Saturday, June 30, 2012

Kleptocracy: Alamieyeseigha forfeits $401,931 to US govt


MORE troubles came the way of former Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, on Thursday as the United States Department of Justice executed a forfeiture order against him.
The order was on a sum of $401,931 in a Massachusetts brokerage fund traceable to the former Governor who was convicted in Nigeria for corruption in 2007.
Invoking its “Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative”, the US government agency regards the forfeiture as “the first victory for a fledgling Justice Department initiative dedicated to seeking out assets in the U.S. linked to high-level foreign corruption,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. 

It disclosed that prosecutors filed court papers against Alamieyeseigha in April 2011 targeting a “$600,000 Maryland home and a Massachusetts brokerage account” belonging to the Governor who held office from 1999 to 2005. According to the prosecutors, Alamieyeseigha’s assets were the proceeds of corruption .

Alamieyeseigha denied the allegations in court filings. Earlier this month, a U.S. federal district judge in Massachusetts granted a motion for default judgment and civil forfeiture on the brokerage account.

Prosecutors executed the order Thursday. “With a declared income of less than $250,000, Mr. Alamieyeseigha accumulated millions of dollars worth of property over a six-year period,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said in a news release, adding:

“Today’s announcement – the first forfeiture judgment obtained under our Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative – sends a powerful message about the United States’  commitment to rooting out corruption far and wide.” A Nigerian court had sentenced.


Alamieyeseigha to two years in prison in 2007 for failing to declare assets in the country, South Africa and the U.S.
Nigerian Prosecutors said that he bought more than $8 million in properties with bribes he received from contractors while in office.

Alamieyeseigha also pleaded guilty to money laundering on behalf of two companies he controlled — Solomon & Peters Ltd. and Alamieyeseigha and Santolina Investment Corp.

In 2006, the High Court of Justice in London found that three of Alamieyeseigha’s properties there, as well as accounts held by Santolina, represented bribe money or
were traceable to bribes Alamieyeseigha took from contractors in Nigeria.

After he was arrested at Heathrow Airport in 2005, police found about $1.6 million in cash in his house.

A lawyer for Alamieyeseigha didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under U.S. Laws, the Justice Department can in civil forfeiture cases file complaints in federal court against property, rather than individuals, linked to foreign corruption.

Another forfeiture against Alamieyeseigha’s Maryland house is pending in federal court in Maryland. The Justice Department didn’t say where the forfeited funds would be directed. According to the news release, “where appropriate [the Justice Department will] return those proceeds to benefit those harmed.” 

A Justice Department spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about whether or not the funds would be returned to Nigeria.

