“Nigeria needs a strong person with the required experience to bring them out of the negative position they are in right now. Nigeria is a big country and the national team should be in the top 10 in FIFA’s world rankings, not the 67th position they currently occupy. These were the words of the former foreign coach of the Super Eagles, Clemens Westerhof, who spoke to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Sport, expressing his mind that he can “make Nigeria great again” if he is appointed coach for a second time. Westerhof coached Nigeria for five years from 1989, winning the 1994 Nations Cup and leading them to their first World Cup in the same year. He said: “I know what Nigeria lacks and I can make them great again. Just give me the Super Eagles again and watch what we can all achieve together “For 22 years I have watched everything I built slowly collapse and all I need is a chance to fix the national team again. “With due respect to Sunday Oliseh, he was a good player but the job of managing Nigeria is not for an inexperienced person and that is the reason things never worked out. “I know what Nigeria lacks and need to be respected in the world again. ” The Super Eagles won the 2013 Nations Cup but have now failed to qualify for two consecutive tournaments. Dutchman, Westerhof feels he is the right man for the job and insists he has unfinished business with the Super Eagles. “I left Nigeria as number five in the world and now I want to do it again, this is my second country and what I accomplished then is possible again,” he said. “Just give me the Super Eagles again and watch what we can all achieve together.” Westerhof, who is the longest-serving manager in the history of Nigerian football, has also coached in the Netherlands, South Africa, Egypt and Zimbabwe. [myad]
The Youths wing of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has given the state Police Commissioner, Musa Kimo, a 24-hour ultimatum to release APC members who are being detained since the wake of March 19, 2016 re-run election in the state. The spokesperson of the party’s youth wing, Ikennda Killington Elechi, who addressed news men in Port Harcourt today, threatened that if the police boss failed to release the detainees, they would employ other legal means to get them out. Those whom the youths wanted to be released are the following members from Ahoada West local government: 1. Courage Ofor and John Chiogbo; from Obio/Akpor local government are Bobby Ezekiel, Chinedu Johnson Amadi, Henry Owhonda, Morgan Ezekiel and Confidence Nyege. Those from Eleme local government are Bright Obarinwite, David Ogosu, Friday Birabel, Henry Dick, Dini Sani and Alhaji Umaro The Youth also lamented the series of killings of young people in the state on daily basis. They recalled that in Etche local government, nine youths were recently killed, while in Onelga local government, four young men were killed even as four others were killed in Asari-Toru local government. They said that some of those who were killed were either beheaded, burnt or thrown into the river, In Gokana and Khana local government. The APC youth wing called on the Federal Government to do something quickly to save these brutal killings, saying that it is a shame to allow a part of Nigeria, especially Rivers State as part of the country to degenerate into mess. [myad]
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that 1,020,799 voters have been accredited to vote in sixty two Councilors and six Chairpersons in the elections scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, 9.
The Commission, in a statement, said that as at last Tuesday, 646,883 of those who were accredited have collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and that only eligible voters who present their PVCs will be allowed to vote in the elections.
The electoral body said that as a prelude to the election, the Commission has trained 10,000 staff drawn largely from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and Tertiary Institutions.
It said that it had, as at yesterday, Thursday it had briefed forty four (44) groups accredited to observe the elections.
“In the course of tomorrow’s election, accreditation and voting shall be continuous/simultaneous and the Polling Units will open from 8.00 a.m. – 2.00 p.m.
“The FCT has sixty two Wards and 562 Polling Units (PUs). However, to decongest existing PUs, the Commission has created additional 2,207 Voting Points (VP) and another 246 Voting Point Settlements (VPS) to cater for remote and far flung areas.
“As part of its determination to conduct a smooth, seamless and transparent election, the Commission began distributing sensitive materials (ballot papers and result sheets) in the full glare of stakeholders yesterday. To perfect preparations for the elections, the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, with National Commissioners and Directors, will this afternoon visit some Super RACs – (Registration Area Centres). He will also, tomorrow, monitor the election in the field before he retires to the Situation Room at the INEC Headquarters where he will monitor the elections until returns are made.
