Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal Capital Territory.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
MY NIGERIA TODAY
Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal Capital Territory.
NAFDAC alerts the nation to fake anti-hypertension drugs
NAFDAC alerts the nation to fake anti-hypertension drugs
The Zonal Coordinator of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Maiduguri, Borno State, Mallam Sabo Adamu, has alerted the nation to the circulation of fake and substandard anti-hypertension drugs known as Propranolol or Inderal in the market. Adamu stated this in Maiduguri while receiving fake and substandard drugs worth more than N5m from Mr. Frank Orji for destruction, the News Agency of Nigeria said. Orji is the chairman of Nigerian Association of Patent Proprietary Medicine Dealers of Gamboru Unit, Maiduguri. The coordinator said that the drug was not registered with the agency, adding that the agency could not guarantee the safety and quality of the drugs. He, therefore, advised that anybody having the medicine in stock should surrender it to NAFDAC or face sanctions. The co-ordinator, who commended the efforts of NAPPMED, also challenged other stakeholders in pharmacies, supermarkets and warehouses to demonstrate same and safeguard the lives of innocent consumers. Adamu warned medicine dealers in Borno to desist from buying drugs from traders, who, he said, peddled all sorts of fake drugs from Onitsha and Kano at giveaway prices. According to him, some of the merchants use Kano motor park and Hausari ward in the metropolis to transport the drugs to Chad and Cameroun Republics. He said the agency had mounted its surveillance cameras in those areas to track down the dealers. Adamu said that NAFDAC, in collaboration with the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, would soon organise a sensitisation workshop. He said the workshop would seek to educate and empower consumers with adequate knowledge on their rights to access safe, efficacious and quality products.
EFCC: What Manner of Castration?
EFCC: What Manner of Castration?
By Yakubu Obaaro
To watchers of developments in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the zeal, maturity and courage of its new chairperson, Mrs Farida Waziri cannot but stimulate deep interests. In just two months of being at the helm of the anti-graft agency, lots of changes have taken place both in the internal workings of the EFCC and in the public perception of the agency. It is interesting to note that adherence to the rule of law and transparent handling of cases have been the hallmark of the new leadership of the EFCC. I have been watching with keen interests the restructuring exercises taking place in the agency and up till now, the exercises have largely been premised on building a more virile institution and making the agency respectful of democratic tenets. So, I was at a loss some few days ago when I read some media reports about covert moves being allegedly made to castrate the EFCC. I was particularly pained that such reports neither did justice to the repositioning initiatives of the new leadership of the EFCC nor offer pragmatic proofs of some of the moves that are aimed at the jugular of the agency.No doubt, some fundamental changes have been made at the EFCC. Its pioneer chairman, Nuhu Ribadu was removed in controversial circumstances and even now, the Police Service Commission, PSC, seemed to have added another controversy to the Ribadu persona by demoting him by two ranks. In all honesty, Ribadu did his best for Nigeria while holding sway as the EFCC boss. It is however strange and preposterous for anyone to link his demotion with an attempt to castrate the EFCC. Are we saying that the future of the EFCC is inextricably linked with Ribadu? Shouldn't we begin to see the EFCC as an institution that is greater than individuals and even groups? EFCC is an idea. Victor Hugo said that “there is something greater than all the armies in the world and that is an idea whose time has come”. The EFCC is an idea whose time has come. It is an idea of transparency, zero tolerance for corruption, accountability and probity. These ideas are greater than any individual. Another plank upon which critics of the EFCC are basing their castration theory is that key officers of the anti-corruption agency are being redeployed from their beats. If our minds are open and not jaundiced by other interests, which organization in the world is run effectively without being dynamic? Is it practicable for a new administration in any organization to consign itself to old arrangements without pursuing its own vision? In what concrete ways has the EFCC been castrated? If for anything, we need to applaud the new boss of the anti-graft agency for her courage and consistence. There are so many fresh, high-profile cases she has opened in the two months that she assumed office. Is she not working with the key officers that her critics said she has been moving around? It is evident that all the claims of castration of the EFCC are hollow and self-serving. The new momentum generated by its fresh prosecutions of some politicians is enough proof that the new leadership of the EFCC is on the right tract.Take the arrest and prosecution of Bode George, a prominent chieftain of the ruling People's Democratic Party, PDP in the South-West as an example. Some of us have joined issues with the EFCC a few months back over his case. We were demanding that his activities as the chairman of the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority ,NPA, be looked into. For some strange reasons, Ribadu and his team delayed actions on his arrest and prosecution. Now, Waziri has docked Bode George and yet some people are still talking of EFCC being castrated. How many foreign contractors were probed by the EFCC when Ribadu was in the saddle? This woman dazed everyone when some few days after her confirmation, she docked the Austrian Contractor that fronted for those who messed up the aviation intervention fund. And some few days after, she nabbed the big masquerades behind the contractors. Yet, some people are still sneering at such an effort. Waziri has maintained a pattern of democratic civility in the way arrests and prosecution are being done. We are seeing results without noise-making. We are seeing actions rather than fiery speeches. This is the face of the new EFCC. It is possible for some Nigerians, who, out of patriotic fervour and genuine desire for total cleansing of the nation, to express genuine fears about the future of the anti-corruption war in the light of a rather high turn over of the leadership of the EFCC in the last eight months. Such fears are legitimate. However, the expression of such fears should be balanced by the realities on the ground. Mrs. Waziri has demonstrated that she is not a push over by her moves which are already causing jitters among politicians. We read in the newspapers a few days ago that some politicians, sensing danger about the no-nonsense woman shepherding the EFCC, were contemplating going on exile so as to evade arrests and prosecution. Will such politicians ever make such propositions if Waziri were to be a weakling? Does such a proposition lend credence to the castration theory of EFCC's critics. It is easier for whoever that has no problem with the EFCC to propose any theory and even mobilize support for such a theory. Ask those who are facing the teeth of the wind in that Commission and they will tell you how cold it feels!The anti-corruption war is our war. We all have equal stakes in the future of Nigeria. So, our best energies should be deployed to building confidence in the minds of fellow Nigerians and outsiders about efforts being made to bring corrupt elements in our midst to book. Both the EFCC and ICPC cannot do it alone. What do we stand to gain in a castrated EFCC? Where there are genuine cases to make of the activities of the anti-corruption agencies, we should be quick and bold to make such cases without hiding behind any personal, group or sectarian interests. If Waziri and her team continue in the way they are going now, in four years time, we may as well be rolling out drums in celebration of a new Nigeria of our dream. Of course, Waziri and EFCC should be carefully monitored to avoid derailment. But, it is not true that her moves are pointing to a castration agenda for the EFCC.In what practical ways can we assist the EFCC? Waziri has spoken of her resolve to make the fight take the form of a revolution. She has talked about reaching the grassroots with the anti-corruption message in a way that will compel holders of power at the local government level more accountable to their people. She has spoken of her determination to monitor activities of all financial institutions, including banks so as to make them more compliant with regulations and more responsive to the demands of the investing publics. In doing all these, she has promised to make the EFCC more formidable and more globally competitive. I think, what we should be doing is to continue to monitor her activities in this regard. We should ensure that Waziri keep faith with her declared intentions to make Nigeria too hot for fraudsters and corrupt elements. I make bold to state here that it is very difficult for anyone, Waziri inclusive, to castrate the EFCC “before our very eyes!” To ensure the success of the anti-corruption war, Waziri and her team should work on an effective whistle-blowing mechanism that will facilitate the reporting of corrupt practices in government and the private sector. The truth of the issue is that there seems to be no serious cover for whoever seeks to offer tangible clues to the EFCC about what is happening around. I think one of the reasons why the EFCC is not getting enough convictions in our courts is the lack of cover for witnesses who may want to testify against corrupt elements in our midst. This is very important and Waziri being a consummate lawyer knows what all this is all about. In a similar vein, the judiciary should do more than it is doing in dealing with cases of corruption. There is no way the EFCC can be the accuser and the judge in its own case. The power of the judiciary begins where that of the EFCC stops! This is the dilemma. So, in appraising the success of the anti-corruption war, we should always bear in mind that the judiciary also has very significant roles to play. If the EFCC continues to do its own beat, the judiciary should also take the initiatives to do its own work. This way, the war will be a total victory.On the whole, those who are waiting to see the EFCC castrated may have to wait forever. Those of us who have abiding confidence and un-wavering faith in the abilities of Waziri and her team to succeed will continue to do everything within our power to assist the EFCC. The EFCC is the only positive link we have with the rest of the world. I'm sure President Yar'adua knows this. So, all support should be given the agency and the ICPC to make them do us proud all the time. Anything short of this may be disastrous for us and generations yet un-born. Obaaro wrote from Kaabe, Kogi state
To watchers of developments in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the zeal, maturity and courage of its new chairperson, Mrs Farida Waziri cannot but stimulate deep interests. In just two months of being at the helm of the anti-graft agency, lots of changes have taken place both in the internal workings of the EFCC and in the public perception of the agency. It is interesting to note that adherence to the rule of law and transparent handling of cases have been the hallmark of the new leadership of the EFCC. I have been watching with keen interests the restructuring exercises taking place in the agency and up till now, the exercises have largely been premised on building a more virile institution and making the agency respectful of democratic tenets. So, I was at a loss some few days ago when I read some media reports about covert moves being allegedly made to castrate the EFCC. I was particularly pained that such reports neither did justice to the repositioning initiatives of the new leadership of the EFCC nor offer pragmatic proofs of some of the moves that are aimed at the jugular of the agency.No doubt, some fundamental changes have been made at the EFCC. Its pioneer chairman, Nuhu Ribadu was removed in controversial circumstances and even now, the Police Service Commission, PSC, seemed to have added another controversy to the Ribadu persona by demoting him by two ranks. In all honesty, Ribadu did his best for Nigeria while holding sway as the EFCC boss. It is however strange and preposterous for anyone to link his demotion with an attempt to castrate the EFCC. Are we saying that the future of the EFCC is inextricably linked with Ribadu? Shouldn't we begin to see the EFCC as an institution that is greater than individuals and even groups? EFCC is an idea. Victor Hugo said that “there is something greater than all the armies in the world and that is an idea whose time has come”. The EFCC is an idea whose time has come. It is an idea of transparency, zero tolerance for corruption, accountability and probity. These ideas are greater than any individual. Another plank upon which critics of the EFCC are basing their castration theory is that key officers of the anti-corruption agency are being redeployed from their beats. If our minds are open and not jaundiced by other interests, which organization in the world is run effectively without being dynamic? Is it practicable for a new administration in any organization to consign itself to old arrangements without pursuing its own vision? In what concrete ways has the EFCC been castrated? If for anything, we need to applaud the new boss of the anti-graft agency for her courage and consistence. There are so many fresh, high-profile cases she has opened in the two months that she assumed office. Is she not working with the key officers that her critics said she has been moving around? It is evident that all the claims of castration of the EFCC are hollow and self-serving. The new momentum generated by its fresh prosecutions of some politicians is enough proof that the new leadership of the EFCC is on the right tract.Take the arrest and prosecution of Bode George, a prominent chieftain of the ruling People's Democratic Party, PDP in the South-West as an example. Some of us have joined issues with the EFCC a few months back over his case. We were demanding that his activities as the chairman of the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority ,NPA, be looked into. For some strange reasons, Ribadu and his team delayed actions on his arrest and prosecution. Now, Waziri