2016 Budget: How Saraki, Dogara Blocked Jibrin’s N250bn Padding

By Muazu Elazeh, BY MUYIWA OYINLOLA, By OLUGBENGA SOYELE
…There are plans to arrest me, sacked committee chair alleges
More facts are emerging as to why Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara sacked a member of the House, Abdulmumin Jibrin as chairman of the House Appropriation Committee.
LEADERSHIP WEEKEND gathered yesterday that Jibrin had singled-handedly jerked up the budget by N250 billion over and above executive proposal submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari.
A source who is a ranking member of the House disclosed that when the final copy of the budget document was tabled by Jibrin for passage on a Thursday by the two chambers, it was discovered that the lawmaker had actually upped the budget by N250 billion.
“The senate president and the speaker, directed Jibrin to not only revert to original figure proposed by the president but also lower it by about N30 billion because of expected drop in revenue.That was why the budget was not passed until the following Tuesday”, the source who preferred not to be named in print  said.
Apart from allocating N4.1 billion to his constituency, Jibrin was also alleged to have tinkered with reports of all standing Committees on the budget by cutting 10 per cent of all capital votes of all ministries, departments and agencies across board.
It was also claimed that he touched even personnel budgets of some MDAs, meaning that they won’t pay workers salaries.
“These were the mess he (Jibrin) made of the budget, that was why the president said he would not sign it and the senate president and the speaker agreed with the president on this and they constituted a special committee under the chairmanship of the Deputy Speaker Sulaimon Lasun to clean up the mess he did”, the source added.
Jibrin Trying Desperately To Curry Public Sympathy- Kurfi
Meanwhile, the vice chairman, House of Representatives committee on downstream sector, Danlami Muhammad Kurfi has lashed out at the former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin for calling on Speaker Dogara to resign.
Jibrin who was removed as chairman of the appropriation committee by Speaker Dogara, had in a statement, said the trio of Speaker, deputy speaker and the minority leader of the House, should resign.
But Kurfi who represents Dutsinma/Kurfi federal constituency of Katsina state said the former appropriation committee chairman should not be taken serious because his utterances were mere ranting of someone who is paying for his actions.
“Why did it take him this long to tell Mr President that the Speaker dines with his enemies?” Kurfi queried and insisted that the appropriation committee should thank his stars that his sack came when members were on recess.
“If this had happened while we were in session, some of us would have moved for his suspension” he noted.
There are plans to arrest me, sacked committee chair alleges
Meanwhile, the former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin yesterday accused the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara of planning to use police to arrest and detain him in order to pervert justice on allegations of padding of the 2016 budget.
The lawmaker who made the allegation in a press statement issued on his behalf by his lawyers, Messrs Hammart & CO, Law Bond Solicitors and Doka Chambers, warned the police  and other security agencies not to allow themselves to be used to execute the personal objectives.
In the press statement, the lawyers alleged that they now have it on good authority that some persons were acting in concert at the moment, using some elements within the police to monitor, harass, intimidate and hound their client into an unwarranted detention with the purpose of inhibiting his right to move freely and to express himself as contained in Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
According to them, the purpose of their antics is to upturn the narrative and paint their client as the black sheep in the flock, and cleverly presenting themselves as transparent angels.
They statement made available to LEADERSHIP Weekend noted: “Accordingly, we have made appropriate representations to the Inspector General of Police and other relevant security agencies in the Country drawing their attention to this unwarranted and ill intentioned steps taken by these quartet and not to allow themselves (security agencies) to be used to execute the personal objectives of these quartet; more so appropriate legal action has been taken by our client, as a law abiding citizen, to protect his fundamental rights as guaranteed by our laws.
“The above quartet have resorted to blackmail our Client into silence and to further harass his person and family using the instrument of the obstructive coercion and perversion of due process by deploying, albeit illegally some elements of the Nigeria Police.
“Finally, we hasten to advise Speaker Dogara and the 3 other principal officers mentioned here not to descend to the narrow aim of dragging the institution of the House of Representatives into their personal fight and to note that by virtue of  the institution he leads and as a lawyer, he should act within the confines of the Rule of Law and allow the House of Representatives to institute a special investigation into this matter where our Client will have the opportunity earlier denied him by the quartet to testify and provide evidence against them BECAUSE he who comes to equity must come with clean hands”.