“The Commission has activated its Citizens Contact Centre to receive complaints in the field tomorrow and respond to them through these channels facebook: www.facebook.com/inecnigeria; Twitter: www.twitter.com/inecnigeria; e-mail: iccc@inec.gov.ng; Website: www.inecnigeria.org; and Instagram: @inecnigeria and the following Hotlines: 09050858620, 09050858675, 09050858649, 08180958715, 08180958717. 08180958709, 09025038466, 07086945927, 08120183063, 07062896047, 08105119010, 08146697603, 07098115257, 07098117563, 07098110916, 07098116381.” [myad]
Senator Smart Adeyemi, has today, Friday, jumped from the ship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for that of All Progressives Congress (APC).
Adeyemi represented the Kogi West Senatorial District in the 6th and 7th Senate on the platform of the PDP.
Senator Adeyemi who briefed journalists in Abuja in company of Senators Abu Ibrahim, Olubunmi Adetunmbi among others, said he had no regret dumping his erstwhile PDP.
He explained that his decision to join APC was to support President Muhammadu’s determination to develop every part of the country, especially his Kogi West constituency.
He therefore urged his supporters to move en-masse to the APC, with immediate effect.
A 29 year old Indonesian singer, Irma Bule, known for performing with live snakes, has died after being bitten by a king cobra snake on stage. The snakes can grow up to 18 feet long and is therefore among the most dangerous snakes in the world.
Insider described the death of the musician as a result of snake bite as very surprising because in most cases, the snakes used in performing on stage are normally the ones that have been injected so that the poisonous substance would no more be effective as to result to someone’s death in the event of such misfortune.
They blamed bad management and poor organization of the concert producers for the incidence.
National Geographic said:“it seems unfairly menacing that a snake that can literally ‘stand up’ and look a full-grown person in the eye would also be among the most venomous on the planet, but that describes the famous king cobra.”
“When confronted, they can raise up to one-third of their bodies straight off the ground and still move forward to attack. They will also flare out their iconic hoods and emit a bone-chilling hiss that sounds almost like a growling dog.”
“Their venom is not the most potent among venomous snakes, but the amount of neurotoxin they can deliver in a single bite – up to two-tenths of a fluid ounce – is enough to kill 20 people, or even an elephant,” continues the National Geographic.
“…Fortunately, king cobras are shy and will avoid humans whenever possible, but they are fiercely aggressive when cornered.”
The singer was reportedly given a venom antidote by a snake handler and she continued to perform for 45 minutes before finally collapsing. Although Bule was later rushed to a hospital but she was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
The singer is survived by her husband and three young children.
Meanwhile, members of her family are still wandering what might have gone wrong on stage because this is not the first time she is performing using with a snake.
The singer’s mother said: “I and her family are still trying to find out exactly what went wrong for our youngest child to die like this. We are waiting for the organizers of the show to tell us.” [myad]
The Federal High Court sitting in Jos, Plateau State has kicked out Mr. Amaju Pinnick as the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), even as Mr. Pinnick had headed for the higher court to lodge an appeal challenging his sack.
The High Court, today, Friday, granted the prayers of Yahaya Adama and Senator Obinna Ogba to relist the case which, among others, had sought to nullify the Warri General Assembly and subsequent elective congress that brought Pinnick to power.
Justice Musa Haruna Kurya, in his ruling, also sustained all the previous orders of the court, thereby effectively making Chris Giwa the head of NFF until the final determination of the suit.
By the orders of the court, the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung is compelled to recognize the Giwa-led Board of the NFF as the authentic board by law. The order also barred anybody from interfering with the duties and functions of the NFF board under the leadership of Giwa.
The court, by this ruling, has set aside all the proceedings and decisions of the Warri extraordinary meeting of the 20th September, 2014 and the Elective Congress of 30th September, 2014 which elected Pinnick as President of the NFF.
Speaking shortly after the ruling, Counsel to Pinnick, Barrister Damon Dashe said his clients will certainly appeal the decisions of the court.
On his part, counsel to Adama and Ogba, Barrister Habila Azard said his clients have been vindicated, and that “they can now settle down and resume all their functions because that is all we have been fighting for.”
The hearing on the substantive matter has been adjourned to the 30th of May, 2016. [myad]
It was hardly surprising that the names of some Nigerian politicians, including Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Gen. T.Y Danjuma, Sen. David Mark and former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, appeared in the leak of confidential documents from one of the world’s most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The leaked files show how Saraki and his wife, Toyin Saraki secretly owned assets and bank accounts offshore running in millions of dollars, which Saraki reportedly left out while declaring his assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). Although Saraki has denied any wrongdoing saying he fully complied with the law on asset declaration, it is indeed tempting to say the timing is ominous, as it seems to vindicate the case against Saraki, who is standing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for false declaration of assets. Unfortunately, the Presidency seems too preoccupied with distractions to leverage the renewed global focus on the issue of illicit financial flows to bolster the fight against corruption and money laundering that has all but brought Nigeria to its knees. It is indeed sad.
The bombshell revelations of secret offshore accounts tied to more than 140 politicians and public officials from over 50 countries are sending shock waves through halls of power across the world, from the USA to faraway Australia. Within 48 hours, the largest leak of confidential documents in history had shaken the foundations of power around the world, triggering the resignation of Iceland’s prime minister and sending political shock waves from Pakistan to Argentina to Ukraine. Even as prosecutors and officials across the world have announced investigations into the Panama Papers revelations, the expectation was that Nigerian anti-graft agencies would be seeking collaboration with their foreign partners to hold the embattled Senate President accountable, as his trial opened last Tuesday. It defies logic as to why Nigerian authorities will continue to labor under the silly illusion that they can fight graft.
Saraki is alleged to have failed to declare at least four offshore assets listed under his wife’s name that appear in the leaked documents, obtained by a German newspaper and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. But like other powerful politicians, Saraki knows how to outmaneuver the law. The other Nigerian politician named in the leaks is former Delta governor, James Ibori, who pleaded guilty in a London court in 2012 to money laundering offenses. Ibori admitted using his position as governor to launder up to $75 million through a network of offshore companies, although some estimates the total amount he embezzled at over $250 million. Ibori, who was sentenced to 13-years in prison, stole millions of dollars to support a lavish lifestyle that included six houses in London and a fleet of Range Rovers, Bentleys and Mercedes cars. Mossack Fonseca was the registered agent of four offshore companies connected to Ibori and his family members.
Without leaks like this, nothing would be publicly known about the tax haven companies now exposed, and next to nothing would be known by the authorities in the countries affected. It is worth-recalling that Ibori was tried and acquitted by Nigerian courts for the same crimes that he pleaded guilty in London. Therefore, if Saraki considered Nigeria’s third most senior politician behind President Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo escapes Nigerian laws because of loopholes and leniency in the system, Nigerians expect the international community to hold him accountable. The government’s failure to issue an official statement on the Panama Papers is unconscionable for a country that has probably experienced the greatest illegal outflow as a percentage of GDP.
According to the UN High Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, the continent lost about $850 billion dollars between 1970 and 2008. An estimated $217.7 billion dollars was illegally transferred out of Nigeria over that period, while Egypt lost $105.2 billion dollars and South Africa more than $81.8 billion. According to Raymond Baker, Director of the Washington DC-based Global Financial Integrity, Losing such a staggering amount to illegal acts, in a country blighted by underdevelopment, characterized by huge infrastructural deficit, dehumanizing conditions of living, rising poverty and youth unemployment, among other socio-economic malaise, is criminal.
While the millions of documents have only begun to be examined, the names of Saraki and Ibori are not meant to suggest that these are, by any means, the only people who have plundered Nigeria. There will be many more revelations as well as the opportunity to analyze them more broadly. Ilicit financial flows do not only stifle economic growth and development, it is also a potential source of political instability and insecurity. The Panama Papers, together with the President’s resolve to fight corruption are useful and capable of creating public awareness about the problem, they are certainly insufficient. If Nigeria is serious about tackling the problem of corruption and money laundering, the authorities must first identify the actors and sources of such illicit funds and block the flow.
To be sure, the main actors are usually known to high ranking government officials and in many cases are actually their cronies. Traceable to blatant crimes, drug trafficking, piracy, oil bunkering and such other illegalities, these funds flow, unfortunately, having been aided by government officials, even as law officers look the other way while government departments and revenue agencies are used as conduit pipes. Merely lamenting the situation and calling for help from the international community as Buhari has been doing is not enough. The President should take decisive steps, show utmost sincerity by demonstrating strong political will to fight corruption in its entirety.
Such a war against illicit financial flows can only be won if leaders lend themselves to an exemplary lifestyle devoid of corruption. President Buhari cannot be credited with sufficient political will to fight corruption in Nigeria, when his hands are tight. His election was financed by people with questionable credentials; some of whom have stolen the country blind. Some indicted for corruption are even in his cabinet. Therefore, he should look within. The glorification of corrupt officials through appointments or indiscriminate state pardons does no good to the image of Nigeria. Buhari’s demands for assistance from western nations to fight the scourge, though appealing, are not helped by his actions or inaction.
Buhari must take necessary measures to sanitize the financial sector, and restructure the country in ways that are expressive of fiscal autonomy for the federating units. There must be oversight to ensure banks desist from aiding and abetting money laundering and government should adopt and codify all international anti-money laundering protocols and establish effective enforcement mechanisms that money launderers will be unable to circumvent. The grand strategy should also include capacity building for anti-corruption within the bureaucracy of government, especially horizontal accountability, which involves mutual checking, annulling and righting actions and inaction of state institutions.
Above all, the proposed strategy should include remodeling Nigeria’s politics, removing its current commercial value and making it attractive only to genuine servants. The point must be stressed that corruption is a serious socio-economic and political issue that should not be treated with kid gloves. The time has come for the government of the day to tackle this challenge headlong. There is need to articulate a national strategy to combat this scourge. That strategy must begin with exemplary conduct of the leadership of the country who must claim the moral high ground through self-purging. Corruption, apart from being systemic, is also partly a question of character failure, and the presidency is pre-eminently a place for moral leadership.
Fresh tension is said to be mounting in the Federal Ministry of Health as a result of the strange rule on five-year single term which the minister, Professor Folorunsho Isaac Adewole, is said to have introduced in the system.
This is coming less than 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari had convinced Resident Doctors across the country to shield their sword over their threat to go on nation-wide strike.
Information reaching us indicated that the Minister and heads of parastatals and agencies in the health ministry are currently on collision course.
At the heart of the tension and anxiety rocking the ministry and its agencies is the decision by the minister and his team to implement a reform which will deny most of the heads of the parastatals an opportunity to run for a 4-year second term. In particular, the Minister is said to have begun implementing five-year non renewable 5-year tenure for heads of parastatals.
An insider hinted that unlike the universities where vice chancellors run a 5-year term, for government agencies where the tenure is not specified, there is a circular from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) that such agency heads should be in office for four years subject to renewal.
It was learnt that instead of complying with the SGF’s directive, the health minister has show his determination to disregard it even as he goes ahead to churn out his own measure that will affect heads of federal medical centres, Teaching Hospitals, regulatory bodies and specialist hospitals among others.
Many insiders complained that the new measure is already causing tension because, the policy has not been approved by the Federal government and that it does not reflect the OSGF’s circular approving such a 5-year single term for head of heal paratatals.
A concerned insider said that the ministry is simply implementing an unauthorized reform.
It was learnt that already, names of about 18 heads of parastatals whose tenure will expire this year have been compiled and the list is before the minister.
It was gathered that before now, any of these heads could apply for renewal of their tenure for another years, especially if they have nothing against them and they performed well.
“But we understand that anyone who applies for renewal of tenure is being told that because of the on-going reforms, nobody’s tenure is being renewed,” another insider said.
The minister and his supporters argue that this reform will end the crisis in the health sector even as other stakeholders have also said that tenure of heads of parastatals has not been a source of crisis, and that it is the disparity between salaries of doctors and other health workers that has fuelled crisis.
It was learn that the decision to implement the 5 year single tenure was taken at a meeting of the Top Management Committee of the Ministry of Health, chaired by the Minster and attended by doctors.
It was also alleged that some of the technical directors, most of who are doctors, have interests in position of Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) of some hospitals.
It was gathered that some health workers feel that this new measure is part of the gang up by doctors at the ministry against other health professionals even as the source noted that the minister, the permanent secretary and Minister of state who spearheaded the new reform are all doctors.
“We are not against reform, but if you want to adopt a new policy, you should allow the policy to be approved before you apply it,” a senior staff at the Ministry said.
He added: “each health institution has the law establishing it .The minister has no power to appoint heads of parastatals on his own. Governing councils are saddled with the responsibility of conducting interviews and making recommendations to the president through the minister for approval. But in the absence of a council, the minister oversees the process of appointment of CEOs and he sends the name of successful candidate to the President for approval.
“If a CEO’s term expires, he or she can apply for renewal. But now, they are saying due to the reform, there will be no more renewal. But there is no circular from the FG or office of SGF announcing any 5 year single term yet. Why are they trying to make a separate rule for the health sector?” [myad]
Where corruption is involved, African leaders seem to be utterly beyond shock. Blacks folks in office often regard as normal business, the kind of infractions that draw alarm and apologetic resignations in other parts of the world. This is not meant to be a racist comment, but it is curious that the African sense of shock is mediated so often and so conveniently by other considerations, including politics, ethnicity, religion, and a certain lack of a feeling of shame: that measure of restraint that defines the idea of being human.
Two major scandals in the international arena in the last week would seem to prove the point. The first is the leakage of troves of documents, now known as the Panama Papers, revealing how the rich including world leaders, celebrities, public officials and business men, have over the years hidden away their wealth in tax havens with the help of a Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca. While the consultants and the persons and companies involved have alleged that there is really nothing illegal in what they may have done, to the extent that tax avoidance is not a crime (it is the evasion that is a crime, although this looks like a matter of definition), there have been indications of money laundering and corrupt dealings involving public officials. The unfolding scandal has already resulted in the resignation of the Prime Minister of Iceland, and of an Austrian bank Chief, Michael Grahammer. Russian President Vladimir Putin also has questions to answer.
But across Africa, and particularly in Nigeria, all the persons who have been mentioned in this global scandal have been totally indifferent. Governments across the world are already investigating their nationals mentioned in the scandal and here, civil society groups are also calling on the relevant authorities to do the same. But nobody should imagine that anyone involved, and currently holding public office, would feel tempted in any way to either own up or resign or lose an hour of sleep.
As it is in Nigeria, so it is in the other African countries where persons have been fingered: South Africa- Jacob Zuma’s nephew, Hulubuse Zuma, Kenya- Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal, Nigeria: James Ibori, Bukola and Toyin Saraki, Democratic Republic of Congo- President Joseph Kabila’s twin sister, Jaynet Desiree Kabila Kyungu, Angola- Petroleum Minister Botello de Vasconcelos, Ghana- John Ado Kufuor, Kojo Annan; Morocco- Mounir Majidi, Botswana: Ian Kirby; Egypt- Alaa Mubarak, Sudan- former President Ahmad Al-Mirghani, Cote d’Ivoire- Jean Claude Ametchi, Senegal – Mamadou Pouye… Whereas it is possible to bet that in the affected Western nations, this massive leakage of data would be investigated and the list of casualties is bound to be long, it is also possible to bet that in our continent, there may be no investigations, or nothing substantial would come out of it. Why do our folks in Africa find it so easy to overlook impunity? And even sometimes celebrate it. The South African authorities have promised an investigation, yes, but who knows what that will bring?
The Panama Papers leak proves one point: that the rich all over the world are the same- they are greedy and they will rather cheat the system. They want to hide their wealth from the tax man and they will go to any length to do so. The global capitalist system is so skewed against the poor; he is permanently left with the short end of the stick. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer because the rich can hide their wealth in such filthy hide outs as the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and Panama, the most notorious offshore location, and by so doing avoid the payment of all forms of taxes. Suddeutsche Zeitung, the German newspaper, got the Panama documents from an anonymous whistle blower, who probably chose to be anonymous having learnt from the travails of the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange.
But thank God all the same for whistle-blowers, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) who have shown the rich that offshore financial secrecy is no longer fool-proof. Developing and underdeveloped countries are certainly worst hit by the hiding of funds away from national jurisdictions by the rich: most of it stolen money, or perhaps, illegally acquired wealth. The Panama leaks, like the Cayman Islands leak of 2013, is a reminder that in an increasingly global village, there may be no more hiding places for the rich. It holds them accountable to a globally sanctioned moral standard. The rich and the powerful don’t like to be exposed. We know this to be a fact and the Nigerian names that have been mentioned can only reinforce what we already know: that the rich and the privileged in Nigeria will go to any length to amass, protect and hide their riches, at the expense of the sovereign, There is practically no difference between those who hide dirty money in overhead tanks and soak-aways and those who go all the way to Panama.
Developing countries are handicapped in this kind of situation by institutional and moral deficits, but the relevant authorities in Nigeria must not sweep this under the carpet or be indifferent to the Panama revelations. Basic questions should be asked: has there been any wrong-doing? Is the money clean or dirty? And can the public officials and their agents involved legitimately hide money in offshore secret accounts? What business brought them the hidden wealth? Did they make necessary disclosures? And do they pay tax?
This last point is the crux of the matter. The rich in Nigeria enjoy all the privileges of being rich and influential, but they hardly give back to society. We have over the years created a parasitic class of rich men and women who become important by having the right connections and by being in the right places at the right time. They occupy “juicy” public positions or they set up businesses through which they get generous import and tax waivers, or they get gifted with oil blocks and marginal fields or government assets sold off for nothing, and yet this same class oppresses the rest of society, and cleverly sends its amassed wealth offshore. They milk the country, they hardly pay back; the less vicious amongst them put up appearances of generosity, but it is sheer pretence: too many people playing smart at great cost to Nigeria. I am surprised that some of them even know a place called Panama, even if they have no idea where it is on the map.
The Panama leak may end up as the graveyard of reputations: among the named, we have such international celebrities as Jackie Chan and the greatly talented Lionel Messi. But what will come out of it all from the African end? I still suspect nothing. And that takes me to the second scandal I alluded to earlier. It is the case of President Jacob Zuma of South Africa. This controversial President who has survived allegations of rape, corruption, domestic scandals and illicit business dealings has again just survived another corruption scandal that involved the South African Constitutional Court openly and expressly accusing him of violating the Constitution that he swore to uphold.
President Zuma spent close to $20 million of public funds to upgrade his private residence. His fingers were caught in the cookie jar, and although he tried to bluff his way through, the Constitutional Court has put him on the spot by declaring boldly that he cannot use the people’s money to upgrade his personal residence. The court ruled that he will have to return the misapplied funds to the South African treasury.
In saner climes, this would have been enough ground for impeachment. But Zuma survived. He has survived. The Big Six who run the African National Congress (ANC) and the party’s members in parliament, who constitute the majority, rallied round Zuma, and they have refused to impeach him. He is leading the party of Nelson Mandela into a moral ditch, and the new reality is that he is still in office after having been told to his face by the Constitutional Court that he is a thief. Zuma took the people’s money and gave himself a swimming pool, a chicken run, an amphitheatre, a visitors’ centre, and a cattle kraal, all in the name of security upgrades to his country home. The truth is that political leaders in Africa don’t see any difference between state and private wealth. When they are in charge, they exercise divine rights, the kind of divine rights associated with the monarchies of old. State wealth becomes theirs to be used by them and their cronies as they deem fit.
The South African Constitutional Court deserves a pat on the back and Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng commendation for his courage. In South Africa, they have a judiciary that can tell the Executive the truth. We desperately need that kind of judiciary in Nigeria: a judiciary that can tell people in government that they can only use their positions to advance state interests as opposed to personal interests. A judiciary that is strong enough to tell a President that he is not the sovereign and that the country is bigger than the President and his cronies.
If a random check were to be conducted, the transgression by President Jacob Zuma, using state funds to turn his Nkandla residence into a mini-paradise is something common and considered normal in Nigeria. Indeed, the house that is causing so much public discontent in South Africa looks like nothing considering the kind of palaces owned by low-ranking public officials in Nigeria. But public discontent is where the key lies. When the politicians disappoint the people, the people owe themselves a sacred duty not to disappoint themselves.
Jacob Zuma may cling to power by the force of political patronage, but his Presidency is diminished. With the many scandals around him, he has proven to be an unworthy inheritor of the Mandela legacy and it is only a question of time before his own legacy is properly defined and determined. He has apologized, and he says he will obey the court and make payments to the Treasury. But that is Africa for you. He may well get away with it all, the same way other African leaders have been getting away with criminality for decades.
Our point: the biggest threat to growth and development in Africa is the contempt with which African leaders treat the people and the audacity with which they get away with their contempt and audacity. [myad]
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“Nigeria needs a strong person with the required experience to bring them out of the negative position they are in right now. Nigeria is a big country and the national team should be in the top 10 in FIFA’s world rankings, not the 67th position they currently occupy.
Panama Papers, Zuma and the DNA of Corruption, By Reuben Abati
Two major scandals in the international arena in the last week would seem to prove the point. The first is the leakage of troves of documents, now known as the Panama Papers, revealing how the rich including world leaders, celebrities, public officials and business men, have over the years hidden away their wealth in tax havens with the help of a Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca. While the consultants and the persons and companies involved have alleged that there is really nothing illegal in what they may have done, to the extent that tax avoidance is not a crime (it is the evasion that is a crime, although this looks like a matter of definition), there have been indications of money laundering and corrupt dealings involving public officials. The unfolding scandal has already resulted in the resignation of the Prime Minister of Iceland, and of an Austrian bank Chief, Michael Grahammer. Russian President Vladimir Putin also has questions to answer.
But across Africa, and particularly in Nigeria, all the persons who have been mentioned in this global scandal have been totally indifferent. Governments across the world are already investigating their nationals mentioned in the scandal and here, civil society groups are also calling on the relevant authorities to do the same. But nobody should imagine that anyone involved, and currently holding public office, would feel tempted in any way to either own up or resign or lose an hour of sleep.
As it is in Nigeria, so it is in the other African countries where persons have been fingered: South Africa- Jacob Zuma’s nephew, Hulubuse Zuma, Kenya- Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal, Nigeria: James Ibori, Bukola and Toyin Saraki, Democratic Republic of Congo- President Joseph Kabila’s twin sister, Jaynet Desiree Kabila Kyungu, Angola- Petroleum Minister Botello de Vasconcelos, Ghana- John Ado Kufuor, Kojo Annan; Morocco- Mounir Majidi, Botswana: Ian Kirby; Egypt- Alaa Mubarak, Sudan- former President Ahmad Al-Mirghani, Cote d’Ivoire- Jean Claude Ametchi, Senegal – Mamadou Pouye… Whereas it is possible to bet that in the affected Western nations, this massive leakage of data would be investigated and the list of casualties is bound to be long, it is also possible to bet that in our continent, there may be no investigations, or nothing substantial would come out of it. Why do our folks in Africa find it so easy to overlook impunity? And even sometimes celebrate it. The South African authorities have promised an investigation, yes, but who knows what that will bring?
The Panama Papers leak proves one point: that the rich all over the world are the same- they are greedy and they will rather cheat the system. They want to hide their wealth from the tax man and they will go to any length to do so. The global capitalist system is so skewed against the poor; he is permanently left with the short end of the stick. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer because the rich can hide their wealth in such filthy hide outs as the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and Panama, the most notorious offshore location, and by so doing avoid the payment of all forms of taxes. Suddeutsche Zeitung, the German newspaper, got the Panama documents from an anonymous whistle blower, who probably chose to be anonymous having learnt from the travails of the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange.
But thank God all the same for whistle-blowers, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) who have shown the rich that offshore financial secrecy is no longer fool-proof. Developing and underdeveloped countries are certainly worst hit by the hiding of funds away from national jurisdictions by the rich: most of it stolen money, or perhaps, illegally acquired wealth. The Panama leaks, like the Cayman Islands leak of 2013, is a reminder that in an increasingly global village, there may be no more hiding places for the rich. It holds them accountable to a globally sanctioned moral standard. The rich and the powerful don’t like to be exposed. We know this to be a fact and the Nigerian names that have been mentioned can only reinforce what we already know: that the rich and the privileged in Nigeria will go to any length to amass, protect and hide their riches, at the expense of the sovereign, There is practically no difference between those who hide dirty money in overhead tanks and soak-aways and those who go all the way to Panama.