has docked Bode George and yet some people are still talking of EFCC being castrated. How many foreign contractors were probed by the EFCC when Ribadu was in the saddle? This woman dazed everyone when some few days after her confirmation, she docked the Austrian Contractor that fronted for those who messed up the aviation intervention fund. And some few days after, she nabbed the big masquerades behind the contractors. Yet, some people are still sneering at such an effort. Waziri has maintained a pattern of democratic civility in the way arrests and prosecution are being done. We are seeing results without noise-making. We are seeing actions rather than fiery speeches. This is the face of the new EFCC. It is possible for some Nigerians, who, out of patriotic fervour and genuine desire for total cleansing of the nation, to express genuine fears about the future of the anti-corruption war in the light of a rather high turn over of the leadership of the EFCC in the last eight months. Such fears are legitimate. However, the expression of such fears should be balanced by the realities on the ground. Mrs. Waziri has demonstrated that she is not a push over by her moves which are already causing jitters among politicians. We read in the newspapers a few days ago that some politicians, sensing danger about the no-nonsense woman shepherding the EFCC, were contemplating going on exile so as to evade arrests and prosecution. Will such politicians ever make such propositions if Waziri were to be a weakling? Does such a proposition lend credence to the castration theory of EFCC's critics. It is easier for whoever that has no problem with the EFCC to propose any theory and even mobilize support for such a theory. Ask those who are facing the teeth of the wind in that Commission and they will tell you how cold it feels!The anti-corruption war is our war. We all have equal stakes in the future of Nigeria. So, our best energies should be deployed to building confidence in the minds of fellow Nigerians and outsiders about efforts being made to bring corrupt elements in our midst to book. Both the EFCC and ICPC cannot do it alone. What do we stand to gain in a castrated EFCC? Where there are genuine cases to make of the activities of the anti-corruption agencies, we should be quick and bold to make such cases without hiding behind any personal, group or sectarian interests. If Waziri and her team continue in the way they are going now, in four years time, we may as well be rolling out drums in celebration of a new Nigeria of our dream. Of course, Waziri and EFCC should be carefully monitored to avoid derailment. But, it is not true that her moves are pointing to a castration agenda for the EFCC.In what practical ways can we assist the EFCC? Waziri has spoken of her resolve to make the fight take the form of a revolution. She has talked about reaching the grassroots with the anti-corruption message in a way that will compel holders of power at the local government level more accountable to their people. She has spoken of her determination to monitor activities of all financial institutions, including banks so as to make them more compliant with regulations and more responsive to the demands of the investing publics. In doing all these, she has promised to make the EFCC more formidable and more globally competitive. I think, what we should be doing is to continue to monitor her activities in this regard. We should ensure that Waziri keep faith with her declared intentions to make Nigeria too hot for fraudsters and corrupt elements. I make bold to state here that it is very difficult for anyone, Waziri inclusive, to castrate the EFCC “before our very eyes!” To ensure the success of the anti-corruption war, Waziri and her team should work on an effective whistle-blowing mechanism that will facilitate the reporting of corrupt practices in government and the private sector. The truth of the issue is that there seems to be no serious cover for whoever seeks to offer tangible clues to the EFCC about what is happening around. I think one of the reasons why the EFCC is not getting enough convictions in our courts is the lack of cover for witnesses who may want to testify against corrupt elements in our midst. This is very important and Waziri being a consummate lawyer knows what all this is all about. In a similar vein, the judiciary should do more than it is doing in dealing with cases of corruption. There is no way the EFCC can be the accuser and the judge in its own case. The power of the judiciary begins where that of the EFCC stops! This is the dilemma. So, in appraising the success of the anti-corruption war, we should always bear in mind that the judiciary also has very significant roles to play. If the EFCC continues to do its own beat, the judiciary should also take the initiatives to do its own work. This way, the war will be a total victory.On the whole, those who are waiting to see the EFCC castrated may have to wait forever. Those of us who have abiding confidence and un-wavering faith in the abilities of Waziri and her team to succeed will continue to do everything within our power to assist the EFCC. The EFCC is the only positive link we have with the rest of the world. I'm sure President Yar'adua knows this. So, all support should be given the agency and the ICPC to make them do us proud all the time. Anything short of this may be disastrous for us and generations yet un-born. Obaaro wrote from Kaabe, Kogi state
Monday, August 18, 2008
Yar’Adua approves local satellite manufacturing centre
Yar’Adua approves local satellite manufacturing centre
President Umaru Yar’Adua has approved the construction of a centre for the local manufacture of satellite infrastructure.
The Director-General, National Space Research and Development Agency, Prof. Robert Boroffice, who disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja, said the target was to make satellite locally in the country by 2012.
He also disclosed that the country had secured the services of the Ukraine satellite launch vehicle, Dnepr, for the launch of its second earth observation satellite, Nigeria SAT-2, which is expected in the orbit by the last quarter of 2009.
Nigeria currently has two satellites in space. While the first, an earth observation satellite, was manufactured by the Surrey Satellite Technology Limited of United Kingdom, the second, a communications satellite, was manufactured by the Great Wall Industry Corporation of China .
But with the establishment of a local satellite manufacturing facility, it is hoped that the nation will end the era of importation of satellite. Apart from Nigeria SAT-2 which is also being handled by SSTL, there are plans to import new communications satellite in the next two years.
Towards the local manufacture of satellite in the country, the authorities had incorporated technology transfer in the current importation model to ensure that satellite manufacturing competencies are gradually transferred onto Nigerian engineers and scientists.
Already, 14 Nigerians are trying their hands on the manufacture of an experimental satellite dubbed; Nigeria SAT-X, but in an offshore facility belonging to SSTL. Also, some NASRDA engineers have developed the Automatic Robotic Control System, a major component of the satellite. Boroffice said, “We have got the presidential approval to build the infrastructure for manufacturing satellite, which is called, Satellite Assembly Integration and Test Centre. We have identified a very good partner and the documents for processing the contract is already with the Bureau of Public Procurement. “As soon as the document is out, we will take it to the Federal Executive Council. Once FEC approves it, we would start building the infrastructure. Hopefully in the next four years, our engineers should be able to build our own satellite here; within these premises.” Boroffice said the local manufacture of satellite would cut down the cost by as much as 50 per cent. He also said with the local manufacture, the country could launch more satellite missions into space.
On SAT-2, the NASRDA boss said, “Discussions are in advanced stage as far the insurance of Nigeria SAT-2 is concerned. It is very important that we insure before we launch the satellite. The launch also has reached an advance stage.
“We had to shop around for a suitable launch vehicle. Five years ago, when we launched Nigeria SAT-1, there were many launch options. Then, the Russian launch vehicles were available. You know, they were converted from missiles. But they have almost used up everything. So launch vehicles are now very scarce to get. I mean those that are not expensive.
“Finally, we have got one in Ukraine, which we are going to use. There were two options – the Falcon from the United States and Dnepr from Ukraine . When you look at the heritage of the two, Dnepr has the higher heritage than Falcon.”
President Umaru Yar’Adua has approved the construction of a centre for the local manufacture of satellite infrastructure.
The Director-General, National Space Research and Development Agency, Prof. Robert Boroffice, who disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja, said the target was to make satellite locally in the country by 2012.
He also disclosed that the country had secured the services of the Ukraine satellite launch vehicle, Dnepr, for the launch of its second earth observation satellite, Nigeria SAT-2, which is expected in the orbit by the last quarter of 2009.
Nigeria currently has two satellites in space. While the first, an earth observation satellite, was manufactured by the Surrey Satellite Technology Limited of United Kingdom, the second, a communications satellite, was manufactured by the Great Wall Industry Corporation of China .
But with the establishment of a local satellite manufacturing facility, it is hoped that the nation will end the era of importation of satellite. Apart from Nigeria SAT-2 which is also being handled by SSTL, there are plans to import new communications satellite in the next two years.
Towards the local manufacture of satellite in the country, the authorities had incorporated technology transfer in the current importation model to ensure that satellite manufacturing competencies are gradually transferred onto Nigerian engineers and scientists.
Already, 14 Nigerians are trying their hands on the manufacture of an experimental satellite dubbed; Nigeria SAT-X, but in an offshore facility belonging to SSTL. Also, some NASRDA engineers have developed the Automatic Robotic Control System, a major component of the satellite. Boroffice said, “We have got the presidential approval to build the infrastructure for manufacturing satellite, which is called, Satellite Assembly Integration and Test Centre. We have identified a very good partner and the documents for processing the contract is already with the Bureau of Public Procurement. “As soon as the document is out, we will take it to the Federal Executive Council. Once FEC approves it, we would start building the infrastructure. Hopefully in the next four years, our engineers should be able to build our own satellite here; within these premises.” Boroffice said the local manufacture of satellite would cut down the cost by as much as 50 per cent. He also said with the local manufacture, the country could launch more satellite missions into space.
On SAT-2, the NASRDA boss said, “Discussions are in advanced stage as far the insurance of Nigeria SAT-2 is concerned. It is very important that we insure before we launch the satellite. The launch also has reached an advance stage.
“We had to shop around for a suitable launch vehicle. Five years ago, when we launched Nigeria SAT-1, there were many launch options. Then, the Russian launch vehicles were available. You know, they were converted from missiles. But they have almost used up everything. So launch vehicles are now very scarce to get. I mean those that are not expensive.
“Finally, we have got one in Ukraine, which we are going to use. There were two options – the Falcon from the United States and Dnepr from Ukraine . When you look at the heritage of the two, Dnepr has the higher heritage than Falcon.”
Doctors are fast losing respect and leadership role in the health sector
Doctors are fast losing respect and leadership role in the health sector Dr. Jide Idris (Lagos State Commissioner for Health)
REKNOWED for his frankness, openess and fluid grasp of issues relating to the beleaguered health sector, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris is the average reporter’s delight anyday. Friday last week, Good Health Weekly ran into the down-to-earth commissioner at the 2008 National Executive Council Meeting/AGM/ Scientific Meeting of the Lagos State branch of the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN) held at the Multi-Purpose Hall of the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos.
In his characteristic style, Idris, seized the opportunity to comment on a host of salient issues. It is a must read. Enjoy!On role of doctors in the health sector
“There is no doubt that we have enormous challenges in the health sector. These problems were created over the years and not overnight. I make bold to say that the Lagos State Government has demonstrated enough commitment to addressing these and will continue to do so within the limits of resources available.
However, it is also my belief that government cannot do this alone. It requires the collective contributions from every one of us, and more importantly from members of our noble profession - the medical profession. We cannot make the badly needed changes and progress in the sector without we doctors. Sadly and regrettably so, and if we are to be sincere with ourselves, we seem to have lost or fast losing our respect and leadership role in the sector.
We do not positively contribute to policy making in the country. We are not proactive but remain continuously reactive. I also do not believe all is lost. I believe our profession must give the right leadership if we are to make any appreciable impact on the sector. To do this, we must adopt a different strategy. One that does’ not encourage unnecessary confrontation, cheap blackmail, falsehood, rabble-rousing, extieme selfishness, and disrespect to our senior colleagues. All these to me, are definitely strange to the ethics of our noble profession.
On harassment of doctors by KAI officials on environmental sanitation daysI must confess this is news to me. Medical services are essential services and doctors are expected to be on essential services. Doctors carry out essential duties and there must be way of exempting them during the sanitation. I have a feeling there might be problem of identification.
