Job Description:
- Responsible for all sales activities in assigned accounts or regions. Manage quality and consistency of product and
service delivery.
- Present and sell company products and services to current and potential clients.
- Prepare action plans and schedules to identify specific targets and to project the number of contacts to be made.
- Follow up on new leads and referrals resulting from field activity.
- Identify sales prospects and contact these and other accounts as assigned.
- Prepare presentations, proposals and sales contracts.
- Develop and maintain sales materials and current product knowledge.
- Establish and maintain current client and potential client relationships.
- Prepare paperwork to activate and maintain contract services.
- Manage account services through quality checks and other follow-up.
- Identify and resolve client concerns.
Requirements
- OND/HND/B.Sc in relevant course of study
Deadline: 2010-8-31
Thursday 12 August 2010
Sim Card Registration Officers Wanted at a Telecom Company
Atos Origin Ltd is an international telecom outsource service company. We offer world class Network and Customer Service Support for Telecom Operators in Nigeria. Our operations currently spread across Nigeria.
We are recruiting massively for one of the top telecom companies in Nigeria for the following positions.
Job Title: Sim Card Registration Officers
No. of Personnels: Minimum of 40 Candidates in each State of the Federation.
The Role
To effectively and efficiently capture, register, and store the detailed subscribers’ profiles data into the Database using a project software, to meet the NCC specification on the identity verification of all SIM Cards activated.
Requirements/ Experience
- OND/ HND/ Degree qualification in any discipline.
- Fresh/ experienced candidates are required for this position as selected candidates will undergo 2 weeks training.
- A hands-on experience in computer usage is a must.
- Good appreciation and usage of modern project software
- Quick-to-learn and can-do attitude is required.
- Good Interpersonal skills, excellent oral & written communication
- Strong analytical skills.
- Candidate must be able to work with minimal supervision under pressure.
Method of Application
Suitable candidates should apply to below stating their State of interest, in the Cover Letter on or before 24th August, 2010.
Only qualified candidates should apply.
Deadline: 2010-8-24
We are recruiting massively for one of the top telecom companies in Nigeria for the following positions.
Job Title: Sim Card Registration Officers
No. of Personnels: Minimum of 40 Candidates in each State of the Federation.
The Role
To effectively and efficiently capture, register, and store the detailed subscribers’ profiles data into the Database using a project software, to meet the NCC specification on the identity verification of all SIM Cards activated.
Requirements/ Experience
- OND/ HND/ Degree qualification in any discipline.
- Fresh/ experienced candidates are required for this position as selected candidates will undergo 2 weeks training.
- A hands-on experience in computer usage is a must.
- Good appreciation and usage of modern project software
- Quick-to-learn and can-do attitude is required.
- Good Interpersonal skills, excellent oral & written communication
- Strong analytical skills.
- Candidate must be able to work with minimal supervision under pressure.
Method of Application
Suitable candidates should apply to below stating their State of interest, in the Cover Letter on or before 24th August, 2010.
Only qualified candidates should apply.
Deadline: 2010-8-24
Friday 6 August 2010
A Country Abandoned To Goodluck —Kole Omotoso
We deserve better than mere good luck. After 50 years of existence as a country we should not be dependent on the luck of the gambler, the opportunism of a traveller and the well wishing of a fisherman in an oasis! But Nigeria is in the hands of whatever fate has in store for him/her/it––we must provide all the possibilities of political correctness!
Wishing anyone good luck assumes that that person has what it needs to undertake whatever task the person has been set or has set him/herself. This is the kind of greeting you wish a Mandela as he is sworn in as president of South Africa. He has come to the position taking risks and winning, especially when he decided that as leader of the African National Congress he would go ahead and talk to the enemy since the enemy wished to talk to him and hope that his comrades in the movement would trust him to do the right thing by them. I played the part of Govan Mbeki in the film Mandela and de Klerk and all my lines were questions to Mandela as he went into his talks with the Boers! But he went in and he won. Wishing President Mandela good luck at his inauguration as president of South Africa had a basis in previous tasks undertaken and brought to success.
It is the kind of greeting to give to Barack Obama at his inauguration as president of the United States of America in the light of his epic struggle to win the nomination and then to win the presidency. Whatever trials and tribulations would beset him in the next five years would beset him against the background of identifiable tasks previously achieved.
It is the kind of greeting you give to Usain Bolt as he prepares for another 100 metres dash knowing that he had already set a previous world record doing that dash. But good luck Nigeria? In what context? Wishing Mandela good luck had a context. He worked within an existing institutional infrastructure built we understand for whites only but made to serve every South African citizen. Barack Obama operated within an institutional infrastructure which worked no matter who to work it. Wishing him good luck had a context. Mr. Bolt perhaps spent his youth running away from street bullies, misguided law officers and his irate parents. On what basis can we wish Dr. Jonathan good luck besides simply calling out his first name?
Dr. Jonathan has started on the wrong footing by entertaining the idea of more state creation in Nigeria. If there is anything that is needed in Nigeria it is putting an end to the creation of states which are no more than channels for the distribution of petrol dollars that has kept the failed state of Nigeria together. It is one of the institutions that have continued to fuel unpunished and unpunish-able corruption. One of Ibori’s self-exoneration was that the state of which he was governor did not complain that he had stolen money from it, why would the federal government that had no locum standi be complaining!
Dr. Jonathan makes promises about doing something about the power supply without spelling out what he intends to do. President Olusegun Obasanjo claimed that the power question was the work of saboteurs and as a military general working as a civilian president of Nigeria he could not deploy the military power necessary to deal with saboteurs. So they continued their damaging of the Nigerian psyche, never mind the circumstance.
Then came Yar’Ardua, of blessed memory, who claimed that the power problem was created by a mafia but he was not long with us to face the mafia. Anyone who knows that has happened in Italy, the original home of the mafia, and how the president there has worked assiduously to prevent any legal check on the mafia, can imagine what would have happened if Yar’Adua had been around long enough to challenge our mafia. With what, other than good luck, would Dr. Jonathan fight the importers of generators?
Maybe Nigeria is a gambling country. Nothing in its previous history points to good luck in its efforts. Political unrest, civil war, financial mismanagement, judicial killings as well as judicial irresponsibility, and idiotic impositions on the future have been some of the headlines in its 50 years history as an independent country. To take the last item first – idiotic impositions on the future. It is well known that people who have failed in the past have a knack of imposing on the future in order to claim the rights of existence in the present. People who have never lifted a hoe would threaten to fill values and reduce mountains to plains for fair play. If only the future could defend itself against such impositions.
The first and perhaps the most annoying imposition on the future was made by that master of Nigeria’s failures, General President Olusegun Obasanjo who claimed that some private university would produce a Nobel Prize winner in five years in Nigeria! Of course he knows nothing of the institutional infrastructures that support universities such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Cape Town and numerous others around the world.
And then there are the idiotic Vision 2010, Vision 2015, Vision 2020 which each failing Nigerian government has imposed on the future shamelessly, continuously, without doing anything that would make such futures merely permissible through the building of infrastructures. The greatest of such infrastructure would be the provision of continuous power supply to the whole country. Thinking of which one should ask publicly if it is true what conspirator theorists insist is an attempt to stop the industrialisation of the south of the country by denying electricity supply to the whole country. There was a time when about 65 per cent of the industrial power of Nigeria was based in the South of the country. This was said to be unacceptable for the powers that be in the North. As a result the leadership of the power supply corporation sabotaged their own year after year, decade after decade, in order to inflict political punishment on their rivals in the South. And Nigeria became the world capital of imported generators.
There is a myth that winning gamblers know when to stop. Winning gamblers do not know when to stop. They in fact do not want to stop because they wish to break the house. Losing gamblers of course never stop until they win, when they then want to break the house and they become losing gamblers!
So, once more, our chances are skewed. Dr. Jonathan, good luck!
Wishing anyone good luck assumes that that person has what it needs to undertake whatever task the person has been set or has set him/herself. This is the kind of greeting you wish a Mandela as he is sworn in as president of South Africa. He has come to the position taking risks and winning, especially when he decided that as leader of the African National Congress he would go ahead and talk to the enemy since the enemy wished to talk to him and hope that his comrades in the movement would trust him to do the right thing by them. I played the part of Govan Mbeki in the film Mandela and de Klerk and all my lines were questions to Mandela as he went into his talks with the Boers! But he went in and he won. Wishing President Mandela good luck at his inauguration as president of South Africa had a basis in previous tasks undertaken and brought to success.
It is the kind of greeting to give to Barack Obama at his inauguration as president of the United States of America in the light of his epic struggle to win the nomination and then to win the presidency. Whatever trials and tribulations would beset him in the next five years would beset him against the background of identifiable tasks previously achieved.
It is the kind of greeting you give to Usain Bolt as he prepares for another 100 metres dash knowing that he had already set a previous world record doing that dash. But good luck Nigeria? In what context? Wishing Mandela good luck had a context. He worked within an existing institutional infrastructure built we understand for whites only but made to serve every South African citizen. Barack Obama operated within an institutional infrastructure which worked no matter who to work it. Wishing him good luck had a context. Mr. Bolt perhaps spent his youth running away from street bullies, misguided law officers and his irate parents. On what basis can we wish Dr. Jonathan good luck besides simply calling out his first name?
