Enabling Corruption by Ignoring or Downplaying the Gravity of Corrupt Practices
Your problem, Salimonu, is that you have made Buhari propaganda your daily bread.
Your problem, Salimonu, is that you have made Buhari propaganda your daily bread.
You are an embodiment of the uncritical regurgitation of the antics of Buhari.
From that noxious diet, you now proceed to make yourself an enabler of corruption.
Anybody who criticizes one govt of corruption and ignores or downplays corruption by another govt is guilty of helping to cultivate a culture of corruption.
Anybody who criticizes one govt of corruption and ignores or downplays corruption by another govt is guilty of helping to cultivate a culture of corruption.
You are an enabler of corruption bcs of the support you are giving to the institutionalized theft by Fashola and Amaechi, the most prominent minsters in Buhari's govt, a prominence emerging from their roles in the APC's putting Buhari forward on an anti-corruption platform, a context that amplifies their significance to the character of that govt.
Making Oneself an Embodiment of Corruption by Making Openly Corrupt People Members of One's Cabinet
A person who claims to be an anti -corruption crusader, as Buhari does, who places corrupt people, such as Amaechi and Fashola, in his cabinet, is a corrupt person.
Making Oneself an Embodiment of Corruption by Making Openly Corrupt People Members of One's Cabinet
A person who claims to be an anti -corruption crusader, as Buhari does, who places corrupt people, such as Amaechi and Fashola, in his cabinet, is a corrupt person.
Its almost equivalent to a person who knowingly receives stolen goods being a thief.
Corruption is therefore further institutionalized in the Nigerian polity.
Trying to measure the Amaechi and the Fashola thefts on a scale of corruption is immoral and obscene bcs it misses the point of the enabling of the theft of the money meant for national development at various levels of the Nigerian polity.Fashola stole bcs he used the money of the state govt in pursuing a personal interest to the tune of 78 million, in a state that is at the bottom of the global development ladder, where, as we speak, electricity has disappeared almost, if not completely, as different from its previous epileptic occurrence.
Amaechi stole bcs he used the state's money, to the tune of 82 million, in servicing the interests of a private citizen and political ally, Wole Soyinka, a citizen who went on to become the most valuable APC asset outside explicit political circles by his baseless and bizarre endorsement of Buhari and renunciation, without any concrete reason, of his decades long anti-Buhari critique.
Theft carried out on a massive scale in a region which suffers huge devastation from drilling for the oil that is Nigeria's primary income earner.
Buhari and the 2016 Budget of Thieves
Buhari is further an embodiment of corruption bcs of his 2016 budget, which contrives to steal billions from the Nigerian people through the allocation of millions to non-existent expenses, such as rent for the Presidential residence owned by the federal govt, refurbishing of that residence, generators for the residence, linking the toilet of the driver's lodge to the Internet, and millions for other ridiculous quotations such books for the VP's office and millions for food for the state house.
He compounds his corruption smell by pretending not to know the contents of the budget, a height of inanity for which he should be impeached.
On Saving Against a Rainy Day and the Excess Crude Account
You are proudly quoting largely empty summations on questions of guilt in managing Nigeria's economy.
"For almost a year now, the Buhari-led APC government has been blaming the immediate past PDP government for emptying the country's treasury and failing to save for the rainy day.
This govt thinks we are all suffering from amnesia (memory problem)
They all seem to have conveniently forgotten that when oil was selling for around 100-140 dollars per barrel, the immediate past govt set up a special account called the Excess Crude Account where excess monies gotten from the sale of crude were saved for a day like today when price of oil would crash in the international market.
But on the 13th day of January 2013, the Rotimi Amechi led governors forum [ good no of whom, with Amaechi eventually became Buhari's APC allies] insisted on sharing the over $10billion in that account. Together with Prince handsome -the Edo state governor, Amechi and co dragged the then finance minister -Okonjo Iweala to court and forced her to share everything in that account. Even when Okonjo pleaded for out of court settlement with the promise to share $1billion and leave the remaining $9billion, these governors insisted they needed all. And because the establishment of Excess crude account has no legal backing, these Shylock governors won the case and the money was shared.
They later used their own shares to fund the Presidential aspirations of Buhari.
Today, these men led by Mr 'I don't like money' and the other Mr 'I don't sign cheques' plus the Edo handsome governor [ satirical evocations of hypocrisy in the Buhari govt] not forgetting the chief beneficiary of the shared money -Buhari, are the ones crying that the last govt didn't save for the rainy day.'
... it is morally reprehensible for Amechi, Oshiomole and others who forced the then govt to share the excess crude account money to be the ones blaming that govt today for failing to save for a day like this'
Claims of Corruption in the GEJ Govt and the Hypocrisy of the So Called Anti-Corruption War
Buhari's approach here represents a culture of hypocrisy.
A culture of mob justice.
A culture of trial by media.
A culture of persecuting political opponents in the name of fighting corruption.
On the Question of the Guilt of Sambo Dasuki
Everything bandied about by the govt on Dasuki is deeply questionable.
I dont even bother to read most of it bcs of the unprofessional manner it is presented by the govt.
It consists of sensationalized and unanalysed information.Various figures have admitted to collecting money from Sambo Dasuki as National Security Adviser.
These figures include newspaper houses being compensated by the govt for business losses for which the govt has some responsibility along with money for campaign spending.
People have gone into a frenzy bcs they assume Dasuki was spending money meant for the war agst Boko Haram.
The truth is that is unlikely bcs the govt was long engaged in the struggle to purchase arms in the final phase of its anti-Boko Haram war and eventually succeeded in purchasing those weapons.
Weapons Purchases
The situation was amplified by the embarrassment of the story of the kidnap of the girls in the Chibok school enabled by Borno state governor Kassim Shettima keeping the Chibok school open agst the orders of the govt, the capitalization on this story by APC and its milking by the international press to make the claim that the govt had no interest in adequately addressing the Boko Haram problem, with even Hillary Clinton dismissing the efforts of the Nigerian the govt, and the Bring Back Our Girls campaign mobilized to put pressure on the govt and discredit the govt.
Within this crisis, the govt was able to participate in a regional security summit organized by France and work at securing weapons agst the background of the refusal of the US and its allies to sell the govt weapons.
They eventually got the weapons in the informal market and put Boko Haram on the run in the last period of the tenure of that goivt.
This routing is likely to have occured much sooner, if not for the Chibok sabotage and the distraction it caused through its manipulation by Bring Back Our Girls which then and now was little more than a political pressure group, another face of APC, which since Buhari assumed office has practicality dissappeared though the girls are yet to be brought back.
The present govt has not even described itself as buying any new weapons which it would have done since it keeps proclaiming the money for the anti-Boko Haram war was appropriated by the immediate past govt.
This routing is likely to have occured much sooner, if not for the Chibok sabotage and the distraction it caused through its manipulation by Bring Back Our Girls which then and now was little more than a political pressure group, another face of APC, which since Buhari assumed office has practicality dissappeared though the girls are yet to be brought back.