FFP ranks Nigeria 14th failed country in the world


NIGERIA now ranks among the top 10 failed states in Africa and 14th in the world, a global body, the Fund For Peace (FFP) declared in its 2012 annual Index Data released on Friday.
The war-torn Somalia tops the global list, which comprised 177 countries with Congo Democratic Republic and Sudan ranked second and third respectively.
Afghanistan, which had for several years, interchangeably dominated the number one spot, dropped to number six, after Chad and Zimbabwe which placed fourth and fifth in that order.
FFP is an independent, non-partisan non-profit research and educational organisation that works to prevent violent conflict and promote sustainable security.
Going by the latest index data, Nigeria has gained two points having been ranked eight failed state in the continent, while she retained the 14th in the world.
The country trails behind Pakistan, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, Iraq, Yemen and Haiti.
According to the FFP, a total of 12 criteria were applied in arriving at the ranking that showed a relative better rating for such other African countries like Madagascar, Comoros Island, Djibouti, Libya, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Togo, Mauritania, Malawi and Rwanda than Nigeria among the list of the failed states.
Some of the core criteria included security apparatus, factionalised elite, legitimacy of the state, external intervention, poverty and economic decline, uneven development, group grievance and demographic pressures, human flight and public services.
Some of these factors, which had become pronounced in the country in the last couple of years, have culminated in restiveness among the citizens and triggered calls for a national conference to enable the country chart a new course.
But the establishment has consistently toed the path of constitutional amendment, ostensibly because of the demand in many quarters for a conference with sovereign powers.
Besides, the nation has been contending with security challenges across the country, some of which include the menace of banditry and kidnapping in some states in the southern part of the country.
However, the greatest security challenge had been the activities of the Boko Haram sect, whose members have persistently engaged in serial bombings with the accompany deaths of hundreds of innocent cities and destruction of invaluable property.
The frightening dimension of the mindless killings had led to some senior citizens warning against what they described as the Somalialisation of the country in apparent reference to Somalia, which has been remained ungovernable owing to the endless activities of factional groups trying to control the North African country.
It neither has a central government nor any regional government that could claim to be in charge of its sovereignty.
Nigeria has remained in the top bracket of countries categorized as failed nations in the last three years.
Soyinka’s Warning Of Somalia, Boko Haram Menace, Economic Crises. According to the domentary, some countries fail spectacularly, with a total collapse of all state institutions, as in Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal and the hanging of President Mohammad Najibullah from a lamppost, or during the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone, where the government ceased to exist altogether.
Most countries that fall apart, however, do so not with a bang but with a whimper. They fail not in an explosion of war and violence but by being utterly unable to take advantage of their society’s huge potential for growth, condemning their citizens to a lifetime of poverty. This type of slow, grinding failure leaves many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America with living standards far, far below those in the West.
What’s tragic is that this failure is by design. These states collapse because they are ruled by what is called “extractive” economic institutions, which destroy incentives, discourage innovation, and sap the talent of their citizens by creating a tilted playing field and robbing them of opportunities. These institutions are not in place by mistake but on purpose. They’re there for the benefit of elites who gain much from the extraction — whether in the form of valuable minerals, forced labour, or protected monopolies — at the expense of society. Of course, such elites benefit from rigged political institutions too, wielding their power to tilt the system for their benefit.
But states built on exploitation inevitably fail, taking an entire corrupt system down with them and often leading to immense suffering.
North Korea: Lack of Property Rights
North Korea's economic institutions make it almost impossible for people to own property; the state owns everything, including nearly all land and capital. Agriculture is organized via collective farms. People work for the ruling Korean Workers' Party, not themselves, which destroys their incentive to succeed.
North Korea could be much wealthier. In 1998, a U.N. mission found that many of the country's tractors, trucks, and other farm machinery were simply unused or not maintained. Beginning in the 1980s, farmers were allowed to have their own small plots of land and sell what they grew. But even this hasn't created much incentive, given the country's endemic lack of property rights. In 2009, the government introduced a revalued currency and allowed people to convert only 100,000 to 150,000 won of the old currency into the new one (equivalent to about $35 to $40 at the black-market exchange rate). People who had worked and saved up stocks of the old currency found it to be worthless.
Not only has North Korea failed to grow economically -- while South Korea has grown rapidly -- but its people have literally failed to flourish. Trapped in this debilitating cycle, North Koreans are not only much poorer than South Koreans but also as much as 3 inches shorter on average than the neighbors from whom they have been cut off for the last six decades.
Uzbekistan: Forced labourCoercion is a surefire way to fail. Yet, until recently, at least in the scope of human history, most economies were based on the coercion of workers -- think slavery, serfdom, and other forms of forced labor. In fact, the list of strategies for getting people to do what they don't want to do is as long as the list of societies that relied on them. Forced labor is also responsible for the lack of innovation and technological progress in most of these societies, ranging from ancient Rome to the U.S. South.
Modern Uzbekistan is a perfect example of what that tragic past looked like. Cotton is among Uzbekistan's biggest exports. In September, as the cotton bolls ripen, the schools empty of children, who are forced to pick the crop. Instead of educators, teachers become labor recruiters. Children are given daily quotas from between 20 to 60 kilograms, depending on their age.
The main beneficiaries of this system are President Islam Karimov and his cronies, who control the production and sale of the cotton. The losers are not only the 2.7 million children coerced to work under harsh conditions in the cotton fields instead of going to school, but also Uzbek society at large, which has failed to break out of poverty. Its per capita income today is not far from its low level when the Soviet Union collapsed -- except for the income of Karimov's family, which, with its dominance of domestic oil and gas exploration, is doing quite well.
