UK banks 'aided Nigeria corruption'

Five leading UK banks failed to adequately check funds they accepted from politicians accused of graft, watchdog says.

HSBC has described Global Witness's allegations as "misguided" [EPA]

High street banks in the United Kingdom could have helped fuel corruption in Nigeria by accepting millions of dollars in deposits from dubious politicians in the west African nation, an international corruption watchdog said.

In a 40 page report released on Sunday, Global Witness said that five leading banks have failed to adequately investigate the source of tens of millions of dollars taken from two Nigerian governors accused of corruption. 

"Banks are quick to penalise ordinary customers for minor infractions but seem to be less concerned about dirty money passing through their accounts," Robert Palmer, a campaigner at Global Witness,  wrote on the group's website.

"Large scale corruption is simply not possible without a bank willing to process payments from dodgy sources, or hold accounts for corrupt politicians."

Global Witness acknowledged that in accepting the money, Barclays, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HSBC, as well as Switzerland's UBS, might not have broken the law, but noted that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) must do more to prevent money laundering through British banks.

"The FSA needs to do much more to prevent banks from facilitating corruption. As yet, no British bank has been publicly fined or even named by the regulators for taking corrupt funds, whether willingly or through negligence," Global Witness said in the report.

"This is in stark contrast to the United States, where banks have been fined hundreds of millions of dollars for handling dirty money."

'Deeply disappointed'

HSBC dismissed the allegations in the "International Thief Thief" report, saying that it had taken the lead in tackling holes in the financial system, particularly regarding funds from "politically exposed persons" (PEPs) deemed to pose a higher money laundering risk.

"As a bank that has been at the very forefront of developing global PEP guidance over the last decade, we are deeply disappointed with these misguided allegations," a spokesman for HSBC told the Reuters news agency.

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"Rest assured, rigorous and robust compliance procedures were followed diligently. To ignore this is to ignore the facts."

Barclays, HSBC and UBS are all members of the Wolfsberg Group, an international body set up in 2000 to try to improve global anti-money laundering procedures.

Global Witness said its findings were based on court documents from cases the Nigerian government has brought in London in an attempt to get funds returned that it said were stolen by two former state governors: Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa state and Joshua Dariye of Plateau state.

Alamieyeseigha was accused of corruption after he was caught with about $1.6m in cash at his London home. He was briefly jailed in Nigeria after pleading guilty to embezzlement and money laundering charges two years later.

Dariye was arrested in 2004 in London and was found to have purchased properties worth millions of dollars even though his legitimate earnings amounted to the equivalent of $63,500 a year.

He returned to Nigeria, where the anti-corruption agency has accused him of looting public funds. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Corruption ranking

The report did not provide any evidence that the funds accepted by the banks were the direct proceeds of any crime.

Africa's most populous nation is regularly ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the world. It ranked 130th out 180 nations in Transparency International's list of country's perceived as most transparent in 2009. 

Most of its 150 million people survive on $2 a day or less, yet the country is one of the world's top champagne importers and its wealthiest residents are among the continent's richest.

Nuhu Ribadu, the former head of its anti-corruption agency, has estimated that corruption and mismanagement swallow up about 40 per cent of Nigeria's annual oil income.

"Without access to the international financial system, it would be much harder for corrupt politicians from the developing world to loot their treasuries or accept bribes," Global Witness said in its report.

People have been screaming about the exit of HSBC and UBS as sign of bad economics. That's a huge lie.

I will try to explain it in a very simple way.

HSBC and UBS were never set up for regular banking.

When I say regular banking I mean retail banking.

They never ran salary accounts; they were never set up to afford loans to customers etc.

Their sole purpose was to help customers who can afford their services an easy way to transfer funds overseas.

Many do not know that since the inception of BVN which has made it easier for financial regulatory bodies to monitor outflow & inflow on every account, HSBC has been plotting their exit.

If anyone can make their books public, you would find out they had more outflow than inflow.

BVN was created February 2014 and then enforced by this government as from 2015.

What did that do?