Since anyone could impersonate a doctor, I’m sure if a doctor is properly identified, I do not think there should be a problem. There is no way or reason why a doctor should be disturbed from going about his normal services of providing healthcare. I have not heard about this matter before. If it had been brought to us officially, we would have taken it up with the appropriate Ministry, but I will look into it.”
On the survivors of the fuel tanker accident at OrileFree treatment is being made available to all the survivors currently recuperating at Isolo General Hospital and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). They are being treated free of charge in line with the policy of the Lagos State government.
I am going to Isolo General Hospital and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) now to see the patients. A close relation of mine was involved in the accident and, unfortunately he is dead. But as usual, the State government will meet its obligations to those affected. We only hope we do not witness this kind of disaster again. I do not know exactly how many people died in the incident, but from the figures we have it is between eight and 10, I need to confirm.On the state of LASUTH
I went there on a visit unannounced. I spoke to the patients on their complaints and see what facilities are available and what we need to provide and I must say there were a number of things we discovered and need to address, some immediately, others we need to put in our budget for next year, because they are urgently needed, the issue of basic medical equipment is already in process following the governor’s approval and some are coming in soon, we also need to expand the laboratory and equip it properly, but this will be a priority next year. We do know there is a shortage of staff there, but we are addressing this.
On the poor state of Ayinke HouseWe have received complaints about Ayinke House, but we know that in every organisation there are bad eggs and they are things we need to accept. It is a major problem in every government. I believe you are aware of what happened recently at Massey Street Hospital. We set up an investigation committee and the panel has submitted its report and recommendations and different measures are being handed to people found wanting.
We intend to do the same thing at Ayinke House. To address things like this specifically, there is a different monitoring unit the composition of which many people do not know. We go there unannounced and just to check the state of things. More importantly however, there is need for education and re-orientation our members of staff. It is an attitude thing and you cannot change attitude overnight.
I won’t give reasons for what has happened because these are things that have happened over the years. We are currently organizing different for a to address the issue of attitudinal change withing the different cadres of the health sector. Indeed it is a problem. We are hoping to go through the professional bodies to talk to these people.
On the Coroners’ System Law
What wehave is a matter of law. There may be some misunderstanding or misrepresentation of that law. One thing that must be understood however is that the law has been passed and there are procedures and processes that are formulated in the packaging of this law. If anyone wants to change the law, there are processes that they may have to go through. What we have done is to try to sensitise the different stakeholders. Mind you, the objective of this law is not directed at any professional group at all. The objective is very clear.
It is to avoid unwanted death in our society. Different groups including the medical people have a role to play, but they need to understand what is going on. I think the law is being misinterpreted.I do not want to look at the action of the Medical Guild as a bluff because you cannot bluff the law. It is simple. If you are uncomfortable with certain aspects of that law, there are processes for effecting changes and the Federal Ministry of Justice would listen to them to look at the various areas where they are aggrieved and jointly address them.
Even the Governor cannot cancel the law. It is the House that passed the law and they went through different processes and public hearings so that those who were aggrieved opportunity to raise them before they passed the law. If the law is to be changed, they have to pass through the same process. I think it is a matter of misunderstanding or misrepresentation of certain facts which we hope to address. It is not a serious matter.”
Breast feeding and infant mortality.
As breast feeding is declining in Nigeria, infant mortality rates are rising
When was the last time you saw a woman breast feed her baby either in the bus, office or at the market place? In Nigeria today, it is fast becoming an old fashioned practice to see a woman take pride in breast feeding her little one. Even in most cases, young Nigerian women see it as over- labouring their whole being. While some describe it as being “old school” to breast feed a baby exclusively for at least six months, some say it causes the breasts to sag faster. Apparently, ignorant of the fact that breast feeding still remains the ideal means of providing essential nutrients through the breast milk for a growing infant, several mothers still resort to artificial milk.
No wonder latest reports by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) as recorded in the 2008 ear’s World Breast Feeding Week shows that in Nigeria the figure of breast is becoming lower, rather than increasing.
The UNICEF reports also shows that the gains previously made in exclusive breastfeeding are being eroded in Nigeria today. According to available statistics, in 1999, 22 per cent of children were exclusively breastfed in the country, unfortunately, this came down to 17 per cent in 2003, today only 11.7 per cent of children are exclusively breastfed for six months in Nigeria.
However, over the years experts have found that breast feeding provides the best possible start to life in all areas of development. Evidences have confirmed that early initiation of a child to breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding practices for the first six months of a child’s life can save more than one million babies. Similarly, in the recent years and with ample evidences, breast feeding has been justifiably called the ‘Gold Standard’ for infant.
To mark this year’s World Breast Feeding Week with the theme, “Mother Support: Going for Gold” with the Slogan “Everyone Wins”, UNICEF , along with the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), have recommended the provision of increased professional and informal support for breastfeeding mothers.
According to UNICEF Executive Director, Ann M. Veneman, “Breastfeeding is a key tool in improving child survival and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life can avert up to 13 per cent of under-five deaths in developing countries like Nigeria.
UNICEF noted that although there has been progress over the past 15 years, only 38 per cent of infants under six months of age in the developing world are exclusively breastfed.
Recent scientific studies have found that education and support for mothers significantly extends the number of months that mothers breastfeed, and is especially helpful in promoting exclusive breastfeeding. Other studies have shown that counselling and support in health facilities have led to increases in the number of mothers who initiate breastfeeding within the first hour of birth.
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life reduces infant mortality linked to common childhood illnesses and under nutrition.
Breastfeeding can reduce the number of deaths caused by acute respiratory infection and diarrhea - two major child killers - as well as from other infectious diseases. It also contributes to the health of mothers, and creates a bond between the mother and child.
Appropriate infant feeding can save lives, ensure optimal growth and development, and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.The breast feeding is celebrated is in 192 countries from 1st August to 7th annually across the world.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Inside Obasanjo’s library complex
Inside Obasanjo’s library complex
The much touted monumental library project of former President Olusegun Obasanjo is in the works. Mooted while in government, it has generated heated debates. Joke Kujenya who last Thursday toured the complex sited in Ijeun Lukosi Community, Abeokuta reports with inputs from Ernest Nwokolo
The scenario is atypical of opulence amid indolence. To the right side of the main gate of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) is the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mega Station. The filling station, OOPL’s immediate next-door-neighbour had many residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital queuing with 10 litre gallons to fill with kerosene. The scenario cuts a pitiful spectacle. The people defied both the drizzle of rain and blaze of sunlight as they sat still hoping-against-hope for the cooking fuel. Men, women, boys and girls, old and young, sit, stand, stoop low and some with their two hands placed on their heads waiting for their turns to be served colourless flammable oil.
OOPL is located in Ijeun Lukosi Community directly opposite Magbon Kobape village seated between the Presidential Boulevard and Abiola Way on the outskirts of Abeokuta. To the left wing of its gate is a plain spread of stubborn grass land. Though the OOPL’s Library fence spreads a long strectch out to demarcate its compound from the outside world; yet the beauty of the enclosing structure is swallowed by the height of the hard grass. A little walk about one metre away brings one to the first sign of life on the section of the field.
A young man was sighted washing a car which probably belonged to a man sitting with a lady under a shaft tent provided for clients. In the cool of the Bamboo pavillion, the two engaged in heated arguments and were practically oblivious of others. Asked about the library being built in the neighbourhood, the car-wash personnel said it was a welcome idea for the fact that someday soon, probably people like him could be educated by the resources provided. "Though, I don’t know if people like me will be allowed in when the library fully begins operations", he said in the local dialect all through the discussion.
Still a little short distance away from the car wash is a budding block industry. It was situated in a small space of land. Though fenced, it has no gate to protect the products from predators.
Such was the contrast in the neighbourhood of the OOPL project. Across the road were a handful of food and fruit sellers. To these ones, the former president was just building another ‘house’.
But to a more enlightened Mrs. Esther Kester, a nurse, who had just bought kerosene, "the Library is welcome at least in Abeokuta. Now, we have a place where our children can go someday to read books instead of engaging in time wasting ventures. Although, I would have preferred it situated in a more civilised setting than this place; (pointing) as you can see, this is a village and not many people around here are educated."
At the entrance of the OOPL, a visitor’s first stop is the security post. It is a one room chamber with a mobile policeman seated behind a table. He barely looks the way of incoming visitors as there is another table outside. Behind the table are seated two men with large hard cover note books for registration of workers to the premises.
When approached, they politely turned back our correspondent saying that no visitor is allowed into the premises of the presidential library until its operation commences. But unknown to them our correspondent had walked around from the outer to the inner courts. Though a lot of work is still required to give the place a befitting outlook, there is every indication that a beautiful edifice is being constructed.
On entering the compound one is welcomed by a dome shaped Church building. It is situated on the left side of the entrance. Local and foreign workers are all over the compound standing. Almost completed and painted in a merge of chocolate and light brown colours are the large structures of the OOPL Hotels which is believed to be the income generating part of the project.
Next are beautiful displays of rocks, a wonderful work of nature that will offer scholars excellent environment for studying and relaxation. Close to the rocks is the museum edifice; still under construction. Largely, the ground is still a lot grassy and unkempt. A voyage further to the extreme shows a private guest house on the right where Obasanjo was hosting his visiting American Consultants last Thursday. There are also two bungalow buildings to the left which are part of the OOPL complex.
At some point, the reporter got accosted by a security man, but was let alone and cautioned. Efforts were made to speak with close personnel to the project, but none was willing to comment. Much later, our reporter got invited to the Olusegun Obasanjo Hilltop residence at the GRA along Abeokuta-Shagamu Express road.
The Hilltop as it is popularly called is another architectural masterpiece. The structure sits atop a high rock as it overlooks many other houses in Abeokuta. In there, besides the two security chalets, are three major visible buildings all painted in cool golden yellow colour. We were ushered into a beautiful waiting room to meet with one of the visiting consultants, Ms. Tracy Roosevelt, Content Coordinator and African Projects Specialist with the Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA). She is the great grand-daughter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States of America, (USA). The 25 years old lady, a London School of Economics graduate in International History with African focus said she is in Nigeria as a representative of the RAA. In a chat with The Nation, she explained that the relevance of a presidential library is that "It takes the ideas that the president fosters during his administration and puts them in a place where people can continue to learn from."
Mr. Nick Appelbaum, son of Ralph Appelbaum, an American firm of Designers and Architects that Obasanjo recently signed a N6million deal with; said presidential libraries in the US do not open as quickly as this one is about to be opened. "They often take as long as 10 to 20 years more. It is a huge project that requires a lot of courage."
Last week, the OOPL sealed a $6million contract with RAA for the development of the museum component of the Presidential Library project. A few days later, it was announced that another N3.5billion is needed, making many to wonder why such large amount is required. During the launching of the library fund in May 2004, billions of naira was raised from government and corporate individuals. Obasanjo was accused of using his office to extort money from donors. Dr Christopher Kolade has however risen in defence of the additional fund saying it is a justifiable because the library would be a repository of African objects and artifacts. Curiously every other thing about the library seems shrouded in secrecy. No Nigerian personnel, including the editorial board members, coordinators of the project and many others reached on phone were willing to talk. They all claimed that they were not competent to speak with the press.
Expectedly, observers are querying the rationale of having mass building of hotels, a church and a museum in an atmosphere meant to be serene for acquisition of knowledge. In particular, they expressed surprise at the largeness of the hotels and the museum which seem to be given more attention and funding than the actual library. Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on Thursday in Abeokuta, while reacting to Dr. Christopher Akolade’s remarks that an American agency was contracted in a $6million deal to develop the museum component of the library, said the entire project was an executive extortion. He also said the overall approach is devoid of due process and described the OOPL as korofo ishana, meaning an empty match box that is without any element of culture.