The present govt has not even described itself as buying any new weapons which it would have done since it keeps proclaiming the money for the anti-Boko Haram war was appropriated by the immediate past govt.
Yet, the same govt claims they are winning the war on Boko Haram.
So, who bought the weapons they are using?
You now see why I say the claims about money for the anti-Boko Haram war war being diverted by Dasuki is questionable?
The Question of Sources of Funds Disbursed by the NSA
Now, the next qs is- what is the source of the money used in paying the newspaper offices for damages they incurred?
One would expect is the govt's money but not necessarily money meant for the Boko Haram war.
Secondly, the money paid for political campaigns may have come from the PDP. Falae, accused of wrong doing in collecting money from Dasuki, has rightly stated that a political party has the right to enter into economic transactions with another political party.
Secondly, the money paid for political campaigns may have come from the PDP. Falae, accused of wrong doing in collecting money from Dasuki, has rightly stated that a political party has the right to enter into economic transactions with another political party.
The fact that this was done through the NSA does not necessarily indicate it is money coming from the NSA's budget for security duties.
Stella Oduah, Abdulsalami and the PMS Allegation
A report on the case from 2012-
'N230b Oil Scam: Ex-Head of State, Serving Minister Indicted, Seek Refuge in Aso Rock'
'N230b Oil Scam: Ex-Head of State, Serving Minister Indicted, Seek Refuge in Aso Rock'
What we have is an allegation.
Not a proven case.
I also dont see Buhari addressing Stella Oduah and Abdulsalamni in his anti-corruption drive.
Perhaps he is biding his time?
For now, though, it is clear that we have a story not even tried in court it seems.
I am not saying they are not guilty just indicating that what we have is an allegation.
From this 2014 report, 'Stella Oduah Repackages SPG Oil & Gas' it is clear that Sea Petroleum and Gas (SPG) is not a fictitious company.
Chief Emeka Wogu and Pinnacle Contractors
The most definite public information on this subject is that Emeka Nwogu had no connection with Pinnacle Contractors at the time of the allegation agst the company.
The following news stories from the period sum up the available information-
1.'Labour Minister Wogu has no link with firm'
2.Alleged N2.7 Billion Fuel Subsidy Scam: Group alleges that Wogu is being witch-hunted
4. Wogu clears self of N2.7bn subsidy fraud
Highlights-
'Reacting to allegations that he owned Pinnacle Contractors Limited, which claimed N2.7 billion from the subsidy regime last year, the minister said he sold off his interest in the company to Masters Energy Limited, months before the company made the alleged fraudulent claim.'
5. Wogu, Melaye Spar over Ownership of firm behind N2.7bn subsidy scam
Highlights-
'Mr. Emeka Wogu, in a swift response, said, he used to own the company,but had resigned and sold Pinnacle Contractors to Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited five months before it went into the subsidy business. Wogu, described his alleged involvement in the N2.7bn subsidy scam as malicious and insisted that Pinnacle Contractors was not indicted.'
5. Wogu, Melaye Spar over Ownership of firm behind N2.7bn subsidy scam
Highlights-
'Mr. Emeka Wogu, in a swift response, said, he used to own the company,but had resigned and sold Pinnacle Contractors to Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited five months before it went into the subsidy business. Wogu, described his alleged involvement in the N2.7bn subsidy scam as malicious and insisted that Pinnacle Contractors was not indicted.'
Allegations Against Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Onyeabor Ihejirika
Sorry a claim by Point Blank News telling us the US govt wants a Nigerian general probed has to be accompanied by the rep[opt from the US govt if one is to spend time assessing that, report, which I am not able to find to ascertain their source.
If you can find the report by the US govt, we can take it from there.
On Ex-Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh
The accusation agst Badeh remains an allegation so we cant assess it untit until the trial gets under way in earnest
On Air Marshal Adesola Amosu
A lot of claims are being made but they are coming from third parties and are described as 'alleged'
Abba Moro and the Immigration Application Scandal
Poor Management of the Exercise and the Resulting Deaths
The manner of organizing the immigration application demonstrated the height of incompetence and Moro and all involved in that process should be prosecuted maximally short of a death sentence.
The fact that he was not prosecuted after the incident is itself scandalous and reflects the culture of protection of political appointees even when they commit grievous wrongs, as represented by the poor management of the application process and the deaths it caused under dehumanizing conditions.
One view holds, though, that this exercise took place in the first place only bcs a form of democratization was being introduced into immigration employment, an exercise described as earlier being addressed primarily through nepotism.
Accusation of Looting Money from Application Form Sales
Again, the claim of stealing money attributed to Moro is at yet little more than an allegation-
'Abba Moro used money Generated from Immigration Application to buy houses-EFCC'
'Abba Moro used money Generated from Immigration Application to buy houses-EFCC'
We await the trial.
On John Yakubu Yusufu Pension Scam
Report from the period-
The light sentence given to him on the pension scam was evil particularly in the light of the huge sum he embezzled.
A most scandalous and evil enabling of the culture of corruption.
On Abdulrasheed Maina Pension Controversy
This case is controversial on account of the support Maina has got from various bodies in civil society and from pensioners.
Report from February 18, 2013
'International and local Civil Society Groups (CSO), have advised President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately reinstate the Dr. Abdulrasheed Maina Pension Reform Task Force Team (PRTFT), or risk losing pensioners' vote, in the forthcoming 2015 presidential election.
A letter, with reference number: LW/P/01/2014, written in partnership with the executive secretary Legislative Watch, and former House of Representative member, Hon Ihuoma Ngozika said since the era of massive looting in the sector has resurfaced, it is only the PRTFT that can salvage the pension sector from what it described as "fresh and alarming increase in the looting of funds originally earmarked for pension payment.
The Civil Society groups, in the open letter to Mr President made available to the press on Sunday in Abuja decried the delay of President Jonathan in responding to pensioners' request earlier made for the reinstatement of Maina led Pension Team to continue with it mandate.
The group, believed that in his ardent commitment to good governance, President Jonathan would have immediately heeded to the pensioners' request.
"We shall wait and see what the actions of Government would be on this sensitive but very important issue that affects Millions of Nigerians".
Hon Ngozika stressed that there had been unanimous consensus across the Country, that in the history of governance in Nigeria, it is only President Jonathan's administration that pioneered and achieved a unique pension reform in which so much monies, estates and properties have been seized and confiscated. Many pension thieves have so far been arrested and prosecuted by the EFCC and ICPC, thanks to Mallam Maina and his led Pension Task Force.'
Report from March 22, 2013Highlights-
'Civil Society Groups yesterday in Abuja protested outside the premises of the Federal High Court, Abuja, against alleged witch-hunt of the embattled Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Mr. Abdul-Rasheed Maina.
Operating under the aegis of the Civil Society Action Coalition, they accused the Senate and the security agencies of undue intimidation and harassment of Maina.
They urged President Goodluck Jonathan to protect Maina so as to continue with the good job he had done in the pension reform.'