Dr. Jonathan has started on the wrong footing by entertaining the idea of more state creation in Nigeria. If there is anything that is needed in Nigeria it is putting an end to the creation of states which are no more than channels for the distribution of petrol dollars that has kept the failed state of Nigeria together. It is one of the institutions that have continued to fuel unpunished and unpunish-able corruption. One of Ibori’s self-exoneration was that the state of which he was governor did not complain that he had stolen money from it, why would the federal government that had no locum standi be complaining!
Dr. Jonathan makes promises about doing something about the power supply without spelling out what he intends to do. President Olusegun Obasanjo claimed that the power question was the work of saboteurs and as a military general working as a civilian president of Nigeria he could not deploy the military power necessary to deal with saboteurs. So they continued their damaging of the Nigerian psyche, never mind the circumstance.
Then came Yar’Ardua, of blessed memory, who claimed that the power problem was created by a mafia but he was not long with us to face the mafia. Anyone who knows that has happened in Italy, the original home of the mafia, and how the president there has worked assiduously to prevent any legal check on the mafia, can imagine what would have happened if Yar’Adua had been around long enough to challenge our mafia. With what, other than good luck, would Dr. Jonathan fight the importers of generators?
Maybe Nigeria is a gambling country. Nothing in its previous history points to good luck in its efforts. Political unrest, civil war, financial mismanagement, judicial killings as well as judicial irresponsibility, and idiotic impositions on the future have been some of the headlines in its 50 years history as an independent country. To take the last item first – idiotic impositions on the future. It is well known that people who have failed in the past have a knack of imposing on the future in order to claim the rights of existence in the present. People who have never lifted a hoe would threaten to fill values and reduce mountains to plains for fair play. If only the future could defend itself against such impositions.
The first and perhaps the most annoying imposition on the future was made by that master of Nigeria’s failures, General President Olusegun Obasanjo who claimed that some private university would produce a Nobel Prize winner in five years in Nigeria! Of course he knows nothing of the institutional infrastructures that support universities such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Cape Town and numerous others around the world.
And then there are the idiotic Vision 2010, Vision 2015, Vision 2020 which each failing Nigerian government has imposed on the future shamelessly, continuously, without doing anything that would make such futures merely permissible through the building of infrastructures. The greatest of such infrastructure would be the provision of continuous power supply to the whole country. Thinking of which one should ask publicly if it is true what conspirator theorists insist is an attempt to stop the industrialisation of the south of the country by denying electricity supply to the whole country. There was a time when about 65 per cent of the industrial power of Nigeria was based in the South of the country. This was said to be unacceptable for the powers that be in the North. As a result the leadership of the power supply corporation sabotaged their own year after year, decade after decade, in order to inflict political punishment on their rivals in the South. And Nigeria became the world capital of imported generators.
There is a myth that winning gamblers know when to stop. Winning gamblers do not know when to stop. They in fact do not want to stop because they wish to break the house. Losing gamblers of course never stop until they win, when they then want to break the house and they become losing gamblers!
So, once more, our chances are skewed. Dr. Jonathan, good luck!
Atiku, IBB, Gana groups meet, seek common ground on Jonathan
TWO major groups that have been at loggerheads over whether President Goodluck Jonathan is eligible to contest next year’s presidential elections or whether the presidency should remain in the North yesterday (Thursday) night began meeting in Abuja to find a common ground.
The agenda between the G15 of General Ibrahim Babangida/Atiku Abubakar/Adamu Ciroma coalition and the Professor Jerry Gana G20 Group was not known last night, but it is generally believed that both groups want to determine how the North should go on the issue of the Jonathan ambition.
The Guardian had reported last Monday that indications that opposing northern groups would meet over President Goodluck Jonathan ambitions for 2011 looked more feasible in Abuja.
The Babangida/Atiku group has been opposed to Jonathan taking a shot at the presidency, but another northern group G20 led by Professor Jerry Gana and two National Vice Chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) believe the President should contest the office because he had a joint ticket with late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and divine providence had opened the way for the country to have a President from the Niger Delta.
Sources had confirmed comments made by Gana last week that there had been an exchange of letters between him and Malam Adamu Ciroma. “Malam Ciroma wrote and I replied in a nice decent way. We shall come to a mutual agreement in the best interst of Nigeria,” Gana said last week Thursday at a press conference.
Another source said he was sure both groups will not agree on the issue of whether Jonathan should contest or not. “It is a waste of time, there are too many big egos involved,” the source said.
The meeting is coming even as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has slated next week as the date he will formally declare his bid to contest the 2011 presidential elections on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He sent the invitation for the declaration yesterday and it is to be held in the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
BAT West Africa Area Recruiting: Management Trainee
Job Title: Management Trainee
Principal Accountabilities:
- The Management Trainee Programme will involve an assessment of your leadership and managerial skills. Where necessary we will support your development with further formal training. You will be provided with opportunities to put these skills into practice, in preparation for your move to a managerial role.
- The MT Programme will structure your development around a clearly defined set of objectives. You will gain support and encouragement from three sources. Your Coach- a manager who will work with you to ensure that you are reaching the standards expected of you and you are getting what you need from the programme. Your Mentor- a senior manager from another function, sharing the benefit of their experience and supporting you in the achievement of your personal objectives. Also, there will be other management trainees around the world who will form an invaluable network of contacts for you.
- At the end of this period, having met the performance requirements, you will be appointed to your first managerial role with British American Tobacco.
Knowledge, Skills and Experience:
- Successful completion of NYSC by August 1st 2010
- Be comfortable working in an industry which can be seen as controversial
- Excellent academic performance and successful completion of relevant degree. Minimum of 2.1
- Track record of outstanding extra-curricular achievement and leadership skill
- Innovative and creative
- Has clear personal objectives and responsibility for self development
- Fluent in English. French proficiency an added advantage
- Strong Numerical and Verbal comprehension
- Strong oral and written communication skills
Key Outputs:
- Action Oriented approach to work
- Contribution to functional objectives
- Graduate from the program as an exceptional performer
Equity statement:
BAT WAA is an equal opportunities employer. All shorlisted applicants will be considered and assessed using the same criteria and recruitment process.
Response Deadline: 26 August 2010
Location: Nigeria
Remuneration: Competitive
How to Apply: Click here
Zenith Bank: Electrical And Mechenical Engineers
Zenith Bank is seeking experienced Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to fill existing vacancies.
Qualification
- Candidates must possess a Bachelors degree in either Mechanical or Electrical Engineering (with minimum of second class upper from a reputable university)
- A master's degree or its equivalent would be an advantage
- Knowledge of relevant software and registration with COREN may be an advantage
Experience
- 10 years post qualification experience in building and facility maintenance from a reputable firm
- Candidates must hove experience in maintaining multi-storey buildings of 7 floors minimum
Method of Application
Interested candidates should forward their CVs to: Lagos.hr@zenithbank.com
Closing Date: 13th August, 2010.
Male/Female Marketing Officers Vacancies at HotSports Nigeria Limited
HotSports Nigeria Limited is recruiting Fresh Male & Female Graduates in any discipline for the position of Marketing Officers in Lagos.
MALE MARKETING OFFICERS
Qualifications
- Must have a pleasant personality and positive dispositions
- Must be a team player who can work with little or no supervision
- Must be diligent and result oriented
- Must have relevant marketing experience
- Must be disciplined
- Must have a passion for sports and a flair for recognizing business opportunities
FEMALE MARKETING OFFICERS
Qualifications
- Must be intelligent and personable with good looks
- Must be able to work with minimal supervision
- Must be a team player with relevant marketing experience
- Must have excellent communication skills
- Must be confident
- Must have a passion for sports and a flair for recognizing business opportunities
METHOD OF APPLICATION
Interested & qualified applicants should forward their applications along with detailed CV and photocopies of credentials in hard copy latest 17th August 2010:
The Executive Director
HotSports Nigeria Limited
1b, Ajayi Street, Opp., Lagos Hilton Hotel,
Off Ogundana street, Allen Avenue – Ikeja, Lagos
Or email: career@hotsportslive.com
Application Deadline: 17th August 2010
PERCEPTOR: 7 Questions On The Anti-Kidnapping Strategy
Perceptor: “By doubting we come to question, and by questioning, we perceive the truth.(Peter Abelard, 1079-1142)
7 Questions on the Anti-Kidnapping Strategy: Perceptor had not intended to write about this matter, because frankly, Perceptor is totally fed up by the way everybody is jumping up and down and acting as though something strange and unusual has happened because this time, it is some journalists who have been kidnapped.
The formal ‘profession’ (i.e. not us here) may have been rather surprised at the acerbic reaction from members of the public, especially those who live in the Eastern states. The general feeling is that since it is the journalists who have refused to report on the situation in the region – how much prominence was given to the fact that banks in Aba were closed for over a fortnight because of armed robbers, or the refusal by NUPENG to deliver fuel to Abia State because they were tired of having their members kidnapped? – then ( leaving aside people looking for public relevance by making clichéd statements as if they too have just discovered that kidnapping is a menace in the country) why all the noise now? In fact, if Perceptor is to be brutally honest, many people outside the charmed circles of journalists and politicians are firmly convinced that the press was taking money to keep quiet about the situation. Or were just too lazy or blind to notice that for more than a year now, nobody in Abia State dresses up for anything or rides big cars any more. Was the press keeping quiet so that unsuspecting innocents would keep coming to the region and get kidnapped because the “watchdog” had gone to sleep or been induced to close its eyes?
So no, Perceptor wasn’t going to write about kidnapping just because journalists were the victims. They seem to be doing quite enough of that themselves anyway. (Journalists writing about the kidnapping of journalists, that is.)