The controversial OOPL complex is reportedly founded on Obasanjo’s three philosophical principles that formed his administrative policies: leadership, transparency and agriculture. The initiative is patterned after President Roosevelt’s model and it is divided into three major sections: the main museum/library; recreation and leisure services as well as housing/support facilities.
Oil rich Bakassi peninsula
Nigeria gives oil-rich Bakassi to Cameroon
Nigeria on Thursday handed over the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon to end a 15-year dispute over the territory believed to be rich in oil and gas.
The legal paperwork, in line with a ruling of an international tribunal, was signed by Nigeria's Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa and by his Cameroonian counterpart Maurice Kanto.
"(Cameroonian) President Paul Biya ... looks forward to new, reliable and mutually beneficial relationship between Cameroon and Nigeria," Kanto said just before the handover, which took place in the Nigerian border town of Calabar.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in a message read out at the ceremony said: "It is a day of triumph for the rule of law, which lies at the very core of the values of the UN".
The UN Secretary General's Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, said the handover should serve as a model for the resolution of other border disputes in Africa.
"As painful as it is, we have a responsibility to keep our commitment to the international community to advance international peace and cooperation ... and advance the cause of African brotherhood and good neighbourliness," Nigeria's Aondoakaa declared.
He assured local people that the Nigerian government had taken "very serious measures" to resettle anyone wishing to move to Nigeria rather than remain in the peninsula under Cameroonian administration.
He also said that Cameroon would make "every arrangement to fully integrate all those who remain in their ancestral home."
In Cameroon, the handover was greeted positively.
"It leaves room for some hope for other existing border differences where there are large amounts of natural riches," said Samuel Nguiffo, head of a local nongovernmental group, the Centre for Environment and Development, citing territorial disputes elsewhere in Africa.
The Calabar ceremony is "the symbol of territorial integrity that has been rediscovered," said Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, head of the Yaounde-based Institute of International Relations of Cameroon.
Under the terms of the agreement, the inhabitants of Bakassi, most of whom see themselves as Nigerian, were given three options: keeping Nigerian nationality and remaining as foreign residents in Cameroonian territory, taking Cameroonian nationality or being resettled elsewhere in Nigeria.
Djinnit stressed that the agreement "guarantees the rights and the protection of the Bakassi people".
Representatives from France, Germany, Britain and the United States also attended the ceremony
The transfer, staggered over two years, has been dogged by political disagreements, a last-minute lawsuit and occasional armed clashes.
Observers said the recent security incidents in the peninsula might explain the decision to hold the ceremony in Calabar rather than in Bakassi itself.
Last month, a little-known Nigerian group calling itself the Niger Delta Defence and Security Council (NDDSC) claimed responsibility for an attack in which 12 people, including two Cameroonian soldiers, died.
In the past several months some 50 people are reported to have died in clashes in the area.
Bakassi, an area of some 1,000 square kilometres (386 square miles) is believed to contain oil and gas reserves as well as rich fishing grounds.
The dispute over Bakassi first came to a head in December 1993 when the Nigerian army occupied a number of villages on the peninsula.
Cameroon protested and took its case to the International Court of Justice in the Hague (ICJ) in March 1994.
After a drawn-out legal battle, the ICJ ruled in October 2002 that the peninsula should be given to Cameroon. It based its decision largely on a 1913 treaty between former colonial powers Britain and Germany.
Nigeria on Thursday handed over the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon to end a 15-year dispute over the territory believed to be rich in oil and gas.
The legal paperwork, in line with a ruling of an international tribunal, was signed by Nigeria's Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa and by his Cameroonian counterpart Maurice Kanto.
"(Cameroonian) President Paul Biya ... looks forward to new, reliable and mutually beneficial relationship between Cameroon and Nigeria," Kanto said just before the handover, which took place in the Nigerian border town of Calabar.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in a message read out at the ceremony said: "It is a day of triumph for the rule of law, which lies at the very core of the values of the UN".
The UN Secretary General's Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, said the handover should serve as a model for the resolution of other border disputes in Africa.
"As painful as it is, we have a responsibility to keep our commitment to the international community to advance international peace and cooperation ... and advance the cause of African brotherhood and good neighbourliness," Nigeria's Aondoakaa declared.
He assured local people that the Nigerian government had taken "very serious measures" to resettle anyone wishing to move to Nigeria rather than remain in the peninsula under Cameroonian administration.
He also said that Cameroon would make "every arrangement to fully integrate all those who remain in their ancestral home."
In Cameroon, the handover was greeted positively.
"It leaves room for some hope for other existing border differences where there are large amounts of natural riches," said Samuel Nguiffo, head of a local nongovernmental group, the Centre for Environment and Development, citing territorial disputes elsewhere in Africa.
The Calabar ceremony is "the symbol of territorial integrity that has been rediscovered," said Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, head of the Yaounde-based Institute of International Relations of Cameroon.
Under the terms of the agreement, the inhabitants of Bakassi, most of whom see themselves as Nigerian, were given three options: keeping Nigerian nationality and remaining as foreign residents in Cameroonian territory, taking Cameroonian nationality or being resettled elsewhere in Nigeria.
Djinnit stressed that the agreement "guarantees the rights and the protection of the Bakassi people".
Representatives from France, Germany, Britain and the United States also attended the ceremony
The transfer, staggered over two years, has been dogged by political disagreements, a last-minute lawsuit and occasional armed clashes.
Observers said the recent security incidents in the peninsula might explain the decision to hold the ceremony in Calabar rather than in Bakassi itself.
Last month, a little-known Nigerian group calling itself the Niger Delta Defence and Security Council (NDDSC) claimed responsibility for an attack in which 12 people, including two Cameroonian soldiers, died.
In the past several months some 50 people are reported to have died in clashes in the area.
Bakassi, an area of some 1,000 square kilometres (386 square miles) is believed to contain oil and gas reserves as well as rich fishing grounds.
The dispute over Bakassi first came to a head in December 1993 when the Nigerian army occupied a number of villages on the peninsula.
Cameroon protested and took its case to the International Court of Justice in the Hague (ICJ) in March 1994.
After a drawn-out legal battle, the ICJ ruled in October 2002 that the peninsula should be given to Cameroon. It based its decision largely on a 1913 treaty between former colonial powers Britain and Germany.
Ribadu’s exit and the end of the war against corruption
Ribadu’s exit and the end of the war against corruption
It has been long in coming. But there were many Nigerians who thought President Umaru Yar’Adua will have the good sense to allow Nuhu Ribadu, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to continue with the task of clearing the Augean stable of institutionalized looting of public fund if only for the future of Nigeria and the President’s legacy. As it were, that is a road not taken.
Readers will recall that a few months ago I had predicted in my column under the title: Ribadu As Sacrificial Lamb To Appease Ex-governors, that Yar’Adua may sacrifice Ribadu to appease his ex-governors friends to the detriment of national interest. I am not a soothsayer but this is one prediction that has come to pass.
At last, they have succeeded in removing the impediment to their looting of the treasury. The man who demanded restitution from thieving ex-governors and other political office holders has been sidelined.
The current ruling political elite led by President Umaru Yar’Adua have put an end to the vibrant war against corruption with the forced exit of Ribadu, the courageous chairman of the EFCC whose activities in the last few years have given a boost to the war against looting of public fund. Ribadu may not be indispensable but the fact that EFCC’s director of operations and the heartbeat of the commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, has equally been sent on course in Jos along with his boss signifies that the real intention is to emasculate the war against corruption.
After several failed efforts to tame Ribadu and slow down his enthusiastic war against corruption, Yar’Adua with the active connivance of the Attorney-General of Federation (AGF), Mr. Mike Aondoakaa, finally found a way out to ease out the anti-corruption czar.
The pliant tool in shoving Ribadu out of EFCC is the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mike Okiro who announced only a few days ago that Ribadu must proceed on a one-year course in Kuru, Plateau State. He said the course was necessary to prepare Ribadu who is an Assistant Inspector General of Police, for the post of IGP.
The discerning public which had watched with disdain the several attempts in the recent past to save some thieving ex-governors from the determined efforts of Ribadu to bring them to book immediately knew that the IGP was not saying the whole truth. The ploy had only one objective: to exploit a bureaucratic means of dealing with the Ribadu menace.
There is however the small issue of whether the IGP is in a position to validly issue such order. Ribadu may be a policeman but the law setting up EFCC removes the authority of the IGP over the EFCC boss and places it with the president.
It had become clear early enough that Yar’Adua despite his public posturing never felt comfortable with the arrests and arraignment of his ex-governor colleagues. Getting Ribadu to slow down was however a problem. The situation however got to an unbearable point for the presidency when EFCC arrested Ibori. Now, Ibori was a major power broker and financier whose pivotal role in the emergence of the Yar’Adua presidency is already public knowledge. There were foot soldiers too like the AGF whose appointment; it has been said was influenced by Ibori. So was the appointment of the IGP, according to recent revelation. Consequently, Ibori’s arrest was one too many. It was time to shove Ribadu out of the window.
By easing Ribadu out of EFCC obviously to give fraudulent ex and current political office holders a breathing space, the message we are passing to the international community is that Yar’Adua’s government does not possess the political will to fight corruption. Yet about the most decisive cause of our stunted growth is the willful looting of public fund that has gone on since Nigeria attained political independence in 1960. It is estimated that over $400 billion has been stolen in the last 47 years.
Now Yar’Adua has declared an open sesame for looting. Any wonder that barely a few days after the announcement of Ribadu’s removal, fleeing former governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion has signified his intention to come back from his Morocco hide-out. One by one, all the indicted ex-governors and other affected political office holders are going to be let off the hook. The war against corruption is dead and Yar’Adua has just applied the final nail.
Without the will to fight the war against corruption, Nigeria’s quest for economic transformation is doomed.
Given the tremendous pressure that Ribadu had to face from the political class coupled with the hostile environment against any sort of crusade against corruption right now, it is unlikely that Ribadu’s successor can continue where Ribadu stopped. Yar’Adua’s implicit involvement in Ribadu’s forced exit is the death knell on the war against corruption. That must be sweet music in the ears of politicians who can now loot with careless abandon with no Ribadu to watching over their shoulders.
Ribadu despite his faults has been an invaluable asset to Nigeria. Some complain about his methods and his tendency to resort to arbitrariness to achieve his objectives.
But in the few years that he headed the anti-corruption agency, he exhibited un-common courage, and a mind-boggling single-mindedness to earn the grudging respect of even his foes. The only other Nigerian that comes near in terms of altruism and dedication to national duty is the likeable and similarly brave Professor Dora Akunyili of NAFDAC.
His enduring legacy is in instilling fear into our thieving political elite nurtured in a contra-culture that encourage them to see the public purse as their private purse. Ribadu’s exit is, however, Nigeria’s loss and as it may yet turn out, Yar’Adua’s loss as well. In a way, Ribadu is the winner in this entire shenanigan. He is leaving the EFCC when the ovation is loudest and more importantly without a blemish. I have no doubt that history will be kind to him while his antagonists will end up as mere footnotes in the belly of time.
It has been long in coming. But there were many Nigerians who thought President Umaru Yar’Adua will have the good sense to allow Nuhu Ribadu, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to continue with the task of clearing the Augean stable of institutionalized looting of public fund if only for the future of Nigeria and the President’s legacy. As it were, that is a road not taken.