Egypt: The big men get greedyWhen elites control an economy, they often use their power to create monopolies and block the entry of new people and firms. This was exactly how Egypt worked for three decades under Hosni Mubarak. The government and military owned vast swaths of the economy -- by some estimates, as much as 40 percent.
Even when they did "liberalize," they privatised large parts of the economy right into the hands of Mubarak's friends and those of his son, Gamal. Big businessmen close to the regime, such as Ahmed Ezz (iron and steel), the Sawiris family (multimedia, beverages, and telecommunications), and Mohamed Nosseir (beverages and telecommunications) received not only protection from the state but also government contracts and large bank loans without needing to put up collateral.
Together, these big businessmen were known as the "whales." Their stranglehold on the economy created fabulous profits for regime insiders, but blocked opportunities for the vast mass of Egyptians to move out of poverty. Meanwhile, the Mubarak family accumulated a vast fortune estimated as high as $70 billion.
Somalia: No law and orderOne must-have for successful economies is an effective centralised state. Without this, there is no hope of providing order, an effective system of laws, mechanisms for resolving disputes, or basic public goods.
Yet large parts of the world today are still dominated by stateless societies. Although countries like Somalia or the new country of South Sudan do have internationally recognized governments, they exercise little power outside their capitals, and maybe not even there. Both countries have been built atop societies that historically never created a centralized state but were divided into clans where decisions were made by consensus among adult males. No clan was ever able to dominate or create a set of nationally respected laws or rules. There were no political positions, no administrators, no taxes, no government expenditures, no police, no lawyers -- in other words, no government.
This situation persisted during the colonial period in Somalia, when the British were unable even to collect poll taxes, the usual fiscal basis for their African colonies. Since independence in 1960, attempts have been made to create an effective central state, for example, during the dictatorship of Mohamed Siad Barre, but after more than five decades it's fair and even obvious to say they have failed. Call it Somalia's law: Without a central state, there can be no law and order; without law and order, there can be no real economy; and without a real economy, a country is doomed to fail.
Colombia: A weak central governmentColombia isn't Somalia. All the same, its central government is unable or unwilling to exert control over probably half the country, which is dominated by left-wing guerrillas, most famously the FARC, and, increasingly, right-wing paramilitaries. The drug lords may be on the run, but the state's absence from much of the country leads not only to lack of public services such as roads and health care, but also to lack of well-defined, institutionalized property rights.
Thousands of rural Colombians have only informal titles or titles lacking any legal validity. Although this does not stop people from buying and selling land, it undermines their incentives to invest -- and the uncertainty often leads to violence. During the 1990s and early 2000s, for example, an estimated 5 million hectares of land were expropriated in Colombia, typically at gunpoint. The situation got so bad that in 1997, the central government allowed local authorities to ban land transactions in rural areas. The result? Many parts of Colombia essentially fail to take part in modern economic activities, instead languishing in poverty, not to mention proving to be fertile havens for armed insurgents and paramilitary forces of both the left and right.
Calca and nearby Acomayo are two Peruvian provinces. Both are high in the mountains, and both are inhabited by the Quechua-speaking descendants of the Incas. Both grow the same crops, yet Acomayo is much poorer, with its inhabitants consuming about one-third less than those in Calca. The people know this. In Acomayo, they ask intrepid foreigners, "Don't you know that the people here are poorer than the people over there in Calca? Why would you ever want to come here?"
Indeed, it is much harder to get to Acomayo from the regional capital of Cusco, the ancient center of the Inca Empire, than it is to get to Calca. The road to Calca is paved, while the one to Acomayo is in terrible disrepair. To get beyond Acomayo you need a horse or a mule -- not due to any differences in topography, but because there are no paved roads. In Calca, they sell their corn and beans on the market for money, while in Acomayo they grow the same crops for their own subsistence.
Acomayo's people are one-third poorer than Calca's as a result. Infrastructure matters.
Peru: Bad public servicesCalca and nearby Acomayo are two Peruvian provinces. Both are high in the mountains, and both are inhabited by the Quechua-speaking descendants of the Incas. Both grow the same crops, yet Acomayo is much poorer, with its inhabitants consuming about one-third less than those in Calca. The people know this. In Acomayo, they ask intrepid foreigners, "Don't you know that the people here are poorer than the people over there in Calca? Why would you ever want to come here?"
Indeed, it is much harder to get to Acomayo from the regional capital of Cusco, the ancient center of the Inca Empire, than it is to get to Calca. The road to Calca is paved, while the one  to Acomayo is in terrible disrepair. To get beyond Acomayo you need a horse or a mule -- not due to any differences in topography, but because there are no paved roads. In Calca, they sell their corn and beans on the market for money, while in Acomayo they grow the same crops for their own subsistence.
Acomayo's people are one-third poorer than Calca's as a a result. Infrastructure matters.
Sierra Leone: Fighting over the spoilsIntense extraction breeds instability and failure because, consistent with the iron law of oligarchy, it creates incentives for others to depose the existing elites and take over.
This is exactly what happened in Sierra Leone. Siaka Stevens and his All People's Congress (APC) party ran the country from 1967 until 1985 as their personal fiefdom. Little changed when Stevens stepped aside, passing the baton to his protégé, Joseph Momoh, who just continued the plunder.
The trouble is that this sort of extraction creates deep-seated grievances and invites contests for power from would-be strongmen hoping to get their hands on the loot. In March 1991, Foday Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front, with the support and most likely the command of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, crossed into Sierra Leone and plunged the country into a vicious, decade-long civil war. Sankoh and Taylor were interested in only one thing: power, which they could use, among other things, to steal diamonds, and they could do so because of the regime that Stevens and his APC had created. The country soon descended into chaos, with the civil war taking the lives of about 1 percent of the population and maiming countless others. Sierra Leone's state and institutions totally collapsed. Government revenues went from 15 percent of national income to practically zero by 1991. The state, in other words, didn't so much fail as disappear entirely.