But the more Perceptor sees of the way that the Nigeria Police Force is handling the matter, the more the questions that arise about the strategy that they seem to be employing ...
1. What happens now that the 24 hour ultimatum that IGP Onovo gave the kidnappers has expired?
It may seem callous, but Perceptor must confess to heaving a bit of a sigh of relief when the IG’s ultimatum to the kidnappers to release the journalists and their driver within 24 hours or face the full wrath of the law expired. Because what Perceptor was worrying about was: if the kidnappers release the journalists within the 24 hours, does that mean that they will be allowed to go scot free? Because if they have to release the journalists and NOT face the full wrath of the law, doesn’t that mean that they will be free to make up their losses from ordinary people? Over whose sufferings the media professionals can go back to sleep?
2. Does Mr. Onovo really think that registration of SIM cards is going to ‘flush out’ kidnappers?
If he does, may Perceptor recommend that he find time to read the harrowing account of his kidnapping ordeal by Dr. Ohaka. Perceptor doesn’t know whether the IG would have read or heard the account in any of the print or electronic media whose members are now the subject of so much official concern, but it was widely circulated through the Internet at the end of May this year.
If the IG can get hold of a copy, he will discover that when the kidnappers want to make contact with the relatives of their victims, they don’t use their own mobile phones. They use their VICTIMS’ phones.
And that’s before we even get to the subject of the number of mobile phones (with SIM card intact) that are simply stolen from the owners ...
3. Does Mr. Onovo really think that all SIM cards are going to be registered in any meaningful way anyway?
It is all very well to insist that all SIM cards must be registered, but Perceptor doubts that that is really going to happen. For example, when it comes to registering for post-paid telephone services, you have to produce electricity bills, international passports or documents like that to back up your request. Now, Perceptor invites you, dear reader, to take a straw poll of the number of people you know who have a mobile phone, and find out how many of them can produce any of these documents. Perceptor is very glad that we’ve moved beyond the days when telephones were only for the rich, but since they are now for everybody and his housegirl, Perceptor wants to suggest to Mr. IGP, ever so gently, that IT WON’T MAKE A BLIND BIT OF DIFFERENCE!
Why? Because does anybody really believe that mobile phone operators are going to strangle their business by stopping anybody who wants and can afford a SIM card from getting one just because they haven’t got some solid proof of identity? Perceptor doesn’t THINK so! And if Mr. IG does think so, Perceptor wonders whether he can tell us what is the current state of the requirement that the same mobile phone operators should start using the IIEE numbers of telephone handsets to deter mobile phone theft ...
Perceptor also draws Mr. IG’s attention to the fact that even countries that started with all sorts of stringent requirements for someone to get a mobile phone are moving away from that sort of regime because they know that there’s so much fakery and theft in the field that IT WON’T MAKE A BLIND BIT OF DIFFERENCE!
4. Do the Nigeria Police actually know how mobile telephones work?
As Perceptor understands it, the important thing with kidnappers is not: Whose phone are they using? but: Where are they calling from? Actually, Perceptor is sure that the NPF knows very well that you can trace the place where calls are being made from by the relevant tower that relays their signal. But does it help to start shouting (possibly on the basis of that simple bit of techno) that you’ve found the kidnappers’ hideout when you haven’t actually found either the kidnappers or their hostages?
5. What about all those unseen spies?
One thing Perceptor remembers from Chris Anyanwu’s book about her experiences in Sani Abacha’s gulag, ‘Days of Terror’ is that while she was being processed, the SSS was receiving reports from a wide variety of people that she would never have suspected were SSS informants, pepper sellers, taxi drivers, cooks, roadside tea canteens, vendors, and so on.
Have all these people been retired? Yes, Perceptor knows that in Anyanwu’s day they were probably spying on harmless human rights activists, but surely if they are still on the job, they would notice if someone in the area is keeping hostages wouldn’t they? Or ... aren’t the SSS talking to the NPF? And if they aren’t, why don’t they grab a bit of the glory for themselves?
6. Does any kidnap victim trust the NPF?
Perceptor really does advise Mr. Onovo to read Dr. Ohaku’s account. Because when he threatens the victims of the carelessness and inability of his own men to provide security with punishment for securing the release of their relatives by paying ransom, does it occur to him to wonder why people prefer to do that instead of going to the police?
As Dr. Ohaku said at the end his account, when he went to collect his car from the POLICE STATION where the kidnappers had parked it, he “guarded his utterances because you never know who the insiders were.” He also said “I did not involve the police and it was the best decision. The location of the camp is not hidden. ... The chairman/leader of the group who authorized each release has facial tribal marks, speaks same dialect. It may not surprise me if he is a northerner and security personnel.”
Well, it is Dr. Ohaku who had the terrible experience so he must know why he said that. But despite all the declaration of war on kidnapping by everybody from President Johnson to David Mark and the IGP, Perceptor can’t help wondering ...
7. ... how can the Police ever hope to stop kidnapping when nobody believes that they aren’t hand in glove with the kidnappers?
Babangida and Mrs. Beeton
For those who don’t recognise her name, about 100 or more years ago, Mrs. Beeton wrote a famous cookbook. One of the popular dishes of the day was ‘jugged hare’, and several people were championing their own recipes for the favourite meal. Mrs. Beeton however, was expected to take a more practical and pragmatic approach. Thus it is that her own recipe for jugged hare is often popularly misquoted as having begun with the words: “First catch your hare ...” Because truly, all those fancy recipes are not going to do a cook much good if said cook doesn’t actually have a hare to jug! First things first eh?
You will understand therefore, gentle reader, why this misquotation sprang to Perceptor’s mind when news broke that Ibrahim Babangida had been boasting that “Nobody can annul my election.” All that Perceptor can say to Mr. Babangida is, as Mrs. Beeton might have said: “First win your election ...”
Perceptor’s unfinished perceptions ...
You, dear reader, are ever on Perceptor’s mind, and many is the time that Perceptor has put finger to keyboard only to have the matter overtaken by some other (preferably income-generating) events. That is why a lot that Perceptor starts, doesn’t get finished before the thing that it was about has become stale news. What follows are the ones that never quite got to the finishing line ...
Travel O.G.U.E.
(TRAVEL On Government Unlimited Estacode)
Yes, Perceptor knows, the 140 has been broken down into the President’s advance party, the ‘Recce’ party, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ own advance party, the ’plane-flying party and for all Perceptor knows, the First Lady Dame’s hairdresser’s trouser-press holder’s party. But when Perceptor tries to beat the upper limit for signing cheques at Perceptor’s bank by signing four or five cheques, each of which comes in below the limit, Perceptor’s bank joins all of them together and declares a foul. So Perceptor doesn’t think it is so out of order to join up all those Toronto-bound Naija public servants and say that Mr. President travelled for a meeting at which Nigeria is only a participant with 140 people at government expense. Or rather, at Perceptor’s expense. And yours.
What baffles Perceptor is that this ‘cast of thousands’ approach to official international travel manifests itself no matter what the particular reason for the trip is. So it was that two-thirds of the Senate went to watch our 23-man football squad score a total of ... three (3) goals without winning a single match. Perceptor is very sure that it was out of sheer sympathy for the long-suffering Nigerian masses that Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s foot refused to score that goal against South Korea the other day, thereby removing any further excuse (on footballing grounds at least) for further jamboree at their expense. Yes, Perceptor knows that you will say that the trip was arranged by MTN, but unless and until (and probably not even then) Perceptor hears a categorical denial from each and every one of those 69 Senators that they did not and will not collect Estacode for the trip, Perceptor will be forced to list that trip under TRAVEL-On Government Unlimited Estacode.
The Senatorial mission to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa which was obviously designed solely to offend the god of football, is not to be confused with the Presidential mission to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa which was in solidarity with and to thank our South African brothers and sisters who so obligingly stepped in to do what the ‘Giant of Africa’ has been so spectacularly unable to
Remind Perceptor again what it was that Mr. President and his 140 Merry Men (and Women too!) went to do in Toronto? Oh yes, it was so that Mr. President could make a 20 minute address at a side-meeting to beg for debt relief for Africa. Because we are too poor to pay the money back. Now, Perceptor’s brow is positively furrowed trying to work out what on earth could it be that is making us too poor? Where, Perceptor wonders, could all the money we get from oil and other taxes, customs duties, fees and so on, where oh where can all that money have gone?
My Uncle, the Cow ... (I wan’ chop beef)
When Perceptor first started this list, Perceptor had been struck by the number of people who were crawling out of the woodwork to start shouting about Merit! Not Zoning! All because they wanted to suck up to the new President, Goodluck Jonathan. It reminded Perceptor of the popular rebuke to sycophants: “Must you call a COW ‘UNCLE’ just because you want to eat BEEF?” It turned out that there is a long list of would-be beefeaters in Nigeria, but every time Perceptor turned around, the list had grown longer. And longer. And longer. In the end, Perceptor just had to give up!
Comfort Ovbiagele: He was described at the end of his article in The Guardian of 14th May as “a Lagos-based media consultant”. Perceptor has no idea what that might entail, but his hilarious article in The Guardian of 14th May is surely the gold standard when it comes to bootlicking sycophancy. Jonathan, who other commentators were embarrassed to note did not even know what Nigeria’s foreign policy is on his first trip to the US to join a gang of 14 anti-nukes heads of state to do some finger-wagging at Iran and get some ‘face time’ with Barack Obama, according to Comfort, has an “unassailable international profile”.