Readers will recall that a few months ago I had predicted in my column under the title: Ribadu As Sacrificial Lamb To Appease Ex-governors, that Yar’Adua may sacrifice Ribadu to appease his ex-governors friends to the detriment of national interest. I am not a soothsayer but this is one prediction that has come to pass.
At last, they have succeeded in removing the impediment to their looting of the treasury. The man who demanded restitution from thieving ex-governors and other political office holders has been sidelined.
The current ruling political elite led by President Umaru Yar’Adua have put an end to the vibrant war against corruption with the forced exit of Ribadu, the courageous chairman of the EFCC whose activities in the last few years have given a boost to the war against looting of public fund. Ribadu may not be indispensable but the fact that EFCC’s director of operations and the heartbeat of the commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, has equally been sent on course in Jos along with his boss signifies that the real intention is to emasculate the war against corruption.
After several failed efforts to tame Ribadu and slow down his enthusiastic war against corruption, Yar’Adua with the active connivance of the Attorney-General of Federation (AGF), Mr. Mike Aondoakaa, finally found a way out to ease out the anti-corruption czar.
The pliant tool in shoving Ribadu out of EFCC is the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mike Okiro who announced only a few days ago that Ribadu must proceed on a one-year course in Kuru, Plateau State. He said the course was necessary to prepare Ribadu who is an Assistant Inspector General of Police, for the post of IGP.
The discerning public which had watched with disdain the several attempts in the recent past to save some thieving ex-governors from the determined efforts of Ribadu to bring them to book immediately knew that the IGP was not saying the whole truth. The ploy had only one objective: to exploit a bureaucratic means of dealing with the Ribadu menace.
There is however the small issue of whether the IGP is in a position to validly issue such order. Ribadu may be a policeman but the law setting up EFCC removes the authority of the IGP over the EFCC boss and places it with the president.
It had become clear early enough that Yar’Adua despite his public posturing never felt comfortable with the arrests and arraignment of his ex-governor colleagues. Getting Ribadu to slow down was however a problem. The situation however got to an unbearable point for the presidency when EFCC arrested Ibori. Now, Ibori was a major power broker and financier whose pivotal role in the emergence of the Yar’Adua presidency is already public knowledge. There were foot soldiers too like the AGF whose appointment; it has been said was influenced by Ibori. So was the appointment of the IGP, according to recent revelation. Consequently, Ibori’s arrest was one too many. It was time to shove Ribadu out of the window.
By easing Ribadu out of EFCC obviously to give fraudulent ex and current political office holders a breathing space, the message we are passing to the international community is that Yar’Adua’s government does not possess the political will to fight corruption. Yet about the most decisive cause of our stunted growth is the willful looting of public fund that has gone on since Nigeria attained political independence in 1960. It is estimated that over $400 billion has been stolen in the last 47 years.
Now Yar’Adua has declared an open sesame for looting. Any wonder that barely a few days after the announcement of Ribadu’s removal, fleeing former governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion has signified his intention to come back from his Morocco hide-out. One by one, all the indicted ex-governors and other affected political office holders are going to be let off the hook. The war against corruption is dead and Yar’Adua has just applied the final nail.
Without the will to fight the war against corruption, Nigeria’s quest for economic transformation is doomed.
Given the tremendous pressure that Ribadu had to face from the political class coupled with the hostile environment against any sort of crusade against corruption right now, it is unlikely that Ribadu’s successor can continue where Ribadu stopped. Yar’Adua’s implicit involvement in Ribadu’s forced exit is the death knell on the war against corruption. That must be sweet music in the ears of politicians who can now loot with careless abandon with no Ribadu to watching over their shoulders.
Ribadu despite his faults has been an invaluable asset to Nigeria. Some complain about his methods and his tendency to resort to arbitrariness to achieve his objectives.
But in the few years that he headed the anti-corruption agency, he exhibited un-common courage, and a mind-boggling single-mindedness to earn the grudging respect of even his foes. The only other Nigerian that comes near in terms of altruism and dedication to national duty is the likeable and similarly brave Professor Dora Akunyili of NAFDAC.
His enduring legacy is in instilling fear into our thieving political elite nurtured in a contra-culture that encourage them to see the public purse as their private purse. Ribadu’s exit is, however, Nigeria’s loss and as it may yet turn out, Yar’Adua’s loss as well. In a way, Ribadu is the winner in this entire shenanigan. He is leaving the EFCC when the ovation is loudest and more importantly without a blemish. I have no doubt that history will be kind to him while his antagonists will end up as mere footnotes in the belly of time.
Son Gbenga Accuses Obasanjo and father-in-law of sleeping with his wife; asks for paternity test and divorce
Treasonable Sex!
You slept with my wife Gbenga accuses dad ex-President Obasanjo and father-in-law
You slept with my wife Gbenga accuses dad ex-President Obasanjo and father-in-law
•Doubts paternity of kids
•Seeks DNA tests
First son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Gbenga, has sensationally accused him and his father-in-law, Otunba Alex Onabanjo, of sleeping with his wife, Mojisola.
Gbenga, presently asking Lagos High Court to dissolve the seven-year-old marriage, doubts the paternity of the fruits of the wedlock. The shocking revelation is contained in a fresh affidavit deposited to by the petitioner in response to cross petition of the defendant, a copy of which was made available to Sunday Sun at the weekend.Earlier, Mojisola had accused Gbenga of sundry sins including assault and battery.
The divorce suit has been dragging in court since 2006.
The 50-paragraph affidavit is averred to on Gbenga’s behalf by his solicitors, Addeh Associates. The tenth paragraph says: “The Petitioner (Gbenga Obasanjo) further avers that he knows for a fact that the Respondent committed adultery with and had an intimate, sexual relationship with his own father, General Olusegun Obasanjo, due to her greed to curry favours and contracts from him in his capacity as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.“The Petitioner avers that the Respondent also got rewarded for her adulterous acts with several oil contracts with the NNPC from his father, General Olusegun Obasanjo, amongst which was the NNPC consultancy training in supply chain management and project management awarded to her company Bowen and Brown.”The eighth paragraph says: “The Petitioner avers that the respondent confided in him severally while they living together (sic) that she had been sexually abused and defiled by her father, Otunba Alex Onabanjo on several occasions.”Neiher Chief Obasanjo nor Otunba Onabanjo could be reached for reaction as at press time last night.
culled from THE SUN
Gbenga, presently asking Lagos High Court to dissolve the seven-year-old marriage, doubts the paternity of the fruits of the wedlock. The shocking revelation is contained in a fresh affidavit deposited to by the petitioner in response to cross petition of the defendant, a copy of which was made available to Sunday Sun at the weekend.Earlier, Mojisola had accused Gbenga of sundry sins including assault and battery.
The divorce suit has been dragging in court since 2006.
The 50-paragraph affidavit is averred to on Gbenga’s behalf by his solicitors, Addeh Associates. The tenth paragraph says: “The Petitioner (Gbenga Obasanjo) further avers that he knows for a fact that the Respondent committed adultery with and had an intimate, sexual relationship with his own father, General Olusegun Obasanjo, due to her greed to curry favours and contracts from him in his capacity as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.“The Petitioner avers that the Respondent also got rewarded for her adulterous acts with several oil contracts with the NNPC from his father, General Olusegun Obasanjo, amongst which was the NNPC consultancy training in supply chain management and project management awarded to her company Bowen and Brown.”The eighth paragraph says: “The Petitioner avers that the respondent confided in him severally while they living together (sic) that she had been sexually abused and defiled by her father, Otunba Alex Onabanjo on several occasions.”Neiher Chief Obasanjo nor Otunba Onabanjo could be reached for reaction as at press time last night.
culled from THE SUN
17 Ways of Stopping Financial Corruption in Nigeria
As a general move, we should:
Pass the Freedom of Information Bill;
Pass the Whistle-Blower’s Bill;
Strengthen all the laws that were used to establish the ICPC and the EFCC so that they are not weakened by the courts.
For elected public officials, we should:
focus on the executives at the National, State and Local Government levels;
enable public access to their declared assets, sanctioning any officials that don’t declare their assets and/or truthfully;
require independent, professional and regular audits of all LG, state and federal accounts, and make available to the public;
abrogate or seriously amend Section 308 immunity clause that benefit the President, the Vice-President, the 36 governors and 36 deputy-governors. If amended, Section 308 should allow the
(i) the Police, the ICPC and the EFCC to pursue CRIMINAL charges the executive officials;
(ii) the Senate to investigate civil charges against the President, after a grand jury of three Appeals Court judges has determined that there is a prima facie case against them that is urgent; and
(iii) State Houses of Assembly to investigate civil charges against the governors and their deputies; after a grand jury of three High Court judges has determined that there is a prima facie case against them that is urgent;
For unelected public officials, we should:
speedily prosecute all persons not protected by Section 308 who aids and abets those immunized officials in financial and other types of corruption;
focus on ridding the Police Force and Judicial Bench of corruption; these two arms are the most public faces of exercising justice in the land;
observe zero-tolerance for bribery by the NPF on our highways, including use of sting operations;
observe zero-tolerance for bribery by judges, mandatorily disbarring any found to have taken bribes.
For private sector officials, we should:
focus on ridding the banks and other financial houses of corrupt practices;
observe zero-tolerance for money-laundering: sanctions could for example DOUBLE the amounts laundered, including closing banks down for egregious violations;
observe zero-tolerance for foreign-exchange round-tripping; fines should double the amount round-tripped.
For the citizenry at large, we should:
focus on eliminating the 4-1-9 advanced fee fraud crime, making it a “special economic crime against the state”;
use a central registry of phones and faxes supplied on the 4-1-9 letters to SHUT down the phone numbers IMMEDIATELY;
use sting operations to arrest and SUMMARILY jail caught miscreants.
Until we strenuously tackle at least each of these seventeen steps comprehensively, the fight against financial corruption in Nigeria cannot be deemed to be serious.
Pass the Freedom of Information Bill;
Pass the Whistle-Blower’s Bill;
Strengthen all the laws that were used to establish the ICPC and the EFCC so that they are not weakened by the courts.
For elected public officials, we should:
focus on the executives at the National, State and Local Government levels;
enable public access to their declared assets, sanctioning any officials that don’t declare their assets and/or truthfully;
require independent, professional and regular audits of all LG, state and federal accounts, and make available to the public;
abrogate or seriously amend Section 308 immunity clause that benefit the President, the Vice-President, the 36 governors and 36 deputy-governors. If amended, Section 308 should allow the
(i) the Police, the ICPC and the EFCC to pursue CRIMINAL charges the executive officials;
(ii) the Senate to investigate civil charges against the President, after a grand jury of three Appeals Court judges has determined that there is a prima facie case against them that is urgent; and
(iii) State Houses of Assembly to investigate civil charges against the governors and their deputies; after a grand jury of three High Court judges has determined that there is a prima facie case against them that is urgent;
For unelected public officials, we should:
speedily prosecute all persons not protected by Section 308 who aids and abets those immunized officials in financial and other types of corruption;
focus on ridding the Police Force and Judicial Bench of corruption; these two arms are the most public faces of exercising justice in the land;
observe zero-tolerance for bribery by the NPF on our highways, including use of sting operations;
observe zero-tolerance for bribery by judges, mandatorily disbarring any found to have taken bribes.