Developing countries are handicapped in this kind of situation by institutional and moral deficits, but the relevant authorities in Nigeria must not sweep this under the carpet or be indifferent to the Panama revelations. Basic questions should be asked: has there been any wrong-doing? Is the money clean or dirty? And can the public officials and their agents involved legitimately hide money in offshore secret accounts? What business brought them the hidden wealth? Did they make necessary disclosures? And do they pay tax?
This last point is the crux of the matter. The rich in Nigeria enjoy all the privileges of being rich and influential, but they hardly give back to society. We have over the years created a parasitic class of rich men and women who become important by having the right connections and by being in the right places at the right time. They occupy “juicy” public positions or they set up businesses through which they get generous import and tax waivers, or they get gifted with oil blocks and marginal fields or government assets sold off for nothing, and yet this same class oppresses the rest of society, and cleverly sends its amassed wealth offshore. They milk the country, they hardly pay back; the less vicious amongst them put up appearances of generosity, but it is sheer pretence: too many people playing smart at great cost to Nigeria. I am surprised that some of them even know a place called Panama, even if they have no idea where it is on the map.
The Panama leak may end up as the graveyard of reputations: among the named, we have such international celebrities as Jackie Chan and the greatly talented Lionel Messi. But what will come out of it all from the African end? I still suspect nothing. And that takes me to the second scandal I alluded to earlier. It is the case of President Jacob Zuma of South Africa. This controversial President who has survived allegations of rape, corruption, domestic scandals and illicit business dealings has again just survived another corruption scandal that involved the South African Constitutional Court openly and expressly accusing him of violating the Constitution that he swore to uphold.
President Zuma spent close to $20 million of public funds to upgrade his private residence. His fingers were caught in the cookie jar, and although he tried to bluff his way through, the Constitutional Court has put him on the spot by declaring boldly that he cannot use the people’s money to upgrade his personal residence. The court ruled that he will have to return the misapplied funds to the South African treasury.
In saner climes, this would have been enough ground for impeachment. But Zuma survived. He has survived. The Big Six who run the African National Congress (ANC) and the party’s members in parliament, who constitute the majority, rallied round Zuma, and they have refused to impeach him. He is leading the party of Nelson Mandela into a moral ditch, and the new reality is that he is still in office after having been told to his face by the Constitutional Court that he is a thief. Zuma took the people’s money and gave himself a swimming pool, a chicken run, an amphitheatre, a visitors’ centre, and a cattle kraal, all in the name of security upgrades to his country home. The truth is that political leaders in Africa don’t see any difference between state and private wealth. When they are in charge, they exercise divine rights, the kind of divine rights associated with the monarchies of old. State wealth becomes theirs to be used by them and their cronies as they deem fit.
The South African Constitutional Court deserves a pat on the back and Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng commendation for his courage. In South Africa, they have a judiciary that can tell the Executive the truth. We desperately need that kind of judiciary in Nigeria: a judiciary that can tell people in government that they can only use their positions to advance state interests as opposed to personal interests. A judiciary that is strong enough to tell a President that he is not the sovereign and that the country is bigger than the President and his cronies.
If a random check were to be conducted, the transgression by President Jacob Zuma, using state funds to turn his Nkandla residence into a mini-paradise is something common and considered normal in Nigeria. Indeed, the house that is causing so much public discontent in South Africa looks like nothing considering the kind of palaces owned by low-ranking public officials in Nigeria. But public discontent is where the key lies. When the politicians disappoint the people, the people owe themselves a sacred duty not to disappoint themselves.
Jacob Zuma may cling to power by the force of political patronage, but his Presidency is diminished. With the many scandals around him, he has proven to be an unworthy inheritor of the Mandela legacy and it is only a question of time before his own legacy is properly defined and determined. He has apologized, and he says he will obey the court and make payments to the Treasury. But that is Africa for you. He may well get away with it all, the same way other African leaders have been getting away with criminality for decades.
Our point: the biggest threat to growth and development in Africa is the contempt with which African leaders treat the people and the audacity with which they get away with their contempt and audacity. [myad]