Timipre Sylva: Perceptor recognises that “needs must when the devil drives”, but surely nobody is being taken in by this new Best Friends Forever gig?
Hon. Beni Lar: House of Representatives Member from Plateau State suddenly discovered that zoning was unconstitutional.
Plus including Solomon D. Lar:
Isa Yuguda, Bauchi State Governor has also suddenly discovered that zoning is unconstitutional. According to him, it is only God who makes leaders.
Bo! The list kept on growing. And Perceptor is already fed up with it. Please add your own names. Just call them ‘BEEFEATERS’.
But Perceptor notes that some beefeaters are quite ready to call a GOAT ‘UNCLE’ if BEEF goes out of fashion. Thus it is that while we find Ibrahim Babangida also spouting one thing one day about zoning and another thing the next, Perceptor thinks that the gold prize for shameless beef-o-philia has to go to his election-ready suggestion that “Nigeria must IMMORTALIZE late M.K.O. Abiola ...”
By Your Friends ...
Perceptor is as anxious to jump onto the tail of another recently re-discovered saint as anybody else, but ... e get but. Mr. Nuhu Ribadu is back in Nigeria sprouting AIG (Rtd) among his titles, and will soon add ‘Dr.’ to these and more, so the ‘Friends of Ribadu’ have been quickly up and doing, taking out full page advertisements in a number of national newspapers to tell us that Ribadu is a National Hero with more to come. At first Perceptor was quite hurt at being left out the Friends of Ribadu listed in these adverts, but on second thoughts, Perceptor doesn’t know whether to be glad or sad.
On the one hand, the friends include stalwart human rights activists such as Femi Falana, Ike Okonta, Joe Odumakin and Ledum Mittee. There are loads and loads of media men Babafemi Ojudu, Dapo Olorunyomi, Dele Olojede, Ben Bruce and Raymond Dokpesi amongst others. Well Perceptor can understand why AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) might have so many friends in the media – after all, he did court them so assiduously during his time as boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission didn’t he?
Perceptor can even understand why big businessmen like Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, are on the list: after all, once you’ve clawed your own way to the top of the heap, you want everybody else to play by the rules don’t you? And perhaps the AIG (Rtd.) and Hakeem Bello-Osagie became chums during the time that Bello-Osagie spent in the custody ... oh! Perceptor means Company ... of the EFCC back in the day. Yes, Perceptor could have quite fancied being in a group like that.
But on the other hand, Perceptor must confess to being surprised to find the names of quite so many politicians amongst the friends of AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) listed on full page adverts welcoming him back. Since Shola Akinyede chairs the Senate committee that deals with AIG Ribadu (Rtd.)’s old stamping ground, Perceptor can (just about) understand why he is there. But what are Akin Oshuntokun, Babatunde Raji Fasola, Kayode Fayemi, Ken Nnamani, Donald and Onari Duke doing there? Could it be that they are just taking out insurance against some past and future political activity?
Yet, if THOSE politicians are taking out insurance, aren’t you supposed to pay the premium before the disaster strikes? So what then, are the Abdul-Razaqs and Femi Fani-Kayodes doing there? The EFCC and/or ICPC have already dragged them to court! Or is it just their way of saying how grateful they are to AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) that he never tried anything like that with them when HE was in charge? In that case ... but no, Perceptor can’t find the name Olusegun (don’t say ‘Haliburton’) Obasanjo on the list. Odd, that.
Frankly, Perceptor finds it a bit hard to work out WHO AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) is, going by this particular list of friends. Andy Uba? Bayo Ojo? Zakari Hassan Biu??!!
Or is this just a list of wannabe’s, peppered with some genuine pals to make the thing look decent?
In the Spirit of Aunty Dora
Perceptor wishes to report several good things happening in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The main item under this heading, in which we say nice things to say about this great nation of good people, is that Perceptor’s teeth are beginning to ache.
The next item is ... Perceptor’s teeth are aching, SO WHAT? did Perceptor hear you mutter? But surely it is obvious? Perceptor’s teeth are aching because Perceptor is being forced to drink large quantities of ice cold water! Need Perceptor say more? Long unbroken hours of public power supply ! ! ! Refrigerators that as a result, actually refrigerate ! ! ! Duuuh!
Now, as Perceptor was saying. The next item is ... er, ... that’s it.
7 Questions on the Anti-Kidnapping Strategy: Perceptor had not intended to write about this matter, because frankly, Perceptor is totally fed up by the way everybody is jumping up and down and acting as though something strange and unusual has happened because this time, it is some journalists who have been kidnapped.
The formal ‘profession’ (i.e. not us here) may have been rather surprised at the acerbic reaction from members of the public, especially those who live in the Eastern states. The general feeling is that since it is the journalists who have refused to report on the situation in the region – how much prominence was given to the fact that banks in Aba were closed for over a fortnight because of armed robbers, or the refusal by NUPENG to deliver fuel to Abia State because they were tired of having their members kidnapped? – then ( leaving aside people looking for public relevance by making clichéd statements as if they too have just discovered that kidnapping is a menace in the country) why all the noise now? In fact, if Perceptor is to be brutally honest, many people outside the charmed circles of journalists and politicians are firmly convinced that the press was taking money to keep quiet about the situation. Or were just too lazy or blind to notice that for more than a year now, nobody in Abia State dresses up for anything or rides big cars any more. Was the press keeping quiet so that unsuspecting innocents would keep coming to the region and get kidnapped because the “watchdog” had gone to sleep or been induced to close its eyes?
So no, Perceptor wasn’t going to write about kidnapping just because journalists were the victims. They seem to be doing quite enough of that themselves anyway. (Journalists writing about the kidnapping of journalists, that is.)
But the more Perceptor sees of the way that the Nigeria Police Force is handling the matter, the more the questions that arise about the strategy that they seem to be employing ...
1. What happens now that the 24 hour ultimatum that IGP Onovo gave the kidnappers has expired?
It may seem callous, but Perceptor must confess to heaving a bit of a sigh of relief when the IG’s ultimatum to the kidnappers to release the journalists and their driver within 24 hours or face the full wrath of the law expired. Because what Perceptor was worrying about was: if the kidnappers release the journalists within the 24 hours, does that mean that they will be allowed to go scot free? Because if they have to release the journalists and NOT face the full wrath of the law, doesn’t that mean that they will be free to make up their losses from ordinary people? Over whose sufferings the media professionals can go back to sleep?
2. Does Mr. Onovo really think that registration of SIM cards is going to ‘flush out’ kidnappers?
If he does, may Perceptor recommend that he find time to read the harrowing account of his kidnapping ordeal by Dr. Ohaka. Perceptor doesn’t know whether the IG would have read or heard the account in any of the print or electronic media whose members are now the subject of so much official concern, but it was widely circulated through the Internet at the end of May this year.
If the IG can get hold of a copy, he will discover that when the kidnappers want to make contact with the relatives of their victims, they don’t use their own mobile phones. They use their VICTIMS’ phones.
And that’s before we even get to the subject of the number of mobile phones (with SIM card intact) that are simply stolen from the owners ...
3. Does Mr. Onovo really think that all SIM cards are going to be registered in any meaningful way anyway?
It is all very well to insist that all SIM cards must be registered, but Perceptor doubts that that is really going to happen. For example, when it comes to registering for post-paid telephone services, you have to produce electricity bills, international passports or documents like that to back up your request. Now, Perceptor invites you, dear reader, to take a straw poll of the number of people you know who have a mobile phone, and find out how many of them can produce any of these documents. Perceptor is very glad that we’ve moved beyond the days when telephones were only for the rich, but since they are now for everybody and his housegirl, Perceptor wants to suggest to Mr. IGP, ever so gently, that IT WON’T MAKE A BLIND BIT OF DIFFERENCE!
Why? Because does anybody really believe that mobile phone operators are going to strangle their business by stopping anybody who wants and can afford a SIM card from getting one just because they haven’t got some solid proof of identity? Perceptor doesn’t THINK so! And if Mr. IG does think so, Perceptor wonders whether he can tell us what is the current state of the requirement that the same mobile phone operators should start using the IIEE numbers of telephone handsets to deter mobile phone theft ...
Perceptor also draws Mr. IG’s attention to the fact that even countries that started with all sorts of stringent requirements for someone to get a mobile phone are moving away from that sort of regime because they know that there’s so much fakery and theft in the field that IT WON’T MAKE A BLIND BIT OF DIFFERENCE!
4. Do the Nigeria Police actually know how mobile telephones work?
As Perceptor understands it, the important thing with kidnappers is not: Whose phone are they using? but: Where are they calling from? Actually, Perceptor is sure that the NPF knows very well that you can trace the place where calls are being made from by the relevant tower that relays their signal. But does it help to start shouting (possibly on the basis of that simple bit of techno) that you’ve found the kidnappers’ hideout when you haven’t actually found either the kidnappers or their hostages?
5. What about all those unseen spies?
One thing Perceptor remembers from Chris Anyanwu’s book about her experiences in Sani Abacha’s gulag, ‘Days of Terror’ is that while she was being processed, the SSS was receiving reports from a wide variety of people that she would never have suspected were SSS informants, pepper sellers, taxi drivers, cooks, roadside tea canteens, vendors, and so on.
Have all these people been retired? Yes, Perceptor knows that in Anyanwu’s day they were probably spying on harmless human rights activists, but surely if they are still on the job, they would notice if someone in the area is keeping hostages wouldn’t they? Or ... aren’t the SSS talking to the NPF? And if they aren’t, why don’t they grab a bit of the glory for themselves?
6. Does any kidnap victim trust the NPF?
Perceptor really does advise Mr. Onovo to read Dr. Ohaku’s account. Because when he threatens the victims of the carelessness and inability of his own men to provide security with punishment for securing the release of their relatives by paying ransom, does it occur to him to wonder why people prefer to do that instead of going to the police?
As Dr. Ohaku said at the end his account, when he went to collect his car from the POLICE STATION where the kidnappers had parked it, he “guarded his utterances because you never know who the insiders were.” He also said “I did not involve the police and it was the best decision. The location of the camp is not hidden. ... The chairman/leader of the group who authorized each release has facial tribal marks, speaks same dialect. It may not surprise me if he is a northerner and security personnel.”
Well, it is Dr. Ohaku who had the terrible experience so he must know why he said that. But despite all the declaration of war on kidnapping by everybody from President Johnson to David Mark and the IGP, Perceptor can’t help wondering ...
7. ... how can the Police ever hope to stop kidnapping when nobody believes that they aren’t hand in glove with the kidnappers?
Babangida and Mrs. Beeton
For those who don’t recognise her name, about 100 or more years ago, Mrs. Beeton wrote a famous cookbook. One of the popular dishes of the day was ‘jugged hare’, and several people were championing their own recipes for the favourite meal. Mrs. Beeton however, was expected to take a more practical and pragmatic approach. Thus it is that her own recipe for jugged hare is often popularly misquoted as having begun with the words: “First catch your hare ...” Because truly, all those fancy recipes are not going to do a cook much good if said cook doesn’t actually have a hare to jug! First things first eh?
You will understand therefore, gentle reader, why this misquotation sprang to Perceptor’s mind when news broke that Ibrahim Babangida had been boasting that “Nobody can annul my election.” All that Perceptor can say to Mr. Babangida is, as Mrs. Beeton might have said: “First win your election ...”
Perceptor’s unfinished perceptions ...
You, dear reader, are ever on Perceptor’s mind, and many is the time that Perceptor has put finger to keyboard only to have the matter overtaken by some other (preferably income-generating) events. That is why a lot that Perceptor starts, doesn’t get finished before the thing that it was about has become stale news. What follows are the ones that never quite got to the finishing line ...
Travel O.G.U.E.
(TRAVEL On Government Unlimited Estacode)
Yes, Perceptor knows, the 140 has been broken down into the President’s advance party, the ‘Recce’ party, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ own advance party, the ’plane-flying party and for all Perceptor knows, the First Lady Dame’s hairdresser’s trouser-press holder’s party. But when Perceptor tries to beat the upper limit for signing cheques at Perceptor’s bank by signing four or five cheques, each of which comes in below the limit, Perceptor’s bank joins all of them together and declares a foul. So Perceptor doesn’t think it is so out of order to join up all those Toronto-bound Naija public servants and say that Mr. President travelled for a meeting at which Nigeria is only a participant with 140 people at government expense. Or rather, at Perceptor’s expense. And yours.
What baffles Perceptor is that this ‘cast of thousands’ approach to official international travel manifests itself no matter what the particular reason for the trip is. So it was that two-thirds of the Senate went to watch our 23-man football squad score a total of ... three (3) goals without winning a single match. Perceptor is very sure that it was out of sheer sympathy for the long-suffering Nigerian masses that Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s foot refused to score that goal against South Korea the other day, thereby removing any further excuse (on footballing grounds at least) for further jamboree at their expense. Yes, Perceptor knows that you will say that the trip was arranged by MTN, but unless and until (and probably not even then) Perceptor hears a categorical denial from each and every one of those 69 Senators that they did not and will not collect Estacode for the trip, Perceptor will be forced to list that trip under TRAVEL-On Government Unlimited Estacode.
The Senatorial mission to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa which was obviously designed solely to offend the god of football, is not to be confused with the Presidential mission to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa which was in solidarity with and to thank our South African brothers and sisters who so obligingly stepped in to do what the ‘Giant of Africa’ has been so spectacularly unable to
Remind Perceptor again what it was that Mr. President and his 140 Merry Men (and Women too!) went to do in Toronto? Oh yes, it was so that Mr. President could make a 20 minute address at a side-meeting to beg for debt relief for Africa. Because we are too poor to pay the money back. Now, Perceptor’s brow is positively furrowed trying to work out what on earth could it be that is making us too poor? Where, Perceptor wonders, could all the money we get from oil and other taxes, customs duties, fees and so on, where oh where can all that money have gone?
My Uncle, the Cow ... (I wan’ chop beef)
When Perceptor first started this list, Perceptor had been struck by the number of people who were crawling out of the woodwork to start shouting about Merit! Not Zoning! All because they wanted to suck up to the new President, Goodluck Jonathan. It reminded Perceptor of the popular rebuke to sycophants: “Must you call a COW ‘UNCLE’ just because you want to eat BEEF?” It turned out that there is a long list of would-be beefeaters in Nigeria, but every time Perceptor turned around, the list had grown longer. And longer. And longer. In the end, Perceptor just had to give up!
Comfort Ovbiagele: He was described at the end of his article in The Guardian of 14th May as “a Lagos-based media consultant”. Perceptor has no idea what that might entail, but his hilarious article in The Guardian of 14th May is surely the gold standard when it comes to bootlicking sycophancy. Jonathan, who other commentators were embarrassed to note did not even know what Nigeria’s foreign policy is on his first trip to the US to join a gang of 14 anti-nukes heads of state to do some finger-wagging at Iran and get some ‘face time’ with Barack Obama, according to Comfort, has an “unassailable international profile”.
Timipre Sylva: Perceptor recognises that “needs must when the devil drives”, but surely nobody is being taken in by this new Best Friends Forever gig?
Hon. Beni Lar: House of Representatives Member from Plateau State suddenly discovered that zoning was unconstitutional.
Plus including Solomon D. Lar:
Isa Yuguda, Bauchi State Governor has also suddenly discovered that zoning is unconstitutional. According to him, it is only God who makes leaders.
Bo! The list kept on growing. And Perceptor is already fed up with it. Please add your own names. Just call them ‘BEEFEATERS’.
But Perceptor notes that some beefeaters are quite ready to call a GOAT ‘UNCLE’ if BEEF goes out of fashion. Thus it is that while we find Ibrahim Babangida also spouting one thing one day about zoning and another thing the next, Perceptor thinks that the gold prize for shameless beef-o-philia has to go to his election-ready suggestion that “Nigeria must IMMORTALIZE late M.K.O. Abiola ...”
By Your Friends ...
Perceptor is as anxious to jump onto the tail of another recently re-discovered saint as anybody else, but ... e get but. Mr. Nuhu Ribadu is back in Nigeria sprouting AIG (Rtd) among his titles, and will soon add ‘Dr.’ to these and more, so the ‘Friends of Ribadu’ have been quickly up and doing, taking out full page advertisements in a number of national newspapers to tell us that Ribadu is a National Hero with more to come. At first Perceptor was quite hurt at being left out the Friends of Ribadu listed in these adverts, but on second thoughts, Perceptor doesn’t know whether to be glad or sad.
On the one hand, the friends include stalwart human rights activists such as Femi Falana, Ike Okonta, Joe Odumakin and Ledum Mittee. There are loads and loads of media men Babafemi Ojudu, Dapo Olorunyomi, Dele Olojede, Ben Bruce and Raymond Dokpesi amongst others. Well Perceptor can understand why AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) might have so many friends in the media – after all, he did court them so assiduously during his time as boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission didn’t he?
Perceptor can even understand why big businessmen like Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, are on the list: after all, once you’ve clawed your own way to the top of the heap, you want everybody else to play by the rules don’t you? And perhaps the AIG (Rtd.) and Hakeem Bello-Osagie became chums during the time that Bello-Osagie spent in the custody ... oh! Perceptor means Company ... of the EFCC back in the day. Yes, Perceptor could have quite fancied being in a group like that.
But on the other hand, Perceptor must confess to being surprised to find the names of quite so many politicians amongst the friends of AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) listed on full page adverts welcoming him back. Since Shola Akinyede chairs the Senate committee that deals with AIG Ribadu (Rtd.)’s old stamping ground, Perceptor can (just about) understand why he is there. But what are Akin Oshuntokun, Babatunde Raji Fasola, Kayode Fayemi, Ken Nnamani, Donald and Onari Duke doing there? Could it be that they are just taking out insurance against some past and future political activity?
Yet, if THOSE politicians are taking out insurance, aren’t you supposed to pay the premium before the disaster strikes? So what then, are the Abdul-Razaqs and Femi Fani-Kayodes doing there? The EFCC and/or ICPC have already dragged them to court! Or is it just their way of saying how grateful they are to AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) that he never tried anything like that with them when HE was in charge? In that case ... but no, Perceptor can’t find the name Olusegun (don’t say ‘Haliburton’) Obasanjo on the list. Odd, that.
Frankly, Perceptor finds it a bit hard to work out WHO AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) is, going by this particular list of friends. Andy Uba? Bayo Ojo? Zakari Hassan Biu??!!
Or is this just a list of wannabe’s, peppered with some genuine pals to make the thing look decent?
In the Spirit of Aunty Dora
Perceptor wishes to report several good things happening in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The main item under this heading, in which we say nice things to say about this great nation of good people, is that Perceptor’s teeth are beginning to ache.