For private sector officials, we should:
focus on ridding the banks and other financial houses of corrupt practices;
observe zero-tolerance for money-laundering: sanctions could for example DOUBLE the amounts laundered, including closing banks down for egregious violations;
observe zero-tolerance for foreign-exchange round-tripping; fines should double the amount round-tripped.
For the citizenry at large, we should:
focus on eliminating the 4-1-9 advanced fee fraud crime, making it a “special economic crime against the state”;
use a central registry of phones and faxes supplied on the 4-1-9 letters to SHUT down the phone numbers IMMEDIATELY;
use sting operations to arrest and SUMMARILY jail caught miscreants.
Until we strenuously tackle at least each of these seventeen steps comprehensively, the fight against financial corruption in Nigeria cannot be deemed to be serious.
NIGERIA’S STRUGGLE WITH CORRUPTION
NIGERIA’S STRUGGLE WITH CORRUPTION
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu**
Introduction
The history of corruption in Nigeria is strongly rooted in the over 29 years ofmilitary rule, out of 46 years of her statehood since 1960. Successive military regimes subdued the rule of law, facilitated the wanton looting of the public treasury, decapitated public institutions and free speech and instituted a secret and opaque culture in the running of government business. The result was total insecurity, poor economic management, abuse of human rights, ethnic conflicts and capital flight. Democracy was restored in Nigeria only in May 1999, with the election of the civilian government under the leadership of president Olusegun Obasanjo.
One cardinal programme of the Obasanjo administration is the fight against corruption and waste in the public service. This, he has demonstrated by the establishment of two major anti-graft institutions, the Independent Corrupt Practices (And Other Related Offences) Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2000 and 2003 respectively.
THE ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGY
The Government’s target is zero tolerance for corruption. This, it has pursued through –
- Promulgation of laws against graft – Independent Corrupt Practices And
(Other Related Offences) Commission (ICPC) Act, Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act, Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act
2004
- Strengthening of anti-corruption and other economic crimes Institutions for
effective law enforcement
- Prosecution and conviction of high ranking administration officials
- Tracing, seizing and confiscation of all proceeds of crime
- Institution of the Due Process Mechanism in public sector procurements
- Privatization of failing public institutions and creating an enabling
environment for effective private-public partnerships
- Monthly publication of distributable revenue from the Federation Account to
the different tiers of government
- Institution of transparencies in the oil and gas sector through the work of the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI)
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
The EFCC which is today the arrow-head in the fight against corruption in Nigeria was established in 2003 as part of a national reform programme to address corruption and money laundering and in answer to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) concerns about Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws.
EFCC is an inter-agency Commission comprising a 22-member Board drawn from all Nigerian Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and regulators. The Commission is empowered to investigate, prevent and prosecute offenders who engage in
"Money laundering, embezzlement, bribery, looting and any form of
corrupt practices, illegal arms deal, smuggling, human trafficking, and
child labour, illegal oil bunkering, illegal mining, tax evasion, foreign
exchange malpractices including counterfeiting of currency, theft of
intellectual property and piracy, open market abuse, dumping of toxic
wastes, and prohibited goods"
(Section 46, EFCC Establishment Act, 2004)
The Commission is also responsible for identifying, tracing, freezing, confiscating, or seizing proceeds derived from terrorist activities. EFCC is also host to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), vested with the responsibility of collecting suspicious transactions reports (STRs) from financial and designated non-financial institutions, analyzing and disseminating them to all relevant government agencies and other FIUs all over the world.
In addition to other law relating to economic and financial crimes, including the criminal and penal codes, EFCC is empowered to enforce all the pre-1999 anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws. Punishment prescribed in the EFCC Establishment Act range from combination of payment of fine, forfeiture of assets and up to five years imprisonment depending on the nature and gravity of the offence. Conviction for terrorist financing and terrorist activities attracts life imprisonment.
POSITIVE RESULTS SO FAR
Since the establishment of EFCC in 2003, it has been involved in the investigation of cases ranging from high profile corruption cases, advanced fee fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, contract scams, identity theft, illegal oil bunkering, bribery, looting, and foreign exchange malpractices.
• Cleansing of the Banking Sub-sector
EFCC has contributed to the sanitization of the banking sector through investigation and prosecution of Chief Executives and other officials for Money Laundering and other frauds. Bank failures which were rampant in the past have now become a thing of the past.
• Reorganization of Critical Agencies of Government
EFCC has led the drive to clean up and reorganize key agencies and institutions of government in Nigeria. The Commission’s work has led to the change of leadership of the most critical agencies such as the Nigeria Police, the Customs and the National Drug Law enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The new leadership are driving necessary reforms of these vital agencies that were hitherto steeped in corruption.
• Prosecution and Conviction of Corrupt Top Public Officers
The Commission has successfully prosecuted and secured convictions against top government functionaries, including the former chief law enforcement officer of the nation, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP). Investigation by EFCC has caused the
removal from office and prosecution of a president of Senate, a governor, ministers, parliamentarians, chief executives of banks, etc.
• Record Convictions for ‘419’, Money Laundering and Terrorism
So far, 56 convictions have been recorded on corruption, money laundering, oil pipeline vandalisms and related offences. Assets well over $5 billion have been frozen and seized from corrupt officials, their agents and cronies.
• Recovery and Return of Proceeds of Crime
The fight against advance fee fraud (419) and identity theft has been aggressively pursued, leading to the prosecution and conviction of kingpins including the celebrated $242 million case involving a Brazilian bank. Much of the amount has been recovered and returned to the bank in Brazil.
The EFCC also recovered and returned the sum of $4 million to a victim of 419 in Hong Kong and has seized and returned over $ 500,000 to sundry US citizens. It is in the process of returning $1.6 million (already blocked) to a victim in Florida.
• Setting up of the FIU and Taking Action against Terrorist Financing
The fight against money laundering, terrorism and terrorist financing has heightened with the establishment of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) by the EFCC. This has helped in the detection of Suspicious Transactions in financial institutions.
EFCC is coordinating the implementation of the National Strategy Plan Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. This has no doubt impressed the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) of the G8 whose review team only recently concluded an on-site visitation to the country with a view to assessing her level of compliance in order to have her de-listed from its list of Non-Cooperating Countries and Territories (NCCTs).
Nigeria is fully in compliance with the UN Convention against corruption and
UN Resolutions on terrorism and terrorist financing particularly Resolution 1247. EFCC maintains a database of terrorist groups, individuals, non governmental organizations(NGOs), etc, and she constantly keeps a weather look on them.
• Setting up Machinery for Monitoring Activities in the Oil Industry and
Prevention of Illegal Bunkering
EFCC is vigorously addressing the nagging problem of illegal oil bunkering and
pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta Region. Over 10 convictions on pipeline
vandalism have been recorded, 25 trailers (instrumentalities of crime) seized and
confiscated and accounts of beneficiaries blocked.
• Partnership with Microsoft against Internet Scam and Identity Theft
EFCC has deployed technology to combat cyber crimes and is presently working in partnership with Microsoft to find appropriate software to definitively address the problem.
• Capacity Building for Law Enforcement and Judicial Officials
Capacity building is a key in the fight against graft. EFCC has responded by establishing a state- of-the-art Training and Research Institute in Karu, Abuja, for the training of its officials.EFCC has also assisted through donor agencies with the training
of judges handling cases of corruption, money laundering and other financial crimes. This has helped to reduce the trial cycle-time.
RELATIONSHIP WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES (LEAs)
EFCC has excellent working relationship with major Law Enforcement Agencies all over the world. These include the INTERPOL, the UK Metropolitan Police, FBI, Canadian Mounted Police, the Scorpions of South Africa, etc.
The relationship with the FBI has been particularly special. This has manifested in the following:
Joint Controlled delivery operations and investigations with officers of
the US Postal Inspections Service
Joint Investigations and collaboration with the Resident Regional Agent
of the United States Secret Service, Pretoria, South Africa, especially in
cases of document and currency counterfeiting
OTHER ANTI-CORRPUTION INITIATIVES OF THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
The work of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Initiative (NEITI) has opened up the oil and gas sector through its landmark independent audit conducted by Hart Group. The audit had a three-pronged component – Physical, Financial and process. The result of the audit revealed discrepancies in physical hydrocarbon balances and declared volumes for royalty purposes, physical hydrocarbon balances and the declared volumes for Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) purposes, deductions claimed by companies for PPT purposes against the expenditures in their audited accounts and differences between the amounts reported by the Companies as paid and the amounts reported by the CBN as received.
Nigeria is listed as one of the 21 most improved nations in 2005. More importantly, the 2005 World Economic Forum and World Bank Governance Surveys by Dr. Danny Kaufman indicated significant improvements on Corruption, Public Procurement, Public Finances, Taxation, etc.
The Rule of law has been substantially restored. The restoration of the Rule of law and the fight against graft has manifested in the improved rating by Transparency International (TI) and Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) inflows into the country. This is also manifest in the high support received from the international donor communities including the World Bank, the European Union and the Commonwealth Secretariat. The European Union through the UNODC is today, implementing perhaps, the biggest donor project in Nigeria involving $32 million. This project aims to improve EFCC capacity in investigating and prosecuting corruption and other economic crimes.
CHALLENGES OF FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA
There exist serious challenges to the continued successful prosecution of the war on corruption in Nigeria. These include:
Internal
Relatively slow Judicial system
The technological complexities in fighting economic crimes in the
cyber space
Lack of capacity and investigation tools such as analyses tools,
financial transactions software, etc
External
The availability of safe havens for corrupt Nigerian officials to
keep their loot abroad
Lack of cooperation from some countries
REQUEST TO THE US AUTHORITIES
• The US and members of the G8 must be in the forefront of building
global coalition against corruption. Make transparency and
accountability and the fight against corruption the primary basis for
relating with any government
• The US must speak out against countries that provide safe havens
for proceeds of corruption from Nigeria and other developing
countries.
• The government of the United States should support and empower
local agencies on the ground, through capacity building and
technical assistance
• The US Authorities should also consider the deployment of
additional FBI Agents at the US Embassy in Nigeria and strengthen
collaborative initiatives between agencies fighting corruption in
Nigeria and all law enforcement agencies and the Justice
Department in the US. This will expedite requests for assistance
made to US Authorities on economic crimes. The huge population of
Nigeria (150 million) and the relatively high rate of white collar
crimes in Nigeria justify this request.
CONCLUSION
I want to conclude by drawing attention to the grievous harm that corruption has done toNigeria and, indeed, Africa over the years. Corruption is responsible for perpetual collapse of infrastructure and institutions; it is the cause of the endemic poverty in Africa; it is behind the underdevelopment and cyclical failure of democracy to take root in Africa. Corruption is worse than terrorism. Public officials who are corrupt should receive worse treatment than that reserved for terrorists.
It is high time we refocus and give issue of corruption the attention they rightly deserve. Making corruption history is the surest way of making all the problems of Nigeria history.
Thank you for your time
§ Being an abridged and edited version of presentation to US Congressional House Committee on International Development, Washigton, DC on 18 May 2006.
** Ribadu is the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), a foremost anti graft agency in Nigeria.
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu**
Introduction
The history of corruption in Nigeria is strongly rooted in the over 29 years ofmilitary rule, out of 46 years of her statehood since 1960. Successive military regimes subdued the rule of law, facilitated the wanton looting of the public treasury, decapitated public institutions and free speech and instituted a secret and opaque culture in the running of government business. The result was total insecurity, poor economic management, abuse of human rights, ethnic conflicts and capital flight. Democracy was restored in Nigeria only in May 1999, with the election of the civilian government under the leadership of president Olusegun Obasanjo.