Every account owner was
forced to get a BVN code on their account (s).

So if law enforcement and financial regulatory bodies accuse you of fraud, with your BVN
they can tell.... which account(s) you have funds stashed.

Any account without a BVN can no longer be run.

Movement of (illegal) huge sums especially overseas became a massive problem.

So imagine a bank whose main source of revenue is moving funds overseas, suddenly can stay for months on end and the only customers you get are those who maybe want
pay school fees overseas or medicals, won't you close shop?

No more wires of $200,000 and above to Dubai to buy that exotic penthouse or carrying on with shopping sprees.

No more bank instruments to private jet companies... overseas.

The importation of big boy toys; yachts, helicopters have reduced drastically.

Now, once you try to initiate a huge wire transfer, CBN red flags that account and next thing you know compliance is calling the account officer to produce KYC.

Within minutes SFU is doing a background check, thunder fire you if you are a civil servant or close to government.

You would have to explain what the funds are for/how they were acquired and this drastically hit such banks like HSBC and UBS!

Banks like Stanbic IBTC are able to stay afloat because even though they use the same model as HSBC, they are also solid in retail banking.

Any bank that opens shop under this current government with the sole aim of moving funds overseas will surely fail!

Look closely at those who are leading groups against PMB they are private jet, helicopter, yacht, schooners owners.

Many own those beautiful houses we see in Dubai,  Abu Dhabi, Oman, Muscat, Seychelles, London, USA.

Go to our airports especially Lagos and Abuja, all those beautiful girls who once used to sell Dubai real estate deals are out of jobs.

The few you see have stopped hounding travelers like before.

Once upon a time you would see them hanging around airports and 5 star hotels, it made me wonder why Nigerians were seriously marketing UAE real state.

How do you think the transactions were being made? Through banks like HSBC and UBS (many of our local banks also were complicit)!
Now every dollar that passes through CBN to a foreign bank must have complete paperwork! Bankers are now very careful, no one wants to be invited by SFU (special fraud
unit) or EFCC to produce a customer.

Who are those crying about their exit?

The Fayoses, Atikus, Ben Bruces and their minions etc.

Look at the youth coming online to defend them; many were being flown by helicopter to private resorts all over the country.

That tap has dried up and that’s the reason you see many of them online pouring vituperation on PMB.

About 4 years ago, I told a friend that if PMB wins election few banks would be in trouble, Buhari won and it didn't take long it started
happening.

Many of the bank heads used depositors monies to sponsor politicians/campaigns, when investigations started many tried to not only hide their shady deals but shield customers under investigation.

Why won't these people hate PMB?

Why won't they blame their woes on PMB?

When I say many of these banks aren't setup for the common man, people wonder at what I mean.

A very good example; write a lovely proposal for a good business deal and take to the banks and 90% of the time you wont get funding but let APC and PDP finish primaries and produce governorship candidates.

Both candidates can work into same bank and get as much as N500m each for campaigns. Banks didn't care then.

What's the worst that could happen? Worst case scenario, one candidate would lose. Whoever wins would bring enough investments that would cover the N1bn both took, that was conventional banking until PMB came onboard.

If say odudu bank sponsors Rochas and he wins he would make sure almost all state accounts go to odudu bank.

Some governors went as far as making their account officers commissioners as compensation (I don’t want to call names).

Some bank relationship managers would go on leave close to election period to join the clients on the campaign trail, once the client wins they resign their appointments with the bank and become political appointees.

Why would a bank worker do that if the bank hasn't invested heavily on that politician?

Suddenly PMB appears with this yeye BVN, TSA! Banks now see SFU officers like regular staff as they are monitoring everything. @officialEFCC under magu has become a pain in the ass because money can't just disappear.

Who do they blame? PMB!

The instant BVN came into effect; do you know how many accounts were lying dormant because of BVN? With huge sums in them! Many folks especially people being investigated wouldn't want to come forward to claim them; oga Magu and gang were waiting.

When many of these politicians or billionaires tell you the economy isn't doing so well, look closely at the person because many of them
own some of these 5 star hotels.