Report from 14 December 2015
'Maina & Pension Scam: Separating the wheat from the chaff Monday''For three years, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) led by the ousted Ibrahim Lamorde and the Senate committee led by Senator Aloysius Etuk tried endlessly to prove that Abdulrasheed Maina, chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) stole 2 billion when he headed the Pension Reform Task Force. But what they will not tell you is that there are highly powerful individuals who will love to see Maina become the fall guy for a crime he is innocent of.
But there has been a lot of deliberate cover in a well written script to give Maina a bad name.
The reasons are simple. Maina's PRTT was a clog in the wheel of so many who were looting the pensioner's fund. Maina's PRTT was brought in to sanitise a very corrupt pension system. Many Nigerians will not forget that for years, aged pensioners suffered and even died roaming the streets of Abuja while waiting for their pensions. Emerging evidence has shown that Maina is just a victim of the popular saying, that when you fight corruption, corruption will fight back.'
Corruption Allegations Against Muhammadu Buhari, Members of His Govt and His Political Associates
Having addressed Salimonu's repetition of the various allegations presented by the fed govt in its use of an anti-corruption crusade as a technique of hounding members of the immediate past administration, creating a media circus while achieving little itself, along with applying entrenched corruption mechanisms represented by inane budget allocations, reinforced by wasteful purchases to the detriment of local industry, it is important to present the allegations agst members of the present govt., beggining from the national ruler, Muhammadu Buhari.
Muhammadu Buhari and the Petroleum Trust Fund
A report on allegations agst Buhari and his management of PTF under the Abacha Govt
Obasanjo has recently come out to claim that Buhari was not indicted by the panel that investigated the finances of PTF, which he initiated as President.
Obasanjo's claim, however, is coming many years after the incident and should be seen in relation to his desperate efforts in support of Buhari in order to unseat the immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan, efforts that, ass far as I can see, have no relationship to a positive vision for Nigeria.
As for the full text of the report itself, its release seems to be still awaited.
'Kabiru, Aregbesola's Son Fingered in N4.2 Billion 'Opon Imo' Scam'
'BREAKING: Osun Govt. Pays Only 3 Out Of 8 Months Salaries Owed Despite Bailout Fund'
'Aregbesola Is Not Alone, Rochas Okorocha Is Also Owing Teachers Salaries In Imo'
Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State and 13 Months Salary Arrears
Buhari's Associates Outside His Cabinet
Buhari's APC associates, along with Olusegun Obasanjo, are largely characters synonymous with the destruction of an equitable Nigeria.
These people have contributed positively to Nigeria, but their role in Nigerian history has contributed to ensuring the underdevelopment of the nation on account of what they did wrongly, such as Obasanjo's claim to pouring fortunes into the refineries without Nigeria achieving self sufficiency in refining capacity, thereby perpetuating recurrent fuel scarcity and the huge expense of exporting oil and buying refined fuel, or development initiatives they did not carry out.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Ex Governor of Lagos State and Most Prominent APC Politician
'Nigerian Corruption A higher Level : Tinubu's Massive Looting Of Lagos Uncovered'
'ADVERTORIAL: PDP Fights Back, Names Bola Tinubu, Nigeria's Most Corrupt Person'
Olusegun Obasanjo, Two Time Ex-Head of State
'Olusegun Obasanjo stole 2.4 trillion Naira, says CNPP'
'Thief Obasanjo - he wrecked Nigeria and stole $200bn'
Other figures may be included, such as Buhari's fellow APC Presidential primaries candidate,
Atiku Abubakar, Ex-Customs Boss and Ex-Vice President,
who owns a university but the source of whose wealth might not be traceable to any commercial venture
Atiku Abubakar, Ex-Customs Boss and Ex-Vice President,
who owns a university but the source of whose wealth might not be traceable to any commercial venture
Timpriye Sylva
former governor of Bayelsa state, head of Buhari's handover team from the previous govt and recent APC gubernatorial candidate for Bayelsa, even though he has a case pending with the EFCC from before this administration, but as is now the rule, 'join Buhari and APC and your sins shall be forgiven you'.
along with much more that can make a book, such as the Haliburton scandal, but it might suffice to conclude with the Wikipedia essay
'Corruption in Nigeria'
'Corruption in Nigeria'
in order to demonstrate the need to address corruption in Nigeria as a systemic problem.
thanks
toyin
On 9 March 2016 at 16:39, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:
Oluwatoyin, we are supposed to be commenting on the article of Akinjide Osuntokun titled "Views on Economic Summit," posted on this forum by the indefatigable Toyin Falola. In order to highlight how much you have digressed from the core of the said article, let me refresh your memory about the theme of his essay. After remarking that Nigeria under the previous Federal government earned a lot of money from crude oil exports, Osuntokun wrote, "If we had saved well against a rainy day we would not have found ourselves in this pitiable (economic) situation. The mindless looting of the public treasury in recent times has made things worse. The kind of looting we are being told, happened, is enough to depress any sane and patriotic Nigerian. The level of looting poses existential threat to this republic. In China some of what happened (treasury looting) in the recent past would have attracted ultimate punishment (death penalty). ..//.. People walk into the office of the National Security Adviser (Colonel Sambo Dasuki), sign a piece of paper, and walk out with a mandate to go to the CBN or banks where government has money to go and collect billions for some spurious work for government or the ruling party or for no work at all! Nigerian oil was sold without the treasury being credited with the proceeds. People have come out to say their accounts were credited with huge amount of money without their knowledge or without having performed any assignments for government." In view of the above stated facts, Akinjide Osuntokun objected to summoning of economic summit which he suspected would just be mere talk shop. He pleaded for the declaration of Economic Emergency and unconventional methods to speedily recover looted funds.For reasons best known to you, you introduced Ex-Governors Fashola and Amaechi of Lagos and River States, respectively, into the debate as your greatest examples of treasury looting in Nigeria to demonstrate your opposition to what Akinjide Osuntokun wrote in his 'Views on Economic Summit.' Based on your own personal judgment, you averred that Amaechi and Fashola are thieves because the former headed a government that hosted a birthday party for Wole Soyinka at a cost of N82 million while the latter expended N78 million to build a website in his name for the government of Lagos State. In spite of the fact that both expenditures were officially appropriated and approved by the relevant agencies, you mischievously concluded that the Governors were thieves even though neither the whole or part of the money was credited to the accounts of the said Governors. Much as I wished the Governors had spent the quoted amount on better projects, their thriftless behaviours could, legally, not be termed stealing or theft. If there is a law prohibiting thriftless behaviour, I will support the prosecution of Amaechi and Fashola for the aforementioned expenditures of N82 million and N78million respectively. Even if one should accept your definition of Amaechi and Fashola's expenditures of N82 million and N78 million as stealing (theft) we must put them in relation to other stealing in the country and prioritise which ones are most damaging to the economic development and wellbeing of Nigerians.When Akinjide Osuntokun wrote that, "the kind of looting we are being told, happened, is enough to depress any sane and patriotic Nigerian" he did not have in mind the N82 million birthday party by Amaechi regime or Fashola's N78 million website. Consider the followings: In 2011, the budget for fuel subsidy was N245 million but Jonathan's government paid N2.7 trillion as fuel subsidy without supplementary appropriation and subsequent enquiries showed that many received payment for fuel they never supplied. Jonathan's Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, received through her fictitious company, Sea Petroleum and Gas (SPG) the sum of N1, 019,571,609.00 without supplying any PMS. Jonathan's Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, collected N2.7 billion for fuel subsidy through his company, Pinnacle Contractors Limited. The Company