Jonathan receives revised Petroleum Industry Bill


THE Special Taskforce on the Review of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and the Petroleum Industry Bill Technical Committee yesterday submitted their reports to President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
With the submission, the revised draft of the PIB would be ready for submission to the National Assembly within two weeks.
The revised draft bill is expected to be discussed first and approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its next meeting on Wednesday. It will then be sent to the National Assembly for enactment into law.
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deziani Allison-Madueke, told journalists shortly after the draft bill was presented to President Jonathan that with the submission, which is the culmination of a 50-year effort to reform the petroleum sector, “we will go forward now as  directed and prepare for the presentation to the Federal Executive Council. My assumption therefore is that within the next 10 to 14 days, it will be in their hands. But again, that will be at the pleasure of Mr. President. Ours is to present it and review it with government stakeholders as it is done for every bill that is done for the government to present.”
She added: “This bill has been 50 years in the making, it has taken a long time. It went through the entire gamut of the sixth session of the National Assembly and it did not get promulgated into law. In agreement with the seventh assembly, we took it back and completely reviewed it again.
“This is not a small bill. It is a critical bill for this country and for our oil and gas sector. Therefore at this point, government will do the final review and put it in front of the FEC for approval. Part of that process is that it will go through the Attorney-General’s office. Nigerians should understand that we have been in a hurry for a long time to put this bill out but we will try to ensure that by the time it enters the National Assembly, we are very comfortable with it and we are putting forward a bill that we believe the oil and gas sector can stand on and can grow on for many years to come in this country.”
Speaking on the differences between the new bill and the former one, Mrs Allison-Madueke said: “The teams have reconfigured the various sections. The fiscal regimes used are so much different. The manner and templates for various calculations have been looked at differently, and other fiscal areas. The issue of domestic gas and fiscal regime for domestic gas have been looked at robustly. The issue of the reconfiguration of the NNPC is to ensure that going forward, it becomes the commercial entity that it is supposed to be and we can actually grow a first rate national oil company that over the years will grow to compete with other national oil companies such as Petronas and Petrobras. All these have been looked at.
“The administrative roles and some of the others have also been looked at. The Ministry of Petroleum  Resources is actually a professionally run ministry and it engages professionals in the oil and gas sector to work within the ministry which is not the case at all now.
“We have professionals now, but they are along the administrative line. We want to ensure that like other agencies of government, there are professionals in the ministry itself so that the ministry is not dependant solely on its technical status.”
Also, the new Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Andrew Yakubu has said that the new management team of NNPC will ensure transparency in its dealings as a way of correcting people’s  perceptions about the corporation.
His words: “In the recent past, we have had quite a number of challenges. A lot of eyes are on us on the way we do our business. Those criticisms have been taken on board, my new management will plough them back into the system, we will review our processes and we will reposition NNPC for growth. We will work very hard to work with the Nigerian public, and all the stakeholders. We shall be transparent and responsible. We will work towards changing the perception.”
He therefore described his appointment and that of other members of the management team “as a call to service."