Some rooms go as much N300, 000 à night.
Once upon time some folks would pay for as much as one year for a room/suite upfront.

Many of those militants/ folks involved in oil
bunkering operate this way.

Mondays through Fridays they are in the creeks sabotaging oil installations, Friday they get into their convoys to PHC and then jet off to Abuja and Lagos where they eventually check into these hotels.

You enter a place like Transcorp weekends you see them at the lobby, poolside and by Monday morning, banks are wiring funds to these hotels to cover expenses.

Today, the oil bunkering isn’t as lucrative as it once was.

First price of crude has dropped so selling bunkered oil isn't really worth it as it used
to be.

Secondly many countries are cutting down on the purchase of crude and third our military is hitting them harder than before so who is to blame?

They tell you banks are falling because of PMB; lie! Banks are falling because banks were never made for the common man.

I mean naija banks! TSA has collapsed most government accounts into central accounts.

So we no longer have many government accounts littered all over our banks, many of such accounts were set up just to steal and launder government monies.

Are these tweets saying Nigeria has suddenly become fine for the common man? HELL NO!

Nigeria for some years now has never favored us the ordinary folks but this is the first time we are seeing the crooked elite joining us to complain!

The fact they are complaining means something is being done to halt their crooked ways. Whatever it is, BABA PLEASE Continue!

And as for the common man, we didn’t get here in four years! It took years of plundering, bad/no planning to get here. It will take a while to get us out.

Signed
Concerned citizen who wouldn’t want to get fired by Monday morning for
saying what needs to be said.