was not registered with Corporate Affairs Commission until Friday, 30 November 2012, which means that the company was not even qualified to bid for fuel supply contract, when it collected fuel subsidy in 2011. It was discovered that the vessel which Minister Wogu claimed to have delivered fuel in Nigeria could not be located anywhere in the world not to talk of bathing in Nigeria. The former Military Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, received N5, 509,407,903.00 (about N5.51 billion), through his Company, Maizube Petroleum Limited, without supplying a drop of premium motor spirit. Names of the fuel subsidy thieves are too long to be listed here. But let us look at what should be the most disciplined section in Nigeria, the Nigerian Armed Forces. On September 22, 2014, The Point Blank News online published that the US wanted sudden billions of naira wealth of retired Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Onyeabor Ihejirika, probed. Nothing happened until recently when Punch Nigeria online published photographs of mansions seized from Ihejirika. http://www.punchng.com/photos-seized-estate-of-former-coas-ihejirika-over-arms-scandal. Recently, Ex-Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh was arraigned in court for stealing N3, 974,362,732.94 (about N4billion) from NAF and remanded in prison pending bail hearing. Similarly, former ex-chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu is awaiting arraignment for stealing billions of Naira out of which N381 million has been recovered from his wife's account. In March 2014, Jonathan's Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, and his Permanent Secretary, sold 675,000 application forms at not refundable N1,000.00 each under the pretence of conducting examination to recruit 5,000 personells to the Nigerian Immigration Service. On March 15, 2014, 19 people died in the overcrowded exam fields. The 675 million naira collected from applicants have now been traced to the private accounts of the Minister and his Permanent Secretary at that time. John Yakubu Yusufu was Assistant Director in Police Service Commission when it was disclosed that he had embezzled N32 billion from Police Pension Fund. He was tried and fined a mere N750,000 for the crime. Abdul Rashid Maina was Chairman of Jonathan's Presidential Task Force on Pension Reform when he scammed Nigeria of N195 billion and vanished into thin air with his loot till date.Oluwatoyin, morally speaking we may chide and condemn Amaechi and Fashola for expending N82 million and N78 million to respectively host birthday party and build personal website as unnecessary expenditure. The same moral condemnation applies to Jonathan who annually spent N5billion to import bleach creams and tooth picks into Nigeria from abroad during his tenure. Even if we are to accept your views that Amaechi and Fashola stole N82 million and N78 million respectively, I leave it to you as an exercise in simple arithmetic to compute how many N82 millions or N78 millions would be contained in the billions of naira I have specified above as having been stolen during the regime of Jonathan. You have worked hard to teach me to spread umbrella over my head at sunset without rain but I regret to inform you in the words of Fela, Teacher don't teach me nonsense!!S.Kadiri
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2016 05:36:28 +0000
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Osuntokun: Views on Economic Summit
From: oluwasrividya@gmail.com
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.comYou, on an academic listserve, are projecting arguments arguments that are beneath those presented on various general Nigerian centred news and social media.Keeping quiet is a better option.You are not helping yourself at all with the kinds of arguments you are making.Salimonu,Rather than descend to vulgarity with you, I will continue to work hard to educate you in spite of your determination to resist education.Let us put aside your uncritical acceptance of the claim made a major accomplice in the theft of Lagos state's money- institutionalized theft, in building a website named after and purely showcasing an office holder of the state, while claiming that the website belongs to the state govt as if that individual is not simply an office holder who will vacate office as he has done, let us put aside qs about ownership of a website in terms of the name associated with the site and who pays for the maintenance of the site in its lifetime.Oga Salimonu, you mean you dont know that the Lagos state govt already has a website?
Is it not more realistic in terms of cost and ease of navigation to simply create a subset of the same website for each governor rather than create autonomous websites for each governor?What sense does it make for each successive state govt to commission websites for each governor, and to the tune of 78 million naira each?Let us assume that this commissioning begins from Fashola, continues with Ambode and proceeds into perpetuity?What does that give us?What of if the foolish scheme stretches back to each governor since the inception of Lagos state?Are you aware of the level of money controlled by most Nigerian state governors, with immediate past economic coordinator Ngozi Okonjo Iweala describing the allocations a number of them receive as larger than the budgets of some African countries?Are you aware of the pensions of these governors, across party lines?I understand these pensions include not only full pay, but two houses, one at least of which can be in any part of the world, and some other obscene allocations, which I can post here in detail if necessary.And here you are bro, struggling to defend thieves who are in a different universe from yourself, thieves who are making sure neither you, nor your children, nor your children's children will live in the 21st century but subsist in a substandard existence in an amalgam of underdevelopment that is neither the 21st century or the 19th but a ghost land in between?No matter the amount of money anybody accumulates in Nigeria, life there is substandard in a global index, in a situation in which even the Presidency has to use generators to sustain electricity.Can you imagine the simple but profound satisfaction of 24/7 electricity, uninterrupted in living memory, enabling you to work maximally at any time of the day or night?Can you imagine the vast harnessing and application of of financial and engineering resources required to achieve that and sustain it across a state or nation?Can you imagine the severe hit taken by such fundamental services as hospitals and manufacturing bcs of the absence of constant electricity?Can you imagine the implications of potable water in every home, from taps in the house?
Can you imagine the scope of financial and engineering logistics required to achieve and sustain this across a state or nation?Can you contrast that with the current reality after more than 50 years of independence?From these basics of addressing basic needs, we may upscale to creativity and productivity in various spheres, in the arts, sciences, technology, social engineering.Would you like a report on the state of the buses Fashola is described as buying for Lagos, as presented on another forum discussing a report that claims the fed govt is planning buy buses from China rather than work with local vehicle manufacturers like Innoson to grow Nigeria's economy while crocodile noises are made by the govt about conserving forex?One needs to be careful that the Nigerian reality does not make one an accomplice of those stealing from one.On the Amaechi/Information Commissioner and the Soyinka/Literary festival to the tune of 82 million.Kai!Our people at times invoke money as if it is water.From the massive sums for collecting political nomination forms to such strange and mind boggling monies for strange things.What exactly are you sayingThe commissioner of information has admitted 82 million was spent.what on- for a Soyinka birthday and associated expenditure.in the midst of the third rate existence Nigerians are living?electricity, water, education etc at a low scaleplus the insane environmental devastation caused by oil exploration in the Niger Delta where Rivers state islet us struggle to rise above defending evil in the name of political affiliationsuch attitudes explain why people who have no place in governance, dictators like Idi Amin, Buhari IBB, Abacha are able to rule freely in Africa, or those the existence of whose secondary school certificates is doubtful are cunningly positioned, through propaganda, to rule a nations whose citizens are described as among the best educated or the most educated among other ethnicities/races/nationals in the various diasporas in which they are found.Bros, I beg you to stop making comments like this-'What you have to get into your cerebra is that Amaechi might not have been thrifty in the way the N 82 million had been spent but being not thrifty is not the same thing as stealing or being corrupt.'