Obasanjo Questions Nigeria’s GDP Growth


Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday, questioned the growth of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), saying it was not realistic, given the level of poverty in the country.
Speaking at the 40th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), he also described the country as a toddler in  industrialisation.
“If in 2004, the percentage of poor people in Nigeria was 54 per cent, in 2011 it was 38 per cent, now it is 69 per cent and yet, we say the GDP growth is increasing. It means something is very wrong.
“There is no doubt that poverty is still on the increase. Vision 20:2020 will be a hopeless issue with the rate of poverty in the land. GDP growth is important, but not enough
“We are not yet there and in fact, we are far from getting there. We are still an infant, and an infant must be taken care of, pampered and nurtured before he can stand,” he said.
Obasanjo urged the government to continue to support backward integration, adding that what happened in the cement sector could be achieved in other sectors of the economy.
He stressed the need for manufacturers to continue to support the Federal Government.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who was represented by the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr Samuel Ortom, charged the manufacturers to be committed to the growth and development of the economy.
He said: “On the part of government, we are working towards an actionable industrial policy and a robust industrial revolution action plan, tailored along sector specific lines, in order to provide special incentives to each subgroup in the manufacturing sector, with special emphasis in areas where we possess comparative and competitive advantage.
“As soon as the policy is in place, you will see the industrial revolution, which you desire, and I want to assure you that government will continue to support the manufacturing sector.

Rain floods Lagos, Ogun, Oyo states


HUNDREDS of houses were flooded in parts of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states as a result of a persistent downpour which began around 4.00 p.m. on Wednesday and lasted all through the night.
Many residents of some communities in Lagos and Ogun, including Oshodi, Ijaye, Agege, Ikeja, Obalende, Sango-Ota, Ijoko, Owode, Ifo  and Singer were thrown into confusion and panic as the heavy rain  ravaged many homes and business premises.
Millions of naira worth of properties  were destroyed  in the flood, while parents stopped  their children from going to school   as a result of the heavy flood.
The Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway  also got broken into two, forcing motorists, who were coming to Lagos to drive against the traffic, resulting in serious traffic.
Workers, who had defied the flood and wanted to resume at their places of work  on Thursday morning were forced to trek long distances, as a result of non-availability of vehicles.
Transport  fares also hit the roof top as drivers of the few available buses  took advantage of the situation to increase  their fares.
Residents of Ijaiye, Kola Caso and Alakuko areas of Agbado woke up  on Thursday to discover  that their areas had been completely taken over by  water.
Movement of vehicles and people at Caso and  Adura Bus Stop on the Lagos–Abeokuta Expressway  was at a standstill for more than two hours on both sides of the road.
Many houses in Agege, Ladipo, Sogunle, Meiran, Ijaoye and Ahmadiya  were submerged  in the flood with properties worth millions of naira destroyed.
In Sango-Ota,  communities like  Alli Isiba, Joju, Okede Akinbo, Oju Ore, Ilogo Road,  NASFAT and Ewupe  were completely flooded, forcing residents to scoop water from their homes.
Home  electronics and other appliances  were lost in the flood  as many homes were submerged in the flooded
communities  with residents climbing on their windows  and soaked  furniture.
As early as 3.00 a.m., Mama  Favour, a resident at Reverend Sodiya Way, raised the alarm, calling on residents to help her rescue the aged people in her flooded residence.
The woman  lost  thousands of naira worth of goods as her two shops were completely filled with water  while her electrical  and electronic appliances were floating on the water.
The situation was similar at the popular Alli Isiba Street, where the only  major canal in the whole of Sango-Ota passes through.
The drainage system was by Thursday  afternoon still overfilled and running heavily, thereby spilling water  on the busy road and preventing  motorists and residents from  using the road.
Areas affected included Jimoh Yussuf, Emmanuel Aina, Ishola, Alabede, Akinola and Fatai streets in the remote of Aboru.
Residents of the affected areas watched helplessly as flood rolled away their property, while civil servants reported late for works.
Lamenting over the losses, Pa Salimonu Tiamiyu, a resident of Fatai Street, disclosed that about 20 house was submerged by the flood.
In a related development, residents of Glory Community Association, Isheri Olofin in Egbe Idimu Local Council Development Authority, have called on the government to come to their aid, disclosing that flooding, as being experienced in the area, started seven years ago.
Blaming it on the construction of LASU-Iba road, the residents called for the construction of drainage in the affected areas.
Residents of Arowojobe Estate in Mende, Maryland area of Lagos State, were trapped, due to the downpour which resulted in a massive flood in the area.
The chairman of the Kosofe Local Government Area of the state, Mr Afolabi Sofola, appealed to the state government to come to the aid of the community, as the fund to construct  the canal was enormous for his council to bear alone.
Train passengers escape death
Meanwhile, no fewer than 300 passengers of a Lagos-bound train escaped death on Thursday morning, as the train skidded of its track and rammed into a truck at Odo-Eran Sabo area of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The near tragedy was as a result of the downpour, which submerged the rail line on Wednesday evening.
Passengers of the 12-coach train could not alight as the train could not taxi at the Lafenwa station, as the flood had swept away the sand underneath the track.
When the we visited the scene, passengers were seen loitering the station area, waiting to recover their goods and luggage.
An official of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) at the Lafenwa station told us on condition of anonymity that the principal traffic officer of the corporation at the station had advised the management against allowing the train to cross the bridge, in order to avert a major accident.
Rain wreaks havoc in Oyo
No fewer than 500 people were, on Thursday, rendered homeless in Oyo town, following an early hour rain.
Also, three bridges located in different parts of the town were washed away by the flood, while goods worth millions of naira destroyed.
We gathered that rain started around 5.30 a.m and lasted for five hours, during which it had caused havoc to the Oyo town.
A mosque and a bridge in Sanda area of the town was said to have collapsed during the rain, while a motorcyclist who missed his way and ran into the flood sustained injuries.
We went round the town, especially the affected areas and it was discovered that no fewer than 100 houses were flooded in the town.
The affected residents were said to have taken refuge at upper area of the town, but only returned on Thursday morning to see that their properties had been affected by the flood.
It was also learnt that the flood destroyed fish ponds in the town, as the owners were seen in search of the fishes.
We learnt that the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, had paid visit to the affected areas.
Fear as flood ravages Odo-Ona Apata road
The bridge on the Odo-Ona Apata road area of Ibadan was overflooded with water.
According to an eyewitness, “by 7.00 a.m on Thursday, nobody could come out of their houses, as the whole area was overflooded.
The incident prompted the caretaker chairman of Oluyole Local Government Council, Mr Ayodeji Abass Aleshinloye and the state Commissioner for Environment, Mr Dauda Wasiu, to rush to the area to examine the magnitude of the disaster.
Aleshinloye, however, advised the residents, especially those with houses near the river and whose houses had been marked for demolition, to adhere to the warnings and see reasons why they had to relocate from the river banks and channels.
Residents of Joju  also had their share of the harrowing experience  as the busy road was also flooded and many houses submerged in the flood.
The Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway was also completely flooded as salon car owners were forced to abandon their vehicles, following the flood on the road.
Residents of Owode and Ijako also had a terrible experience of the Wednesday/Thursday  rain session as the  major road   in the areas was broken into two   as a result of the flood.
Residents of Aboru community in Agbado Oke-Odo Local Government were also affected, as flood reportedly submerged no fewer than 50 buildings in the area, resulting in the loss of property worth millions of naira.