Nigeria must restructure or break up - General, Alani Akinrinade

• Ex-Army General, Alani Akinrinade warns
• Says APC govt taking Nigerians for idiots by including restructuring in its manifesto and reneging on the promise

By Razaq Bamidele and Omoniyi Salaudeen
As debate rages over some basic national questions, an elder statesman, respected Yoruba leader, and former Chief of Defence Staff, General Alani Ipoola Akinrinade (retd), in this interview admonishes the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to do a restructuring of the country to avoid an imminent break up and also to amend the Constitution to allow any constituent part wishing to leave, to do so peacefully.

Why did you join the army?
Well, like all young people get adventurous, we just decided to try the army. It happened then that some form of advertisement was going on around that time and we tried it. Some of the soldiers who just returned from the Second World War were still around in the villages. And when I left secondary school in 1959, I was motivated by these young Nigerian army officers who just returned. So, I decided to join the military.
Who were you contemporaries in secondary school?
There are many of them. Gen David Jemibewon was one year my junior at Offa Grammar School. Quite a few of them finally ended up in the Navy and Army.
How did you relate with them in the military?
The same kind of assistance you will expect between a senior and a junior. Over and above every other person, they are always your comrade.
What were those pranks you used to play as a school boy?
I was never really a good student. I wasn’t a role model in some of the things we used to do like break bounds, sneak to town from the boarding house to watch a play and so on. Even in the military school, I met some friends who have the same kind of character. We used to enjoy breaking bounds, go to Kaduna township to drink beer and things like that.
How was the military then?
I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t a pure insider. I joined in 1960 shortly before independence. Then, the Nigeria Army was a replicate of Pretoria Army, the British Army, the German Army, the French Army. Though small, it was very efficient and disciplined.
You participated in the civil war. Do you have any regret because the agitation is still on up till now?
We didn’t solve the problem we set out to solve. And I think that is the tragedy of our situation now because we didn’t solve the problem and we don’t seem to want to solve the problem or understand the problem. I was a very young officer then and we just thought to keep Nigeria one was a task that must be done. That was a task set by our Commander-In-Chief. And, of course, what we knew and grew up with was Nigeria. We didn’t quite understand the sociological, economic and political import of how Nigeria was situated at the time. The army itself was a microcosm of Nigeria where everybody met and treated one another like brothers. That was Nigeria we saw and thought it was worth being kept together as our commander-in-chief ordered. But thereafter; for me in particular, it was traumatic because after serving in the Second Division, I had a misfortune of being posted to Bonny where I started my first interaction with people who lived in a completely different environment that I know. It was a completely different world from what I know in Yorubaland. As a young army officer at that time, it was tragic to see how people lived there and the amount of neglect, the amount of lack of care they suffered. Yet, we don’t seem to understand it up till now. Rather, what we are saying is that the people living there are responsible for themselves, but they are not. Our system didn’t allow them to pinpoint people to govern them. People from outside the area dictated to them in the name of parties and things like that. It occurred to me that there was a reason for us to make sure that the East didn’t go there, and if it was going there, it must be with the consent of the people there. Since it wasn’t, the war was justified on that note. But when we followed it up, we didn’t do the right thing.
To be more specific, what were those things you left undone?
As you know, there is a big cry now for restructuring. Successive governments had set up one form of conference or the other to look at ourselves straight in the eye and discuss the problems that had befallen Nigeria and how we could solve them. But we have never acted on any of the reports. We didn’t pay attention to the various aspects of lives of the people who lived in different parts of Nigeria to be able to assist them to develop and become economically viable on their own. And we are not prepared to do it, we only mouth it. We didn’t do anything concrete to really develop the various sectors. The result is what we are getting now. People are discontented and the economy is down. We are a different people. It is a fallacy to say that there is one Nigeria. Yes, we are all black people, we are all Africans. But first and foremost, I am a Yoruba man.
