No proof Buhari government is cutting cost – Dele Momodu

The Publisher of Ovation magazine, Dele Momodu, speaks about President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and other issues in this interview with ’NONYE BEN-NWANKWO and GBENRO ADEOYE

What is your view on the state of the country?

The state of the country now is a bit volatile. Don’t forget that a very strong political party was voted out of power last year, so naturally, the tension is still there. But my attitude to it is that the tension can be tackled by the government. There is nothing happening in Nigeria that has not happened elsewhere. In fact, we have had worse situations. In

Dele Momodu

South Africa, Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years and when he came out of prison, he could have prolonged the disunity and the tension but he was smart enough to know that the only thing that could bring about progress in a nation is an atmosphere of peace. So that is what I recommend but unfortunately, some people in Nigeria feel that the tension should continue and that we should fight to the finish. But I believe that I am a good student of history and my attitude is that every Nigerian, whether in the Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Congress, the National Conscience Party, the Labour Party or whichever, must join hands with President Muhammadu Buhari to rescue Nigeria and he too must join hands with them.

Do you also feel that this government is slow and that nothing is really happening in spite of its promise of change?

I won’t use the word slow. I’d say we could do better. I’m not on the hot seat; I’m not the President of Nigeria, so there are things he would know that I don’t know. He would have access to more information than the ordinary man on the street. But I believe that Nigerians are very agitated at the moment. I’m seeing a lot of complaints on social media and all kinds of caricatures. You would think the government has been in power for four years. In less than one year, people are already abusing us. ‘You guys are idiots; you brought Buhari on us’, ‘Shame on all of you’. I don’t know if all of these are getting to the government but this is the feedback that we are getting. If you have been reading my articles in a national newspaper every Saturday, you must have seen that I’ve been reflecting that mood. What I know about government and power is that people (who are close to him) hardly tell the leader the truth. They tell him what they think he wants to hear; they tell him everything is under control. “Oh! Don’t mind the disgruntled elements.” In government, everybody is always disgruntled. This time last year, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s boys were busy abusing us thoroughly. There was nothing they didn’t say. But we knew we had to carry on with our mission, based on principle. I’m not a member of the APC or the PDP, but people don’t know. I was just a volunteer. Our generation, I believe, is different. These days, nobody thinks that anyone can do anything based on principles. They think it must be based on political affiliations, religious fraternity and so on. I’m just a Nigerian who wants Nigeria to be good. I’m already 55 years going on 56 and I’m just worried. When the Wole Soyinkas were describing their generation as a wasted generation, I was so sure that mine would not be wasted. But at this rate, if care is not taken, we have virtually joined that generation. No electricity, no water, bad roads, nothing. If you listened to Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s songs in the 70s and the early 80s, you can still replay the songs today and they will be relevant. The same old story! It is troubling for some of us, which is why I said we must join hands with Buhari because if he fails, we are in trouble. The President should also reach out to everybody; it does not matter whether you are a Christian or a Muslim or animist, whatever you are, we are all Nigerians at the end of the day.

Are you saying you could have done any better if you had been elected when you contested Presidency?

Me? Well, it is a matter of conjecture. The Yoruba have a saying: ‘Enu dun ro efo’ (It is easy and convenient to cook vegetable soup by mouth), so you never know until you get there. But if you asked me, naturally, the answer would be, ‘Yes, I would perform’. This is because there are basic lessons I’ve learnt, especially from the lives of some people like Chief Obafemi Awolowo- a life of service. What was the secret? He was able to assemble the best brains around, listen to them and act on whatever quality advice they gave him. Any leader who wants to succeed must do that. Your team must be able to reach you, have access to you, respect you but not be afraid of you to the extent that they cannot talk, take risks, take decisions.

Are you saying that Buhari’s ministers are afraid of him to that extent?

I wrote an article about that recently that Sir (Buhari), you need to free your ministers from this cage. What I see presently is a regime where ministers are afraid, maybe because they have not been able to get over Buhari’s first coming. But this is a democracy, so things must change. We cannot have a dictator. One of the ministers actually called me because I compared this cabinet to that of former President Goodluck Jonathan. In his time, say what you will, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was talking and reassuring the nation. You’d see her onAljazeera, CNN, defending Nigeria, their policy and so on. But that is not the case here. What we have now is a preponderance of media operatives for the government. Garba Shehu says his; Femi Adesina says his; and then you hear from the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. There have been a cacophony of information but this information has not been able to coagulate to reassure Nigerians, who are rightly anxious, that things are okay. I wrote an article titled, ‘Buhari and the burden of expectation’. To whom much is given, much is expected. People saw Buhari as a magician, either rightly or wrongly. So they expect so much from him. So those who are getting angry and asking ‘why are people saying he should do this or that, he has just started? People expected what I call Talismanic results. So they expected him to perform miracles. I told him that Nigerians expect you to perform the miracle of Jesus Christ raising Lazarus from the dead because Nigeria was virtually comatose. So my mind has been oscillating between, ‘Are we fast enough?’ or ‘Are we too slow?’ I just believe that we should jazz up some things quickly and urgently because we don’t have the luxury of time. By May, a year would have been gone. We will enter the second year by May 29 and by the third year; politicians are already jostling for the next elections. So there will be no attention paid to governance again. Now, some people are already talking about 2019. In fact, part of the battle right now is about 2019 when we have not even passed the first budget. So the executive and the legislature must bury whatever differences they have and come together for the sake of Nigeria. The judiciary must assist but what I see now is a fight between the executive and the legislature. People are abusing the judiciary of being corrupt and if we bastardise all our institutions, there will be nothing left at the end of the day.

So are you one of those pleading for more time for this government?

I always tell people that leadership is not about politics but about managing people and resources. A leader must be ready to adjust accordingly. If you are not making enough money from oil, so what do you do? Agriculture is not an overnight thing but you can set things in motion. We should begin the process of making sure we move from a mono-economy to a diversified one. Two, Chief Moshood Abiola used to tell us that when you want to cut your coat, you look at the available material. If it can give you a three-piece suit, fine. But if it can’t, reduce it to a two-piece suit, and you don’t make it too wide. Right now, I’ve not seen any sign of austerity in Nigeria.  If you asked for my honest opinion, I think that Buhari should reflect austerity measure in Nigeria, especially in government. The bulk of our resources are going towards funding the politicians. I read last week that government officials should no longer fly first class. That is minor; anybody can fly anything. I fly a lot and I know how to get the best bargains. But you know in government, it is not like that. There would be an agent somewhere who is related to someone in government and he is the one writing tickets and he is writing the most expensive ones. So these are things that the government does not realise.

Do you think that the President should have pruned the size of the Presidential Air Fleet?

I think we have too many presidential jets right now; that is my opinion. I believe that we have too many and even Buhari himself had criticised that before he became the President. So I don’t know what they are waiting for. I think we are spending too much money flying round. Each time they fly, they tell me they have reduced the entourage but I don’t think so. I was in New York on my own but stayed in the same hotel with them last year July during the United Nations General Assembly and I could still see that a lot of the people were just roaming and roving around with nothing to do. I don’t see why the President should travel every time with a full entourage, especially for a country like ours. You may say that Tanzania is a small country but a broke country is also a poor country. We are very wealthy in terms of our resources and assets, but right now, we lack cash flow. So we have to show that we are serious. If my company is not making money, I can’t go and be spending money on expensive lifestyles. It’s about how you manage yourself and I don’t see that yet. We have returned to the days when people think government is about enjoyment.

Pruning the presidential air fleet was one of APC’s campaigns, so do you think all the other promises the party made were a mere gimmick to attain power?

I don’t know. There is a book I like to quote. It was written by a Brazilian author called Paulo Freire. It is titled, ‘Pedagogy of the oppressed’. There are two things I picked from the book. One is that the oppressed man respects and fears only one person- his oppressor. The second one, which is relevant to what I’m talking about, is that the oppressed man is waiting for an opportunity to become an oppressor. The only dream he has in his life is: I just want to be great. I want to get to power. But when he gets to power, the reality is different. President Buhari, I believe, is a man of modest means, humble, easy going, and I don’t think he is overtly crazy about money or primitive accumulation of wealth. I once described him as a man who is like Jesus Christ, but without disciples. If your followers don’t share in your philosophy, then everything will spiral out of control, which is what I think is happening in Nigeria.

Some people have attributed your open letter to President Buhari as a sign that you are still sulking for not being made a minister. Is that what it is about?

I know the number of people who were begging me to do everything possible to become a minister. And I told them: the only reason you want me to become a minister is so that I can go and steal on your behalf. You are not saying it because you think I’m qualified or because you love me. They told me it’s their own opportunity; that I worked for these people. And it got to a stage that even my wife said people did not allow her sleep; they would call her in the UK and say ‘Madam, talk to your husband, he is too arrogant and foolish. How can he work for Buhari so much and not get anything?’ If I was going there for service, nobody would worry me. So the mindset of an average Nigerian is still that government is the easiest way to make money. And with that kind of mindset, what can Buhari alone do?

Were you not disappointed that your name was not on the list of Buhari’s ministers?