One cardinal programme of the Obasanjo administration is the fight against corruption and waste in the public service. This, he has demonstrated by the establishment of two major anti-graft institutions, the Independent Corrupt Practices (And Other Related Offences) Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2000 and 2003 respectively.
THE ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGY
The Government’s target is zero tolerance for corruption. This, it has pursued through –
- Promulgation of laws against graft – Independent Corrupt Practices And
(Other Related Offences) Commission (ICPC) Act, Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act, Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act
2004
- Strengthening of anti-corruption and other economic crimes Institutions for
effective law enforcement
- Prosecution and conviction of high ranking administration officials
- Tracing, seizing and confiscation of all proceeds of crime
- Institution of the Due Process Mechanism in public sector procurements
- Privatization of failing public institutions and creating an enabling
environment for effective private-public partnerships
- Monthly publication of distributable revenue from the Federation Account to
the different tiers of government
- Institution of transparencies in the oil and gas sector through the work of the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI)
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
The EFCC which is today the arrow-head in the fight against corruption in Nigeria was established in 2003 as part of a national reform programme to address corruption and money laundering and in answer to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) concerns about Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws.
EFCC is an inter-agency Commission comprising a 22-member Board drawn from all Nigerian Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and regulators. The Commission is empowered to investigate, prevent and prosecute offenders who engage in
"Money laundering, embezzlement, bribery, looting and any form of
corrupt practices, illegal arms deal, smuggling, human trafficking, and
child labour, illegal oil bunkering, illegal mining, tax evasion, foreign
exchange malpractices including counterfeiting of currency, theft of
intellectual property and piracy, open market abuse, dumping of toxic
wastes, and prohibited goods"
(Section 46, EFCC Establishment Act, 2004)
The Commission is also responsible for identifying, tracing, freezing, confiscating, or seizing proceeds derived from terrorist activities. EFCC is also host to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), vested with the responsibility of collecting suspicious transactions reports (STRs) from financial and designated non-financial institutions, analyzing and disseminating them to all relevant government agencies and other FIUs all over the world.
In addition to other law relating to economic and financial crimes, including the criminal and penal codes, EFCC is empowered to enforce all the pre-1999 anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws. Punishment prescribed in the EFCC Establishment Act range from combination of payment of fine, forfeiture of assets and up to five years imprisonment depending on the nature and gravity of the offence. Conviction for terrorist financing and terrorist activities attracts life imprisonment.
POSITIVE RESULTS SO FAR
Since the establishment of EFCC in 2003, it has been involved in the investigation of cases ranging from high profile corruption cases, advanced fee fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, contract scams, identity theft, illegal oil bunkering, bribery, looting, and foreign exchange malpractices.
• Cleansing of the Banking Sub-sector
EFCC has contributed to the sanitization of the banking sector through investigation and prosecution of Chief Executives and other officials for Money Laundering and other frauds. Bank failures which were rampant in the past have now become a thing of the past.
• Reorganization of Critical Agencies of Government
EFCC has led the drive to clean up and reorganize key agencies and institutions of government in Nigeria. The Commission’s work has led to the change of leadership of the most critical agencies such as the Nigeria Police, the Customs and the National Drug Law enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The new leadership are driving necessary reforms of these vital agencies that were hitherto steeped in corruption.
• Prosecution and Conviction of Corrupt Top Public Officers
The Commission has successfully prosecuted and secured convictions against top government functionaries, including the former chief law enforcement officer of the nation, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP). Investigation by EFCC has caused the
removal from office and prosecution of a president of Senate, a governor, ministers, parliamentarians, chief executives of banks, etc.
• Record Convictions for ‘419’, Money Laundering and Terrorism
So far, 56 convictions have been recorded on corruption, money laundering, oil pipeline vandalisms and related offences. Assets well over $5 billion have been frozen and seized from corrupt officials, their agents and cronies.
• Recovery and Return of Proceeds of Crime
The fight against advance fee fraud (419) and identity theft has been aggressively pursued, leading to the prosecution and conviction of kingpins including the celebrated $242 million case involving a Brazilian bank. Much of the amount has been recovered and returned to the bank in Brazil.
The EFCC also recovered and returned the sum of $4 million to a victim of 419 in Hong Kong and has seized and returned over $ 500,000 to sundry US citizens. It is in the process of returning $1.6 million (already blocked) to a victim in Florida.
• Setting up of the FIU and Taking Action against Terrorist Financing
The fight against money laundering, terrorism and terrorist financing has heightened with the establishment of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) by the EFCC. This has helped in the detection of Suspicious Transactions in financial institutions.
EFCC is coordinating the implementation of the National Strategy Plan Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. This has no doubt impressed the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) of the G8 whose review team only recently concluded an on-site visitation to the country with a view to assessing her level of compliance in order to have her de-listed from its list of Non-Cooperating Countries and Territories (NCCTs).
Nigeria is fully in compliance with the UN Convention against corruption and
UN Resolutions on terrorism and terrorist financing particularly Resolution 1247. EFCC maintains a database of terrorist groups, individuals, non governmental organizations(NGOs), etc, and she constantly keeps a weather look on them.
• Setting up Machinery for Monitoring Activities in the Oil Industry and
Prevention of Illegal Bunkering
EFCC is vigorously addressing the nagging problem of illegal oil bunkering and
pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta Region. Over 10 convictions on pipeline
vandalism have been recorded, 25 trailers (instrumentalities of crime) seized and
confiscated and accounts of beneficiaries blocked.
• Partnership with Microsoft against Internet Scam and Identity Theft
EFCC has deployed technology to combat cyber crimes and is presently working in partnership with Microsoft to find appropriate software to definitively address the problem.
• Capacity Building for Law Enforcement and Judicial Officials
Capacity building is a key in the fight against graft. EFCC has responded by establishing a state- of-the-art Training and Research Institute in Karu, Abuja, for the training of its officials.EFCC has also assisted through donor agencies with the training
of judges handling cases of corruption, money laundering and other financial crimes. This has helped to reduce the trial cycle-time.
RELATIONSHIP WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES (LEAs)
EFCC has excellent working relationship with major Law Enforcement Agencies all over the world. These include the INTERPOL, the UK Metropolitan Police, FBI, Canadian Mounted Police, the Scorpions of South Africa, etc.
The relationship with the FBI has been particularly special. This has manifested in the following:
Joint Controlled delivery operations and investigations with officers of
the US Postal Inspections Service
Joint Investigations and collaboration with the Resident Regional Agent
of the United States Secret Service, Pretoria, South Africa, especially in
cases of document and currency counterfeiting
OTHER ANTI-CORRPUTION INITIATIVES OF THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
The work of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Initiative (NEITI) has opened up the oil and gas sector through its landmark independent audit conducted by Hart Group. The audit had a three-pronged component – Physical, Financial and process. The result of the audit revealed discrepancies in physical hydrocarbon balances and declared volumes for royalty purposes, physical hydrocarbon balances and the declared volumes for Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) purposes, deductions claimed by companies for PPT purposes against the expenditures in their audited accounts and differences between the amounts reported by the Companies as paid and the amounts reported by the CBN as received.
Nigeria is listed as one of the 21 most improved nations in 2005. More importantly, the 2005 World Economic Forum and World Bank Governance Surveys by Dr. Danny Kaufman indicated significant improvements on Corruption, Public Procurement, Public Finances, Taxation, etc.
The Rule of law has been substantially restored. The restoration of the Rule of law and the fight against graft has manifested in the improved rating by Transparency International (TI) and Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) inflows into the country. This is also manifest in the high support received from the international donor communities including the World Bank, the European Union and the Commonwealth Secretariat. The European Union through the UNODC is today, implementing perhaps, the biggest donor project in Nigeria involving $32 million. This project aims to improve EFCC capacity in investigating and prosecuting corruption and other economic crimes.
CHALLENGES OF FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA
There exist serious challenges to the continued successful prosecution of the war on corruption in Nigeria. These include:
Internal
Relatively slow Judicial system
The technological complexities in fighting economic crimes in the
cyber space
Lack of capacity and investigation tools such as analyses tools,
financial transactions software, etc
External
The availability of safe havens for corrupt Nigerian officials to
keep their loot abroad
Lack of cooperation from some countries
REQUEST TO THE US AUTHORITIES
• The US and members of the G8 must be in the forefront of building
global coalition against corruption. Make transparency and
accountability and the fight against corruption the primary basis for
relating with any government
• The US must speak out against countries that provide safe havens
for proceeds of corruption from Nigeria and other developing
countries.
• The government of the United States should support and empower
local agencies on the ground, through capacity building and
technical assistance
• The US Authorities should also consider the deployment of
additional FBI Agents at the US Embassy in Nigeria and strengthen
collaborative initiatives between agencies fighting corruption in
Nigeria and all law enforcement agencies and the Justice
Department in the US. This will expedite requests for assistance
made to US Authorities on economic crimes. The huge population of
Nigeria (150 million) and the relatively high rate of white collar
crimes in Nigeria justify this request.
CONCLUSION
I want to conclude by drawing attention to the grievous harm that corruption has done toNigeria and, indeed, Africa over the years. Corruption is responsible for perpetual collapse of infrastructure and institutions; it is the cause of the endemic poverty in Africa; it is behind the underdevelopment and cyclical failure of democracy to take root in Africa. Corruption is worse than terrorism. Public officials who are corrupt should receive worse treatment than that reserved for terrorists.
It is high time we refocus and give issue of corruption the attention they rightly deserve. Making corruption history is the surest way of making all the problems of Nigeria history.
Thank you for your time
§ Being an abridged and edited version of presentation to US Congressional House Committee on International Development, Washigton, DC on 18 May 2006.
