USA Africa Dialogue Series - Revealed: The INEC Ballot Paper Contractors, Vendors

Lady Joan:

 

Ethnic chauvinism, nepotism, favouritism are other words that can be used

to describe excessive privileges and access offered preferentially to close family members

and cronies and members of one's own ethnic group to the relative disadvantage and sometimes

total exclusion of others who are perceived to be outsiders.

 

Things get even worse when those privileges are accorded to less qualified or unqualified

cronies and family members when well qualified fellow citizens are denied the opportunity to

get a foot in the door--even as far as just getting an interview.

 

In reality, no adult Nigerian can claim true naivete--about the problem of ethnic discrimination

and favouritism in Nigeria (mine was half in jest). Many policies have been enacted to correct

the issue of ethnic discrimination and provide some balance in the opportunities available

in the Nigerian public sector to all her citizens. These policies have included the creation

of more and more states in order to bring government closer to the people, the federal character

policy, zoning (within the PDP) etc.

 

Notwithstanding  the above cited policies which have been put in place in good faith, the problem

of ethnic discrimination and favortism persists at federal, state and sub-ethnic levels.

 

The root cause of our inability to share equitably is greed which is borne or out of historical societal poverty from

which the overwhelming majority of Nigerians have arisen including today's rich and comfortable

ones. Nigerians suffer from a perverse wealth accumulation syndrome which compels them to steal

from the public purse or even from deposits of private citizens in commercial banks--at a rate

that is out of proportion to what they and their loved ones could ever need in more than five life terms if these

were possible. It is these compulsive trait that compels people like Erastus Akingbola, Mrs Ibru etc.

to steal so gluttonously from their clients. It is the same psychologic anomaly that informs our public officials

to steal funds that are entrusted in their care for the good of the people.

 

Thus ethnic chauvinism/patriotism can be good to a point. The problem starts when such love of one's own

ethnic group extends to  the exclusion of 'outsiders' in the sharing of common societal goods! As you are aware

I have had some disagreements  with some of my Bini cousins including Omo and others. The point of disagreements

as far as I am concerned has always been about where we draw the line between love and duties to

ourselves and our families (first and foremost), our ethnic origins and finally in the Nigerian context our duties

to ensure that we are fair to all fellow Nigerians who do not share our ethnic origins.

 

Rather than rationalize these incongruities under the guise of putting "me first and my people first", I believe that we need to

recognize that all Nigerians--not just

those who belong to our own ethnic groups, come from our villages and towns have rights and privileges too.  era.

 

 

Some get it; but unfortunately the majority of Nigerians do not!

 

Wishing you a great day!

 

Bye,

 

Ola

---- Original Message ----
From: joan.Osa Oviawe <joanoviawe@gmail.com>
To: NaijaPolitics Forum <naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com>; Edo-nationality <edo-nationality@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, Apr 6, 2011 8:16 am
Subject: [edo-nationality] Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] Revealed: The INEC Ballot Paper Contractors, Vendors

 

Dr. Kassim,

Good morning.

I beg to differ with your self assessed "naivete" below. On the contrary, I think you are very much aware of the privilege of ACCESS. Whether you see it or not, is another matter. It's just like how some people don't "see" racism or sexism or xenophobia.

When your old boy, relative, neighbor, tribesman, etc are in positions of power, your "social capital" (sociological term for describing the value of social networks) increases because of your likelihood of gaining ACCESS to that person- which another individual off the streets can't.  Social capital doesn't always translate to Naira and Kobo. It can also mean having ACCESS to privileged information. Having undue ACCESS to commonwealth scholarships and so on and so forth.

The unfortunate reality is that, in Nigeria, only a predominant few are in control of the rarefied corridors of power and influence.  This essentially confers undue advantages to their acolytes.

I am not saying that anyone should be disadvantaged simply because they know people in power, however, serious efforts ought to be made to be fair and balanced especially when it concerns all members of the commonwealth.

This is why the U.S. now have strict laws and guidelines regulating the contracting process and other activities where undue advantaging would be detrimental to the citizenry. We know that several legislators have gotten into trouble for awarding scholarships to family members and their friend's children.

The human naturally titters towards bias...therefore, prejudice should be legislated to provide a level playing field for as many people as possible.

I don't have to change my name to Hajia Bintu Tinubu in order to become a successful "vendor" in naija!

Ethnic privilege is a reality.

Saludos,
jOo

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 4:46 AM, <OlaKassimMD@aol.com> wrote:

 

 

 

Pastor Joe:

Now I know why it is a do or die affair that the President, Governor, LGA Chair etc. must come from

a given Nigerian's neck of the woods!

 

How so naive I have been all along!:)

 

But how come my folks and I got nothing (that we didn't pay for) when OBJ,

(Uncle Sege) a fellow Yorubaman was Presi for 8 years?:)

 

The 10 or 15 % premium on contracts is alive and well!

One might say it makes the world go round!

 

I also noticed that if you were not born into the same ethnic group as

the power that be it pays to ensure that you are married to the right one

as in the case of the Kalamazoo representative --Dick Jackson, a Nigerian-Briton

married to a lady from Kano.

 

Oh oh  oh Nigeria; what a funny country; so blessed and so doomed due to the

greed of her peoples.

 

Nigeria will be a great nation the moment her citizens start devoting more of their

energy to the production of wealth rather than to sharing the ever dwindling oil

resources from crude oil. Until then she will continue on a downward spiral!

 

What in fact do we do well in Nigeria? Even poor Haiti could conduct successful elections;

even Ivory Coast until the loser refused to accept defeat.

 

One thing that we surely do well is this: we know how to make babies even those we cannot afford to look

after. Could NEPA/PHCN be partly culpable?:)

 

Bye,

 

Ola

---- Original Message ----
From: topcrest topcrest <topcrestt@yahoo.com>
To: NaijaPolitics@yahoogroups.com; NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com; NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com; asa-usa@yahoogroups.com; IGBO WORLD FORUM IGBO WORLD FORUM <igboworldforum@yahoogroups.com>; OmoOdua <OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, Apr 6, 2011 6:55 am
Subject: [NaijaPolitics] Revealed: The INEC Ballot Paper Contractors, Vendors

 

All these Hashim Dikko,  Sanni Lamido Sanni Musa!   I thought I will see "Idowubobo", "Opara" and "Usman" in the mix.

Some folks are caterwauling while others are  proxies for 13 billion naira contracts. How can a contract  issued through proxies be executed? They take their 10%   and vamoose

 

Naija

 

Joe

 

Revealed: The INEC Ballot Paper Contractors, Vendors

 

The identities of the six firms and their facilitators contracted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to print ballot papers, result sheets and other sensitive materials for the 2011 general election were Tuesday unravelled by THISDAY.

They were Tip3, a Spanish company represented by Hashim Dikko, and Graphic Inline (Gi) with Sanni Lamido as proxy.
Also on the list were Kalamazoo, represented by Dick Jackson, a Nigerian-Briton married to a lady from Kano; Aero-vote represented by one Yerima; and SanFrano, a German/Polish company represented by Sanni Musa.
The sixth company that benefited from the printing contract was VI Solutions, sponsored by Yahaya Sani.
SanFrano, according to investigation, was the firm that went to China to print the papers but failed to deliver on time for the April 2 elections.

The six contractors received over N13 billion for the printing of the 75 million ballot papers and result sheets for each of the elections. The contracts were awarded to the companies by INEC in late February this year, according to investigation.
Going by the terms of the contract, each of the companies was expected to print 75 million ballot papers and result sheets for the elections in respect of the National Assembly, presidential, governorship and state assembly elections. The number of registered voters is 73 million.

THISDAY gathered that 75 million copies for the main presidential election and another 75 million copies for a run-off, totalling 150 millon were authorised by Jega and awarded to Tip3 Company, the Spanish firm.
It was also leant that the Nigerian partners of Tip3, having assessed the volume of work involved in their contract, made representation to the commission that given the time constraint, they could not guarantee timely delivery of the job, but INEC was said to have urged them on.

THISDAY investigation also showed that the Spanish firm being naïve about the importance of the job,  went ahead to print the run-off election papers first and returned the job on the main election to INEC on March 23 with the excuse that it could no longer handle it.

 
Sources at the commission also revealed that the trio of Jega, his chief of staff, who also doubles as a consultant, Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, and an unnamed senior Presidency official took charge of the award of the contracts for the printing of 200 million copies of the ballot papers and result sheets.

According to the source, INEC in December 2010 set up four committees to traverse the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Lithuania, South Africa, Asia and the United Arab Emirate (UAE) to search for suitable printers.

Jega, as chairman of the committee 'A', visited the United States and Canada, with Prof. Lai Olurode and U.F. Usman as members of his committee.

It was further gathered that Mr. Nuru Yukubu, chairman of committee 'B', visited England and Ireland, with Mrs. G.N. Nwafor, Dr. Oniyangi, Col. M. K Hammanga, D. I. Anumba as members of the committee.
The third committee had Mr. Philip Umeadi, Mrs. T. Iremiren and K.N. Ukeagu as members and visited Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Lithuania, while the fourth committee headed by Dr. Ishmael Igbani visited South Africa, Asia and UAE. Members of the committee included Dr. Chris Iyimoga, Prince Solomon Soyebi and Mrs. Amina Yusuf.

THISDAY gathered that trouble started when the four committees returned from their overseas assessment tour of facilities of printers of security materials and raised another committee headed by the INEC National Commissioner in Charge of Logistics, Col. M. K Hammanga, to harmonise the reports.

The harmonisation committee, in its report, recommended that the ballot papers, result sheets and other sensitive materials be printed in Germany, France and Poland.
The committee also recommended that US should be excluded because of distance, while England was also rejected because of high cost of printing there.

It also rejected South Africa because of the 2007 general election experience which led to the delay, as some of the sensitive election papers were still on ground during the poll.

The Hammanga committee subsequently shortlisted 21 companies and the list was submitted to Jega.
It was discovered that to the utter surprise of the committee members, INEC dumped the shortlisted companies.
"Since then, the issues on the award of the contracts for the printing of the ballot papers, the result sheets and other sensitive election materials was shrouded in secrecy. The files relating to the contracts were always kept in the office of the INEC chairman," the source said.

Graphic Inline, one of the firms that mistakenly went ahead to produce the ballot papers for the re-run elections, told INEC afterwards that its next delivery for the ballot papers would be April 12. 
This development, THISDAY learnt, accounted for the firm's failure to meet the deadline and forced INEC to re-award it to another firm, V.I. Solutions.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday expressed his continued support and confidence in Jega, saying he was optimistic that he would do a good job and get the desired free and fair elections in the country this time around.
Contrary to speculations that he had lost confidence in Jega, Jonathan said he would have initiated the process for his removal from office if he had the slightest doubt that he was no longer capable of delivering the elections according to the expectations of Nigerians.

He spoke at a photo exhibition by George Esiri, a photo journalist, on his campaign trail titled: "The People's President" at the Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Centre, Abuja, where he assured Nigerians that there was no cause for alarm as they would not be disappointed.

To him, the decision of the electoral body was the best in the circumstances, adding that if they had gone ahead with the exercise, result sheets would have arrived centres very late at night which would have raised other issues and concerns.
He also asked Nigerians to see the postponement as a demonstration that the electoral body wanted to get things done the right way so that it would be obvious to all that the exercise was open and credible.

"You know that of course, if he is no longer performing well, I will communicate to the National Assembly to terminate his appointment. Until I do that, I am fully in his support and I know that he will do well,'' he said.

The president acknowledged that going for the same election at a later date was a sacrifice all Nigerians have to make to sustain democracy in spite of the cost to those who, like him, travelled to exercise their franchise before it was cancelled.

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