No, I wasn’t disappointed. I actually wrote an article before the list came out on why I believed my name would not be there. People were circulating some names. But to start with, I’m not a member of their party. Anybody who wants to be a minister, an ambassador, the first prerequisite usually is to be a member of the political party. It is even almost a constitutional thing. Till today, I have never left my party, the NCP. So if I was desperate for an appointment, I would have left my party. Nobody would drive me away if I want to join the APC. As a matter of fact, my good friend, Rotimi Amaechi (Minister of Transportation), has asked me many times why I have not joined the APC. I said no, I’m not interested. I don’t know how people do it when they jump from party to party like frogs. Maybe it is because I come from a background of intellectualism. I was supposed to be a lecturer but I couldn’t get a job in the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) when I finished my Master’s degree in 1988. That was what brought me to Lagos. So I was already 28 years old by the time I arrived in Lagos in 1988. That ‘village boy’ mentality has not left me till today- ignore all the glamour. I am just who I am. I am happy contributing my quota to the development of my country. I’ve appointed myself as a global ambassador. I’ve been negotiating with rebels in Sierra Leone as far back as 2001. I would go there to visit our soldiers. You see, I read a lot and I’ve watched the lifestyles of the rich and famous elsewhere and I see how they contribute to their societies. You don’t have to be in government to contribute positively. Princess Diana used to go to Angola to campaign against land mines. You see Prince Harry going to Afghanistan to fight alongside British soldiers. Would you see the child of a Nigerian President or king ready to do all those things? That is me. But people don’t believe it because what they see is that he is the publisher of Ovation, he hobnobs with the rich and famous. Yet, I write my columns every Saturday and I’m able to tell President Buhari what nobody would tell him. I was able to write and tell Jonathan what nobody would tell him. When the late Umaru Yar’Adua cabal was holding Nigeria to ransom, I went on the street and I was not a member of the PDP and I never sat with Jonathan one on one. He is probably the only President in recent times that I never took pictures with. I’m just who I am. I’m more of a scholar. My dream is to return to the university and teach the young ones. All the experience that we have gathered should not be wasted.

Speaking of your open letter to the President, it is widely believed that it is when you are unable to get anything from the government in power that you start bad-mouthing it.

Was I a friend of Jonathan in power? I just told you that I went on the streets to fight for his right when he was being oppressed by the cabal. Did I go to them? If I was a friend of everyone in power, won’t I be a member of a big political party? People just talk. Fortunately for me, I learnt from MKO Abiola. When I came to Lagos in 1988, Abiola was probably the most hated Nigerian. Even when I was going to work in Concord Newspapers, it was because I couldn’t get a job in The Guardian. I had wanted The Guardian. When a friend suggestedConcord to me, I was reluctant to go there. I told him people said that Abiola was an Islamic fundamentalist; they said he was a millionaire fanatic. But I got to Concord and everything was different. We had a bush canteen in Concord where we could drink beer. Would you drink beer or smoke in an Islamic empire? People were smoking. So I have learnt from the lives of great people that people must talk about them. What matters is for you to be true to your beliefs, philosophy and principles. Go and check if there was any government that I didn’t know and I was bold enough to tell them the truth. The secret is that I don’t abuse people. When I write, I critique and I proffer solutions. Go and read my articles. When I met with President Buhari, I had a copy of my forthcoming book, which contained some of the articles I wrote in the last five years on Jonathan. I said ‘Sir, I appointed myself Special Adviser to the President and these are some of the things I wrote about him, but he didn’t listen’. I said I hope you won’t mind, I’m going to be playing the same role. I’ve not gone back to Buhari. When I went to see him, I was invited. Thereafter, I have never gone near the place. I’ve not met Lai Mohammed since he became the Information Minister, you would not believe it. And this is a man who has been my friend for over 20 years. I’ve not been to Amaechi’s office. We may have been together when he is in Lagos and in the same hotel or at a function. I don’t run around. Journalists are treated like poor specie in Nigeria; I respect myself. I’m older than most of the political actors on the stage today. And where I come from, we value seniority. If you don’t respect yourself, nobody is going to respect you. So when people talk and say you are defending this and that, I say I defend principle.

Were you paid by the former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Maduekwe, to launder her image with the interview you recently had with her?

That is why some people will rather leave this life of activism because whether you do it or don’t it, people must abuse you. What did I do wrong with Diezani? This is a woman that every reasonable journalist in the world would love to interview. People interviewed Osama Bin Laden. If it was in Nigeria, people would say they paid you to promote terrorism. They would change the word reportage to promotion. That is what they do anytime because Dele is not supposed to be a poor person, he is a flamboyant man, so everything he does must be for financial considerations. What insult! I’m older than Diezani. Look, I’m the only one who knows how I gain access to people. When I contacted someone that I would like to speak to Diezani, the person told her and she said, ‘Ha, no no no, Dele is our enemy.’ That was the first thing she said and the person told me. I said I was nobody’s enemy; whatever she says is what I would reproduce. A journalist must be able to give his word. People are abusing me for interviewing Diezani; what crime have I committed? Did I write in the interview that Diezani did not steal money? Where did I write it? Did I write that Diezani was the best minister in Nigeria? What did I write? Just questions and answers! Is it true that you have cancer? I took pictures with my phone and they accused me of doctoring pictures.

People said you went out of your way to try to launder her image for money.

Oh! Are you also trying to launder my image now by talking to me? No! What are you doing here? If I interview James Ibori now, people will say that I’m trying to launder his image. Is Ibori not a human being? Does he not have a right to express himself? In fact, all the things we fought against under dictatorship are what we are preaching now. It is called censorship. People have gone on exile or to prison for censorship. I was a victim. That is why I go against censorship. If somebody kills my mother today and I have an opportunity to interview him, I will ask: why did you kill my mother? But Nigerians will say you are a bastard, how can you sit and talk with the person who killed your mother? They don’t understand that it is a job. That is the nature of the job.  There is no journalist who can be successful if he doesn’t have access to his subjects.

But we heard that you are being sponsored to write some of the things you write and that your open letter to Buhari was particularly sponsored by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Is that the case?

I haven’t heard that in recent time. Before, I used to hear that. When he was taken to the Code of Conduct Tribunal and I wrote in his support, some people who were his political enemies abused the hell out of me. But Tinubu is my big brother. We were comrades in exile. We have come a long way together. I fight against oppression. So did Jonathan pay me to go and demonstrate for him in Abuja? So Tinubu paid me to write that he was being victimised? Jonathan paid me to write that the cabal did not want to hand over power to him when it was obvious that the then President was not well. Some people called me a bastard for supporting Amaechi at the Senate, even to my face. I did not mind them, I carried on with my campaign. Some people are attacking me now for supporting Saraki. Why? Because I said we must resist the impunity of a man suddenly becoming a villain only when government is fighting him. And it happens every time, right from Obasanjo’s time. If a governor was not in support of Obasanjo, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission would go and pick him. I resisted it at that time. I wrote an open letter to Nuhu Ribadu that it was impunity and that it was not good to set fire on an entire village to catch a few rats. His guys came back at me seriously. I almost suedThis Day Newspaper because it was used to libel me for speaking the truth. But at the end of the day, Ribadu himself became a victim of impunity and he had to flee the country. So if they are fighting Tinubu, I don’t talk. They are fighting Saraki, I don’t talk. The day they come for me too, there will be nobody to talk.

No proof Buhari government is cutting cost – Dele Momodu

Why i refused to devalue the Naira - Buhari

ABUJA – President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said that his reason for insisting on no further devaluation of Naira was that the recent ones never paid Nigeria any good.

President Buhari

The president who spoke while meeting with members of the Council of Retired Federal Permanent Secretaries, led by Otunba Christopher Tugbobo at the presidential villa, Abuja stated that he was yet to be convinced by anyone on doing the contrary.

“When I was military Head of State, the IMF and the World Bank wanted us devalue the Naira and remove petrol subsidy but I stood my grounds for the good of Nigeria.

“The Naira remained strong against the Dollar and other foreign currencies until I was removed from office in August, 1985 and it was devalued.

“But how many factories were built and how many jobs were created by the devaluation? “That is why I’m still asking to be convinced today on the benefits of devaluation,” he said.

President Buhari also accepted the Council’s pledge of support for the successful implementation of his administration’s change agenda, especially in the priority areas of improving security, curbing corruption and revitalizing the national economy.

Why i refused to devalue the Naira - Buhari

LAGOS-CALABAR RAIL PROJECT: Bury your hatchet in the overall interest of the Masses - EFP writes Buhari

Being an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR,, The Senate President, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, by the Edo Forum of Patriots 23rd April 2016.

Your Excellencies

Without much ado, the EDO FORUM OF PATRIOTS respectfully appeal to Your Excellencies – as Leaders of the Executive and Legislative arms of our Dear Government, to lay to rest the controversy that was stirred up over the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Railway project worth a wooping $11.97billion; which political pundits fear that it can ignite a cold war, and degenerate into ethnic strife between ethnic nationalities that are primary host and perceived antagonists; and other goodies in the 2016 Appropriation Bill might become a Mirage, God forbid.

Edo Forum of Patriots

We strongly and vehemently berates the architects of this controversy that has aggravated the country’s worsening economic woes. Whether the project was not originally included or later ‘smuggled’ into the ‘amended budget’, what is paramount to we (the masses) is the economic imperatives the Lagos-Calabar Rail project will impact on our lives as Edo people, as Niger Deltans, and Nigerians at large; in terms of the unprecedented Commerce for our economy; therefore, the controversy arising from the squabble is petty, irrelevant a radical departure from the totality of our faith in your avowed pledge to serve public interest.

It is sacrosanct that the Executive is Constitutionally mandated to prepare and lay before the National Assembly a proposed budget detailing projects to be executed, the responsibilty and power of appropriation lie with the legislature. If the Executive expects the Legislature to rubber stamp the budget proposals without alterations, then the Executive may have misconstrued the notion of separation of powers/checks and balances. We do not believe that was the bidding of the Presidency, however, we want the blame game consigned to the dustbin of history, and a proactive willpower engendered.

The Lagos-Calabar Rail project is not only germane to us in the South-South, but the country in general. Every additional day Mr.President witholds his assent from the bill, the hardship in the land , which is already despicable for Nigerians gets even more complicated. Without mincing words, the Honourable Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi should refrain from ‘controversies’, as it portrays the Federal Executive Council in ‘ambiguous lights’. He should have amicably ironed the issue out with Senator Danjuma Goje-led Senate Committee on Appropriations before the senate passed the budget, instead of raising unnecessary alarm.

From the revelations in public domain, it is obvious that the disputed versions of the budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari was massively and morally flawed in a manner that radiates gross incompetence. We humbly implore the Presidency to come out clean with Nigerians and honestly admit it, we desire Leaders that takes responsibility for actions and inactions.

Certainly, as a vanguard and primary representatives of our people, we at the EDO FORUM OF PATRIOTS shall not vacate our role and watch our people groan and mourn as a result of negligent on the part of Government.The Presidency and the Natioanl Assembly must close ranks and bury the hatchet so that the Lagos-Calabar rail project can be reinstated and ”implemented” as conceived. Nigeria Must Not Fail or Falter!

Aiyamenkhue Edokpolo (Convener)

Engr. Patrick Biose (Ag. Secretary).

LAGOS-CALABAR RAIL PROJECT: Bury your hatchet in the overall interest of the Masses - EFP writes Buhari

Buhari refuses to sign 2016 budget, returns document to National Assembly

President Muhammadu Buhari has returned the controversy-ridden 2016 budget to the National Assembly, pointing out areas of concern in the document and demanding adjustment.

President Muhammadu Buhari departs on a 3-day official visit to Kenya

The spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Abdurazaq Namdas, (APC-Adamawa State) confirmed this to journalists on Thursday.

“I can confirm to you that we are in possession of the letter from the president identifying grey areas,” Mr. Namdas said.

He said the leadership of the House and that of the Senate as well as their respective relevant committees would meet on the development.

He, however, refused to mention the “grey areas” saying they would be made known to Nigerians in “due course”.

The National Assembly passed the budget on March 23 and later transmitted it to Mr. Buhari for assent.

Apparently with the omission of certain projects and addition of others not proposed by the Executive, Mr. Buhari has since withheld his assent.

One of such projects is the Lagos-Calabar rail project counted as a critical infrastrucural focus of the administration.

It was not captured in the original budget but was brought as a supplementary proposal of the Transport Ministry by its Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, and was approved, Chairman Senate Committee on Land Transport, Gbenga Ashafa, said.

However, the Appropriations Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives respectively chaired by Danjuma Goje and Abdulmumin Jibrin, removed the project from the final draft, saying Mr. Amaechi lacked the powers to make budgetary proposal.

Last week, while the Senate said Mr. Buhari should sign the budget and, later, send a supplementary proposal to capture the Lagos-Calabar rail project, the House said it had resolved to receive the budget to capture the project before assent.

Buhari refuses to sign 2016 budget, returns document to National Assembly

Inflation: CBN to raise lending rates again

• Buhari back from China, awaits V.P’s briefing on budget

• Experts laud China deal

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has indicated plans by the apex bank to raise interest rates in the country, following the recent spike in inflationary trends.

Emefiele revealed this in Washington after attending the International Monetary and Financial Control (IMFC) of the International Monetary Fund at the ongoing Spring Meeting of the IMF/World Bank meetings.

This year’s meeting has the theme: ‘Global Challenges, Global Solution’ and is attempting to provide solution to global economic crisis fueled by falling commodities prices.

According to Emefiele, another raise in interest rates has become inevitable because it does not make economic sense to hold down interest rates in the regime of rising inflationary trends.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari, who returned to Abuja from his working visit to China, yesterday, is awaiting briefing from Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, before signing into law the 2016 budget.

A Presidency source said, yesterday, that the President is expected to receive full briefing from the Vice President, who handled discussions on the budget, before a final decision to sign it into law is taken.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said: “The President just arrived this morning (yesterday), and he has to receive briefing from the Vice President, who handled budget matters, before a decision is taken.”

The Presidency and the National Assembly have been at loggerheads over passage of 2016 budget, following allegation by the Presidency that the lawmakers tinkered with the original bill.

Economic experts, yesterday, expressed satisfaction over gains of the recent visit to China by Buhari.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Economic Associates (EA), Dr. Ayo Teriba, described the bilateral economic agreements between the two countries as commendable, saying it would alter mode of payments in favour of the naira and Chinese yuan.

Former director, Center for Social and Economic Research, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Dr. Sanusi Abubakar, spoke in a similar vein, saying it is a step that ought to have been taken by the country long before now.

A professor of Economics at the Bayero University Kano, Dr. Murtala Sagagi, said it would increase the value of the naira, but cautioned that the country “cannot escape the influence of dollars” on its economy.

Inflation: CBN to raise lending rates again

Niger Deltans warn Buhari on tactics

• Say B’Haram war strategy won’t work

• ‘It’s ploy to emasculate region’

Much as activities of pipeline vandals have hampered electricity and petroleum product supply across the country, recent statement by President Muhammadu Buhari on how he plans to solve the problem might not be the best approach.

President Buhari

Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, has said Buhari’s statement is extreme; besides, it is pregnant and worrisome when seen in a historical perspective.

He noted that there has been a general criminalisation of the Niger Delta communities and this has led to the destruction of communities such as, Umuechen (1990), Odi (1999), Odioma (2005), Oporoza and others.

In Beijing for a working visit, last week, Buhari had told members of the Nigerian community: “The government is still being dared, but those who are sensible should have learnt a lesson. Those who are mad, let them continue in their madness. I am aware that in the last two weeks, the national grid collapsed a number of times. I hope this message will reach the vandals and saboteurs who are blowing up pipelines and installations. We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram.”

Having initially performed dismally in the war against Boko Haram, the Nigerian military, following new impetus by the Federal Government, has been able to reclaim 14 council areas earlier held by the terrorists.

The president of the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), Udengs Eradiri, criticised Buhari for showing a lack of understanding of the precarious nature of problems facing the country, especially, the Niger Delta issue.

He said: “It will do him good if he sits down, looks at the Niger Delta situation, engages stakeholders and understands the true situation. He must also understand that there are different dimension to oil theft.

“We have people sitting with the President in Abuja, who are the kingpins in the business of illegal oil bunkering and other forms of oil theft.

“If he thinks that it is to come and bombard our communities and get peace, it is not going to be possible. The thieves are with him there in Abuja. So, he should look inwards if he wants to find solution to the Niger Delta problem.”

Bassey said the comparison is extreme and could lead to the escalation of militarisation and occupation of the region. “That would neither secure the pipelines nor protect the environment,” he remarked.

The environmental activist stated that isolated individuals, who could be stemmed through joint policing by communities and security forces, cause pipeline vandalisation. “Some of the so-called vandals, especially the technically savvy ones, are possibly embedded in the petroleum sector, rather than in the communities.”

According to him, “criminalising an already harassed populations will not end the crises in the oil fields. We need holistic solutions. We need positive change. The gun will not solve the crises. The solution will include the clean up of the Niger Delta and restoration of livelihoods, as well as, a careful plan to ensure that economic incentives directly reach the communities.”

At the weekend, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo had also echoed Buhari’s stance, saying: “All of us must agree with the President that the vandals must be treated in the most severe manner and should not be tolerated at all.”

Speaking after he inspected bombed pipelines at Forcados Terminal in Burutu Local Council of Delta State, Osinbajo said vandals are “as bad as any type of terrorists or saboteurs” and “should not be tolerated under any circumstance.”

He added: “We would have to deploy even sophisticated weapons to ensure we contain the vandalism, overhaul security and permanent pipeline security force might also be an option to look at.”

But Mr. Tonye Timi (Patani), a member of the Delta State House of Assembly, described Buhari’s declaration as unfair and an attempt to lay foundation for a calculated emasculation of Niger Delta people.

An ethnic Ijaw, Timi said it is totally off the mark for anyone to equate Boko Haram’s bloody activities with the Niger Delta’s legitimate struggles against marginalisation and a determination to have a say on their God-given resources.

He said: “It is trite that the Niger Delta struggle is focused on development, while Boko Haram is a meaningless struggle targeted at destruction.”

Timi said Niger Delta people would resist any attempt to visit them with presidential might, which should rather be directed towards driving Boko Haram out of Nigeria.

He advised the Federal Government not to dissipate energy and scarce resources in a futile effort to militarise the Niger Delta, but rather focus on taming the sect in the Northeast.

Former president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ledum Mitee, said without justifying pipeline vandalism, it would be absurd to place offenders at par with those who are actually involved in armed insurrection against the state.

Mitee, who is the immediate past chairman of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and chairman of the sub-committee of the National Economic Council on Pipeline Vandalisation and Oil Theft, said instead of awarding pipeline protection contracts indiscriminately, the government should award them to communities in the Niger Delta, because they have local solution to the problem.

He regretted, “all the time, we play into the hands of security agents who want to make money when there is a threat to security. Now, they will claim oil vandals are destroying the economy, ‘Give us so, so billion naira and we will stamp out oil vandalism’.”

On his part, the director, Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Anyakwee Nsirimovu, wants President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate why after more than 20 years, the special security Joint Task Force that has been operating in Niger Delta has not been able to end pipeline vandalism.

Niger Deltans warn Buhari on tactics

The president as chief diplomat

I read an interesting article recently in which the author, objecting to President Muhammadu Buhari’s frequent travels abroad pointed out that Presidential spokespersons since 1999, including this writer, have always justified such trips using essentially the same arguments. The fellow quoted copiously and derisively from my State House press statements and an article by me titled “The Gains of Jonathan’s Diplomacy”.

President Muhammadu Buhari departs on a 3-day official visit to Kenya

Those who object to Presidential travels abroad do so for a number of reasons: (a) the cost on the grounds of frequency and size of estacode-collecting delegation, with multiple officers performing the same function tagging along on every trip, (b) the need to make better use of diplomats in foreign missions and Foreign Ministry officials who can act in delegated capacity; (c) the failure to see the immediate and long-term gains of Presidential junket, thus creating the impression of a jamboree or mindless tourism, and (d) the conviction that the President needs to stay at home to address urgent domestic challenges, rather than live out of a suitcase, in the air. While these reasons may seem understandable, arising as they are from anxieties about reducing wastage and increasing governmental efficiency for the people’s benefit, I still insist that Presidential trips are important, and that by travelling abroad, the President is performing a perfectly normal function.

We may, however, complain about abuses and the reduction of an important function to tourism for after all, in eight years, President Bill Clinton of the United States travelled only 54 times – only by Nigerian standards, but we must also admit that the President is the country’s chief diplomat. In our constitutional democracy, he is the main articulator and implementer of the country’s foreign policy. He appoints ambassadors who function in their various posts as his representatives. He also receives other country’s ambassadors. Emissaries from other countries or multilateral organizations consider their visits incomplete without an audience with the President, and it is his message that they take back home.

He visits other Presidents and he also gets visited by other world leaders; an interaction that provides him an opportunity to give effect to Section 19 of the 1999 Constitution which defines the objectives of Nigeria’s Foreign Policy. In doing this, he is expected to strengthen relationships with other countries, at government to government and people to people levels in the national interest.

The President is also the country’s chief spokesperson, and that is why what he says, or what he does when he is negotiating within the international arena on Nigeria’s behalf is of great consequence, and this is particularly why on at least two occasions recently, Nigerians were inconsolably upset when their President chose a foreign stage to put down his own country, and people. This clarification of the role of the President as the country’s chief diplomat may sound didactic, and I apologise if it comes across as pedantic, but this is necessary for the benefit of those who may be tempted to assume that the job of a President is to sit in one place at home and act as a mechanic and ambulance chaser. The concerns that have been expressed however point to something far more complex, and I seek to now problematize aspects of it.

One of the concerns often expressed is that the trips that have been made by our Presidents since 1999 look too much alike. It is as if every President that shows up, embarks on exactly the same junket to the same locations, for the same reasons: foreign direct investment, agriculture, security, co-operation, etc. etc. accompanied by a large retinue that includes many of the same officials who travelled with the former President and had prepared the same MOUs that will be signed again, with the new spokespersons telling us the same story all over again.

Nigerians are therefore not impressed with the seeming conversion of the country’s foreign policy process into a money-guzzling ritual. This, I think, is the crux of the matter. Whereas our foreign policy objective talks about national interest, what constitutes that national interest has been blurry and chameleonic in the last 55 years and more so since the return to civilian rule in 1999. National interest has been replaced majorly by personal interest and it is the worst tragedy that can befall a country’s foreign policy process. We run a begin-again foreign relations framework because every new President wants to make his own mark. The second point is that he is compelled to do so because in any case, we do not have a strong institution to follow up on existing agreements. The international community knows this quite well, and more serious nations being more strategic and determined in the pursuit of their own interests will bombard a new Nigerian President with invitations to visit. They also know that a new President in Nigeria is likely to cancel or suspend existing agreements or contracts being executed by their nationals. The uncertainty that prevails in Nigeria is so well known, such that the gains recorded by one administration are not necessarily institutionalized.

We may have thus reduced foreign policy to individual heroism, which is sad, but institutions and human capital within this arena are critical. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, once a glorious institution is a shadow of its old self. The politicization of that Ministry has done great damage. When a President visits a country, and enters into agreements that result in Memoranda of Understanding, it is expected that there will be follow up action to be taken by officials either through Bilateral Commissions (where they exist between Nigeria and the respective country) or the issuance of instruments of ratification, leading to due implementation. Nigeria signs all kinds of documents but so many details and agreements are left unattended to. There is too much politics in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and too much rivalry between career foreign affairs personnel and the politicians who do not allow them to function as professionals. This has to stop, otherwise every new President has to start again and embark on trips that should have been taken care of at the level of bilateral commissions or the ministry.

Career foreign affairs personnel are critical to the shaping of foreign policy. They are the agents through which states communicate with each other, negotiate, and sustain relationships. The only thing they complain about in that Ministry is lack of money. It is the same with the Missions abroad. Give them money, but there is always a greater need for professionalism, which makes the diplomats of Nigeria’s golden era so sad. The foreign policy process also works better when there is Inter-Ministerial and Intra-governmental collaboration. The tendency in Nigeria is for every department of government to operate as an independent foreign policy unit. Government officials get invited to functions by foreign embassies, without clearance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and they just troop there to eat free food, but they never keep their mouths shut. Nigerian officials are probably the most talkative in the world and with foreigners, they will offer their mother’s life history to make them appear important. That is not how to run foreign relations. There must be control, co-ordination, discipline, clarity and sanctions.

Every world leader wants to meet the Nigerian President. Nigeria is a strategic market and a very cheap one too, a source of raw materials and a dumping ground for finished products, with a consumptive population. Our balance sheet in all our relationships is unbalanced even in Africa, which we once described as the centerpiece of our foreign policy. We have toyed with many slogans: dynamic diplomacy, economic diplomacy, concentric circles of medium powers, citizen diplomacy, transformational diplomacy, what else/- the Buharideens are yet to come up with their own, but you wait, they will soon come up with something- really, the truth is that Nigeria’s foreign policy process is not strategic or competitive enough.

Within Africa, it is driven by too much kindness rather than enlightened self-interest, or deliberate search for sustainable advantages. A Donatus mentality has seen Nigeria over the years looking out for its African neighbours, donating money, supporting their causes, but Nigeria has gained little from this charity-driven diplomacy. Many of the countries we have helped to build openly despise us at international meetings, they struggle for positions with Nigeria, they humiliate our citizens in diaspora, and when they return later to beg for vehicles, or money to pay their civil servants or run elections, we still oblige them. The attempt in recent years to review all of this, and be more strategic should be sustained.

We must wield the carrot and the stick more often. American Presidents don’t just visit other countries, they make statements and often alter the course of history with their mere presence as Kennedy did with his visit to Berlin in 1963, Nixon in China in 1972, Jimmy Carter going to Iran in 1977, George Bush, visiting Mexico in 2001, and Obama in Cuba in 2016. In the international arena, we give the impression that we are ready to jump at any and every invitation in order to be seen to be friendly, but we tend to overdo this. Foreign Affairs Ministry officials who want to be seen to be doing something will always try to convince the President to embark on all trips. The dream of every Ambassador on foreign posting is also to have his President visit, even if once during his or her tenure. The resident Ambassador is happy, the Foreign Affairs folks get quality eye-time with the President but the hosts look at us and wonder what is wrong with our country signing the same agreements with the emergence of every President and not being able to act.

It does not help either that with every new President, we talk about reviewing Nigeria’s Foreign Policy. We are probably the only country in the world that is always reviewing Foreign Policy and informing the whole world. That should be the routine work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, with inputs from the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), and the Presidential Advisory Committee on Foreign Affairs.

We must never lose sight of a necessary linkage between domestic policy and foreign policy. What exactly is in it for the average Nigerian, for the Nigerian economy and for Nigeria? Do we have the capacity to maximize gains from foreign interactions? Always, the real challenge lies in getting our acts together and tying up the loose ends in terms of sustainable policy choices, infrastructure, culture, leadership, and strategic engagement.

The president as chief diplomat

My China trip yielded over $6bn investments – Buhari

Amidst criticisms of his frequent overseas trip, President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday expressed satisfaction that his just-concluded one week official trip to China had yielded over $6bn additional investments for Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari departs on a 3-day official visit to Kenya

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists.

Shehu said the President believed that the agreements concluded with the Chinese during the visit would have a huge and positive impact on key sectors of the Nigerian economy including power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transportation.

