaged future being
designed by political undertakers.