** Ribadu is the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), a foremost anti graft agency in Nigeria.
Cultism On Nigeria Campuses
Against the backdrop of the University as a microcosm of a utopian society, the menace of secret cults in our institutions of higher learning leaves myriads of perplexing questions: When did secret cult originate and how did it integrate itself into our institutions of higher learning? What, in spite of its obvious dangers, inform students patronage of secret cults? What factors in the campus world, inherent or extraneous, have so far stalled concerted attends at eradication of this hydra-headed scourge? Can cult kingpins be proselytized into the patriotic society and if not, how does the campus community contain the excesses of these malcontents? These and more issues are what this article will attempt to tackle. Secret Cult dates back to the ancient world, to the Greco-Egyptian society of omens and superstitions. However, its origin in Nigerian Universities highlights the paradox of existence. Where the then average student was cultivating unbecoming manners, then Mr. Wole Soyinka, Mr. Muyiwa Awe and others formed the Pyrates Confraternity, with the noble objective of exposing the absurdity of the colonial mentality in the post Independent studentry. The Confraternity being exclusive, students not allowed to identify formed their own confraternities. These new formations did not share the gracious intents of Mr. Soyinka and clique. Over time schism broke their ranks, with breakaway formations pitched against one another for supremacy. The result was a rash of societies, misplaced values, unhealthy rivalry and an antisocial culture of fire eating and bloodletting sustained by the cause-effect principle. Hundreds of innocent students are slaughtered yearly in our campuses. They are simply awe striking. They evoke images of intransigence, blood and death. Name them: The Bucaneers, the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, the Black Axe, Klu Klu Klan, the Executioners, Black Berets, Daughters of Jezebel, the Eiye Confraternity among many others. Cult fanaticism is a creation of the system. We belong, in the words of Prof. Wole Soyinka, to the wasted generation. We belong to the era of juvenile extremism and effervescence. We belong to the era where the abuse of cannabis, hitherto the preserve of our outcasts and only spoken of in whispers, has been elevated to a social cause celebre. Our values are not only confused and intrinsically defective but also counterproductive. Harvesting from the chaos of cultism are the politicians and other elite class whose pool of bodyguards, assassin squads and rabble-rousers are conscripted from the miscreants. The elite class is heavily culpable for the menace of cultism in the universities. This retrograde trend has spilled into near and distant communities with unprecedented tolls posing more danger to our communal existence than HIV/AIDS and hunger combined. The wave of militia in the Niger Delta is the direct result of Campus cults. Various deadly factions have mushroomed in our various communities with every trapping of their alter egos in the campuses. The same gory rituals and mind-bending initiation rites are their hallmark. They are even more deadly, feeding from the denatured clique of village psychopaths, half and raving lunatics, stark illiterates with bestial, earthy, and barbarous impulses. Despite the obvious dangers of secret cult, it would continue to entice our fancies. The allure of power and dominion; desire for protection against real and imagined enemies, are usually canvassed by cult scouts who go about enlisting like-minds. There are instances whereby unwilling students have been browbeaten into identifying with these bloodletting cliques. Students engage in cultism to dare, to shore up their ego, to intimidate even their lecturers and to court the best of girls in the campus. Some girl hostels are ‘fenced’ off by a given gang and intruders paid dearly. Parental initiations exist, of course, whereby heads of confraternities recruit their wards and charges. These conscripts go about with spirited dear-devilry, shored up to mind-boggling orgies of destruction by a sense of invincibility, by their impregnable patron-fastness. That feeling of invincibility was real. Fingered in the sponsorship of cultism and cult attacks are big wigs of the society before whom the law and law enforcement agents shrank into oblivion. I cannot forget in a hurry, the feeling of demystification one morning, in the late 90’s while on a visit to the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus. The Police had been flagged in to rapid gunfire between some undisclosed cult factions. For the Police of then, the immediate response was unprecedented. However, for some undisclosed reasons, their presence could not deter perpetration. The law enforcement agents could not produce any tangible report about students caught in action with live, sophisticated weaponry. That observation underlined the invincibility of the hoodlums. In Unilag of then, students picked up with firearms and even, as was the case in Jaja Hall, a hand grenade, only stayed away the night at Panti and returned the following day, breathing more threats, and posing greater danger to communal existence. Until the then Omotola regime took the eradication of cultism in Unilag seriously, spurred on by the irrepressible Omoyele, then Unilag Students Union president, Unilag lived under the firm grabs of cult-terrorism. Students woke up to gory tales of slaughtering of their fellow students, of blood bath. You were witnesses to chaos, to murder in broad day. Waves of gunfire shattered the air like glassware; and you have this sense of being in a war-front, and funny enough, you were a student, expected to be cultured against a rustic society. Cultism is abuse of the freedom of association. Majority of those who enlist are either forced to or were not abreast of the hard facts about cultism at the outset. New university entrants are lured in by rosy promises of dominion on campus, protection from enemies and sundry others. But then, the tolls begin sooner than later. There are frequent reports of students who had lost their lives in the stiff initiation rites. Then the survivors, far from protection, become targets of rival cults; are hounded by the police, the campus, the student union authorities and the civilized world. The constraints to cult eradication are legion. Cult membership is usually the preserve of the children of the top echelon of the society. They thus operate with reckless impunity, fully conscious of their immunity in a lopsided society as ours. The pool of members are teenagers with low self-esteem, whose academic orientation is suspect; die-hard criminals and crime-minded without any compunction over anti-social vices. Cult kingpins can be proselytized into the patriotic society. We must first understand that Cult patronage is in shades. There are the hardened and the peripheral. The later quickly shed their obnoxious affiliation once they fling the doors of the Ivory Towers behind them, barely enduring the frightening reign of chaos. The former are career cultists who would graduate to mind-boggling dare-devilry. Whichever one, they can all be re-orientated into orderly, civilized conduct.· A well-funded rehabilitation centre is the answer. Graduates of these centres can be offered careers in the armed forces and the police, where they can use their know-how to combat crimes and protect the society.· All Secret Cults should be registered in the corporate affairs commission in Abuja, with their leaders and patrons, who should be legal entities, known. They should also be registered with school authorities.· Freedom of arms in the campuses, nay in Nigeria, should be legalized by an act of the National Assembly. These cultists are able to intimidate you because they are armed and you are not. And whether we believe it or not, there are more illegal arms out there than we imagine.· Demilitarization of our collective psyche and enthronement of an egalitarian society.· With the New look Police under the dynamic leadership of Sir Mike Okiro; we are rest assured that high-level collusions are untenable. We should therefore give the Police maximum support, moral and material, to help secure the society. Finally, as Sowore Stephen Omoyele, former Unilag Union President, and Civil Rights activist, put it“When cult members find themselves in colleges in the US or Europe, they don't go around killing innocent people. They don't even kill squirrels on their campuses. They do so in Nigeria because the system lets them.” A complete overhaul of that disastrous system is imperative.
Triumph Of Olusegun mimiko
Triumph Of Olusegun mimiko The declaration of Olusegun Mimiko as the winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship election in Ondo State by the Garba Naburuma-led election petition tribunal may stand as a vindication of the judiciary as the last bastion of hope for the powerless. The verdict has also set the stage for a lap of honour in Mimiko's camp, whose route to victory was strewn with thorns and thistles. The former minister had alleged harassment and intimidation from his opponents but like the proverbial Iroko tree, he persevered and remained resolute in his quest to seek justice.The five-man election petition tribunal after sitting for about one and half hour ruled on Friday, July 25, 2008, that Mimiko scored 198, 261 against Olusegun Agagu's 128, 669, making him the authentic winner of the governorship election of 2007 in Ondo State. It went further to nullify all votes cast in Agagu's home council of Ilaje local government and declared that Mimiko won two thirds of the total votes from the 18 local councils in the state. It also ordered the Independent National Election Tribunal (INEC)to issue Mimiko with certificate of return as the winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship election in the state even as it directed that Mimiko be sworn in immediately.
Mimiko had filed a 145,000-page petition in 2007, asking the election petition tribunal to declare him the winner. He thus commenced the tortuous path to victory that saw exchanges of legal fire works culminating in the judgment of Friday, July 25.
A Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Bamidele Aturu welcomes the tribunal's judgement as a good step in the right direction towards strengthening Nigeria's democracy. "I think it is a very good decision; it is heart warming. It has given some hope that all is not lost. All Nigerians welcome it. I celebrate the decision," Aturu declared.
Mimiko, a medical doctor-turned politician was said to have altered the political equation of Ondo State, when he indicated interest to contest the 2007 governorship election, thus, sending jitters down the spine of the opposition. Fondly called Iroko by his teeming followers, Mimiko inspired a new wave of political alignment and re-alignments in Ondo State, when he joined the opposition Labour Party (LP), after loosing out in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)governorship ticket to the incumbent governor, Agagu, in a fiercely contested primary. In LP, he readily became the flag bearer and contested the April 14, 2007 governorship election for the State.
Mimiko was born on October 3, 1954 in Ondo State. He commenced his academic pursuits at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Mission primary School, Aponmu and Akure. He later went to St.Joseph College, Ondo in 1970 before concluding his secondary education at Gboluji Grammar School, Ile -Oluji.
He thereafter proceeded to the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), where he studied Medicine. He observed the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corp (NYSC)at the Nigerian Naval College (NNS), Onura, Onne in Port Harcourt from 1981 to 1982.
He began his career as a medical officer in Ondo State Health Management Board (OSHMB)in 1982 and later founded Mona Mediclinic Limited (MML)and became its medical director.
Mimiko was later appointed Commissioner for Health in Ondo State in 1992 before moving up to become the Minister of Housing and Urban Development in 2005, from where he indicated interest to contest the governorship election in Ondo State in 2007.
He is a member of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA)and Association of General Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGMPN).
NIGERIA POPULATION
1
KANO STATE
9,383,682
2
LAGOS STATE
9,013,534
3
KADUNA STATE
6,066,562
4
KATSINA STATE
5,792,578
5
OYO STATE
5,591,589
6
RIVERS STATE
5,185,400
7
BAUCHI STATE
4,676,465
8
JIGAWA STATE
4,348,649
9
BENUE STATE
4,219,244
10
ANAMBRA STATE
4,182,032
11
BORNO STATE
4,151,193
12
DELTA STATE
4,098,391
13
IMO STATE
3,934,899
14
NIGER STATE
3,950,249
15
AKWA IBOM STATE
3,920,208
16
OGUN STATE
3,728,098
17
SOKOTO STATE
3,696,999
18
ONDO STATE
3,441,024
19
OSUN STATE
3,423,535
20
KOGI STATE
3,278,487
21
ZAMFARA STATE
3,259,846
22
ENUGU STATE
3,257,298
23
KEBBI STATE
3,238,628
24
EDO STATE
3,218,332
25
PLETEAU STATE
3,178,712
26
ADAMAWA STATE
3,168,101
27
CROSS RIVER STATE
2,888,966
28
ABIA STATE
2,833,999
29
EKITI STATE
2,384,212
30
KWARA STATE
2,371,089
31
GOMBE STATE
2,353,879
32
YOBE STATE
2,321,591
33
TARABA STATE
2,300,736
34
EBONYI STATE
2,173,501
35
NASSARAWA STATE
1,863,275
36
BAYELSA STATE
1,703,358
-
ABUJA FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY
1,405,201
TOTAL FIGURE=140,003,542
MALES=71,709,859
FEMALES=68,293683
KANO STATE
9,383,682
2
LAGOS STATE
9,013,534
3
KADUNA STATE
6,066,562
4
KATSINA STATE
5,792,578
5
OYO STATE
5,591,589
6
RIVERS STATE
5,185,400
7
BAUCHI STATE
4,676,465
8
JIGAWA STATE
4,348,649
9
BENUE STATE
4,219,244
10
ANAMBRA STATE
4,182,032
11
BORNO STATE
4,151,193
12
DELTA STATE
4,098,391
13
IMO STATE
3,934,899
14
NIGER STATE
3,950,249
15
AKWA IBOM STATE
3,920,208
16
OGUN STATE
3,728,098
17
SOKOTO STATE
3,696,999
18
ONDO STATE
3,441,024
19
OSUN STATE
3,423,535
20
KOGI STATE
3,278,487
21
ZAMFARA STATE
3,259,846
22
ENUGU STATE
3,257,298
23
KEBBI STATE
3,238,628
24
EDO STATE
3,218,332
25
PLETEAU STATE
3,178,712
26
ADAMAWA STATE
3,168,101
27
CROSS RIVER STATE
2,888,966
28
ABIA STATE
2,833,999
29
EKITI STATE
2,384,212
30
KWARA STATE
2,371,089
31
GOMBE STATE
2,353,879
32
YOBE STATE
2,321,591
33
TARABA STATE
2,300,736
34
EBONYI STATE
2,173,501
35
NASSARAWA STATE
1,863,275
36
BAYELSA STATE
1,703,358
-
ABUJA FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY
1,405,201
TOTAL FIGURE=140,003,542
MALES=71,709,859
FEMALES=68,293683
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