The next item is ... Perceptor’s teeth are aching, SO WHAT? did Perceptor hear you mutter? But surely it is obvious? Perceptor’s teeth are aching because Perceptor is being forced to drink large quantities of ice cold water! Need Perceptor say more? Long unbroken hours of public power supply ! ! ! Refrigerators that as a result, actually refrigerate ! ! ! Duuuh!
Now, as Perceptor was saying. The next item is ... er, ... that’s it.
Jonathan’s Wife Begins Her Power-Grab Career From Abia
Those who thought the exit of Hajia Turai Umar Yar’Adua automatically freed Nigeria from the manipulative claws of a power lusting Presidential spouse, need to worry about the perfidious script currently playing out in Abia State under the direction of Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan.
It is no longer news that newly handpicked National Chairman of PDP, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, led a band of political jobbers to go to Government House Umuahia to prostrate before Governor Theodore Orji to rejoin PDP. But what is unknown to the Nigerian public is the unseen hand of Dame Patience Jonathan, directing the macabre orchestra in Abia State.
It was Dame Patience who ordered the “Beggars’ Delegation” to officially solicit the Okija Governor’s return to “Africa’s Largest Party”, less than one month after the largely ineffective Mr Orji himself dragged the highly revered Igbo leader, Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, to come to Umuahia to receive him into APGA, having been disgracefully kicked out by PPA for non-performance. Sources close to Mrs Jonathan said she does not care a hoot about Mr Orji’s notoriety or demonstrated incompetence as State Governor. That the man has failed woefully to govern the state, which has now been completely overrun by kidnappers, bank robbers and other dare-devil criminals, is of no consequence for the Hajia Turai’s successor. Like King Herod’s wife in the Bible, Dame Jonathan is hell bent on promoting Mr Orji’s candidacy to secure his support and those of Abia delegates for her husband’s Presidential ambition, which is increasingly under threat of derailment by dogged Northern opposition.
The mission of Nwodo and the “Beggars’ Delegation” would not be the first time Dame Patience would be intervening on behalf of Mr Orji. At a recent meeting with President Jonathan, at which other Niger Delta Governors pointedly accused their Abia State counterpart of being the chief reason for the incessant cases of kidnapping in the zone, President Jonathan, urged on by his wife, was believed to have refused to sanction the Abia Governor, despite the insistence of Governors Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Ikedi Ohakim of Imo. The President’s seeming inaction against Mr Orji, in spite of overwhelming evidence produced by the three Governors, including what Aso Rock insiders say are foolproof security reports indicting him on the kidnap saga in his state, was said to have shocked the governors who were present at the meeting held in the Presidential Villa on Tuesday June 15, 2010. The governors may have so resolved to abandon the idea of regional cooperation in fighting the kidnap saga in favor of a state-by-state action.
Very reliable reports from Aso Rock also confirm that Dame Patience thoroughly abused the spineless Nwodo for attempting to re-admit former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu into PDP “without clearance”, read, her permission, forcing the lily-livered National Chairman to recant in less than 48 hours, after publicly “welcoming” Orji. Humiliated and flustered, Orji Kalu and his stunned camp are questioning the principle in Nwodo’s turn-around performance, demanding to know why Theodore Orji is good enough for PDP and not his mentor.
Reports say Orji Kalu is spoiling for a decisive showdown with his renegade godson, a protégé he twice took to the infamous Okija shrine to ensure his loyalty and avoid unpleasant experiences like the one he is undergoing presently. From Orji Kalu’s aides come the report that as part of the total war against Theodore Orji, Orji’s Mother, Odiuko Eunice Kalu, hurriedly abandoned her medical treatment in the United States to relocate to Abuja where she is said to be contacting Professor Dora Akunyili and Mrs Josephine Anenih, to grant her access to the Abia Puppeteer, Dame Patience.
Meanwhile, stung by the unexpected snub it suffered in Government House Umahia from the cocky Governor, members of the “Beggars Delegation have relocated to Abuja to re-strategize. They have declared “Operation Bring Ugochukwu”, whatever it takes. Sources inside Government House said Theodore Orji was greatly disturbed when he did not see Onyema Ugochukwu, the PDP governorship candidate, despite the assurances he was said to have gotten from a high-ranking female National Assembly member who chairs a committee that oversights the financial sector and who was said to have been “mobilized” to “bring Ugochukwu at all costs”.
A source who was inside the close door meeting said Governor Orji told the delegation pointblank that “there are certain political leaders in the state who should be at the meeting for him to take the meeting serious”, meaning, until he secures Ugochukwu’s blessing, he would not commit. Members of the “Beggars’ delegation”, completely embarrassed, were said to have exchanged mournful glances at one another but swallowed their hurt.
A former National Assembly member who turned down the invitation to join the delegation said those from Abia who showed up in Government House “have dug their political grave”. Abians are enraged. The anger in the land gushed like a waterfall. Although most people are not shocked by the caliber of men and women who went to beg Gov Orji, considering their opportunistic antecedents, Abians are scandalized that the meeting took place at all.
Nwodo has sold himself for a penny in the state. The former legislator also confirmed that there was no chance of Ugochukwu joining forces Nwodo and company to beg Gov Orji.
“The Ugochukwu we know is stubborn and highly principled. Despite his controversial losses in the court, he is immensely popular with the ordinary Abians, so why should he go and beg TA? Nigerians must expect a repeat of the Soludo scenario in Abia should they impose Orji on theparty”.
Nwodo, already under nationwide fire for his flip-flops on zoning, and now leading a delegation to beg a governor who was expelled by his party for non-performance, to rejoin PDP, was accompanied on the infamous trip by what reads like the elite group of Abia’s Hall of Shame.
Names like Emeka Wogu, Jonathan’s Labor and Productivity Minister, dumped ex-foreign affairs minister Ojo Maduekwe, perennial ministerial lobbyist, Gen Ike Nwachukwu, Ogbulafor, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, Dr Ihechukwu Madubuike, Hon Chinenye Ike, Hon Nkiru Onyejeocha, Hon Mao Ohuabunwa and state party chairman, Ndidi Okereke.
Gov Orji was said to have sized them up and waved them aside as “paperweights”, hence he rolled out four impossible conditions to be met before he joins PDP, knowing full well that there was no way they could meet the conditions. The cheeky Orji, aware that none of these characters parading themselves as “Abia leaders” could deliver their ward in a free and fair election, demanded the humiliating sack of the State Party exco headed by Ndidi Okereke.
Terrified about losing his job, Okereke joined the “Beggars’ Delegation” to prostrate before Orji, hoping the New Pharaoh would mercifully spare him. But sources say Orji has already made up his mind to form his own exco and rubbish the present members if he gets the chance.
Same for other elective positions. One of his most trusted aides is sure Mr Orji has lined up his men to take over after sweeping aside the PDP cadre. Apart from Okereke, whom the source said he bears a special grudge, the three senatorial positions will go to Senator Uche Chukwumerije (Abia North); Allen Nwachukwu (Abia Central) and ---(Abia South), meaning that incumbent senators Nkechi Nworgu and Enyinnaya Abaribe would kiss the dust, their coming to kneel before him notwithstanding.
Meanwhile, Mr Orji has not stopped mocking the “Beggars’ Delegation” since its shameful visit last Friday and has not missed any opportunity with visitors and cheerleaders to make a jest of how he hired a jet to bring the delegation to come and beg them and how they were scrambling for the largess he threw to them while they were leaving, their tails tagged behind legs.
Disgusted and humiliated, Abians are spoiling for an opportunity to teach Mrs Jonathan and her barefaced Abia cheerleaders a bitter lesson. Already, the bond of Eastern Unity forming between the Igbo and their Ijaw neighbors,s is under threat of a rupture, with several Igbos wondering aloud if it is still necessary to continue supporting an Ijaw President who is unable to prevail on his domineering wife from further humiliating its leaders.
In a recent radio phone-in programme monitored from Umuahia, callers could not hide their anger, pouring unprintable invectives on Mrs Jonathan over her attempt to impose Mr Orji on Abians.
“We love Jonathan but rather than help develop Igboland, he is encouraging his wife to impose an unpopular leader on Abia people.”
“They have forgotten our history and who we are. Aba women rioted against British colonialists. We fought a bitter civil war to preserve our dignity. We shall fight Mrs Jonathan and Theodore Orji.”
“If President Jonathan cannot control his wife, then he should set her destructive sights on her native Rivers or Bayelsa state. Why Abia? Is it a furtherance of the Old Ijaw Agenda to hold back Igbo progress? We have not forgotten the Abandoned Property issue and the bastardization of Ikwerre names, all premeditated Ijaw acts targeted at wiping out Igbo influences in Port Harcourt. Now they are taking the oppression to Igbo heartland. Each time people take our solidarity for a sign of weakness.”
“At a time God is about to deliver Abia from the clutches of a satanic cult holding down her progress, by putting confusion in their midst, this Kalabari woman is abusing her Presidential connections by rallying together political desperadoes and prostitutes, to impose a useless governor on Abia State, as if we have no mind of our own.”
“If Mrs Jonathan respects Igbo people, why can she not use her powers to bring projects to Igboland? Or at least leave us alone?” These are the questions ordinary people were asking.
It is no longer news that newly handpicked National Chairman of PDP, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, led a band of political jobbers to go to Government House Umuahia to prostrate before Governor Theodore Orji to rejoin PDP. But what is unknown to the Nigerian public is the unseen hand of Dame Patience Jonathan, directing the macabre orchestra in Abia State.