Whatever may be the judgment of yourself and your ilk on the monetary and technical value of the website, you need to produce evidence that Fashola had corruptly enriched himself, his cronies and political friends through the award of the website contract. Is it so difficult for you to differentiate between being corrupt and not being thrifty?'Please, I beg you.It does not speak well of you.Allow me to urge you to take a refresher course on corruption, its nature and scope.Dont take my word for it that corruption goes beyond explicit evidence of putting money in your pocket.Dopnt take my word for it that corruption, at its best, is a culture.thankstoyinOn 7 March 2016 at 22:26, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:The late James Brown titled one of his songs, "TALKING LOUD AND SAYING NOTHING." Conforming with James Brown's song, you talked loudly without actually saying anything tangible in your composition below. The firm that handled the website, according to the link referenced by you below, has said that the website was Lagos State's property created for the use of the Governor of the State, who at that time was Babatunde Fashola. That means Ambode, the current Governor of the State is in possession of the website and as such, it was not Fashola's personal website as you have mischievously touted. Whatever may be the judgment of yourself and your ilk on the monetary and technical value of the website, you need to produce evidence that Fashola had corruptly enriched himself, his cronies and political friends through the award of the website contract. Is it so difficult for you to differentiate between being corrupt and not being thrifty?
Concerning the birthday party, for Wole Shoyinka, hosted by the Government of Rivers State led by Amaechi, the exchanges were between Dr. Austin Tam-George and Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, current and former Commissioner of Information of Rivers State respectively. Tam-George had alleged that N82 million was spent on dinner alone to host the birthday party but Mrs.Semenitari denied that and stated that there were other events associated with the dinner which were enumerated in her Memo REF: MOI/COM/C./82/Vol. III/227 which she challenged Tam-George to publish for the public to know the truth. Her spokesperson wrote, "We, therefore, state unequivocally that if the media invitation to anti-crime agencies to probe Semenitari was on the expenditure of the N 82 million her doors are open any day, any time to welcome them." Till date, Tam-George has not published the memo as requested by Semenitari and it has never been established that Amaechi or Semenitari stole N 82 million from Rivers State's government. What you have to get into your cerebra is that Amaechi might not have been thrifty in the way the N 82 million had been spent but being not thrifty is not the same thing as stealing or being corrupt.
Finally, I thank you for eulogising Goodluck Ebele Jonathan's regime and in the next award of SAN you will surely outclass other competitors to obtain Senior Advocate of Nonsense (SAN).
S.Kadiri
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2016 12:30:04 +0000
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Osuntokun: Views on Economic Summit
From: oluwasrividya@gmail.com
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com1. On Babatunde Fashola's Use of 78 Million Naira of Lagos State's Money in Building a Personal WebsiteFashola admits this and justifies itFashola's Defense with Response by Nigerians at the LinksA.How I spent N78 million on website, mobile applications, others – Fashola
B. Must Read! Fashola Personally Responds to N78 Million Website SagaMy ResponseFirst, the website is second or third class.The site has little aesthetic value.To suggest the significance of aesthetic value in a website, you could see almost any of the websites I have builtfrom the latest oneto earlier effortsThose websites I created are not complete nor do they demonstrate the level of information on the Fashola website, but they demonstrate a sensitivity to the power of visual form in relation to verbal expression in website creation not evident on the Fashola site.I am not a professional web site developer nor do I have any training in the field, information that places in context the comparison with the Fashola site in its second or third rate quality.In order to observe the convergence of the effective management of space in relation to multimedia platforms presenting large amounts of information, one may see the following sitesSummationThose websites I created cost nothing bcs I used the free option in the Wix platform.It costs only a small amount to upscale to a paid option that provides a larger amount of information space.I cant see any rationale for that cost for the Fashola website as all that is provided on his site can be got very cheaply.Yet, this person who used 78 million naira of the state's money in building a personal website, in his own name, is a minister in the govt of Muhammadu Buhari, who claims he is an anti-corruption crusader.
2. On Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi's Expenditure of 82 Million Naira on a Birthday for Wole SoyinkaThe latest word on this scandal comes from Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, who was Commissioner of Information under Amaechi and is now Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
"Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, acting managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has opened up on how the commission spent N82 million to host Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.
Semenitari in a statement issued on Monday, January 11, by her special assistant on media, Bekee Anyalewechi, a copy obtained by The Herald; she explained that although N82 million was spent by Rivers State Government to host Soyinka, but the money was not to eat dinner alone."My ResponseThese attempts at justification are grimly laughable at best.We have a state, which, like the rest of Nigeria, has no constant electricity and where the citizens are not sure of running water delivered from a central source into their homes.These are basics of modern civilized existence.Beyond such basics are the earning capacity of the citizenry, welfare programmes for the physically or otherwise handicapped, education at all levels, formal- schooling and informal- public libraries, the development of industry to enable the state move into becoming an industrial economy, all these indices of are development existing at a low scale in Rivers State, as in Nigeria as a whole.Rivers State, as part of the Niger Delta, is also one of the central oil producing regions of Nigeria, and therefore suffers from the terrible environmental degradation created by the dehumanizing form of oil exploration practiced in Nigeria by oil companies.Yet, in the midst of this pre-19th century and even dehumanising form of existence, 82 million naira is spent on a birthday for Wole Soyinka and the act is justified in the name of a literary festival.Will Nigeria develop in 100 years in the face of such a culture?Is this not similar to the attitude demonstrated by Buhari and his team in their 2016 budget of theft, which ranges in inanity from millions for rent for the Presidential residence owned by the fed govt, to millions for refurbishing of the same edifice, to millions for generators, to millions for books- along other platforms for massive institutionalized theft through that budget?3. On the Jonathan Administration in Comparison With the Buhari AdministrationCan someone point out to me what has been achieved by the Buhari administration?