He said, “In the power sector, North South Power Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed an agreement valued at $478,657,941.28 for the construction of 300 Mega Watts solar power in Shiroro, Niger State.

“In the solid minerals sector, Granite and Marble Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at $55m for the construction and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria.

“A total of $1bn is to be invested in the development of a greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under an agreement reached by the Infrastructure Bank and Sinohydro Corporation Limited.

“For the housing sector, both companies also sealed a $250m deal to develop an ultra modern 27-storey high rise complex and a $2.5bn agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line project.”

According to the presidential spokesman, other agreements announced and signed during the visit included the establishment of a Hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State.

He added that the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited also signed an agreement valued at $200m for the construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.

“An agreement valued at $363m for the establishment of a comprehensive farm and downstream industrial park in Kogi state was also announced at the Nigeria-China business forum.

“Other agreements undergoing negotiations include a $500m project for the provision of television broadcast equipment and a $25m facility for production of pre-paid smart meters between Mojec International Limited and Microstar Company Limited.

“About 100 Nigerian businesses and 300 Chinese firms participated in the Nigeria-China business forum which took place a day after President Buhari began his visit to China,” Shehu added.

My China trip yielded over $6bn investments – Buhari

Buhari using UK aid to persecute president"s political foes rather to fight Boko Haram

Hundreds of millions of pounds of British foreign aid given to Nigeria to help combat Boko Haram terrorists is instead being used to fund a witch-hunt against opposition politicians, it is being claimed.

Buhari

Britain has committed to spending £860 million in foreign aid to Nigeria, which now boasts Africa’s largest economy, to help support the country’s efforts to crush Boko Haram terror group, which has been responsible for a spate of outrages, including the kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls.

But Western officials are now raising concerns that the government of the country’s recently elected leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, is misusing the funds to persecute political opponents.

Since Mr Buhari came to power last July, a number of prominent members of the former ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have been arrested and imprisoned without charge. Among those detained was the party’s official spokesperson.

Most of the arrests have been sanctioned by the government-controlled Economic and Financial Crime Commission, which was set up to tackle corruption and receives funding from the Department for International Development.

But while Mr Buhari’s government continues to use British aid money to target his political opponents, it is proving less effective at tackling the Islamist-run Boko Haram terrorist group.

Much of the aid Britain provides to Nigeria is aimed at helping the country’s security forces to become more effective at tackling Boko Haram, which boasts of its links with Islamic State (Isil) and achieved international notoriety two years ago after kidnapping 276 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria two years ago.

Scores of British military personnel – including members of the Special Forces – are based in Nigeria helping to train the military to tackle Boko Haram. But despite Mr Buhari’s pledge during last year’s general election campaign that he would make tackling Boko Haram one of his top priorities, there is growing concern among Western officials that the Nigerian military is failing to take effective action against the terrorists.

This has resulted in Boko Haram now being regarded as the world’s deadliest terrorist organisation, responsible for more deaths than Isil. There are now reports that the group is trying to train kidnapped children to act as suicide bombers.

“This is a scandal in the making,” explained a senior U.S. official. “There is no doubt the growing strength of Boko Haram is because President Buhari is far more interested in settling scores with his political opponents than concentrating his energy on defeating terrorists,” “The result is that Nigeria is starting to look more and more like a police state while Boko Haram just goes from strength to strength.”

Another Western diplomat added: “If Buhari was serious about fighting corruption he would be focusing all of his efforts on targeting corruption that is impeding Nigeria’s ability to focus its efforts on tackling Boko Haram.”

Accusations that Nigeria is abusing British aid will add to the growing controversy over Downing Street’s commitment to spend 0.7 percent of GDP on the foreign aid budget. Last week the Telegraph reported that DFID was under pressure to cancel £200 million of foreign aid to Tanzania following concerns over a widely condemned election

This resulted in Dr Liam Fox, the former Defence Secretary, accusing the government of “spraying money around” simply to achieve the 0.7 per cent target.

Western officials have expressed concern about Mr Buhari’s increasingly autocratic style of government since he came to power last year. A retired major-general, Mr Buhari, 73, previously headed a brutal military dictatorship following a coup in December 1983, which lasted until he was overthrown by another coup in 1985.

Now political opponents claim he is returning to his old dictatorial ways, abusing British aid meant to improve Nigeria’s ability to tackle Boko Haram to consolidate his hold on power.

Apart from the concerns over British aid, American officials are also angry that $2.1 billion of aid given to the Nigerian military to tackle Boko Haram has not been properly accounted for.

Mr Buhari’s claim that he is winning the war against Boko Haram – recently claimed the group no longer poses a serious threat – has been undermined by recent revelations the Nigerian authorities have tried to cover up the fact that hundreds more schoolchildren have been abducted by Boko Haram.

Human rights activists have now confirmed that around 400 women and children were abducted last year by militants from the Nigerian town of Damasak.

It is now believed that some of these children may have been trained as suicide bombers. U.S. counter-terrorism experts say at least 105 women and girls trained by Boko Haram have taken part in suicide attacks since June 2014.

This article was first published by Con Coughlin, Defence Editor of UK’s Telegraph

Buhari using UK aid to persecute president"s political foes rather to fight Boko Haram

Padded Budget: Don"t blame legislature for your failure - Senate gives last warning to Buhari, Presidency

ABUJA—The Senate, yesterday, gave what it described as a final warning to the presidency on its dealings with the legislative branch of government, affirming that it would no longer tolerate the presidency blaming the legislature for its failures.

President Buhari

The assertion which was a direct fallout from brickbats over the removal of the Calabar – Lagos rail project from the final budget, came as presidency officials, yesterday, affirmed that the rail project was in the budget but removed by the committees of Appropriation in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The claim which was stoutly rebuffed by the Senate and the House was, however, backed by Chairman of the Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, who said the coastal rail project was in the budget report presented by his committee to the Senator Danjuma Goje-led committee on appropriation.

The Senate, last night, in a sternly worded statement urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the budget bill and not distract Nigerians from what it claimed were acts of blackmail on the part of the executive arm.

The statement singled out Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi for blame, asking him to apologise for seeking to pitch one section of the country against the other and asked him to resign if he cannot show evidence of the inclusion of the projects in the original budget as presented by the president.

Senate’s final warning The statement issued by Senate spokesman, Senator Abdullahi read in part: “While the executive is mandated to prepare and lay before the National Assembly a proposed budget detailing projects to be executed, it should be made clear that the responsibility and power of appropriation lie with the National Assembly. If the presidency expects us to return the budget proposal to them without any adjustments, then some people must be living in a different era and probably have not come to terms with democracy.

“We make bold to say, however, that the said Lagos-Calabar rail project was not included in the budget proposal presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, and we challenge anyone who has any evidence to the contrary to present such to Nigerians.

“Since the beginning of the 2016 budget process, it is clear that the National Assembly has suffered all manners of falsehood, deliberate distortion of facts, and outright blackmail, deliberately aimed at poisoning the minds of the people against the institution of the National Assembly. We have endured this with equanimity in the overall interest of Nigerians. Even when the original submission was surreptitiously swapped and we ended up having two versions of the budget, which was almost incomprehensible and heavily padded in a manner that betrays lack of coordination and gross incompetence, we refused to play to the gallery and instead helped the Executive to manage the hugely embarrassing situation it has brought upon itself; but enough is enough.

“This latest antics of this particular minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, is reckless, uncalled for and dangerously divisive. Apart from setting the people of the southern part of the country against their northern compatriots, it potentially sets the people against their lawmakers from the concerned constituencies and sets the lawmakers against themselves. This manner of reprehensible mischief has no place in a democracy. We hereby demand from Mr. Amaechi a publicly tendered apology if he is not able to show evidence that the Lagos-Calabar rail project was included in the budget. Otherwise, he should resign forthwith.

“Finally, by the provision of Section 81 (4) (a) and (b) of the constitution, the President is allowed to sign the budget and kick-start the implementation of the other areas that constitute over 90 per cent of the budget where there is agreement between both arms, even as we engage ourselves to resolve the contentious areas, if there were any. We, therefore, maintain that even these contrived discrepancies are not sufficient excuse not to sign the budget into law.

“We, therefore, urge President Buhari to sign the 2016 budget without any further delay. For every additional day that the president withholds his assent from the bill, the hardship in the land, which is already becoming intolerable for the masses of our people gets even more complicated. Certainly, as primary representatives of the people, we shall not vacate our responsibility and watch the people continue to suffer unduly.”

Senate

The statement followed an earlier press conference where the Senate spokesman also claimed ignorance of the presence of the projects in the budget presented by the president.

House spokesman, Namdas at a press conference also, yesterday, accused Amaechi of bringing the Calabar – Lagos rail project to the National Assembly through the back door.

According to him, the report that the project was removed, and its budget appropriated for the completion of the Lagos-Kano rail project was misleading and intended to set the Southern and Northern parts of the country against each other.

Meanwhile, fresh insights into how political infighting in the All Progressives Congress, APC, and ego by senior officials of the National Assembly led to the extraction of the Lagos – Calabar rail project and other key infrastructure projects of the administration from budget 2016 have been unveiled.

At the centre of the controversy, yesterday, were the chairmen of Senate and House of Representatives committees on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje and Abdulmumin Jibrin.

The reports of the two committees on Land Transport, Vanguard learned, contained proposals for the Lagos – Calabar and Kaduna – Idu rail projects which were both removed by the committees of appropriation in both chambers.

Vanguard is in possession of a text message purportedly sent to committee chairmen in the House of Representatives by Jibrin, asking them to defend whatever controversy could arise from the action in the media.

Presidency officials were peeved by the fact that the legislature had seemingly removed the carpet from under President Muhammadu Buhari’s feet, given the fact that the action was done just as he was about leaving for China to negotiate foreign assistance necessary to fast-track the projects.

Senate spokesman, Abdullahi Sabi and his House of Reps counterpart, Abdulrazak Namdas, yesterday, rebuffed assertions that the Calabar – Lagos rail project was removed, saying in separate fora to journalists that the item was not in the initial proposal submitted by the president.

They also alleged that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi only brought it to the attention of the legislators after the president’s presentation.

Lagos-Calabar rail project in budget — Ashafa Meanwhile, the Senate Committee Chairman on Land Transportation, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, maintained that the railway project was accommodated in the budget but was surprised that it was removed. Senator Ashafa said: “I confirm that the Lagos to Calabar rail line was not in the original document that was presented to the National Assembly by the Executive.

However, subsequently at the budget defence session before the Senate Committee on Land Transport, the Minister for Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, did inform the committee of the omission of the Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation project and indeed sent a supplementary copy of the ministry’s budget to the committee which contained the said project.

The Minister noted that the amount needed for the counterpart funding for both the Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation projects was N120 billion, being N60 billion per project.

“While the committee did not completely agree with all the changes made in the subsequent document, being fully aware of the critical importance of the rail sector to the development of our dear country, distinguished members of the Senate Committee on Land transport keyed into the laudable (Lagos to Calabar, rail modernisation) project and found ways of appropriating funds for the project without exceeding the envelope provided for the ministry, he said.

Ashafa continued: “In so doing, the committee observed that the Lagos to Kano rail rehabilitation project had been allocated the sum of N52 billion as against the sum of N60 billion which the Hon. Minister requested as counterpart funding while no allocation whatsoever was made for the Lagos to Calabar rail line.

“Hence, the sum of N54 billion that was discovered by the Senate Committee on Land Transport to be floating in the budget of the Ministry of Transportation as presented by the Executive was injected into augmenting the funds needed for counterpart funding of both projects (Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar Rail modernisation), as at the time the committee defended its report before the senate committee on Appropriation.

“The Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation project was, therefore, included in the Senate Committee on Land Transport’s recommendation to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

“With regard to the Idu to Kaduna rail completion, the Senate Committee on Land Transport did not interfere with what was provided for in the budget as sent by the executive, being approximately N18 billion hence I am equally surprised to read on the pages of the newspapers that the amount allocated to the said project was reduced by N8 billion.

“While I would have preferred to wait till Tuesday, April 12, 2016 (today) when the National Assembly reconvenes in order to have the benefit of viewing the details of the budget that was conveyed to the executive as passed, I am compelled to place the facts in proper perspective as it relates to the activities of the Senate Committee on Land Transport.

“Without prejudice to the considerations and powers of the Senate Committee on Appropriations with regard to the appropriations process, the foregoing is the true reflection of what transpired at the committee level with respect to the Land Transport sector of the Ministry of Transport,”Ashafa said.

Vanguard learned, yesterday, that besides geopolitical interests, the removal of the Lagos – Calabar rail project from Budget 2016 was done partly to spite Amaechi supposedly for distancing himself from his former colleagues in the Senate, notably senators Bukola Saraki and Danjuma Goje.

“Amaechi was told by associates in the Senate that Goje was not happy with him and that he had teamed up with the Buhari people against his former colleagues in the Governors’ Forum,” a Presidency official conversant with the issue said. The source further revealed that on account of the information, Amaechi had to visit Goje to solicit his help on the passage of the budget proposals of the Ministry of Transportation.

Amaechi and his key aides were part of the president’s delegation to China and efforts to reach his media assistant; Mr. Dave Iyofor were unsuccessful.

A top presidency official stated that the Calabar-Lagos railway project alongside the Lagos – Kano rail project was included in the draft budget of the Ministry submitted to the Budget Office.

The official challenged the House of Representatives and the Senate to produce the report of their respective submissions to the NASS if they insist that the project was not included in the budget.

The officer said: “When the budget was collated by the Budget Office, and copies sent back to the respective ministries for perusal, it was noticed that the Coastal Rail Project was erroneously omitted at the compilation stage, although the total amount did not change.

“The Transportation Ministry immediately, through a memo, drew the attention of the Budget and National Planning Ministry to the omission and it was corrected in the amended version which the Minister took to the National Assembly and defended,” he said.

Another presidency official who spoke to Vanguard also confirmed that the issue over the erroneous submission made was trashed out between the president and the National Assembly leadership. The National Assembly leadership, the source said, asked the ministers to proceed to the committee levels to harmonise the differences between the initial submission and the corrected version, an issue that stoked the reports of a fake budget allegedly attributed to Senator Enang.

Vanguard learned that although members of the Appropriation Committee of the House of Representatives raised some issues about an assumed duplication of the project because both the Lagos – Kano and Calabar – Lagos had the same figure of N60bn each in the allocation, Amaechi explained that there were two different projects that would be funded through the assistance of the Chinese government.

According to the ministry, the sum of N80bn was also provided in the same amended version for all other rail projects indicated.

The source said Amaechi even met with the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee in the Senate, Senator Danjuma Goje, who was his colleague as state governor, on the two strategic rail projects; and also with the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, and the projects were clearly explained after which they were appropriately reflected in the Senate Transportation Committee report to the Appropriation Committee.

“That may be reason the Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriation has been quiet since the controversy started because he cannot claim ignorance of the issue.” The source challenged the Senate to produce the Transportation Committee report that was submitted.

The source also drew attention to the fact that the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee Chairman, Jibrin admitted that the Transport Ministry budget overshot by N54bn and queried if they were sincere, why the Ministry’s attention was never drawn to it during the several interactions they had with the National Assembly committees; but decided to distribute the funds to projects which were either not included anywhere in the budget nor provided for elsewhere.

He also queried why the allocation for Kano Airport jumped from N60bn to the N92bn reflected in the details sent to the President.

“Since Jibrin was referring people to the original budget, let him also show the people where either N60bn or N92bn was reflected in the original budget for the Lagos–Kano rail project?” he insisted.

It was also noted that provisions were made elsewhere in the budget for the rehabilitation of major airports in the country and would not know why the legislators decided to take the money apparently meant for the coastal rail project to allocate for security and football fields, wondering what connection such projects had with the ministry of transportation.

Read more at: http:Meanwhile, a text message allegedly sent out by Jibrin to select committee chairmen to defend the extraction of the Calabar–Lagos rail project was, yesterday, in circulation.

The text read in part: “To all Hon Chairmen and Dep Chairmen of Standing Committees: As you are aware, we have transmitted details of budget 2016. After consultation with the leadership of both Chambers, the reports of all standing Committees were sustained in the details. Though all items submitted by Committees were retained, you will see additional inputs that were necessary to be accommodated via little cuts. You are therefore enjoined to be prepared to justify reports both in media and elsewhere; in case, the executive arm disagrees. We are already justifying your reports, but you must join in doing so, especially in the media…”

Padded Budget: Don"t blame legislature for your failure - Senate gives last warning to Buhari, Presidency

Budget Impasse: Rivers APC Throws Weight behind President Buhari

…..Pleads with NASS Not to Play Politics with the Budget and to Restore Removed Portions

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has thrown its weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to return the 2016 Budget to the National Assembly and not to assent to it until the lawmakers restore the removed portions.

APC data Centre

Rivers APC in a statement signed by its Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, argued that the lawmakers erred in removing what the party described as critical aspects of the 2016 Appropriation Bill, saying that what NASS submitted to the Presidency on Thursday was unacceptable.

The party said: “We are shocked to read in the papers about the removal of some of the critical portions of the 2016 Budget by the National Assembly. These include the Coastal Railway project being jointly funded by Nigeria and China, for which a counterpart funding of N60bn was provided but which was completely removed by the National Assembly. While the Lagos – Kano provision was left untouched, the Calabar – Lagos line was inexplicably removed by the lawmakers. Also, the amount proposed for the completion of the Idu – Kaduna rail project which has reached an advanced stage was reduced by N8.7bn, a development which will make it difficult for the project to be completed. In addition, while the Executive had provided for the completion of all major road projects across the country, the National Assembly reduced the amounts provided and instead included new roads which studies have not even been conducted.

“As if that is not enough, in the health sector, proposals made for the purchase of essential drugs for major health campaigns like Polio and AIDs for which the store is fast depleting were removed and the amounts allocated to provision of ambulance, which the ministry did not ask for. Besides, certain provisions made in the areas of Agriculture and Water Resources to further the Federal Government’s diversification project where either removed or reduced while the funds were moved to provision of rural health facilities and boreholes, for which provisions have been made elsewhere.”

Continuing, Rivers APC said in the statement issued Monday in Port Harcourt: “Some hawks within NASS are saying that the missing portions are not contained in the budget in the first instance but we are aware that in the amended budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari last January after the dust had settled over the ‘missing budget’, the sum of N80 billion was included for the Calabar – Lagos rail project in the amended budget by the executive and submitted to NASS. After the submission, the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, also followed up by presenting a document in defence of the Calabar – Lagos railway project to the National Assembly in order to ensure that it was passed as one of the subheads for the budget of his ministry. However, to our chagrin, this important aspect of the budget was removed for reasons we do not know.

“We wish to emphasise that this unholy act by NASS is unacceptable because these are some of the key projects with which the present administration can positively impact on the country’s economy and meaningfully touch the lives of the generality of Nigerians.

“By rejecting the doctored budget by NASS, President Buhari has once more proved that he is not just an ordinary leader but a patriotic, astute, caring leader and a true statesman who means well for the emancipation and greatness of this nation. We, therefore, appeal to our distinguished lawmakers not to fall into the hands of parochial and enemies of our nation by doing the needful to avoid being tagged as working against the common interest of the people of Nigeria. We plead very sincerely with our lawmakers not to play politics with this budget as it will go a long way in restoring hope and faith to our people.

“Meanwhile, we urge Nigerians to exercise patience and continue to have faith in the APC led Federal Government as it will surely bring smiles to the faces of the good people of this nation.”

Rivers APC said it understood that President Buhari had wished to sign the budget before embarking on his official trip to China earlier on Sunday. “We, therefore, appeal to our distinguished lawmakers to correct the errors in the budget and resend to the Presidency in good enough time for President Buhari to sign shortly after he returns from China,” the party said.

Budget Impasse: Rivers APC Throws Weight behind President Buhari

Buhari rejects N’Assembly’s peace deal on budget

There were indications on Sunday that the National Assembly’s  peace moves with the executive over the 2016 budget crisis had flopped.

General Buhari

The PUNCH learnt that as part of the peace moves, the National Assembly had, on Saturday, reached out to the executive and asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the document and then send a supplementary budget to the lawmakers.

It was gathered that the President did not accept the suggestion against the backdrop that the distortions in the budget discovered in the document transmitted by the National Assembly were too many.

A minister, who confided in The PUNCH, said both arms of government had been discussing the issue, but the President had been advised by members of his cabinet not to sign the appropriation bill.

“The National Assembly has initiated some peace moves. The lawmakers have suggested that the budget should be signed by the President before he will send a supplementary budget to cover the omissions, but he had turned down the proposal,” a competent source told one of our correspondents on Sunday.

Also, a  competent Presidency source told The PUNCH on condition of anonymity on Sunday that with the level of distortions noticed in the document returned to the President, there was no way he could have been advised to append his signature to the budget.

The source stated, “I can confirm to you that the President has been advised not to sign the budget as it is. The initial plan was for him to sign it before going to China and thereafter present a supplementary budget to the National Assembly.

“But as it is, with the level of distortions noticed, the President has been advised not to sign it at all.”

It was gathered that  Buhari on Sunday afternoon met behind closed doors with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, in continuation of his consultation on the budget.

The meeting was held inside the President’s official residence in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting was held shortly before Buhari left Abuja for China on a one-week official visit.

It was learnt that the meeting was a follow-up to an earlier one held by the President with the leadership of the National Assembly.

Presidential spokesmen, Mr. Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, were not available for comments on Sunday as they were on the President’s entourage to China.

Investigations by our correspondents at the National Assembly showed that the majority of the 109 senators and the 360 members of the House of Representatives had no knowledge of the details of the 2016 budget before they passed the document on March 23.

It was learnt on Sunday that the lawmakers placed too much confidence on the judgment of the Joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriation, chaired by Senator Danjuma Goje and Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, to work out the details that they reportedly paid less attention to the work of the committee.

One senior legislative official, who followed the budget through, said, “Let the truth be told; the budget was passed without any information on the breakdown.

“We all trusted the committee that due to the pressure to pass the budget, the members should work out the details while we passed the highlights.

“The news of inserting projects or removing some came as a surprise to many us.”

It was learnt that in the case of the House of Representatives in particular, only the Chairman, Jibrin, and a few members of the Committee on Appropriation sat to work on the details of the budget without the knowledge of other members.

“Although members of the committee were asked to stay behind during the Easter break for the purpose of working on the details, they were not called to meetings to work on the details.

“What we heard was that some consultants were hired by the chairman to work on the details, while he pleaded with members for understanding because of the exigencies of time,” another legislative official disclosed to The PUNCH.

As the development unfolded, opposition party lawmakers, in a surprise move, backed Buhari’s objections to the budget, saying the President was right.

Speaking on their behalf, the Minority Leader of the House and member of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Leo Ogor, told The PUNCH that Buhari was free to reject the budget if it did not fall in line with his economic agenda.

Citing the alleged removal of the Lagos-Calabar rail line project from the budget, Ogor noted that the President must have made provision for it because he believed it would be a major boost to his economic agenda.

Ogor stated that the Committees on Transport and all other committees supervising agencies whose projects were removed would have to explain whether the removal was done with their knowledge.

However, Jibrin took to his Twitter handle to respond to allegations levelled against the National Assembly and specifically the Committee on Appropriation.

In a series of tweets, he addressed some of the issues one after another.

In the tweets, he said, “The Lagos-Calabar rail (line project) was never included. How could NASS have removed what was not there? But the nation is being misled.

“This is unfortunate as it is quite clear to all and sundry that #Budget2016 and all its headaches and controversies didn’t emanate from NASS.

“We will come up with a comprehensive position especially with respect to our observation of the budget and what we did to make it better.”

He added, “What NASS did with the N54bn? We added N39.7bn to the Lagos-Kano Rail project. This will help complete the project once and for all.

“That N50bn be set aside as special bursary for students of tertiary institutions.”

When contacted, the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, on Sunday, said he was not aware of any meeting between the leadership of the National Assembly and the Presidency over the 2016 budget.

Ndume, who spoke in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, said, “Our concern as Nigerians should be how to collectively move the nation forward instead of writing on speculations that could heat up the polity.”

Attempts to get the Director, Information, Ministry of Budget and Planning, Mr Charles Dafe, to comment on steps being taken to resolve the grey areas in the budget were not successful.

The Senate on Sunday also denied allegations of padding levelled against the appropriation committees of the National Assembly.

Senate spokesman, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, said in Abuja that the Constitution of Nigeria did not make the legislature a rubber stamp.

He said, “I can say authoritatively that we did not pad the budget at all. I reject that in its entirety. We appropriated in line with what we believe the issues are and we did so in consultation with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.”

He added that the National Assembly, in reality, helped the executive to pass a badly written budget, saying having done its job within the law, the lawmakers expected the executive to follow the constitutional process.

Buhari rejects N’Assembly’s peace deal on budget

Falana threatens to sue Nigerian government for plans to borrow $5.5 billion

An activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has threatened to go to court if the Muhammadu Buhari administration goes ahead to borrow $5.5 billion from international creditors.

Femi Falana

Instead of taking loans to increase the nation’s debt profile, the Lagos lawyer advised the government to recover the $200 billion allegedly withheld by federal agencies and multinational corporations.

Mr. Falana’s threat was contained in a letter to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, dated April 8, with a copy made available to PREMIUM TIMES.

In the letter titled, “Request for the Collection of Outstanding Revenue of $200 billion Withheld from the Federation Account or Stolen by Looters,” the lawyer also warned the government against collecting a $2 billion loan from the Chinese Government.

Following a report that the administration had concluded plans to borrow $2.5 billion from the World Bank and another $1 billion from the African Development Bank, Mr. Falana said he wrote requesting the government to jettison the plan.

In a previous letter dated February 12, addressed to Mrs. Adeosun, the lawyer said he urged the government to explore alternative revenue sources to fund the 2016 budget instead of increasing the nation’s external debt which currently stands at $64 billion.

“In particular, we requested the federal government to embark on the recovery of the revenue of $42 billion withheld from the Federation Account from 1999-2012 by some transnational oil companies, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other agencies of the federal government,” Mr. Falana wrote.

“In your reply dated March 17, 2016, you (Mrs. Adeosun) assured us that the issues raised in our letter were receiving the attention of the federal government. We were therefore surprised to learn that the administration had applied to the Chinese Government for another loan of $2 billion.

“In urging the Federal Government to desist from taking the loan of $2 billion from China or any other country we are compelled to advise the federal government to intensify efforts to recover the nation’s wealth which has been criminally diverted by a handful of local and foreign looters.”

Mr. Falana urged the government to direct the relevant agencies and the anti-graft bodies to recover the nation’s stolen funds.

He drew attention to the report by the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, covering 1999-2012, which indicated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, some oil majors and agencies of the government withheld $20.2 billion for the Federation Account.

He listed other funds being withheld from the federal purse by different agencies and companies and advised the government to compel them to remit such funds to the Federation Account.

“In the light of the foregoing, we are compelled to call on the Federal Government to muster the political will and courage to recover the aforesaid withheld or stolen wealth of not less than $200 billion belonging to the Nigerian people,” Mr. Falana said.

“However, if you (Mrs. Adeosun) refuse to accede to our request, we shall have no alternative than to initiate legal proceedings at the Federal High Court with a view to restraining the federal government from further plunging the nation into external indebtedness.”

Read the full text of the letter below:

8th April, 2016

The Honourable Minister of Finance,

Federal Ministry of Finance,

Ahmadu Bello Way,

Central Business District,

Abuja, FCT.

Dear Honourable Minister,

REQUEST FOR THE COLLECTION OF OUTSTANDING REVENUE OF $200 BILLION WITHHELD FROM THE FEDERATION ACCOUNT OR STOLEN BY LOOTERS

Following a recent report that the Federal Government had concluded arrangements take a loan of $2.5 billion from the World Bank and $1 billion the African Development Bank we wrote to the Administration requested to jettison the plan. In our letter dated February 12, 2016 addressed to your good self we urged the Federal Government to explore alternative sources of raising revenue to fund the 2016 budget instead of increasing the nation’s external debt of $64 billion. In particular, we requested the federal government to embark on the recovery of the revenue of $42 billion withheld from the Federation Account from 1999-2012 by some transnational oil companies, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other agencies of the federal government.

In your reply dated March 17, 2016 you assured us that the issues raised in our letter were receiving the attention of the Federal Government. We were therefore surprised to learn that the Administration had applied to the Chinese Government for another loan of $2 billion. In urging the Federal Government to desist from taking the loan of $2 billion from China or any other country we are compelled to advise the Federal Government to intensify efforts to recover the nation’s wealth which has been criminally diverted by a handful of local and foreign looters. The Federal Government may wish to direct the relevant agencies and the anti graft bodies to collect the stolen wealth including the following:

(a) The National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has confirmed that from five cycles of independent audit reports of NEITI covering 1999-2012 the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), some oil companies and certain agencies of the federal government had withheld $20.2 billion for the Federation Account. The indicted oil companies and agencies should be made to remit the said sum of $20.2 billion into the Federation Account.

(b) In 2006, the Central Bank of Nigeria apportioned $7 billion out of the nation’s external reserves to 14 Nigerian banks. In 2008, the CBN also gave a bailout of N600 billion ($4 billion) to the banks. The indebted banks should be asked to repay the $11 billion loan.

(c) On September 6, 2016 the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced that arrangements had been concluded to recover the sum of $9.6 billion in over-deducted tax benefits from joint venture partners on major capital projects and oil swap contracts. Since the NNPC is said to have recovered the said sum of $9.6 billion it should be remitted into the Federation Account.

(d) Sometime in 2009, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited applied to the federal government for the renewal of three oil blocks. Upon granting the application the NNPC asked Mobil to pay the sum of $2.5 billion for the renewal of the licences. Curiously, the $600 million paid by the Mobil was accepted by the federal government. One of our clients has requested the EFCC to investigate the circumstances surrounding the fraudulent transaction. The outstanding sum of $1.9 billion ought to be collected from Mobil and paid into the federation account.

(e) From 1998-2014 the Federal Government collected over $4 billion from the over $5 billion stolen from the vaults of the CBN by a former military ruler, the late General Sani Abacha. I have submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Commission to investigate the alleged criminal diversion of the recovered loot by some former public officers. The governments of the United States and Switzerland have promised to repatriate $458 million and $321 million respectively recovered from the loot.

(f) In 1999, the Abdulsalami Abubakar military junta enacted the Deep Offshore Inland Sharing Contract Decree to give effect to certain fiscal incentives for the oil and gas companies operating in the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin under production sharing contracts. Thus, by virtue of section 5 of the Act, the payment of royalty in respect of the Deep Offshore production sharing contracts shall range from 4 to 12 per cent while no royalty shall be paid whatsoever in areas in excess of 1000 metres depth! Since the 15-year period of for non-payment of royalties expired in June 2014 the should collect arrears of royalties running to hundreds of millions of dollars owed by the oil and gas companies operating in the area.

(g) The $470 million contract awarded to ZTE, (a Chinese company) in 2009 by the federal government for the construction of CCTV cameras in Abuja and Lagos has been abandoned. Hence, the cameras which were installed did not capture the criminals who recently launched bomb attacks in Abuja and killed scores of citizens. Since the contract was not executed the federal government should recover the contract sum of $470 million.

(h) In the Appropriation Act, 2011 the sum of N245 billion was earmarked for fuel subsidy. In violation of the budget law the federal government fraudulently paid out N2.5 trillion ($16 billion) to a cabal of fuel importers. The investigation conducted into the large scale fraud by the Police and the anti graft agencies was compromised due to pressure from the Jonathan administration. The EFCC should revisit the matter.

(i) On July 6, 2012 the Supreme Court of Nigeria set aside the fraudulent sale of the federal government owned Aluminium Smelting Company of Nigeria (ASCON) located in Akwa Ibom state to RUSAL for $250 million and directed the company be sold BFIG, the winner of the bid for $410 million. The federal government should direct the National Council of Privatisation to comply with the judgment. The federal government stands to realise an additional sum of $160 million from the sale.

(j) For contravention of the law on compulsory registration of all SIM cards the NCC imposed a fine of $5.2 billion on MTN last year. Based on plea by the MTN management and the intervention of the Government of South Africa the fine was reduced to $3.9 billion out of which MTN has paid the paltry sum of $250 million. Since MTN has withdrawn the suit challenging the payment of the fine the federal government should take steps to ensure the prompt payment of the outstanding balance of $3.65 billion.

(k) Under the Jonathan administration it was estimated that the nation was recording oil theft worth $7 billion to criminals annually. An investigation being carried out by a team of lawyers hired by the federal government has so far confirmed that hundreds of millions of barrels of oil were stolen by oil companies and shipped to many countries. According to the lawyers the total amount recoverable by the Nigeria Government from the Sellers and Buyers who stole Nigeria’s hydrocarbons and shipped same to the United States from January 2011 to December 2014 stands at US$12.7 billion. Since the verification is programmed to cover 10 years it is estimated that Nigeria can recover not less than $100 billion from the undeclared millions of barrels of oil shipped to the United States and other countries. The EFCC should collaborate with the lawyers to recover the missing fund and prosecute the transnational oil companies involved in the grand oil theft.

(l) On February 20, 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan fired the then Central Bank Governor, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi for having the temerity to expose the NNPC for not remitting $20 billion to the Federation Account. Following the reconciliation of the accounts of the NNPC by the federal government the missing sum was said to be $10.8 billion. To douse the tension generated by the scandal the Federal Government appointed a firm of auditors to audit the books of the NNPC. But in a bid to cover up the scandal the Federal Government ensured that the auditors were denied access to vital documents. At the end of the investigation the auditors indicted the NNPC for withholding $1.8 billion from the Federation Account.

(m) Rising from its monthly meeting at Abuja on September 17, 2015 the National Economic Council accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of failing to remit N3.8 trillion to the Federation Account under the Jonathan administration. The Council set up a committee of 3 state governors to trace the missing fund. Last month, the Auditor-General of the Federation indicted the NNPC for withholding N3.2 trillion from the Federation Account in 2014. The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission has said that ” the total indebtedness of the NNPC to the Federation Account is N4.9 trillion ($32.6).” In its reaction to the allegations the NNPC has challenged the figures but admitted that it has withheld the sum of N326 billion! The federal government should investigate the conflicting figures to determine the actual amount withheld by the NNPC.

(o) The unprecedented looting of the public treasury via the NNPC took place under the rogue regime of President Goodluck Jonathan has continued unabated under the President Buhari who is currently waging a war against corruption. Last week, a firm of auditors revealed that out of the sum of $6.4 billion realised from the sale of crude oil and gas by the Federal Government in the first quarter of 2016 the NNPC remitted only $2 billion to the Federation Account and withheld the colossal sum of $4.2 billion. Up till now the NNPC has not explained how much of the sum of $4.2 billion was spent on its operations in 3 months.

(p) The presidential panel instituted by President Buhari to investigate the criminal diversion of the fund earmarked for procurement of weapons for the armed forces from 2007-2015 has established that over $8 billion was stolen by handful of serving and retired military officers and their civilian collaborators via the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Nigerian Air Force. The Panel is currently probing similar fraudulent arms procurement in the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Navy. The EFCC has commenced the recovery of the said sum of $8 billion and prosecution of individuals and corporate bodies implicated in the criminal diversion.

(q) The United States’ Government has successfully prosecuted Halliburton and its top officials for bribing Nigerian public officers with $180 million and recovered fines of about $1.3 billion. Although no one was prosecuted in Nigeria the federal government about $200 million was paid by Halliburton and other indicted companies through plea bargain.

(r) The sale of the OPM 245 for $1.3 billion otherwise known as malabu oil deal has continued to generate controversy. Allegations of bribery and money laundering are being investigated by the British Police, the Italian Police and the EFCC. Apart from the $210 million signature bonus paid to the federal government the sum of $190 million has been frozen in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The Italian Police has also frozen $200 million from the proceed of the transaction. The federal government ought to take a final decision on the matter so as to end the controversy surrounding the sale of the oil block.

In the light of the foregoing, we are compelled to call on the Federal Government to muster the political will and courage to recover the aforesaid withheld or stolen wealth of not less than $200 billion belonging to the Nigerian people. However, if you refuse to accede to our request we shall have no alternative than to initiate legal proceedings at the Federal High Court with a view to restraining the Federal Government from further plunging the nation into external indebtedness.

Falana threatens to sue Nigerian government for plans to borrow $5.5 billion