THE END

The stark reality APC must face about Atiku challenge

By Louis Odion

 The Cable Newspaper

Intifada is Arab word for uprising. It perhaps best describes the emerging battle formation in Nigeria’s expanding coliseum ahead of the 2019 polls.
Indeed, today, only the utterly naive will still need an interpreter to decode the dire signal from the nation’s fraternity of restive generals.
Other than in the heyday of coup in the 70s and 80s, never have we seen a gang-up of old soldiers this massive, with the sole objective to wrestle down a comrade (President Muhammadu Buhari) from whom they now appear irreconcilably estranged.
While they would readily cite “national interest” as their only motivation, not a few Nigerians will contend that the generals’ uprising is actually fueled either by bruised egos or loss of class privileges and business concessions.
So, increasingly, the nation is left to witness the adaptation of martial tactics by vengeful old warriors for a purely civil outcome in what may signal the terminal battle within the oldest cadre of the once powerful military oligarchy.
The insurgency intensified at the weekend with former President Olusegun Obasanjo opening heavy artillery fire from faraway Indonesia on Buhari. In what would have been considered high treason under military rule, he motioned the international audience to await a new leader that would sign a pending treaty to ease global trade, not PMB whose “hands are too weak.”
It was a daring follow-up to a declaration a few days earlier in Abeokuta in which OBJ dramatically recanted his old political fatwa on Atiku Abubakar, proclaiming him “President-to-b
e”.
The fireworks would appear to have been ignited the previous weekend with the electoral abracadabra in the Garden City bearing the military hallmark: numbing stealth. Like the ominous owl, Aliyu Gusau suddenly materialized at the crunch hour during the PDP convention.
He it was, according to reports, that whispered a coded message to the influencers of the night to tilt the scale so overwhelmingly in Atiku’s favor, so much that the votes garnered by the second runner-up was only half of his.
Dollar was no problem.
Dazed by the forceful hijack of what he probably had considered his show all along, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers States, the generous host who barely concealed an affinity for Aminu Tambuwal, was soon sighted retreating hastily to his lair before the votes were counted. The young turk from Obi Akpor must have realized by now that battle-hardened generals tackle differently.
Expectedly, coy Maradona of Minna is ever too timid to openly show his hands. But wherever Gusau goes, we can see his distinct shadow. Ditto the white-bearded Abdulasalami Abubakar.
Only the uninitiated would remain unmoved when, suddenly, no word is heard anymore from spectral Theophilus Danjuma, the one with a dark scowl.
While the old generals gear up for the final supremacy battle ahead, there can be no dispute that Atiku, otherwise considered a “lesser” retired officer on account of being of a paramilitary progeny, is the ultimate beneficiary. How pleasurable it must be for the man from Jada to sit back and watch his ancient foes now joining the battle to advance his interest.
Apart from the sigh of relief from OBJ suddenly agreeing to make “peace” with him, Atiku must also feel a sense of closure on IBB who could perhaps be classified as the first to teach him the true meaning of political adversity some twenty-five years ago.
Who would imagine that the man who in 1992 had mindlessly axed his political hero and mentor, Shehu Yar’Adua, when the latter appeared set to clinch the presidency on SDP platform at the height of the phony transition programme conducted by the shifty general, would today voluntarily be in his corner?
Taken together, the generals’ onslaught against PMB could only mean one thing: a boost to the Atiku momentum.
In squaring off to the new challenge, therefore, it will be fool-hardy for Buhari not to re-appraise his strategy and frame a new message that truly connects with the populace with a view to restoking flagging hope. If muck-raking or scare-mongering becomes the only agenda – as it increasingly appears, the cacophony so generated is likely to completely drown whatever positive message there might be.
Indeed, there is a growing drudgery – if not danger – of a one-plot narrative. There are few things commonsense teaches. When a vinyl is overplayed, for instance, no one needs any reminding of the inevitability of a crack, mangling the melody intended into a grating offence to the eardrums. The strategy of recycling old tales of corruption against Atiku may soon become counter-productive, especially as a seemingly resurgent PDP begins to catalogue APC’s own contradictions in the otherwise noble war against graft.
True, few ghosts are unlikely to go away in the times ahead, notably the herdsmen violence and lopsidedness in PMB’s appointments.
But it will be most unfair to say Buhari failed completely. What then has been a big puzzle is why Buhari and his people seem incapable of crowing more now about their own miracles. People readily connect with the issue of bread and butter.
While it is true hunger remains, it bears restating that the situation could have been worse today without a more scrupulous management of the nation’s earnings since 2015. And if the economy indicators now suggest the nation has navigated its way out of perhaps the worst recession in more than three decades inflicted undoubtedly by the profligacy of the preceding PDP administration, how come the people are not being reminded the more that that redemption is largely due, not to a sudden oil windfall, but Buhari’s frugality and insistence on value for money?
Again, while Boko Haram may not have fizzled out completely, let no one however distort the memory. Unlike 2015 when the murderous sect controlled no fewer than 23 councils across states in the North-East and would hoist their sepulchral flag audaciously, a more tenacious commander-in-chief has since inspired the military to recover most of the lost grounds, thereby restoring national pride.
These are verifiable facts.
But for Buhari, beyond the immediate challenge of mobilizing resources to tell his own success story more forcefully in the times ahead, what would also seem prudent now is to summon the humility to undertake a self-evaluation of sorts, resisting the temptation of complacency and being carried away by the glory of past electoral exploits.
True, over the years, the myth of a captive 12 million following in the north has been woven around Buhari on account of his showing in the 2003 and 2011 polls. (As for 2007, so mindless was the rigging inflicted by PDP under OBJ’s watch that Buhari’s ANPP was “allocated” 6,607,419 against his fellow Katsina townsman Umar Yar’Adua’ unbelievable 24,784,227.)
But let it not be forgotten that a partnership with the dominant progressive forces in the South-West was still needed to finally muster the knockout punch that PMB had so craved direly over a decade to tilt the pendulum decisively in his favor in 2015.
Against this backcloth, a counter-factual argument could then be made that the 12m-man myth of 2003 and 2011 is in the context of a Muslim Buhari of the north vying against Christian contender from the south. Today, with Atiku hailing from the North-East, the North-Central largely hurting from the herdsmen crisis, there is no denying that the fabled 12-million-man hypothesis is about to face the stiffest test yet. The PDP optimists are, therefore, wont to speculate on an entirely different outcome in 2019 in the context of Buhari running against a fellow Fulani and Muslim of Atiku’s clout. Of course, PMB’s base remains largely the Talakawa and other courtesans of the underclass in the fanatic worship of the ascetic spirit he easily evokes, with the feudal class and other elites likely to cast their lot for luxuriant Atiku out of enlightened self-interest.
With the Arewaland likely to be divided between Buhari and the anointed of the old order, it is now certain that victory in 2019 will be decided on the Southern soil.
As for South-South, besides a few token gestures here and there, it is doubtful if any other strong argument could be made that PMB has made any appreciable offering in Niger Delta in the past three and a half years to cause a tectonic shift in public sentiments and significantly alter voter behavior, which saw the zone voting PDP overwhelmingly in 2015.
As for South-East, with frugal, holy-communion-
taking Peter Obi as running-mate, Atiku is already guaranteed not only bloc Igbo vote but also potentially a buy-in of the significant Catholic community across the country.
By the way, less weight should be attached to the reported grumblings at the weekend of the Igbo governors and a few leaders who rose from the Enugu meeting to say they were not consulted before Atiku made the Obi choice public. Taking a second look at the line-up at that meeting, you would find that at least three of those present were earlier speculated among those being considered. What else is expected of political rivals in his native Anambra like Governor Willy Obiano and “godfather” Chris Uba? A case of sour grapes, no doubt.
In any case, with Atiku promising to do one term, usually hard-nosed Igbo are likely to view the PDP option as the shortest cut to Igbo presidency and, therefore, less likely to listen to any governor to vote otherwise.
So, the South-West invariably becomes the fierce battleground. Now, the hard questions: what will Buhari flaunt as dividends to the Yoruba who voted him in 2015 to justify renewing his mandate? Could the national policy options pursued in the last 42 months be said to be enough to win more support in Yorubaland this time?
For APC, the ready good news is that considerable energy and resources will be conserved in Osun, Ekiti and Ondo States where no governorship poll will hold except in the state assemblies. Their combined arsenal can then be mobilized to reinforce the defence of the party interest in Oyo, Ogun and Lagos.
But in specific terms, APC will have to really dig deep into its creative reserve for a coherent message to counter the Atiku’s gospel of restructuring which undeniably resonates well with the largely progressive values of the zone, beyond the ready excuse that having a Yorubaman as Buhari’s running mate is an assurance of the return of Yoruba presidency by 2023.
By and large, the time ahead will be interesting indeed.

