Thank you Kenneth for approximating the alleged 82 million naira dinner for Soyinka to 400,000 dollars. That is a huge amount of money as you have observed. Unfortunately, Nigerians don't have respect for figures especially when they pertain to elections and money. The commissioner that is making allegation of eighty-two million dollars dinner is appointed and serving under a governor whose election has just been nullified by the Appeal Court in Nigeria because he was declared elected by votes that exceeded the total number of registered voters in Rivers State. It was for the same reason that the elections of over half of members of Rivers State House of Assembly have been nullified by the Appeal Court. The legitimacy of the current Rivers State government is yet to be finally decided by the Supreme Court. The figure being bandied by the Rivers State Commissioner as a dinner cost may not be true in as much as it has not been substantiated with any document. It is worth remembering that Rivers State House of Assembly was closed down from July 2014 because five members of the House, backed by President Jonathan with Federal Police, claimed the right to suspend twenty-seven members of the House and to impeach the Governor of the State, Chibuike Amechi. Yes, in Nigeria's numerical structure, five is greater than twenty-seven!!
The ruling elites in Nigeria do not simply see governance as a means of food distribution among themselves and in which they eat on behalf of their respective ethnic group but as an opportunity to steal appropriated developmental money. On November 13, 2007, the Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, was a speaker at a three-day 6th national seminar organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in Abuja. Antonio Maria Costa told his audience that between 1960, when Nigeria became independent and 1999, when democracy was restored, a sum of four-hundred billion dollars ($400 billion) was stolen and stashed away in foreign banks by a generation of corrupt rulers. He lamented thus, "If you were to put $400 billion bills in a row, you will make a path from here to the moon and back not once but 75 times. Think of how different Nigeria would have looked today (if the money had been used to develop Nigeria)." On December 5, 2007, the Nigerian media carried the news that the chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, accused the United Nations of withholding information regarding the $400 billion stolen from Nigeria and kept in Europe and the US. It is an irony of fate that those who received Black slaves and colonized the Black man are also the receivers and keepers of stolen developmental money not only from Nigeria but entire Africa. Again, stolen $400 billion would have caused a revolt in other countries but not in Nigeria where figures have no value. So, the alleged $400,000 dinner is nothing to talk about when compared to $400 billion.
S.Kadiri
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Wole Soyinka and the Rivers State Dinner Controversy: Soyinka and Amaechi's Response and Rejoinders to Those [Facebook Debates]
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
From: harrow@msu.edu
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2016 11:16:04 -0500
hard to fathom this story, for me, without looking up the exchange rate for naira. i got $1=200 naira; one naira= half a cent.
so, one million naira = $5,000.
80 million naira, $400,000 should feed trump for a week!
or lots of the rest of us for many years.
and you say, they only had roast beef sandwiches?
to come to the more serious reflection, how many occasions do the super rich spend a fortune on catered or restaurant meals. literally a thousand or more dollars. maybe even $5000 for a business meal, with expensive wines.
how many poor use food stamps?
that is the injustice that demands , at a minimum, the politics of bernie sanders, and at the maximum a revolutionary change to the neoliberal globalization that has spawned such inequality in the recent decades?
ken
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The ruling elites in Nigeria do not simply see governance as a means of food distribution among themselves and in which they eat on behalf of their respective ethnic group but as an opportunity to steal appropriated developmental money. On November 13, 2007, the Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, was a speaker at a three-day 6th national seminar organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in Abuja. Antonio Maria Costa told his audience that between 1960, when Nigeria became independent and 1999, when democracy was restored, a sum of four-hundred billion dollars ($400 billion) was stolen and stashed away in foreign banks by a generation of corrupt rulers. He lamented thus, "If you were to put $400 billion bills in a row, you will make a path from here to the moon and back not once but 75 times. Think of how different Nigeria would have looked today (if the money had been used to develop Nigeria)." On December 5, 2007, the Nigerian media carried the news that the chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, accused the United Nations of withholding information regarding the $400 billion stolen from Nigeria and kept in Europe and the US. It is an irony of fate that those who received Black slaves and colonized the Black man are also the receivers and keepers of stolen developmental money not only from Nigeria but entire Africa. Again, stolen $400 billion would have caused a revolt in other countries but not in Nigeria where figures have no value. So, the alleged $400,000 dinner is nothing to talk about when compared to $400 billion.
S.Kadiri
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Wole Soyinka and the Rivers State Dinner Controversy: Soyinka and Amaechi's Response and Rejoinders to Those [Facebook Debates]
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
From: harrow@msu.edu
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2016 11:16:04 -0500
hard to fathom this story, for me, without looking up the exchange rate for naira. i got $1=200 naira; one naira= half a cent.
so, one million naira = $5,000.
80 million naira, $400,000 should feed trump for a week!
or lots of the rest of us for many years.
and you say, they only had roast beef sandwiches?
to come to the more serious reflection, how many occasions do the super rich spend a fortune on catered or restaurant meals. literally a thousand or more dollars. maybe even $5000 for a business meal, with expensive wines.
how many poor use food stamps?
that is the injustice that demands , at a minimum, the politics of bernie sanders, and at the maximum a revolutionary change to the neoliberal globalization that has spawned such inequality in the recent decades?
ken
On 1/8/16 10:46 AM, Oluwatoyin Adepoju wrote:
--
See posts and rich debates at respective links
For more type 'Wole Soyinka' into facebook searchMight require a Facebook account, which is a must for following developments in contemporay Nigerian history
N82m Dinner: Prof Soyinka replies Wike, says he can't ask his hosts "how much they spend"1. Chukwudi Iwuchukwu
·
2. Amaechi denies spending N82m on dinner for Soyinka, dares Wike to go to court
3. WHEN CORRUPTION FIGHTS BACK: Critical Questions for Embattled Professor Wole Soyinka
4. 80th Birthday Dinner: Soyinka replies Rivers govt
5. Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has described as 'abominable distractions,' statement by the Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Dr Austin Tam-George, that the state would demand a refund from him (Soyinka) if it is confirmed that he collected cash from the N82 million allegedly spent by immediate-past Governor, Rotimi Amaechi on a dinner to honour him
6. " When I learnt of the scandalous accusation of a dinner worth N82 million Naira in my honour, I thought it was one of those accusations from politicians to lug me, into murky political waters. But having received an instrument from the Rivers state government to corroborate its stance. I'm even more saddened, and would like to posit, that I was only treated to a dinner, by the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi administration. And I ingested only foods and drinks, and afterwards retired to the Rivers state government guest house, where I laid my head, and flew back to Lagos the next day. I wasn't vouchsafed with any pecuniary advancement or benefaction, that would worth that amount. I still would not want to probe into the catering and logistical implications of that dinner in my honour. However, my cogitation navigates, to what I will refer to as, corruption backed up by the absence of a public procurement act, by that government. It's either I was used as conduit to loot the treasury of Rivers state by that government or some contractors were not sincere. " ~~Prof Wole Soyinka
7. Soyinka and the Pornography of Excess.
8. Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has described as 'abominable distractions,' statement by the Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Dr Austin Tam-George, that the state would demand refund from him (Soyinka) if he collected cash from the N82 million alleg
9. News: N82million ill-fated Wole Soyinka Dinner : Nobel Laureate says it's not his business to know how much was expended by his friend
10. Probe Me, Soyinka Dares EFCC
11. Former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi has denied allegations that he hosted Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka to an N82 million dinner while in office.
12. Soyinka responds to Rivers govt's call for his probe over "N82 million dinner"
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
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-- kenneth w. harrow professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu
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Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
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