The Jonathan AdministrationTransport NetworkThe Jonathan administration may have done more than any other in developing Nigeria's transportation system, in its building and repair of roads, reconstruction of railways and building of bridges in various parts of Nigeria, along with the unprecedented act of commencing work on the 2nd Niger Bridge, a central connecting link btw the SE and the rest of Nigeria, which no administration in Nigeria's history has even considered commencing.EducationThe Jonathan administration is unprecedented in its development of education in Nigeria through the number of new universities it founded, as well as its robust work on providing special purpose education in many centres in Northern Nigeria to address the educational, social, economic and security challenges of disenfranchised children left adrift by the Almajiri system of education, a form of Islamic education that has inspired a culture of begging as well as leaving its students ill equipped for employment and therefore ready foot soldiers for the recurrent deadly eruptions in that volatile region.SecurityWar Against Boko Haram Islamic TerrorismThe Jonathan administration faced the second deadliest challenge in Nigerian history after the 1966 coup and pogroms crises and the ensuing civil war, in the escalation of Boko Haram Islamic terrorism after the 2011 inauguration of the govt, a terrorist movement that drew fuel from opposition to the govt in the Muslim North, a good no of the political elite and citizens of which not only opposed the govt but one of whom, Atiku Abubakar, threatened Nigeria with violent change of govt, a situation that created an enabling environment for Boko Haram's opening strategy in its first two years of escalation, in bombing churches and in murderous attacks on govt installations and representatives,the killing of informants agst Boko Haram enabled by information provided to the terrorists by moles in the security agencies, and calling for Christians to leave the North or face death, and demanding the President become a Muslim if they were to stop their atrocities.
In spite of the challenge represented by the amplification of this crisis by the outright support for Boko Haram by various Muslims, even a member of the ruling PDP, Bamanga Tukur, then PDP chairman, describing Boko Haram as freedom fighters, Rauf Aregbesola, Muslim governor of Osun state, describing Boko Haram as fighting for true federalism, Aliyu Tilde, prominent Northern Muslim blogger, urging Boko Haram to concentrate its attention on the govt, and citizens in the North being seduced by Boko Haram's image as Muslim warriors and cowed by the group's brutality, enabling the group to flourish in their midst, the govt was able to mobilize a military effort to flush out Boko Haram from within the civilian populace, an initiative that reached a climax with the declaration of a state of emergency in the centre of the insurrection in three Northern states, an initiative that pushed the group out of population centres to the outskirts of Borno state, thereby drastically reducing their attacks in population centres, an initiative carried out in spite of the opposition of the most prominent Northern Muslim politician, who eventually became President partly through his manipulation of the Boko Haram crisis, Muhammadu Buhari, who declared that war agst Boko Haram was war agst the North, of the Borno elders who opposed the efforts of the military, of prominent Sheikh Gumi who argued that the military should be withdrawn from the North since Boko Haram was at home with fellow Muslims in the North, of Murtala Nyako, Muslim governor of Adamawa state, who declared that the war agst Boko Haram constituted genocide agst the North, of Kassim Shettima, Muslim governor of Borno state, who, agst the orders of the fed govt to keep all schools in remote regions closed for security reasons, kept the Chibok school open, leading to the story of the abduction of students from that school by Boko Haram, a setback which the govt was able to bounce back from in spite of calumny from many quarters, in purchasing weapons from the international market in spite of the opposition described as mounted by the US and her allies, and eventually sending the terrorists on the run.National IntegrationThe Jonathan govt was a govt of national integration, in which both those regions that did not vote significantly for the President and those which did, were well represented in appointments as well as in development projects, along with building a formidable technocratic team to run the nation.
Jonathan worked hard to serve the Muslim North, which did not vote for him and which does not vote for non-Muslims, building schools and universities, , developing anti-desertification schemes, and working carefully to avoid civilian collateral damage in the war agst Boko Haram, Boko Haram being active in the North.Fight Agst CorruptionThe Jonathan govt demonstrated a pragmatic understanding of corruption in Nigeria as a systemic rather than individualistic problem, and developed regulatory safeguards agst corruption.The govt did not use its agencies in hounding political opponents in the name of an anti-corruption struggle.From that very brief summation of the achievements of the Jonathan administration, let us look at
Buhari's Administration
Transport NetworkAll the achievements of the Buhari administration in this field consist in commissioning projects accomplished by the Jonathan administration.
EducationThe Buhari administration has commenced a process of destruction in Nigerian education.How?It has practically destroyed the independence of the new universities by the arbitrary sacking or non-renewal of appointments of all the vice- chancellors of these fledgling institutions, replacing them mainly with a group of people from a small section of the Muslim North.The Buhari administration has therefore made it clear that the primary allegiance of the head of the university is to the person who can fire or hire at will, even agst the laws that run the university, that person being the Minister of Education and Buhari, the national ruler, both Northern Muslims actively promoting a Northern Muslim supremacist agenda in the Nigerian polity.This question of the loyalty of the VC may be seen as one of the greatest challenges of Nigerian universities and feeds down to the faculty and departmental levels, in terms of a culture in which servitude and dobaleism, to coin a term from the Yoruba word for respectful prostration, is at times of more value than the struggle for self actualization in maximizing one's potential.Buhari's govt has also stated there will be no foreign exchange available through official channels for university education abroad, but is using the same supposedly scarce forex in importing grass for feeding cows in a move to placate terrorist Fulani herdsmen after the climax of their culture of rapine represented by their decimation of entire human communities at Agatu rather than encourage the growing of grass within Nigeria, a tropical nation with fertile land.The implication of this approach is to further divide the polity bcs the govt does not provide any comparable incentives to other business people, create division along lines of support for murderers according to ethnic and religious considerations, even as Buhari sanctions the massacres of peaceful pro Biafra protesters and of Muslims belonging to the Shite faction different from his own Sunni Muslim allegiance,Nigerian education will therefore become further locked in its landlocked status, further cut off from a global networkl in which it has yet to create a definitive space for itself.