It is less likely for Buhari to be defeated in 2019, says US institute

by Jamilah Nasir

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) says it is less likely for President Muhammadu Buhari to be defeated in the 2019 election.

The organaisation said this in a report it released on the forthcoming general election

USIP said the report is based on its interactions with Nigerians from different sectors.

The report, which analysed the chances of violence marring the elections, is contrary to two recent predictions by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research unit of The Economist Magazine, that the incumbent government will be unseated next year.

USIP said though many Nigerians feel that the current administration has not met their expectations, this is not likely to cost the All Progressives Congress (APC) government its hold on power.

“Many Nigerians feel their hopes have not been met. Some respondents suggest the electorate is sufficiently disappointed that voter apathy will be greater in 2019 than in 2015, with the unifying narrative of change that helped elect the APC in 2015 much less compelling as a factor in mobilizing the electorate, and perceptions that another defeat of the presidential incumbent is less likely to happen in 2019,” the report read.

Comparing the 2015 elections to the forthcoming one, the report said there is a greater chance of the occurrence of election violence, listing Adamawa, Anambra, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Plateau, Rivers as the eight of 36 states with greater risks of election violence.

While it stated that it is up to the combined efforts of political parties, security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to curb violence in the election, it said the greater work lies with the electoral body.

“Important shifts in Nigeria’s political and security context have occurred since the 2015 elections, presenting both evolving, and new, risks to the 2019 elections,” it read.

“Of all the state’s institutions, most respondents felt that peaceful elections in 2019 are contingent on the performance of Nigeria’s INEC.