If you ask me, the Nigeria part of it dubious; dubious in the sense that nobody has shown me how we can relate together as brothers. Even the way we were in the 1960s was superficial, though these problems had not arisen. Now, people are more educated. And like Chief Awolowo said: “When the eyes become open and people get more educated and they are aware of their environment, they will start making demands.” He used Sudan as an example, saying that Northern Sudan and Southern Sudan are not the same and that the reason they were staying together was because people were not educated or did not understand their environment. It didn’t take too long before they realized that they were not the same in culture and in religion. Because we Africans are stupid, Sudan didn’t do it the way Czechoslovakia did it in the past. They are still killing one another now. It is as a result of leaving all these problems for too long. If they had solved it, maybe the kind of carnage going on there now would not have happened. In Nigeria, I suspect that even if we are at war, we could not be losing and maiming as many people and destroying as many properties as we are seeing now. In the North-east, there is a real war going on there. In the Southern part, we have the so-called MEND, we tried to pacify them, we didn’t solve the problem. Now, a new group, the Avengers, has emerged. If we solve that one, within a maximum of two years, a new one will emerge again. We are not asking ourselves: why are they doing it? All we do is to damn them, condemn them and call them names. But it is a real problem and it has solution. Everybody is saying the state governments have emasculated the local governments because of joint account and, therefore, nothing is happening. These are not the issues. The issue on ground is that the man in his village must be able to realise that, if they don’t get together and do something native to them, they are not going to survive. But what happens is that there is a big almighty Federal Government in Abuja who knows nowhere at all, deciding everything. If that is the situation with the grassroots and we are not doing anything about it other than to blame the governors and expect Buhari to be a magician and produce things where the basis of production is not there, we are deceiving ourselves. I don’t think most of us realise the kind of danger Nigeria is in right now. There is no easy solution to the problem of unemployment; there is no easy solution to the issue of arrears of salaries of workers that we are all talking about. We know it is callous, but the point is the money is not there.
You have rightly alluded to the fact that every community wants its destiny in its own hand and have a say in the process of choosing its leaders. Will it be right then to lay the blame for the problems Nigeria is confronting today on the doorstep of the military which intervened and introduced a centralized federal structure as against the old regional arrangement?
Yes, it will be right. But the genesis of it is the way the military operates. What the military knows is hierarchical structure.
That is the training of the military man. It is a monolithic institution and people must take orders. You don’t question orders, if it comes from your superior. At a time when we wanted to stop coup, we started by saying people should be able to disobey unlawful orders. But the question was: what is unlawful? So, we were stuck there. That was why it was impossible for us to stop people from coalescing together to topple a government. But even before the military left, these issues had come up and people were beginning to realise that we were facing a wrong direction. The point is: what has stopped us as a people to decide and go for the better option, having seen the two sides of the coin? When we had no resource at all, we ran the three regions but later four, very efficiently.
All regions were competing among themselves. Some of the infrastructures they created, we have never been able to replicate them. Again, most of the roads you see in Nigeria today were built in the earlier part of the military regime. If there was anything added after 1966 when we started giving command everywhere, it was during Gowon’s time and a little more thereafter. Under Gowon, there was a very experienced old corps in government. It was during Murtala’s era that we created the greatest havoc that put paid to development in Nigeria by disorganizing the civil service. We didn’t just disorganize them, we also demoralized them. You can trace part of this corruption that we are fighting today to that era. People didn’t have security again. What they thought was their future didn’t exist anymore. This must be part of the reasons people started stealing, amassing wealth and keeping it for their future. The original civil service, the army, the airforce and everything, which we had, which was a government institution had the means to cater for you from the day you join till the day you die. To build a house was no problem. Even as a third class clerk, you could borrow money to buy a bicycle to ride to work. There were means of paying for all these things without really turning you into a beggar. All that disappeared overnight. Of course, there is no reason anywhere in the world why anybody should be dishonest, but we must also look at our environment. What stops us from looking at these problems now that we’ve all realised where things went wrong? Now, we are in a new tragedy.
When APC put up its manifesto, they said they were going to look very closely at the constitution and that they were going to do a restructuring of the country. In the past two weeks, we have heard, though people are trying to retrace their steps, the Presidency saying there is nothing like restructuring. Then, we heard the Vice President (Yemi Osinbajo) saying ‘no, what we need is good governance and not restructuring’. After that, we heard their National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, saying another thing. Do they think we are idiots? They were the ones who signed the manifesto and led us down the garden park and then the dog is barking and you say no we are the first to run away. That is what they are doing to us. We are not going to allow it. This is another opportunity to do something. I am not sure whether the last conference answered all the questions. But if it didn’t, what I expected from this government is a declaration to say this is the step we are determined to take. And I think people will accept it. But to tell us there is no restructuring, we are not going to take it. Nigeria is going nowhere without restructuring.
You participated in a 30-month civil war without borrowing a dime from anywhere even without oil. How do you feel now watching the ex-service chiefs being put on trial for looting and carting away money meant for arms purchase?
There is no part of population that is outside the sociological environment of the country. So, the military is one of them. They send their children to the same school; they also have to look after their wives and their children. Don’t forget, during the purge, the military also suffered. I know a number of people in the military who were wrongly thrown out. For example, Mobolaji Johnson of Lagos State was thrown out before they found out that he didn’t have a dime of anybody’s money. The same thing Oluwole Rotimi who was in Ibadan and quite a good number of other people. I think both the military and the civil servants that were thrown out had the same kind of feeling. So, I am not too surprised even though I abhor people doing wrong things like stealing. Stealing is not tolerated in any society. But we created that atmosphere.
Again, in the days when we were fighting the war, politicians didn’t spend a dime to get elected. Their party members contributed money. At least I know of the Action Group and the NCNC. You must contribute to have a party card. Then, there was sanity. Awolowo was then the commissioner for finance. How are you going to steal money? Isong was in the Central Bank. Who is going to face him and say he should bring out money from the vault without proper authorization? Gradually, we lost all that. But now, people obtain the party cards to draw money out. That is why you are hearing of billions of naira carried in aeroplane to fund election of a state. That alone can destroy the economy.
It appears Yoruba are the least prepared for any eventuality. What is the plan B for the Yoruba nation in the event of breakup of Nigeria?
I see the danger in its real stark reality. The stark reality is that it is difficult to keep Nigeria one the way it is now. I don’t nurse the idea that one day conflagration will come and everybody will carry gun like Sudan or Yugoslavia. I think the world has gone a little beyond that. Nigerians have been educated enough to know the danger of a big commotion. Before it comes to that, it is very likely we will get a little bit of sanity and then decide how we really want to live together. If we don’t restructure, these agitations will go on. What is going to happen is that we are going to be poorer than we are now. Maybe then our eyes will open to know that there is no central government in Abuja that is going to do any magic to put us together. I hope we will be sensible enough not to allow everybody to just walk away, but it is quite possible now because we have not removed the reasons for these separatist agitations.
Looking at the worst scenario, do you see a peaceful breakup of Nigeria?
People in my position don’t advocate a breakup. But do you know how many wars they fought in Eritrea? They have been at it for over 30 years. When you see an Eritrean and Ethiopian, you can never know the difference. But if you mistakenly say you are from Ethiopia and the other person happens to be an Eritrean, that is when he will blow up your face. That is how close these people are and they fought for almost 30 years. In the end, Eritrea was allowed to go. Whatever remained of Ethopia, when they now got together, they did a constitution that made it possible for any of the federating units to go out of the union without carrying any arm. The procedure was to conduct a referendum and with 51 percent, you are good to go. I think if this government is smart, that is the route they should take. They should create new articles, which will allow any constituent part of the federation to go without carrying gun. When we fought Biafra, we didn’t take the land. They are the same people who are still there today. So, what is this madness and fixation about one person being in control of the entire country? Let’s leave peacefully so that we can eat together when I come to your house. Somebody has to call the bluff of everybody. And tell us if you want to go, tell us where your boundary will be. If Nigeria never discovered oil, are we not going to survive? After all, there are more arid countries that don’t live on oil. If we remove this rent syndrome, everything will be given unto us.

SUN

Recession: The future is bright for Nigeria- Adeosun

         KEMI ADEOSUN

By Henry Umoru
 Barely 48 hours after the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, appeared before the senators last Tuesday, where he painted a gloomy picture of Nigeria’s economy, with inflation and stagnation being experienced simultaneously, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, last Thursday appeared before the same Senators. Unlike Emefiele’s session that was held behind closed doors, her appearance was not held in an executive session and she used the briefing to unveil plans and administrative actions that were aimed at promoting private investment in roads, and other infrastructures. Soon after the Finance Minister was ushered into the Senate Chambers by the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters( Senate), Senator Ita Enang, she went straight to the rostrum from 12.05 to 1.55pm, where she stood to lecture the Senators on the nation’s economy with questions asked by the lawmakers and answers provided by the minister. Mrs. Kemi Adeosun did not hide the fact that the nation’s economy was sick; she told the Senators bluntly that Nigeria as a country was in recession and in a very tough place. Kemi Adeosun Kemi Adeosun Mrs. Kemi Adeosun’s official and point blank verdict on the nation’s economy came two days after the International Monetary Fund, IMF, forecast on Nigeria in its latest World Economic Outlook( WEO) titled “ Uncertainty in the Aftermath of the United Kingdom Referendum” and posted on its website showed that Nigeria’s growth projection for this year was revised downwards, from the 2.3 percent it had forecast in its April report, just as it also foresees a 1.1 percent growth from the 3.5 percent it made in April. The Finance Minister was summoned to brief the upper Chambers on the state of the economy and issues relating to the implementation of 2016 budget as well as the Monetary/ Fiscal policies adopted to salvage the current economic situation. During the session, the Minister, who told the Senators that the President Muhammadu Buhari government inherited negative reserves and heavy salary and wage bill of N165 billion, disclosed that so far, the government has released capital vote of N247.9 billion, with plans to release an additional N60 billion very soon, just as she disclosed that the Federal Government has released N74 billion to works in the last two months, compared to N19 billion the ministry received for the whole of 2015. Agriculture has also got the sum of N21.9 billion, compared to the N4 billion the ministry got last year, adding that transport got N22 billion compared to the N6 billion it received last year. Mrs. Kemi Adeosun also used the session to react to recent report by the International Monetary Fund, IMF, on the nation’s economy when she said that the government was not disturbed over such remarks, urging Nigerians not to always panic every time the IMF speaks against the backdrop that the international body is to carry out global economic surveillance. The Finance Minister, expressed optimism that Nigeria as a country would get out of the recession because Nigeria is not the only country experiencing recession at the moment. Here are excerpts from her interaction with the Senators. NIGERIA’s ECONOMY Recession, yes, technically; but the worst is over – Kemi Adeosun (Finance Minister) In economic terms, if you have two periods of negative growth, you are technically in a recession. But I don’t think we should spend too much time on labels, we are in a tough situation, whether you call it recession or not, we are in a tough place, but the most important thing is that we are going to get out of it. Technically, we are in recession, but I don’t think we should dwell on definitions, I think we should really dwell on where we are going. Everything we are doing is moving outside of it, our social intervention programmes have been funded, those of providing reliefs to the very poorest, right down to every single local government would be touched by that programme. We have started and we will continue with it. We are not the only country in recession, many countries are doing far worse than us. But for Nigeria, what Nigerians want to know is ‘how is that going to affect me’ and I want to assure everybody that what we are doing is going to work and it is going to turn this economy around. CAPITAL VOTES RELEASED IN THE LAST TWO MONTHS About the capital releases that we have done so far, N247.9billion has been released so far with another N60 billion to be released imminently. Specific details of releases: for example the Ministry of Works has received N74 billion in the last two months compared to N19 billion for the whole of last year. Agriculture, which is the strategic focus of this government, has received N21.9 billion compared to just N4 billion for the whole of last year. And transport has received N22 billion compared to just N6 billion for the whole of last year. I believe the speed and the extent of our releases shows that the government intends seriousness around reviving this economy and we are very confident that the work we are doing will bear fruits. Agriculture We have already begun to see increase in food production in our agriculture; we are expecting a bumper harvest. How are we going to store to make sure that prices don’t plummet? All the things we are doing are consistent with what we said we would do. We have done a painful adjustment but we want to assure Nigerians that we are on a right track; we are in the right hand. No money is being wasted, no money is leaking, every naira is being accounted for fully. ARE THE RELEASES CASH BACKED? The releases are fully cash-backed. We have stopped the practice of releasing or approving releases that have no cash-backing. We have changed that process; we now start from the position how much cash do we have and then we release appropriately. So, all releases are cash-backed. We predicated the budget on N197 to the dollar and the rate is now N280. The impact will be on the revenues beacuse even though the budget opposes just any projection and, so, when the actual comes in at N280 what will simply happen is that the revenues in nominal terms will increase and that will flow through into the revenue performance. What will happen is that the amount of the deficit will go down because the revenue will convert dollars to naira and will give more naira in nominal terms so that will be the impact there. ON THE PROJECTED IMPLEMENTATION OF 2016 BUDGET The projected rate of implementation of the budget, I found out, is the difficult question to answer, simply because there are quite a few moving parts in terms of our revenue and many of our revenues will come in quarter 3. For example, most companies’ year end is December so it is from September that they begin to pay their taxes for the year. I am very confident that we will do very well; at least we will do over 60 percent based on projections, but I think that our revenues will be better if the economy sustains its trajectory. Areas of priority I think we have been fairly consistent that we needed to invest in infrastructure and in our releases, we have tried to prioritise those areas and also to work with seasonality. For example Works Ministry needs to have their money during the dry season because during the rainy season work stops and we are trying to time the releases to ensure maximum impact. What Buhari’s government inherited as reserves I think at a time like this blaming who was responsible doesn’t actually take us anywhere, but I will tell you what I inherited. I inherited very little by way of reserves; I inherited significant debt – contractor debt. Cash calls of $5 billion dollars outstanding to the oil companies. I equally mentioned the fact that many of the contractors even though we have paid them N107 billion, find it very difficult to work because they are owed and some of them have not been paid since 2012. Their claims are over N390 billion. So, I didn’t inherit reserves that are positive, I inherited reserves that tend to be more negative than positive because the economy is actually in very good hands and we are doing absolutely our best to get through this difficult period and I explained how we are doing that. We have been extremely disciplined around our spending; we are investing in essential infrastructure and I gave the metric we have released N74 billion to Works in two months compared to N19 billion for the whole of last year. We are doing everything possible to avert and to manage the situation which we didn’t create, unfortunately, but which we inherited and we as a nation must all get out of. ON IMF’s VERDICT ON NIGERIA HEADING TOWARDS RECESSIONS I am not too worried about the IMF projection, I will tell you why because one of its functions is global economic surveillance. They equally issued a negative report on Britain as a result of Brexit. I don’t think we should panic every time IMF speaks. I think we need to be confident around what we are doing and where we are going. I remain extremely confident as I said around Nigeria; IMF has given its projections which is that we may continue into negative territory and I am not sure what we have seen suggests that. Agriculture output seems to be going up. If you even look at inflation which is very high, the month on, that reduced and that tells you that things are moving in the right direction. If you look at what is happening in the petroleum sector before subsidy, we were subsidising around 45 million dollars litres of fuel a day. Now without subsidy, usage has dropped to 26 million litres so what that tell you all is that the smuggling that was going out of the country based on the subsidy that we are providing have stopped and those are real savings to the economy which we are now redirecting into the essentially infrastructure that will get this economy going. ON BORROWING We have been borrowing largely from the domestic market because we needed to get the exchange rate sorted out to enable us borrow from the international market. The international borrowings will begin to come in quarter – three that is always our projection; we would take initial money from Nigeria as we sort things out and we go on the road to borrow internationally. INTEREST OF NIGERIANS The question about the interest of Nigerians, I think it is a very good one. Job creation and reserves. One of the things that I mentioned that we have done is release this money for the first time for the social intervention programmes and we have released N15 billion of capital and we put in N5 billion this month for recurrent and so that recurrent will continue to increase as they roll out the implementation of things like the duty calls, the agriculture extension workers and the other job creation initiatives. Also beyond that, what we have done on the payroll was that the police were able to recruit 10,000 new officers; but there is no impact on their salaries because we have cleaned up those who have or who should’t have been there and so they can now create 10,000 new jobs. So, there is quite a bit of job creation activity going on as a result of some of the interventions we have done. 2017 BUDGET On the 2017 budget, I believe the minister of budget and planning has started working on putting that document together and I am very sure in good time for us to go back to the calendar that we like which is the December calendar. OPTIMISM ABOUT THE ECONOMY I think if we are in recession what I will like to say is we are going to come out of it and it would be a very short one because the policies that we have would ensure that we don’t go below where we need to go and I think with what we are doing, we would begin to turn the corner I believe by quarter three. I can confirm there is no more subsidy, it is a market driven price and indeed one of the good things that we are now seeing is that prices have actually come down, there is now competition between filling stations for market share which is a good thing which means overtime the market would continue to correct itself.

Obaseki kicks off campaigns, promises to industrialize Edo

Igbinedion. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos and Chairman, National Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (left); Mr. Godwin Obaseki, APC Gubernatorial candidate in Edo State and Governor Adams Oshiomhole during Governor Ambode's visit to Edo State, Tuesday. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos and Chairman, National Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (left); Mr. Godwin Obaseki, APC Gubernatorial candidate in Edo State and Governor Adams Oshiomhole during Governor Ambode’s visit to Edo State

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/obaseki-kicks-off-campaigns-promises-industrialize-edo/

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM
 GOVERNORSHIP candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo state, Mr Godwin Obaseki, flagged off his campaigns in Edo South senatorial district yesterday, with Governor Adams Oshiomhole calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the award of road contracts in Ovia North East and Ovia South west estimated at several billions of naira whenPastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu was Secretary to the state Government under Governor Lucky Igbinedion. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos and Chairman, National Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (left); Mr. Godwin Obaseki, APC Gubernatorial candidate in Edo State and Governor Adams Oshiomhole during Governor Ambode's visit to Edo State, Tuesday. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos and Chairman, National Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (left); Mr. Godwin Obaseki, APC Gubernatorial candidate in Edo State and Governor Adams Oshiomhole during Governor Ambode’s visit to Edo State, Tuesday. Oshiomhole who urged the people of the state not to vote a self-confessed cultist into power, also called on the EFCC to commence prosecution of Ize-Iyamu, who agreed to the EFCC that he collected N700m presidential money, asserting that he lacks the credibility to run for the governorship of this state. Ize-Iyamu had in an online video interview disclosed how he was suspended from the University of Benin for being a member of the pirate Confraternity just as he denied being involved in the acid attack against one of the students of the university then. However, Obaseki who addressed the mammoth crowd at the APC rally in Benin City, said unlike the PDP who acquired lands for themselves, his government will give land to farmers to cultivate, saying that with or without crude oil, Edo state will survive like a nation not a state. Deputy Governor of the state, Dr Pius Odubu, who urged the Benins to embrace their son Obaseki, declared that “APC victory is non negotiable because the Comrade Governor has worked in the nook and cranny of Edo state therefore this is the time of punish PDP and vote Obaseki into power”. Other leaders who spoke includes Chief Samson Esemuede who recently dumped the PDP for the APC, Charles Idahosa and state party chairman, Anslem Ojezua. Vowing tor create jobs for the people of the state, Obaseki said “We will make sure we have a government that will use the money of the people for the people. So we will make sure that we will continue to run an open, efficient and responsible government. Edo people in the Diaspora send more money to Edo than we spend in our budget, it tells you how well our people are doing all over the world. “We have more interests in ensuring that the people of Edo state is one in which the people come first. We want to take sure that our people are economically strong and the way to do it is to attract investment, industries. We will create jobs and the minimum we will do in the first four years is 200, 000 jobs”. “My priority will be women empowerment. Two months ago we gave micro loans to 15, 000 women, during my tenure that number will increase significantly. I want to assure you that along with our wives, we will not disappoint you” he stated. Oshiomhole who insisted that Ize-Iyamu will lose woefully in this election, narrated that “In the books of the Edo state government, Pastor Ize-Iyamu as SSG, he signed the minutes where they claimed billions of contracts to dualize the road from Okada junction to Okada town, they even claim to have graded internal roads in Okada town. Today, they collected that money in full but the job was never done and the EFCC has not investigated that job. “It will have to be investigated. Now that the new IG is investigating the death of Harry Marshal, and Bola Ige, EFCC must come back and investigate all the jobs which Ize-Iyamu and co claimed to have done which they did not do, I will show them the records, the location and they will see for themselves how much was taken and nothing was done. I have the signature and minutes where they claimed to have awarded the Siluko road and Teachers House. Any time they were broke they will say further amendment to the contract. “Altogether, Ize-Iyamu and co took billions of naira in the name of solving the flood problem at teachers house but the job was never done. Inspite of their monumental crime against the people of the state, they privatize the resources of the state. I will challenge them whether they carry the genuine Bible or not. with Ize-Iyamu as Chief of Staff to Lucky Igbinedion, the very first executive action that took in 1999-2000, was to dismiss all the serving Permanent Secretaries in Edo state, whether they were in Edo Central, North or South.”





Vanguard

Nigeria’s kleptocracy has been stealing public funds forever. Here’s how to stop it.

By Matthew Page

In Nigeria, billions of dollars each year flow illegally from public coffers into private hands. Nigeria’s kleptocracy undermines the regime’s ability to combat Boko Haram, a deadly terrorist movement that has displaced two million people in the country’s war-ravaged northeast.

In a new Council on Foreign Relations corruption brief, “Improving U.S. Anticorruption Policy in Nigeria,” I argue that the United States could help deter corruption in Africa’s largest economy and most populous country. Following Muhammadu Buhari’s 2015 presidential election victory, senior U.S. policymakers saw an opportunity to support his aggressive anti-corruption efforts. Thus far, U.S. efforts have consisted mostly of modest assistance programs for police investigators and civil-society watchdogs.

Here’s the problem, from a policy perspective: Corruption is treated as a secondary, stand-alone issue. In fact, corruption is a potent threat to Washington’s efforts to support socioeconomic development, tackle security issues and improve governance in Nigeria.

Corruption isn’t new in Nigeria.

Systemic corruption threatens democracy and good governance in Nigeria. In “This Present Darkness: A History of Nigerian Organized Crime,” the late Stephen Ellis quotes Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in 1950 decrying “the twin curses of bribery and corruption which pervade every rank and department” of government. The Nigerian League of Bribe Scorners, a civil-society organization at the time, likewise complained that “bribery with its allied corruption is deeply planted in this country.” Tafawa Balewa, who became Nigeria’s first post-independence prime minister in 1960, was later assassinated in a coup planned by five officers who claimed Nigeria’s civilian government was too corrupt.

Over the next six decades, corruption thrived under both civilian and military-led governments, implicating leaders of all ethnic and religious affiliations. Yet official corruption rose to new heights under Buhari’s predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan. Corruption in the security, petroleum and power sectors was particularly prolific. Jonathan’s national security adviser, for example, is on trial for his role in diverting more than $2 billion in security funds while poorly armed government troops battled against Boko Haram terrorists.


For comparison, U.S. military and police aid to Nigeria totaled $45.4 million from 2010 to 2014, according to Security Assistance Monitor.

Graft is prevalent throughout the economy — and government.

Corruption is endemic in the petroleum and power sectors, the two chief drivers of the Nigerian economy. The state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has long been corrupt and mismanaged, according to the Natural Resource Governance Institute. Though the government has spent $14 billion since 1999 to develop a modern power sector to serve all of Nigeria’s 183 million people, growth in the national electricity supply has been sporadic. Nigeria can generate enough power to meet the needs of a population of just half a million — similar to that of the city of Edinburgh.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nigeria’s main anti-corruption body, is actively investigating dozens of sitting and former officials. The country’s senate president is currently standing trial for false asset declaration and other corruption-related charges. At least five former governors are facing trial for graft. And several senior election officials allegedly accepted millions of dollars in bribes, posing a threat to the integrity and credibility of Nigeria’s elections.

Stronger anti-corruption tools are needed.

Given the scope and scale of Nigeria’s corruption and the threat it poses to specific areas where Washington devotes considerable time and resources — security, development and governance — stronger anti-corruption policies could be a force multiplier, amplifying the impact of U.S. assistance to Nigeria. I argue that three quite feasible policy actions could achieve this: establishing an inter-agency working group on Nigerian kleptocracy, stationing an FBI investigator in the capital, Abuja, and promulgating an executive order restricting financial transactions by corrupt Nigerian officials and freezing, or even seizing, their assets.

These steps could significantly reduce illicit financial outflows from Nigeria, estimated at more than $178 billion from 2004 to 2013, according to Global Financial Integrity. Without a dedicated FBI investigator at the U.S. Embassy, for example, deepening bilateral cooperation on corruption cases will be difficult. But tougher scrutiny of Nigerian transactions into U.S. accounts will help discourage kleptocratic behavior from Nigerian officials.


Source: The Washington Post

Photo: The Teen Gunman Who Shot 9 At The German Shopping Centre

The gunman who slaughtered nine people and injured several others at the Munich shopping centre has been identified as Ali David Sonboly – a depressed 18-year-old receiving psychiatric care who fired at helpless children in McDonalds in a killing spree, before turning the gun on himself and ending his life.
The baby-faced killer was obsessed with school shootings and claimed he was ‘bullied for seven years’.
The gunman’s victims were 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 45, and 18, with the rest of the ages yet to be released. Reports suggest three of them were women and six were men.

Bishop Kukah on "true federalism".

Bishop Matthew Kukah's contribution to the "true federalism" debate, which is a reaction to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar's call for restructuring, is a stimulating read. In a recent interview with the Punch newspaper, he weighed into the debate, thus:

"There you go. Typical of Nigerians, boarding any bus irrespective of which direction it is heading. If someone just looks at you and says you need surgery, will you just rush to the hospital?

"Did the former Vice President define what he meant by restructuring? Did he say what parts of the country need restructuring? Did he tell you who would do the restructuring and what their credentials are? Is the restructuring economic, political, psychological, or just another sound bite? The answers he offered are not new. But can we solve our problems by merely changing songs on the dance floor?

"We have been on these dark alleys of half-truths and inuendos before and we never learn. At the end of military rule, did we not clamour for power shift? Power shift came with former President Olusegun Obasanjo being President along with Atiku. Where did that leave us? Next, we wanted rotation and power went to the South-South. Where has that left us?

"We believed we needed true federalism as a cure. But the word itself is empty because there is nothing like true federalism anywhere in the world or in the vocabulary. What we have are stories of nations and their toil and sacrifices to build a better society.

"The north shouted, wailed and cried over the perceived injustice. Then, Change came. Now, it took us less than six months to sink into depression about Change. Now, we can’t seem to spell the word. PDP now says, it wants to Change the Change!

"We like single words, single stories. I detest our intellectual shallowness, laziness, ineptitude and the lack of analytical discipline. This is why we shall continue to turn in circles with no difference between the quality of ideas from the glass houses of Victoria Island, the ivory towers and those of Ojuelegba bus stop. Atiku flew a political kite which is fine, but it does not scratch the surface of our problems"