Meanwhile, Buhari's daughter is described as studying in England, which, if true, underscores deep hypocrisy.SecurityWar Against Boko Haram Islamic TerrorismAll that the Buhari govt has achieved in this war is with the weapons bought by the Jonathan govt, since the Buhari govt is not known to have purchased any weapons, being at best being only able to acquire gifts of second hand equipment in need of repair from the US, in contrast to the sophisticated infantry, mechanized and air force militarily equipment bought by the Jonathan govt.Yet, even with the decisive blows dealt to Boko Haram by the Jonathan administration and in the absence of the efforts to scuttle the war agst Boko Haram represented by the actions which Buhari, Nyako, Shettima and some other members of the Northern Muslim elite directed agst the efforts of the Jonathan govt, Buhari has so far proven unable to deal a conclusive blow to Boko Haram, in spite of his campaign promise that as a former military man he will make Boko Haram vanish shortly after his emergence as ruler of Nigeria.Buhari is described as not even bothering to visit the sections of the war most badly affected by the crisis, but he was quick to start building a helipad in his village on assuming office.Fulani Herdsmen/Militia TerrorismThe greatest security challenge in Nigeria at the moment is Fulani herdsmen/militia terrorism.This group carries out its destructive activities almost across the entire nation, murdering, raping and destroying both human lives and property, and carrying out an ethnic pogrom in decimating entire communities in the North Central.With the advent of Buhari, a fellow Fulani, this terrorist group has become bolder and more destructive than ever, continuing its campaign of massacre in the North Central, their response to the silence of the national ruler on their murderous activities and the ruler's later effort to present this campaign of dispossession through mass murder simply as a quarrel btw communities.The Boko Haram threat has been severely crippled by the GEJ govt.The pro-Biafra protesters whom Buhari's soldiers murdered in cold blood are not a threat but an opportunity for genuine leadership that understands the complexity of the nation.I dont understand the Niger Delta militants as a serious problem bcs their demands are negotiable.Yet, Buhari prefers to pamper the Fulani militia and attack peaceful pro-Biafra protesters, his army carrying out bombing and raids in the Niger Delta described as harming civilians in the region and as preparing to fight the Niger Delta militants.Fight Agst CorruptionBuhari personifies corruption as demonstrated by the bare faced attempt at gross institutional theft represented by the millions on millions of spurious and inane allocations in the 21016 budget, focusing appointments on ethnic cronies, ironic bcs those same cronies could not get him the Presidency on earlier attempts, leaving him to rely on the SW to tip the scales in his favor for his eventual victory, using EFCC in settling political scores through largely media trials and press gossip, rather than through careful analysis of the allegations through an open court trial, refusal to grant bail even when bail is ordered by the courts, thereby weakening the judiciary, with Buhari arrogating to himself the role of accuser and judge, executive and judiciary, in publicly declaring Dasulki guilty even though the trial agst Dasuki had hardly commenced. .National IntegrationBuhari makes clear his unrepentant character as an ethnic/religious bigot who has no role in running even a local govt in the pluralistic demography represented by Nigeria, in stating that those who did not vote for him will not be treated like those who did, concentrating his appointments on his Northern Muslim cronies, justifying those appointments as a reward for loyalty,with the bulk of the nations budget going to his ally the SW, though the bulk of the countries revenue comes from the SS and SE.Buhari is a clown.A dangerous clown.A relic of a barbaric past.Thankstoyin
On 6 March 2016 at 21:32, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:I am serious, Oluwatoyin. You should now lead us in evidence through the procedure in which the personal website of the then Governor of Lagos State was decided. What reasons did he, Fashola, give for his request to own personal website? Was the website built without budget appropriation? Personally, I think the amount of alleged money spent on the website, if it is true, could have been used for other things that would have benefited the people of Lagos State. Fashola might not have acted thrifty but his action in that wise was not criminal.
As for the alleged N82 million birthday party for Wole Soyinka, it was the current Commissioner of Propaganda in Rivers State, Tam-George, who in early January 2016 informed Nigerians that his predecessor in office under Amaechi's regime, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, had spent the said amount. He said further that his government was going to write to Wole Soyinka to ask him if he received money from the Rivers' State government in connection with the event. Mrs Semenitari categorically denied that N82 million was spent to host Wole Soyinka's birthday party and challenged Tam-George to publish the memo she wrote on the event that was in his possession. Tam-George did not respond and up till date nobody knows if N82 million was actually disbursed to host Wole Soyinka's birthday or not. The point which any average gifted person must understand is that neither ex-governor Amaechi nor ex-Commissioner of Information, Mrs Semenitari has immunity against prosecution. Thus, if the duo had criminally disbursed N82 million of the Rivers State government, the current government of the state could file a criminal case at Port Harcourt High Court against them without involving EFCC. As serious as you are, you should not join mudslingers because you don't like the persons they intend to stain.
S.Kadiri
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2016 14:13:11 +0000
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Osuntokun: Views on Economic Summit
From: oluwasrividya@gmail.com
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.comYou are not serious, Salimonu.A person who used millions of the funds of the state in building a personal web site did not embezzle the state's funds to his personal use.A person who spent 82 million of the state's money on a birthday for a private citizen was not being corrupt.Please, bro, if you are serious about supporting thieves who are impoverishing your commonwealth while you, your children and most likely their children languish without electricity and drinking water, carry your efforts to where these thieves are to be found.When you begin to present yourself as a person with something serious to say and not simply one who is overeager to be counted as a supporter of the govt then we can have a conversation.thankstoyinOn 6 March 2016 at 13:15, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:Oluwatoyin Adepoju, if a tree is producing bad fruits, you don't rectify that anomaly by pruning some stems of the tree. You either nourish the roots (especially the taproot) or uproot the whole tree and plant new one. Nigeria is supposed to be a federating units but as you and me know it is a unitary government otherwise known as feeding bottle federalism because the central government is the financial feeder of states and local governments in Nigeria. While I am not disputing that states' and local governments in Nigeria are corrupt, I think their corruptions are equivalent to catapulted pebbles when compared to Federal government's atomic corruptions. I trust that you are wise enough not to equate the fatality of catapulted pebbles to the detonation of atomic weapon on a country!!
According to you, the former Governor of Lagos State, "Fashola has publicly admitted to using millions of Lagos state's money in building a personal website." You also stated that evidence has been tendered to the EFCC on the millions of money used in building Fashola's personal website. If there was such evidence, then the actual amount spent ought to have been specified. You claimed further that the former Governor of Rivers State, Amaechi, admitted using N82 million to host a birthday party for Wole Soyinka. In view of these two incidents you concluded, "Yet Fashola and Amaechi are ministers in a so called anti-corruption government." The implication of your conclusion is that Fashola and Amaechi are corrupt because they, respectively, spent their State's money on personal website and hosting birthday party. At best, Fashola and Amaechi might not have been thrifty in the way they spent the alleged millions of their state's resources, but that is not the same thing as being corrupt. They did not embezzle or steal the alleged funds for their personal use or for the use of their cronies and personal friends. Oluwatoyin Adepoju, you should not leave leprosy to chase ring- worm. If you wonder what I mean by that I will give you an example of stealing with impunity which is what has brought our country to its current economic catastrophe.While retiring on 30 July 2015, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Sabundo Badeh told Nigerians that the Armed Forces he led lacked equipment to fight terrorists!! Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the National Security Adviser to President Jonathan responded in August 2015 that the military equipment ordered by Jonathan's Administration had not arrived the country. I hope you have not been insulated from the news of how Dasuki had diverted the sum of $8 billion, meant for the procurement of arms for our soldiers fighting Boko Haram, to private use for himself and his friends in the PDP. On March 3, 2016, Ex-Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Sabundo Badeh, was charged to court by EFCC for stealing the sum of Three Billion, Nine-Hundred and Seventy-Four Million, Three-Hundred and Sixty-Two Thousand, Seven-Hundred and Thirty-Two Naira, Ninety-Four Kobo (N3,974,362,732. 94) from the Nigerian Air Force between January and December 2013. EFCC claimed that Air Marshal Alex Sabundo Badeh had spent the stolen money on acquisition, construction, renovation and furnishing of various properties, including a shopping mall and a mansion in Abuja. Ignorance can be a terrible disease but it is curable if the sufferer is ready to humble self by learning. There is nothing wrong in prioritising the prosecution of thieves that stole billions of Naira from the treasury before lesser thieves. My only concern is that the judicial process of recovering stolen monies from the national looters should not take more than three months from the lowest court to the highest.S.Kadiri