“Given the relative success of the 2015 elections, they felt that INEC ought to be able to deliver credible elections again in 2019. They feared, however, that any regression from the level of performance achieved in 2015 could lead to violence because some would view the failings not as a result of incompetence but as deliberate attempts to frustrate the will of the voters.

“INEC should at least match the standards it set in 2015, and any regression could set the stage for violence.”

The report further said despite the projections of violence, “there are signs of hope”.

“Yet, while the potential for election violence exists, there are signs of hope. Some states have developed successful election conflict-mitigation practices. In the short amount of time remaining, INEC and the police should undertake a number of key reforms,” it said.

“ The United States, along with other international supporters of the electoral process, should also intensify their efforts to reinforce the work of these key Nigerian institutions.

“Beyond institutional support, rather than apply a conventional approach to electoral violence mitigation, donor programming should adapt to Nigeria’s current context, political shifts, and opportunities, and be sufficiently flexible to respond to the risks distinct in each of Nigeria’s states.

“In advance of the election, international diplomatic efforts to preempt electoral violence need to be intensified. Regional and international actors should convey their expectations that political parties effectively address their internal disputes, and be ready to put on notice politicians responsible for escalating these disputes.”

ON PMB WAEC CERTIFICATE

It's a pity that many Nigerians can no longer reason having been blinded or delusioned with ethno religious sentiment and hatred. While they spend fortune on data to upload or download rubbish, selfies, posting and sharing unverified posts, less attention is given to research.

I have read many comments on PMB recently acquired WAEC certificate and I can only conclude that many are actually educated but illiterate, walloping in their high level of ignorance while wailing in the ocean of bitterness and hatred thereby alluding it to hunger and poverty in the land.

You may need to ask the following salient questions concerning the certification after which your eyes of understanding may be opened with the answers provided below, thereby making you to discuss intelligently with wisdom irrespective of your political lineage or belief

1. Is it possible to get another certificate to replace the lost one?

Answer : No

2. How come that WAEC presented another certificate to PMB?

Answer:

WAEC never presented
 another certificate to PMB but Attestation based on request.

3. What is the difference between attestation and certificate or Why Attestation instead of certificate?

Answer:

Attestation is a validity of any result upon which a certificate can be issued or has been issued.

4. What happened to PMB original WAEC result?

Answer : Ask the Army headquarter ( IBB)

5. Why should WAEC issue him with attestation? Is it because he is the president?

Answer :

WAEC can issue anyone with attestation irrespective of the person background upon request by the individual and backed up with a police report and court affidavit.

6. How come the certificate looked new with recently taken passport photograph as displayed on the PMB WAEC CERTIFICATE?

Answer :

What was issued is not certificate but attestation which normally comes with an embossed recently taken passport photograph in accordance with the WAEC rules and regulations that guide the conduct of their examination and issuance of attestation which is most often referred to as CONFIRMATION OF RESULTS.

I believe that with this enlightment, many will stop making mockery of their ignorance.

 Thank you.