It was Dame Patience who ordered the “Beggars’ Delegation” to officially solicit the Okija Governor’s return to “Africa’s Largest Party”, less than one month after the largely ineffective Mr Orji himself dragged the highly revered Igbo leader, Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, to come to Umuahia to receive him into APGA, having been disgracefully kicked out by PPA for non-performance. Sources close to Mrs Jonathan said she does not care a hoot about Mr Orji’s notoriety or demonstrated incompetence as State Governor. That the man has failed woefully to govern the state, which has now been completely overrun by kidnappers, bank robbers and other dare-devil criminals, is of no consequence for the Hajia Turai’s successor. Like King Herod’s wife in the Bible, Dame Jonathan is hell bent on promoting Mr Orji’s candidacy to secure his support and those of Abia delegates for her husband’s Presidential ambition, which is increasingly under threat of derailment by dogged Northern opposition.
The mission of Nwodo and the “Beggars’ Delegation” would not be the first time Dame Patience would be intervening on behalf of Mr Orji. At a recent meeting with President Jonathan, at which other Niger Delta Governors pointedly accused their Abia State counterpart of being the chief reason for the incessant cases of kidnapping in the zone, President Jonathan, urged on by his wife, was believed to have refused to sanction the Abia Governor, despite the insistence of Governors Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Ikedi Ohakim of Imo. The President’s seeming inaction against Mr Orji, in spite of overwhelming evidence produced by the three Governors, including what Aso Rock insiders say are foolproof security reports indicting him on the kidnap saga in his state, was said to have shocked the governors who were present at the meeting held in the Presidential Villa on Tuesday June 15, 2010. The governors may have so resolved to abandon the idea of regional cooperation in fighting the kidnap saga in favor of a state-by-state action.
Very reliable reports from Aso Rock also confirm that Dame Patience thoroughly abused the spineless Nwodo for attempting to re-admit former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu into PDP “without clearance”, read, her permission, forcing the lily-livered National Chairman to recant in less than 48 hours, after publicly “welcoming” Orji. Humiliated and flustered, Orji Kalu and his stunned camp are questioning the principle in Nwodo’s turn-around performance, demanding to know why Theodore Orji is good enough for PDP and not his mentor.
Reports say Orji Kalu is spoiling for a decisive showdown with his renegade godson, a protégé he twice took to the infamous Okija shrine to ensure his loyalty and avoid unpleasant experiences like the one he is undergoing presently. From Orji Kalu’s aides come the report that as part of the total war against Theodore Orji, Orji’s Mother, Odiuko Eunice Kalu, hurriedly abandoned her medical treatment in the United States to relocate to Abuja where she is said to be contacting Professor Dora Akunyili and Mrs Josephine Anenih, to grant her access to the Abia Puppeteer, Dame Patience.
Meanwhile, stung by the unexpected snub it suffered in Government House Umahia from the cocky Governor, members of the “Beggars Delegation have relocated to Abuja to re-strategize. They have declared “Operation Bring Ugochukwu”, whatever it takes. Sources inside Government House said Theodore Orji was greatly disturbed when he did not see Onyema Ugochukwu, the PDP governorship candidate, despite the assurances he was said to have gotten from a high-ranking female National Assembly member who chairs a committee that oversights the financial sector and who was said to have been “mobilized” to “bring Ugochukwu at all costs”.
A source who was inside the close door meeting said Governor Orji told the delegation pointblank that “there are certain political leaders in the state who should be at the meeting for him to take the meeting serious”, meaning, until he secures Ugochukwu’s blessing, he would not commit. Members of the “Beggars’ delegation”, completely embarrassed, were said to have exchanged mournful glances at one another but swallowed their hurt.
A former National Assembly member who turned down the invitation to join the delegation said those from Abia who showed up in Government House “have dug their political grave”. Abians are enraged. The anger in the land gushed like a waterfall. Although most people are not shocked by the caliber of men and women who went to beg Gov Orji, considering their opportunistic antecedents, Abians are scandalized that the meeting took place at all.
Nwodo has sold himself for a penny in the state. The former legislator also confirmed that there was no chance of Ugochukwu joining forces Nwodo and company to beg Gov Orji.
“The Ugochukwu we know is stubborn and highly principled. Despite his controversial losses in the court, he is immensely popular with the ordinary Abians, so why should he go and beg TA? Nigerians must expect a repeat of the Soludo scenario in Abia should they impose Orji on theparty”.
Nwodo, already under nationwide fire for his flip-flops on zoning, and now leading a delegation to beg a governor who was expelled by his party for non-performance, to rejoin PDP, was accompanied on the infamous trip by what reads like the elite group of Abia’s Hall of Shame.
Names like Emeka Wogu, Jonathan’s Labor and Productivity Minister, dumped ex-foreign affairs minister Ojo Maduekwe, perennial ministerial lobbyist, Gen Ike Nwachukwu, Ogbulafor, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, Dr Ihechukwu Madubuike, Hon Chinenye Ike, Hon Nkiru Onyejeocha, Hon Mao Ohuabunwa and state party chairman, Ndidi Okereke.
Gov Orji was said to have sized them up and waved them aside as “paperweights”, hence he rolled out four impossible conditions to be met before he joins PDP, knowing full well that there was no way they could meet the conditions. The cheeky Orji, aware that none of these characters parading themselves as “Abia leaders” could deliver their ward in a free and fair election, demanded the humiliating sack of the State Party exco headed by Ndidi Okereke.
Terrified about losing his job, Okereke joined the “Beggars’ Delegation” to prostrate before Orji, hoping the New Pharaoh would mercifully spare him. But sources say Orji has already made up his mind to form his own exco and rubbish the present members if he gets the chance.
Same for other elective positions. One of his most trusted aides is sure Mr Orji has lined up his men to take over after sweeping aside the PDP cadre. Apart from Okereke, whom the source said he bears a special grudge, the three senatorial positions will go to Senator Uche Chukwumerije (Abia North); Allen Nwachukwu (Abia Central) and ---(Abia South), meaning that incumbent senators Nkechi Nworgu and Enyinnaya Abaribe would kiss the dust, their coming to kneel before him notwithstanding.
Meanwhile, Mr Orji has not stopped mocking the “Beggars’ Delegation” since its shameful visit last Friday and has not missed any opportunity with visitors and cheerleaders to make a jest of how he hired a jet to bring the delegation to come and beg them and how they were scrambling for the largess he threw to them while they were leaving, their tails tagged behind legs.
Disgusted and humiliated, Abians are spoiling for an opportunity to teach Mrs Jonathan and her barefaced Abia cheerleaders a bitter lesson. Already, the bond of Eastern Unity forming between the Igbo and their Ijaw neighbors,s is under threat of a rupture, with several Igbos wondering aloud if it is still necessary to continue supporting an Ijaw President who is unable to prevail on his domineering wife from further humiliating its leaders.
In a recent radio phone-in programme monitored from Umuahia, callers could not hide their anger, pouring unprintable invectives on Mrs Jonathan over her attempt to impose Mr Orji on Abians.
“We love Jonathan but rather than help develop Igboland, he is encouraging his wife to impose an unpopular leader on Abia people.”
“They have forgotten our history and who we are. Aba women rioted against British colonialists. We fought a bitter civil war to preserve our dignity. We shall fight Mrs Jonathan and Theodore Orji.”
“If President Jonathan cannot control his wife, then he should set her destructive sights on her native Rivers or Bayelsa state. Why Abia? Is it a furtherance of the Old Ijaw Agenda to hold back Igbo progress? We have not forgotten the Abandoned Property issue and the bastardization of Ikwerre names, all premeditated Ijaw acts targeted at wiping out Igbo influences in Port Harcourt. Now they are taking the oppression to Igbo heartland. Each time people take our solidarity for a sign of weakness.”
“At a time God is about to deliver Abia from the clutches of a satanic cult holding down her progress, by putting confusion in their midst, this Kalabari woman is abusing her Presidential connections by rallying together political desperadoes and prostitutes, to impose a useless governor on Abia State, as if we have no mind of our own.”
“If Mrs Jonathan respects Igbo people, why can she not use her powers to bring projects to Igboland? Or at least leave us alone?” These are the questions ordinary people were asking.
rmed men launch another attack in Bayelsa ...AC threatens to call for state of emergency
The spate of attacks in Bayelsa State continued on Tuesday with an attack on the country home of a political associate of President Goodluck Jonathan and Chairman, Board of the Federal Inland Waterways, HRH Jonny Amatele Turner.
Unlike the attacks that have been witnessed in the state, the five gunmen were said to have stormed Opume in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State in two Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and headed straight for the house of Turner.
The gunmen were said to have gained entry into the house through the adjoining fence of Community Comprehensive School and caught the security men on duty unawares.
According to one Benjamin Einighe who identified himself as the chief security officer (CSO) of the building, the armed men dispossessed the two policemen on duty of their rifles before tying them up with ropes.
He said they demanded to know where Turner was in the building and where he kept his money, adding that after they explained that he was in Abuja they left them to ransack the building.
“We told them that Oga is in Abuja and that there is no money in the building. They proceeded to search the whole building and left with some things but we didn’t know what.”
A tour around the building revealed that some of the bedrooms were thoroughly ransacked with items and electronics turned upside down.
Turner who spoke on phone from Abuja said he had already reported to the State Commissioner of Police, Elder Onuoha Udeka.
He explained that he was at a loss why some people would want to attack his house and destroy it.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Eguavoen Omokpae, said the police had been informed about the incident but that details were still sketchy.