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2016 02:52:43 +0000
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Osuntokun: Views on Economic Summit
From: oluwasrividya@gmail.com
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.comIbigbolade Aderibigbe
Not only has the evidence been tendered to the EFCC, Fashola has publicly admitted to using millions of Lagos state's money in building a personal website and justified that action.Amaechi jas admitted to using 82 million naira in hosting a birthday party for Wole Soyinka, who acted as little more than an APC mouthpiece during the elections, and Amaechi has justified his actions..Yet Fashola and Amaechi are ministerrs in a so called anti-corruption govt.Are you claiming to be unaware of these facts?toyinOn 4 March 2016 at 18:46, Ibigbolade Aderibigbe <gbolaade.aderibigbe@gmail.com> wrote:Again talk and talk. Let the states (Lagos and Rivers) where those Ouwatoyin wants to "hang" send their complaints with evidence to the EFCC. When that organization refuses to prosecute them as it is doing to those Adepju thinks are being discriminated against, then we will all cry "FOUL" or even storm the streets of Abuja or... wherever to protest.On Fri, Mar 4, 2016 at 6:47 AM, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <oluwasrividya@gmail.com> wrote:toyinWhen you invoke the idea of the ultimate punishment for members of the immediate past govt but conveniently leave out the corrupt antics recorded agst those in the curent govt, such calls become another form of politiking.Beautiful on resource management.But we must also remember those who used millions of the country's money in building personal websites, hosting birthdays and awarding boreholes.On 3 March 2016 at 22:06, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
There is a cacophony of voices asking president Muhammadu Buhari to convoke a summit on the economy presumably to find a solution to the foreign exchange scarcity and the impecunious state of several of the federating states of the Nigerian Union. It seems the president is predisposed to just doing that . But exactly what will those invited be talking about that the averagely educated Nigerian cannot guess . Economics is not rocket science . We know what is wrong . Because of the collapse of the price of hydrocarbons ,the export of which our economy depends on ,our country is not earning as much as it used to earn . The fact is that our income has gone down by about 70 percent. To complicate matters our export of agricultural produce has also been affected by the fall in global price for them . China which was the driving force behind the global economy has slowed down and India another demographic and possible economic juggernaut is a story for the future . We import virtually everything including things that we do not need. Apart from spare parts ,automobiles ,medical equipment,drugs chemicals and educational materials we can shut down our ports and force ourselves to produce what we need while whatever foreign exchange we have is devoted to providing necessary infrastructure for our present and future development. Mazi Mbonu Ojike ,one of our early nationalists used to say we should boycott the boycottable and use whatever we produce. Whether we harken to this call now or in the future is a moot point . At the end we have to look inward to move our country forward . If we had saved well against a rainy day we would not have found ourselves in this pitiable situation. The mindless looting of the public treasury in recent times has made things worse. The kind of looting we are being told ,happened is enough to depress any sane and patriotic Nigerian . The level of looting poses existential threat to this republic . In China some of what happened in the recent past would have attracted ultimate punishment .There is no doubt about it . Some of the stories sound like stories from Arabian night and Alibaba and the forty thieves . People walk into the office of the National Security Adviser ,sign a piece of paper ,and walk out with a mandate to go to the CBN or banks where government has money to go and collect billions for some spurious work for government or the ruling party or for no work at all! Nigerian oil was sold without the treasury being credited with the proceeds. People have come out to say their accounts were credited with huge amount of money without their knowledge or without having performed any assignments for government .Billions if not trillions were shared among party bigwigs as if people were playing the game of monopoly with the nation's money .Government 's decision to bring the guilty parties to book had better been hastened and speeded up before people lose their patience. Money taken from these economic saboteurs had better be deployed to pay the millions of Nigerian miserably awaiting the payment of their salaries and pensions . The TSA must not be used to delay payment of salaries and pensions . The present situation of scarcity not only of foreign exchange but also scarcity of the Naira must not be allowed to drag on indefinitely. Instead of succumbing to the call for an economic summit government must continuously engage the public to apprise it of the situation. The president should broadcast to the nation about the dire state of the economy and what he is going to do about it . Nigerians are not fools . They know the president did not cause the present economic collapse and paralysis.People need to be told this to blunt the ridiculous allegation of the opposition that they did better while in officeWhat I expect government to do is to declare economic emergency and austerity by radically reducing the cost of governance. I know that there may be constitutional impediments to doing this but we just can not continue to do nothing . This will involve drastic cut in executive and legislative expenditure and even reduction of diplomatic missions abroad and merging of parastatals and universities and polytechnics at home .we may have to merge local governments and make parliament across board part time instead of the wasteful practice of the present Naira guzzling legislative houses at the Centre ,states and local governments .If we do this ,it will send a message to all and sundry that these are unusual times requiring unusual measures and solutions. All these can be achieved through a declaration of economic emergency and economic siege.There must exist in the law books legal devices to make this happen. Some may argue that this can still be done through the economic pow-wow being suggested. Then it behooves government to put before the summit a well crafted agenda instead of allowing the Nigerian mania of a useless talkfest to go on .This reminds me of the Bismarckian approach on national issues of not leaving the fate of the nation to verbal display and debates. What we need to do is clear . Cut down all the jargon ,cut down all frivolous importation of luxury goods , wines, champagne,rice, wheat,and All kinds of imported confectionaries . Let us eat for starters the much ballyhooed cassava bread. There is also nothing wrong in eating yams and other local staples.. While doing this we can then begin to produce all we need at home . Necessity is the mother of invention. The Chinese that we all admire today went through the same trajectory. For the sake of all black peoples at home and in diaspora let us try and prove that the black man is not all talk and no action . Let us prove to the world that we can endure some pain in order to get the gain of sustainable development. A philosophy of providing what we need rather than what we want ought to be our new credo from this time onwards . If we do not take this route least travelled we will all end in the broad way leading to national ruin.We must remind ourselves that our situation is not the worst of all possible worlds . We are neither Venezuela nor Libya!There is no need to panic . The problem we have is a global problem . We mustn't lose sight of that fact . Thank God we still have a second chance to get things right . Indeed in adversity we must have hope . This is not the hope of religious sermon but the hope that we can come out of the economic woods in which through our past action have put ourselves .if we are determined and if we are prepared to work hard , we can get out of this economic doldrums . Perhaps we can begin by looking at the 2020 economic plan put together as a blue print to make Nigeria one of the biggest twenty economies in the world . We can also look at other economic blue prints put together by previous governments instead of reinventing the wheel. If the civil servants cannot do this then government must look for willing and competent people in industry and the universities. We must go back to agriculture as well as mechanize our mode of production . We need not put all hope on solid or hard minerals alone as some are wont to suggest . Of course we must diversify our economy to tap all sources of revenue . But our priority must be agriculture and industrialization.All this can go Pari passu with the current economic diplomacy embarked upon by the president, . But in all this, charity must begin at home .
Regards,
Regards,
Akinjde Osuntokun, Ph.D OON FNAL FHSNProfessor Emeritus of History and International RelationsBapitan of Oyo
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment