Connect with us

Nigeria

Nigeria’s Corruption Respects Diversity And Federal Character, By Fredrick Nwabufo

Published

on

I think, if possible, there should be some evaluation to check the ‘’greed quotient’’ of people taking up public office in Nigeria.

How much money, property does a man need? I am compelled to believe that the faculty for primitive accumulation is a pre-historic flaw of the African species. From Mobutu Sese Seko, former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo; General Sani Abacha of Nigeria, to Teodorin Obiang, vice-president of Equatorial Guinea; Jacob Zuma of South Africa, and many others in the corruption phylum, African leaders and public officers appear to be the most afflicted by the midge of acquisitiveness.

Why would any normal human entrusted with public funds, stash away millions of dollars in tax havens and buy sprawling estates in foreign countries? And most times, they do not live in these houses. I think there is a design flaw with the African public officer; I mean, with the Nigerian public officer.

Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, is reported to have pilfered over $153 million, bought N14 billion worth of jewellery and acquired over 90 properties in Nigeria – according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This clearly shows a psychological kink. It is mindboggling. The longest anyone can live on earth is 120 years, but why the rapacity and predilection for irrational accumulation?

Another former minister is reported to have bought £6.7m London properties while she was in office. When we colligate over 100 million Nigerians stratified as poorest of the poor, decayed health infrastructure and parlous roads with the ghastly and ravenous pursuits of Nigerian public officers, it is even more exasperating. Nigerians slip below the threshold of poverty every minute and Nigeria keeps borrowing religiously to fund its budget, but the country’s wealth is squandered and scattered abroad. It is very vexing.

I think, if possible, there should be some evaluation to check the ‘’greed quotient’’ of people taking up public office in Nigeria. The average Nigerian public officer has shown himself to be a parasitic organism that keeps sucking the national treasury with a proboscis.

Not surprising, Nigerians are ‘’well-represented’’ in the Pandora Papers. The Pandora Papers Project is led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) – which Nigeria’s Premium Times is a part of. The project sieved through and analysed as much as 12 million leaked files retrieved from offshore service firms from around the world. And Nigerian public officers featured prominently in this investigation.

Nigerians, both current and former public officers, have been named ignominiously in reports revealing how the Nigerian elite evade tax, perjure, loot, and shore up questionable wealth in tax havens.

For instance, a certain former governor who had cut for himself an ascetic image in the public eye was reported not to have declared a bulk of his wealth when he assumed office – and he even avoided tax. This politician seeks to lead Nigeria some day. Also, a serving governor is said to have amassed dirty billions stashed away in tax havens.

This governor is said to have been ‘’involved with all the offshore front companies and bank accounts – from the British Virgin Islands to Ireland, Switzerland, England, Guernsey, and Jersey – used to steal and launder billions of dollars belonging to Nigeria under the Abacha regime as a director, signatory on accounts or prime beneficiary, according to US court documents and incorporation filings from the Pandora Papers leaks’’.

A public servant who was recently appointed as the head of a critical government agency was reported to have purchased a piece of property worth 475,000 pounds in London, UK, after he was appointed as an executive director at the agency in 2017. The asset is said to be his largest single investment in the UK property market.

The uncanny thing about the Pandora Papers is that Nigeria’s geographical character is well-captured on the corruption lamina. The federal character of corruption. Public officers from the north, south, east and west have been named on that inglorious list.

Nigeria’s corruption respects diversity and federal character. Resources and public goods may not be equitably distributed among all Nigerians, and even political offices could be sectionalised, but on corruption, there is always a geographical balance. Yes, there is always a perfect ethnic representation at the table of loot.

Where true democracy is at play among the Nigerian elite is on corruption. On corruption, there is common ground. Corruption is the centrifugal force pulling all together in the council of interest.

Really, Nigeria’s problem is an elite problem — conscienceless people who stack up wealth in foreign countries while the country they represent is cannibalised. To this class, Nigeria is only fit for milking, but for healthcare they go abroad; for education for their children, they go abroad, and for other basics, they jet out.

As I said in ‘The colonialists never left – they are Nigerian politicians’ of October 1, 2020,’ impunity and corruption, which reigned under British colonialism, are ensconced solidly in Nigeria’s cosmology today, and are even considered as start-up packages for elitism under Nigeria’s ‘’elite colonialism’’.

Nigeria’s problem is an elite affliction.

We are bleeding Nigeria softly, softly.

Fredrick Nwabufo

Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @FredrickNwabufo

Culled from the Sahara Reporters

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

News

NLC protests: Why Nigeria’s economy is in such a mess

Published

on

Nigeria is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation, leading to widespread hardship and anger.

The trade union umbrella group, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), held protests in the main cities on Tuesday, calling for more action from the government.

A litre of petrol costs more than three times what it did nine months ago, while the price of the staple food, rice, has more than doubled in the past year.

These two figures highlight the difficulties that many Nigerians are facing as wages have not kept up with the rising cost of living.

Like many nations, Nigeria has experienced economic shocks from beyond its shores in recent years, but there are also issues specific to the country, partly driven by the reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu when he took office last May.

How bad is the economy?

Overall, annual inflation, which is the average rate at which prices go up, is now close to 30% – the highest figure in nearly three decades. The cost of food has risen even more – by 35%.

However, the monthly minimum wage, set by the government and which all employers are supposed to observe, has not changed since 2019, when it was put at 30,000 naira – this is worth just $19 (£15) at current exchange rates.

Many are going hungry, rationing what food they have or looking for cheaper alternatives.

In the north, some people are now eating the rice that is normally discarded as part of the milling process. The waste product usually goes into fish food.

Widely shared social media videos indicate how some are reducing portion sizes.

One clip shows a woman cutting a fish into nine pieces rather than the average four to five. She is heard saying her goal is to ensure her family can at least eat some fish twice a week.

What is causing Nigeria’s economic crisis?

Inflation has soared in many countries, as fuel and other costs spiked as a result of the war in Ukraine.

But President Tinubu’s efforts to remodel the economy have also added to the burden.

On the day he was sworn in nine months ago, the new president announced that the long-standing fuel subsidy would be ending.

This had kept petrol prices low for citizens of this oil-producing nation, but it was also a huge drain on public finances. In the first half of 2023, it accounted for 15% of the budget – more than the government spent on health or education. Mr Tinubu argued that this could be better used elsewhere.

However, the subsequent huge jump in the price of petrol has caused other prices to rise as companies pass on transportation and energy costs to the consumer.

One other factor that is pushing up inflation is an issue that Mr Tinubu inherited from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, according to financial analyst Tilewa Adebajo.

He told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the previous government had asked the country’s central bank for short-term loans to cover spending amounting to $19bn.

The bank printed the money, which helped fuel inflation, Mr Adebajo said.

Chart showing the changing food prices

What has happened to the naira?

Mr Tinubu also ended the policy of pegging the price of the currency, the naira, to the US dollar rather than leaving it up to the market to determine on the basis of supply and demand. The central bank was spending a lot of money maintaining the level.

But scrapping the peg has led the naira’s value to plunge by more than two-thirds, briefly hitting an all-time low last week.

Last May, 10,000 naira would buy $22, now it will only fetch around $6.40.

As the naira is worth less, the price of all imported products has gone up.

When will things get better?

While the president is unlikely to reverse his decisions on the fuel subsidy and the naira, which he argues will pay off in the long run by making Nigeria’s economy stronger, the government has introduced some measures to ease the suffering.

Nigeria’s Vice-President Kashim Shettima announced the establishment of a board charged with controlling and regulating food prices. The government also ordered the national grain reserve to distribute 42,000 tonnes of grains, including maize and millet.

This is not the first time the government has said it is distributing aid to poor and vulnerable Nigerians, but labour unions have often criticised the government’s method of food distribution, saying much of it does not reach poor families.

The government has also said it is working with rice producers to get more of it into markets and customs officials have been instructed to cheaply sell off bags of the grain that they have seized. In a sign of how bad things are, on Friday this led to a crush in the biggest city, Lagos, which killed seven people, local media report. These hand-outs have now been halted.

The rice was seized under the previous government, which banned imports of rice to encourage local farmers to grow more. That ban was lifted last year in at attempt to bring down the cost but because of the fall in the value of the naira, that has not worked.

Around 15 million poorer households are also receiving a cash transfer of 25,000 naira ($16; £13) a month, but these days that doesn’t go very far.

Culled from the BBC

Continue Reading

Africa

Nangolo Mbumba Sworn In as Namibia’s Interim President

Published

on

Nangolo Mbumba has been sworn in as the interim president of the southern African country of Namibia.

He was installed Sunday, following the death of President Hage Geingob earlier in the day at a hospital in Windhoek.

Geingob announced in January that he had cancer.

Mbumba said Sunday that he does not plan to run for president in elections later this year.

That means newly-installed Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah could seek the presidential office. If she won, she would be first female president in southern Africa.

However, she may face some challengers from within SWAPO, her political party.

The South West Africa People’s Organization or SWAPO has been in power in Namibia since it gained independence in 1990.

President Geingob recently upbraided Germany for supporting Israel against genocide charges at the International Court of Justice.

Geingob said Germany committed genocide in Namibia in the 1800s, killing tens of thousands of Africans.

Continue Reading

News

Horrible images of massive blast in Nigeria caused by explosives

Published

on

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Three people died and 77 others were injured overnight when an explosives rocked more than 20 buildings in one of Nigeria’s largest cities, authorities said Wednesday, as rescue workers dug through the rubble in search of those feared trapped.

Residents in the southwestern state of Oyo’s densely populated Ibadan city heard a loud blast at about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, causing panic as many fled their homes. By Wednesday morning, security forces cordoned off the area while medical personnel and ambulances were on standby as rescue efforts intensified.

Preliminary investigations showed the blast was caused by explosives stored for use in illegal mining operations, Oyo Gov. Seyi Makinde told reporters after visiting the site in the Bodija area of Ibadan.

3 killed and 77 injured in massive blast caused by explosives in southern  Nigerian city - Bharat Express

 

Nigeria explosion leaves 3 dead, 77 injured as rescue workers frantically  dig through rubble to search for survivors

 

3 killed, 77 injured in massive blast caused by explosives in southern  Nigerian city - ABC News

Continue Reading

Trending