Faroukgate: Police uncover fresh $10m bribe


(Vanguard) - Investigations by Police detectives into the $620,000 oil subsidy bribe money collected by  Mr Farouk Lawan from oil magnate, Mr. Femi Otedola, have unearthed a wider financial scandal.

It was gathered that oil marketers who were indicted in the report recently submitted to the government by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukuede-led panel that probed the fuel subsidy claims allegedly paid about $10 million as bribe to Lawan committee.

Vanguard gathered that while the Aig-Imoukuede-led panel uncovered fraudulent overpayments to many of the oil marketers to the tune of N422 billion, all the oil marketers involved and indicted were invited and interrogated by the Lawan committee but were given a clean bill of health.

80% bribe money collected abroad

It has now emerged that the oil marketers gave bribes in foreign currency to the tune of about $10 million and that over 80 per cent of the bribes given were done abroad as the oil marketers, acting in partnership, sponsored some of the leaders of the House subsidy probe panel to the UK and the US, lodged them in choice hotels and gave them the bribes which influenced their being cleared of any fraudulent practice by the committee.

Sources told Vanguard yesterday that the decision of the oil marketers to give out such huge bribes to the House committee was to enable them use the clean bill of health report card, given by the House, to counter the report that would be presented by the Finance Committee panel.

According to sources, police detectives were shocked to find out that the amount of bribe money collected by the Lawan subsidy probe panel to over N15 billion while many House members who hitherto pretended to know nothing of the $620, 000 collected by Farouk, and even lambasted him over the $3 million scam, are neck deep in the $10 million scam.

The marketers were said to have settled for the Farouk committee because the Aig-Imoukuede panel was a no go area and bluntly told them they were not interested in taking bribes to influence their finding.

When Vanguard sought to know what the Police would do concerning the new discovery about the $10 million bribe money most of which took place abroad, it was told that the Police has its ways and that those involved would be found out.

Reps summon Otedola to appear on July 3

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges has summoned Chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, Mr. Femi Otedola, to appear before it on July 3.

This was disclosed, yesterday, by the chairman of the committee, Gambo Musa, while briefing newsmen on the proceedings of the committee which interrogated Farouk Lawan over Otedola’s allegation that Lawan collected $620,000 as part of the $3 million bribe he had demanded.

Musa said this had become necessary to enable Otedola respond to some of the revelations made by Lawan when he appeared before the committee.

Lawan who arrived the House Meeting room 4.59, venue of the hearing,  at exactly 1.05pm looked relaxed in his white caftan with a white hat to match. However, shortly after saying the prayers and reading his opening speech, Musa ordered journalists out of the venue of the hearing.

In his opening remarks, Musa recalled how the House reconvened early last January, to address the issue of the Federal Government’s withdrawal of fuel subsidy which had sparked off  nation-wide protests. He also recalled how the House had set up the Adhoc Committee led by Lawan  to probe the fuel subsidy regime and its disbursement adding that the Committee’s report  had attracted applause nation-wide after it was submitted.

He further recalled how the activities of the Committee had taken a new twist after Otedola had alleged he gave Lawan $620,000 as bribe for the purpose of delisting Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd. from companies indicted for diverting foreign exchange allocated to them by the CBN for the purpose of importing petroleum products.

Musa further stated that it was the responsibility of the Committee to unravel what actually transpired during its investigations. He had explained that  Lawan had to be interrogated in camera to avoid jeopardizing the Committee’s investigations.