Akindele Onalapo

A Bitter Sweet Experience

Yesterday, Friday, 2nd November was a bittersweet experience in my household. Not life threatening anyway. The maid in the house, Sarah finally left us after she gave us a one month notice. One month notice!!!? Never heard that by house maids.
That she left our household is not the issue really. But, how and why do you want to write about a maid that left your household? That is the juicy part of the story.
We engaged a maid (Moriamoh) over 38 years ago, precisely in 1980 when we had our first child in Kaduna. She was like God sent at the time. Dutiful and cared for our son and assisted my wife in house chores. She stayed for over three years. But suddenly, she stopped and we were devastated. My wife and self were both in employment. In this situation, we had to make  arrangement for a replacement from same source Moriamoh came from. We got another maid that stayed few months, took off and cleaned the house out of the baby items (UK mothercare stuffs), my wife's jewelleries etc. All efforts to retrieve those items were in futility. Then we took the decision that wife will have to quit work to take care of our children. So, no maid.
Then came the era of the Beninoise house helps in Lagos and the South West. We requested my mother-in-law to send one to us in Kaduna. We got one eventually, Nestor. He was a workaholic. Works from morning till mid-night but not to take care of our son as madam was still off work. That is the difference between Sarah and Nestor.
Sarah joined us a little over two years ago. She and one other girl were presented to madam for interview. I was out of Abuja at the time. Madam picked Sarah. She resumed and in no time, she got a grip of what to do in the house. We observed her and she worked without supervision. She scheduled her time and knew when to clean and mop the house, laundry (wash and iron) tidy up the kitchen etc and at precisely 5pm, she closes and goes home. She is prompt at work in the morning and when the house bell rings at 09.03am on a daily basis, it must be Sarah. Not a minute past 09.03am.
Early this year, she lost a younger sister. It was a blow to her and we felt for her. She resumed work and continued in her diligent ways uptill last month when she gave notice to madam. This time too, I was away in Owerri and madam broke the news to me. The question I asked was :can we get someone like Sarah? Madam told me Sarah promised to bring another younger sister to take her place two weeks to her leaving. True to type, exactly two weeks, she brought a younger sister to understudy her. We watched them go through the duties. How Sarah put her sister through and how her sister watched and listened and how she took over gradually. One week plus of this handing over process, they got a call from home in Nassarawa State that their mother was seriously ill. Sarah sent her sister home to go check out the situation of their mother, while she continued work. Few days later, the news came that her mother eventually died. The cause? Typhoid. She went home for the burial. Burial over, Sarah resumed last Monday while the sister joined her on Wednesday to complete her final assignment in the house.
What really is touching is that Sarah gave one month notice because she was leaving our house for her husband and the wedding will be on the 17th of November,  2018. It was a joy for us that she met a husband to be while with us. On that note, we wished her well and accepted the sister she recommended. Yesterday was the time to say goodbye.
How do you say goodbye to a maid that became part of your household? A dutiful and diligent maid? A maid leaving your house for her day of her joy, happiness and to start her home and family? A day her late mother looked forward to and to play her motherly role at her wedding? When my wife and I called her yesterday for the final parting pep talk, she came dutifully, knelt down before us! We thanked her for the good work she did throughout the two years without our complaining. We counselled her, prayed for her and her marriage, admonished her as the eldest child of her mother to take over a mother role for her siblings and make her home comfortable for her husband. To always remember her father at this moment that he lost his wife. She listened to us stoically. We paid her off. Gave her parting gift. My daughters and daughter-in-law gave her lots of material items - dresses, shoes, jewelleries etc as they have done always in the past. She thanked us. As she left with her sister, my wife watched her all the way from our terrace building window until they took transport. The question we ask is: will there be another Sarah? Well, the consolation is that her sister will not let her down.
Please pray for Sarah in this her trying period. For her up coming wedding. For her marriage as she starts her home. For the comfort she needs away from home without a mother that just passed on. That is what Sarah needs now. Thank you for reading.

Edwin Osa Ogunbor

Debts/Liabilities inherited by Buhari Admin in 2015:

Pension/Salary Arrears: N740bn

Oil Subsidy Debt: N350bn

Paris Club Overdeductions: $5.4bn

JV CashCall Arrears: $6.8bn

Contractor Debt/EEG Debt: N1.9 Trn

Refunds to States for Roads: N488bn

Total: 7 TRILLION Naira
You can’t understand where we are today without understanding where we’re coming from. At least 7 TRILLION Naira in unpaid debts/liabilities, accumulated between 1999-2015, inherited by Buhari Administration.

All now being paid/settled. Even amidst relatively-low oil prices.
Look at Salaries/Pensions arrears. Examples abound: Nigerian Airways staff laid off 2003/4,unpaid until 2018. Delta Steel Co, Ex-Biafra Police Officers (pardoned since 2000)

See this thread from earlier this year by former Finance Minister @HMKemiAdeosun: https://t.co/3XwNmwr1Qz