Friday, June 29, 2012

5 ways African Leaders exit from power


Generally, there are five ways in which Africans can rid themselves of leaders they do not want.
1. THE DIGNIFIED WAY. The first is when they VOLUNTARILY step down from power and retire from office. This option, however, is very rare. In the entire post-colonial history since 1960, only 8 such cases can be reported among the 222 heads of state from the 54 African countries. They are:
1.      El Ferik Ibrahim Abboud of Sudan in 1964
2.      Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria in 1979
3.      Jerry John Rawlings of Ghana resigned in 1979 after 3 months in office,
4.      Leopold Senghor of Senegal in 1980 after 20 years in office;
5.      Julius Nyerere of Tanzania in1982 after 22 years;
6.      Abdel Rahman Suwar al-Dahab of Sudan in 1986 after one year in office
7.      Amadou Toumani Touré of Mali in 1992 after one year in office
8.      Ely Ould Mohamed Vall of Mauritania in 2007 after 2 years in office

2. DEATH IN OFFICE. The second route is when they pass away in office. Initially, the death notice is greeted with mournful grief and uncontrollable wailing in memory of the departed leader. But most often it is crocodile tears that are shed. A few days later, champagne bottles are uncorked, serious partying, wild celebration and joy erupt in some quarters. The village brass band blows up a storm with chickens doing the “Disco Duck.” Then suddenly the music stops – that’s when the next “rat” takes over power. Here is the list:
1.    Gabriel Léon M’ba of Gabon died of cancer in  Nov 1967
2.    Houari Boumedienne of Algeria died of a rare blood disease in Dec 1978
3.    Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya died of natural causes in Aug 1978
4.    Agostinho Neto of Angola died in 1979
5.    Samora Moisés Machel of Mozambique died in a helicopter crash in 1986
6.    Seyni Kountché of Niger died of brain tumor in Nov 1987.
7.   Felix Houphouet-Boigny of Ivory Coast died of prostate cancer in Dec 1993
8.    Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo died of heart attack in Feb 2005
9.    Levy Patrick Mwanawasa of Zambia died from stroke in August 2008
10.   Lasana Conte of Guinea died in Dec 2008
11.   Omar Bongo of Gabon died of heart attack/cancer in June 2009
12.   Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi died of a heart attack in April 2012.
3. VOTED OUT. The third and normal way of removing bad leaders is to vote them out of office. However, this option has been limited since elections are held in only a few countries. In 1990, the number of democratic countries in Africa was only 4 (Botswana, Gambia, Mauritius and Senegal). Today, this number – after 22 years – has grown marginally to 14 out of 54 African countries. They are: Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde Islands, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. Even then, this list is charitable.
If a strict definition of democracy is applied the following countries would not be on the list: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia. Only 8 — Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde islands, Mauritius, Namibia, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal and South Africa – would remain.
Elections alone don’t make a country democratic.  In addition to periodic elections, the following are needed:
·        A freely-negotiated constitution — one that is NOT written to satisfy the dictates or whims of one person, group or party;
·        Separation of powers; and
·        Checks and Balances.
Separation of powers. The main centres of power in a society are the Executive, the Legislature (Parliament), Law Enforcement, the Judiciary, the Electoral Commission, the Media, the Central Bank and the Military. Separation of powers means that these 8 critical institutions are INDEPENDENT of each other and free from Executive control. Each has a specific role to play.
1.      The Executive or the President and his administration run the country setting development goals, etc.,
2.      The Legislature: Its role is to pass laws that make the society function better and to provide oversight over Executive actions,
3.      Law Enforcement simply enforces the laws passed by Parliament,
4.      The Judiciary upholds the “rule of law,” ensuring that all, including the Executive, obey the law. Those who break the law are punished by the court system with fines or jail terms,
5.      The Electoral Commission’s role is to organize free, fair and transparent elections,
6.      The Media’s role is to ensure free flow of information, exposing wrong-doing (corruption, human rights violations, etc.) or other societal problems (pollution, famine, diseases, etc.) in order for these problems to be solved.
7.      Central Bank. Its role is to manage the money supply, ensuring that there is just enough money to facilitate trade, exchange and economic activity. Too much money in circulation causes inflation. Zimbabwe’s currency collapsed in 2009 because too much of it was over-printed.
8.      The Military. Its role is to defend the territorial integrity of the country and defend the Constitution – by force, if necessary.
Checks and balances. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that one center of power does not careen recklessly out of control. If the Executive acts recklessly, Parliament can impeach the president or remove him with a “no confidence” vote. Or if Parliament acts irresponsibly, the president can dissolve it and call for fresh elections. And if Parliament passes a law that is outrageous, the Supreme Court can throw out that law as “unconstitutional.” This is what is meant by checks and balances. Separation of powers and checks and balances require INDEPENDENT institutions. All three go together.
In the vast majority of African countries, this democratic process has been debauched by vexatious chicanery, wilful deception, devious manoeuvres, strong-arm tactics and vaunted acrobatics. Autocrats initially yield to democratic reform after considerable domestic and international pressure but then control the process, manipulate the rules and the transition process to their advantage, believing that they could fool their people all the time. They empanel a fawning coterie of sycophants and cronies to write the rules of the game and the Constitution. Protégés are appointed as Electoral Commissioners. The electoral register is padded with fictitious party supporters or ghost names, while opposition supporters are purged from the list. State assets and resources – funds, vehicles, media, workers, etc. — are openly commandeered while the opposition parties are denied access to the state-owned media. On the eve of the election, government-hired thugs and militia intimidate beat up opposition supporters. Leaders of opposition parties may themselves be hauled into jail. Even worse, the vote count may be halted if it does not seem to the going in the incumbent’s favour. The votes are then counted in secret and the incumbent declared the winner. Such coconut elections have occurred in far too many African countries to recount here.
A few exceptions, however, must be noted. Some African leaders WISELY yielded to popular pressure and demands for democracy and opened up the political space – albeit reluctantly.. In doing so, they managed to save not only their own lives but their countries as well: Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia in 1991;  Aristides Pereira of Cape Verde Islands in 1991; Manuel Pinto da Costa of Sao Tome & Principe in 1991; Daniel arap Moi of Kenya in 1992; Hastings Banda of Malawi in 1994; Ali Hassan Mwinyi of Tanzania in 1995, among others. Unfortunately, they are the exceptions.
4. THE GENTLE SHOVE When dictators adamantly refuse to resign, refuse to die in office or face a free, fair and transparent vote, then recourse to the next two alternatives becomes inevitable. The first is “The Gentle Shove.” A dictator may be found “unfit to rule” on health, mental or political grounds and quietly shoved aside. Such was the case of Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon — forced to resign in 1982 on health grounds on recommendations of his French doctor. He was furious when he later learned that he was “tricked” by the doctor and his health was fine. He tried unsuccessfully to regain power. Another was Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia removed from office in 1987 for being deranged and unfit to govern.
Then, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1989, winds of change swept across Africa. Under pressure to reform their abominable political systems, many dictators hastily convened Sovereign National Conferences (SNCs), which stripped them of power, set up interim administrations, wrote new Constitutions and set dates for new elections: Ali Saibou of Niger (1991); Mathieu Kerekou of Benin in 1991; Frederick de Klerk of South Africa, to name a few. In other cases where there was a political stand-off, dictators were forced to share power in a government of national unity (GNU) – Angola, 1992; Ivory Coast, 1993; Kenya, 2006; Zimbabwe, 2009; etc.
5. THE SLEDGEHAMMER: However, when all efforts at persuasion and reason fail, there is one final recourse – “The Sledgehammer” – assassination, military coup, rebel insurgency, mass uprising or a trip to The Hague (ICC). This is the weapon against “hardened coconuts” that are hopelessly blind to the suffering of their people, stone-deaf to the cries of their people and completely impervious to reason. They are VIOLENTLY removed from office with destructive consequences from civil wars, state collapse, crumbled infrastructure, economic ruination, etc. Chased by angry rebel soldiers, they flee into exile or meet untimely and gruesome demise. A few examples:
·        General Samuel Doe of Liberia was killed in September 1990 when he bled to death after his right ear was cut off. He was hard at hearing;
·        General Siad Barre of Somalia fled Mogadishu in Jan 1991 a tank, which ran out of gas just near the Kenya border;
·        General Sani Abacha killed in 1998. He was either assassinated, poisoned or died from exhaustion from a Viagra-fueled sex orgy with Iraqi prostitutes.
·        Ibrahim Bare Mainassara gunned down with heavy-duty anti-aircraft weaponry that shredded his body into smithereens in April 1999.
·        Laurent Kabila of Congo DR, shot in the head by a personal security detail in 2001.
·        Capt Moussa Dadis Camara shot in the head in Dec 2009. He survived — only a coconut could take a bullet to the head and survive. Alas, nothing inside, so no damage.
·        Col Muammar Khaddafi, who vowed to hunt down the rebels like rats, was dragged from his rat-hole, shot in the head and killed in 2011.
·        Hosni Mubarak of Egypt – in a cage serving a life sentence.
·        Charles Taylor of Liberia – in the slammer serving a 50-year sentence.
·        Laurent Gbagbo, after heavy bombardment, was dragged from his basement in his underwear in 2011 and now awaiting trial at The Hague.
Do they ever learn? Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.
George Ayittey is a Ghanaian Economic Professor and President of the Washington DC-based Free Africa Foundation

Why African dictators cling on to power


There are three reasons why African dictators cling to power and refuse to step down when their people get fed up with them.
First, they somehow get this absurd notion that the country belongs to them — only them alone and their families – and must rule till cows jump over the moon.
They act like the despotic French monarch, Louis XIV, who famously declared: “L’Etat, c’est moi” (I am the State). This belief of state ownership by African dictators is often derived from the feeling that they “liberated” or “saved” their countries – either from colonial rule, corruption, despotism, etc.
It was most prevalent among the first generation of Africa’s post colonial nationalist heroes. Having won independence from colonial rule, they were hailed as heroes and deified. Called “fathers of the nations,” criticizing them was sacrilegious. Some even took awe-inspiring epithets for themselves. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana was “Osagyefo” (The Redeemer); Julius Nyerere was “Mwalimu” (The Teacher); Felix Houphouet-Boigny of Ivory Coast was “Le Vieux” (The Seer”); Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire changed his name to “Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga”, which, in the local Lingala language, meant, “The rooster who leaves no chicken untouched.” To put an end to all this silly self-adulation, Idi Amin called himself “The Conqueror of the British Empire”.
To drill into the populace that they were “saviors,” they were present everywhere. Currencies bore their portraits and their pictures hanged in every nook and cranny in the country. Every monument or building of some significance was named after them: Houphouet-Boigny this, Houphouet-Boigny that, Moi National Park and on and on. In Malawi, “President Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s face is everywhere, from the buttons on Youth League uniforms to the dresses of dancers. Highways, stadiums and schools are named for him. A national holiday honors him. It is forbidden to call him by his last name; only `Ngwazi,’ meaning lion or protector, or `the life president’ are allowed (The Washington Post, May 5, 1992; p. A22).
The same sentiment became prevalent among the next generation of African leaders – successful military coup leaders, rebel leaders who became presidents. Coup leaders immediately promoted themselves to “Generals” upon assuming office. There was a string of Nigerian “Generals” who did a number on the country. The most outrageous is Gambia’s current president: His Excellency President Professor Dr. Al-Haji Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh. He has declared that he will rule for 40 years!
Then there are the rebel leaders who oust a dictator and assume power. They also regard themselves as “saviors.” But in case after case, these rebel leaders are no different from the dictators they ousted. In fact, in many instances, they turn out to be crocodile liberators – far worse than the dictators they replaced. In this league are Charles Taylor of Liberia, Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Laurent Kabila of Congo DR, etc.
In all these cases, not even bull-dozers can dislodge them from power because the state is their property to be fashioned according to the way they see it.
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SECOND, insecure African heads of state surround themselves with loyal supporters, often drawn from their own tribes: the late Doe from the Krahn tribe, Mobutu of Zaire from the Gbande, Biya of Cameroon from the Beti, Moi of Kenya from the Kalenjin and Babangida of Nigeria from the Muslims. In Togo, about 70 percent of the late General Eyadema’s army were drawn from his own Kabye tribe (Africa Report, Jan-Feb 1992; p. 5). In Cameroon, 80 percent of the prefet and sous-prefet (district chief executives are from President Biya’s Beti tribal group. In Cote d’Ivoire, the Bauole tribal group ruled the country and occupied all key positions in the administration from independence till the Dec 1999 coup. In Gabon, President Bongo’s Fang have been in control. When Senegal’s first president, Leopold Senghor, stepped down in 1981, he passed power on to a fellow Serer, Abdou Diouf.
Other supporters are simply bought: soldiers with fat pay-checks and perks; urban workers with cheap rice and sardines (“essential commodities”); students with free tuition and hefty allowances and intellectuals, opposition leaders and lawyers with big government posts and Mercedes Benzes. Back in 1992, Nigerian columnist, Pini Jason, observed that one of the driving motivations to office has been the power to dispense largesse, the power to appoint and dismiss, and the power to make and unmake. Therefore, the first official act of Nigerians in office has been to create offices and appointments to be handed out. The customary method has been to dissolve the boards of government corporations. Jason wrote: “And so the Lagos State governor was acting within both his right and tradition when he dissolved all the boards of government agencies in his state. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, except that His Excellency did not know that there were no boards in the first place. They were dissolved by his predecessor!” (New African, April 1992; p. 21).
Since security is their utmost priority, dictators buy the loyalty of the officer corps by showering them with salary increases, purchase of new weapons, large emoluments, cars and other gifts. Former Nigerian dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida rewarded “nearly 3,000 of his most loyal military chiefs by giving them new Peugeot sedans. Most Nigerians will never be able to afford anything like a new Peugeot 505, which costs the equivalent of $21,000 in Lagos. A senior university professor, for example, earns about $4,000 a year, while a nurse or mechanic is lucky to bring home more than $1,000″ (The New York Times, Dec 2, 1993; p. A3).
Dictators also allow the officer corps to engage in lucrative business transactions or own profitable businesses. Under Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the military controlled several businesses as is also the case in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda. In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe allowed his security chiefs to get rich by plundering the riches of the Congo DR and currently the Marange diamond fields.
Thus, even when the head of state is contemplating stepping down, these supporters and lackeys fiercely resist any cutbacks in government largesse or any attempt to open up the political system – for fear of losing the jobs, perks and privileges. This was precisely the case in The Gambia when Sir Dawda Jawara–in power since the country’s independence in 1965–announced in March 1992 his intention to step down. Free loaders and patronage junkies urged him to stay on! In Sierra Leone, Mr. Musa Gendemeh, the deputy agriculture minister, was quite explicit. On the BBC “Focus on Africa” program (April 24, 1990), he declared that,
“He won’t give up his present privileged position for the sake of a multiparty system nor would one expect a policeman or soldier to give up his one bag of rice at the end of every month for the same…
He warned that anyone talking about another party would be committing treason…that ministers and MPs suspected of having something to do with the multiparty movement are now under surveillance..and that whenever there has been trouble in the country, his people, the Mende, have suffered the most and he warned them to be careful” (West Africa, June 4-10, 1990; p. 934).
When Robert Mugabe lost the March 2008 elections, he was willing to concede defeat and retire to Malaysia. But his security chiefs dragged him back by the tail and said that was not a decision he alone must take. They urged him to go for a run-off and assured him they would do everything to assure his “victory.” They did, costing tens of lives.
To protect their perks and benefits, these sycophants lie, deceive and misinform the head of state. They continually praise him to the sky, even when his own tail is on fire! Kenneth Kaunda was informed that he would have “no problem” winning the October 1991 elections as he had 80 percent of the popular vote and “everything else had been taken care of.” But when the actual voting took place, he was resoundingly humiliated, garnering a pitiful 25 percent of the vote. Ghanaians would recall that “party stooges” and “sycophants” also misled Nkrumah. African leaders should remember that “It is better to have wise people reprimand you than have stupid people sing you praises” (Ecclesiastes in the Bible, 7:5).
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REASON No. 3 is FEAR. Many dictators know that they have done bad. Their hands are so steeped in blood and their pockets so full of booty that they are afraid all their past gory misdeeds will be exposed and reprisals will be taken against them. Or they could be hauled before the ICC for crimes against humanity. President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan is one such example. There is an ICC warrant for his arrest. Four Kenyan ministers are also being sought by the ICC for their role in the ethnic violence that claimed over 1,200 deaths and rendered more than 500,000 homeless. Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia is also terrified of being hauled before the ICC for his role in the massacre of more than 400 peaceful protesters and the jailing of more than 40,000 opposition leaders and supporters after the 2005 elections. So they cling to power, regardless of the cost and consequences. But eventually they are dislodged and only few subsequently live peacefully in their own countries, much more to enjoy the loot.
If fear is the primary motivating factor, there is a sensible way out of this dilemma. Africans are very forgiving people. The wise head of state would call a meeting of all opposition leaders in a spirit of “national reconciliation” and negotiate a way out. Items for negotiation might include an indemnity, safe passage out of the country in return for the repatriation of the country’s wealth that was looted by his regime. An apology or compensation to the families of those executed might also be discussed. Another African head of state, a World Bank official, or some foreign ambassador should be invited as an observer. But the military regime in Ghana did not adopt this method. It convened a Consultative Assembly to draw up Ghana’s constitution and after the Assembly had finished work on the constitution, the military regime clandestinely inserted an “indemnity” clause at the eleventh hour and presented the constitution to the people as “final.” Ghanaians were outraged.
George Ayittey  is a Ghanaian economist, author and president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington DC.He is the author of best selling book “Africa Unchained:  Defeating Dictators”