However, the Action Congress (AC) has raised alarm that Bayelsa State was gradually heading towards a state of emergency if the attacks on homes of political officer holders were not checked.
The state Chairman of AC, Miriki Ebikibina in a statement issued in Yenagoa said the recent attacks in the state which had left about 12 people dead was not only “terrifying, shocking, barbaric but also “unacceptable.”
According to him, the reign of terror in the state was pathetic and should not be condoned by a responsible government because it was affecting the lives and property of the people.
He said if the attacks continued, the AC would be forced to demand for a state of emergency since security agents had failed to live up to their responsibility.
The statement reads in part: “The show of failure by the Nigerian Police and the State Security Service to protect the lives and properties of innocent citizens with the non-arrest of the ravaging scourge that snowballed into a serious security threat to the existing peace in the state has become unbearable and a monumental embarrassment to the president.”
Unlike the attacks that have been witnessed in the state, the five gunmen were said to have stormed Opume in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State in two Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and headed straight for the house of Turner.
The gunmen were said to have gained entry into the house through the adjoining fence of Community Comprehensive School and caught the security men on duty unawares.
According to one Benjamin Einighe who identified himself as the chief security officer (CSO) of the building, the armed men dispossessed the two policemen on duty of their rifles before tying them up with ropes.
He said they demanded to know where Turner was in the building and where he kept his money, adding that after they explained that he was in Abuja they left them to ransack the building.
“We told them that Oga is in Abuja and that there is no money in the building. They proceeded to search the whole building and left with some things but we didn’t know what.”
A tour around the building revealed that some of the bedrooms were thoroughly ransacked with items and electronics turned upside down.
Turner who spoke on phone from Abuja said he had already reported to the State Commissioner of Police, Elder Onuoha Udeka.
He explained that he was at a loss why some people would want to attack his house and destroy it.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Eguavoen Omokpae, said the police had been informed about the incident but that details were still sketchy.
However, the Action Congress (AC) has raised alarm that Bayelsa State was gradually heading towards a state of emergency if the attacks on homes of political officer holders were not checked.
The state Chairman of AC, Miriki Ebikibina in a statement issued in Yenagoa said the recent attacks in the state which had left about 12 people dead was not only “terrifying, shocking, barbaric but also “unacceptable.”
According to him, the reign of terror in the state was pathetic and should not be condoned by a responsible government because it was affecting the lives and property of the people.
He said if the attacks continued, the AC would be forced to demand for a state of emergency since security agents had failed to live up to their responsibility.
The statement reads in part: “The show of failure by the Nigerian Police and the State Security Service to protect the lives and properties of innocent citizens with the non-arrest of the ravaging scourge that snowballed into a serious security threat to the existing peace in the state has become unbearable and a monumental embarrassment to the president.”
We’ve not been issued ‘no campaign’ order–Ojugboh •Jonathan to run with Sambo –Abba-Aji
Director-General of the Friends of Democracy for Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Cairo Ojugboh on Thursday said that he was yet to be issued any directive to discontinue campaign for President Jonathan against 2011 thus he has not in any way flouted any law.
Ojugboh spoke just as the Chairman of the organization and Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji, also announced that President Jonathan would contest in 2011 with Vice President Namadi Sambo as running mate.
President Jonathan had on Tuesday directed his aides to stop campaigning for him towards 2011 general elections while he was yet to make up his mind.
However, Dr. Ojugboh, who was addressing members of the Friends of Nigeria for Goodluck Jonathan equally said the President was shy to participate in the 2011 elections owing to his belief in the rule of law. In his remarks, Senator Abba-Aji said the fact that President Jonathan would contest the 2011 election was no longer in doubt, adding that even if the President was initially not interested, the huge support of Nigerians in his favour would certainly make him to have a critical examination of the matter in order to accept the wishes of the majority of the people.
According to Senator Abba-Aji, “majority of Nigerians want President Jonathan to contest the 2011 election. We are not talking about zoning or no zoning, but concerned about having someone that mean well for the country to contest the 2011 election in the interest of the majority of Nigerians.”
Speaking earlier, Dr. Ojugboh, who is also the Special Assistant to the President on Legislative Matters (Senate) said that it would be unfair for some few powerful groups that had held the nation for too long to want to stop a divine cause. He thus enjoined Nigerians to join the campaign to get President Jonathan to contest the 2011 presidential election.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Mobilization Committee of the Friends of Democracy for Goodluck Jonathan, Senator Ibrahim Mantu urged members of the organization to go to their various zones and establish zonal committees, saying the next level of the campaign would be moving to the grassroots.
Senator Mantu said President Jonathan being a grassroot politician, would prefer to meet people in the rural areas and not the urban centers with large concentration of those that are clamouring for the retention of zoning arrangement that had been overtaken by political realities.
Members of the group that gathered in Abuja for the one day general meeting and formation as well as expansion of sub-committees were drawn from all the states of the federation.
Ojugboh spoke just as the Chairman of the organization and Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji, also announced that President Jonathan would contest in 2011 with Vice President Namadi Sambo as running mate.
President Jonathan had on Tuesday directed his aides to stop campaigning for him towards 2011 general elections while he was yet to make up his mind.
However, Dr. Ojugboh, who was addressing members of the Friends of Nigeria for Goodluck Jonathan equally said the President was shy to participate in the 2011 elections owing to his belief in the rule of law. In his remarks, Senator Abba-Aji said the fact that President Jonathan would contest the 2011 election was no longer in doubt, adding that even if the President was initially not interested, the huge support of Nigerians in his favour would certainly make him to have a critical examination of the matter in order to accept the wishes of the majority of the people.
According to Senator Abba-Aji, “majority of Nigerians want President Jonathan to contest the 2011 election. We are not talking about zoning or no zoning, but concerned about having someone that mean well for the country to contest the 2011 election in the interest of the majority of Nigerians.”
Speaking earlier, Dr. Ojugboh, who is also the Special Assistant to the President on Legislative Matters (Senate) said that it would be unfair for some few powerful groups that had held the nation for too long to want to stop a divine cause. He thus enjoined Nigerians to join the campaign to get President Jonathan to contest the 2011 presidential election.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Mobilization Committee of the Friends of Democracy for Goodluck Jonathan, Senator Ibrahim Mantu urged members of the organization to go to their various zones and establish zonal committees, saying the next level of the campaign would be moving to the grassroots.
Senator Mantu said President Jonathan being a grassroot politician, would prefer to meet people in the rural areas and not the urban centers with large concentration of those that are clamouring for the retention of zoning arrangement that had been overtaken by political realities.
Members of the group that gathered in Abuja for the one day general meeting and formation as well as expansion of sub-committees were drawn from all the states of the federation.
Wednesday 4 August 2010
* Home » Interviews Interviews Chinua Achebe On Nigeria's Future-NEWSWEEK
Chinua Achebe On Nigeria's Future-NEWSWEEK
A Man of the People: Although best known for his 1958 masterpiece, Things Fall Apart, about a simple yam farmer in tribal Nigeria, novelist Chinua Achebe is still writing about Africa a full half century later. The 79-year-old author and social critic spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Jerry Guo about recent developments in his home country and politics on the continent.
Excerpts:
Why do you think Nigeria has such a bad reputation?
It’s possible to go to Nigeria and feel that the people are very dynamic and hardworking and want to do well. Yet you could [also] have an impression that this is a very corrupt country. Nigerians had very serious problems in their history since the times of the colonial masters. Now Nigeria is trying to become a modern state on one hand; on the other, it’s still a very corrupt and violent country.
So how did notoriously corrupt African states like Nigeria become that way while others such as Botswana and Ghana went down a different path?
Nigeria is very wealthy because of the amount of oil. This richness becomes a drag if there is no order and no honesty. I write about Nigeria, yet I cannot understand why we refuse to grow up. It’s a mystery to Nigerians and a mystery to me. Come to any election in Nigeria and it’s full of bad news. Nigerians know what they want. So why don’t you get your house in order, I ask?
In your political commentary, you talk about the importance of personalities in african politics. is this a sustainable way of governance?
I don’t think so. You need to have leaders who feel the need or are compelled by their people to be good and reliable. The failure of leadership is the explanation in my famous piece, if I may so say, “The Trouble With Nigeria.” This is the failure of Nigerian leaders, not their followers.
You don’t place any blame on the enabling conditions from which these kleptocrats emerge?
We do have the need for followers to put pressure on their leaders, but the problem is that their leaders are corrupt. When you talk about the few African countries where things are working, you will find generally the quality of leadership is better than in other countries. We need to hand power over to those people who have special training through good education or people who have some qualities that can pull together the resources of a nation. Of course, the colonial system prejudiced our development, but we have also now had enough time and opportunity to straighten it out. But we haven’t done that.
You’ve said president Jonathan Goodluck wasn’t bringing in the good luck. So what was your reaction to the news of the death of president Umaru Yar’Adua?
I wouldn’t pursue that line. It’s not a question of changing my mind, but that we must give [Goodluck] the opportunity to show his leadership. We must not assume anything at this stage, because as acting president, he did not have this position before.
There’s been an uptick in ethnic violence between the Christians and Muslims in nigeria. are you afraid of radical islam taking root there and spreading?
That’s a very serious problem. A politician will use whatever is handy, and the things that are handy are ethnicity and religion. It’s very worrying and it could damage the nation permanently. I think it’s a sign of a lack of development.
Speaking of development, do you think there’s still a role, if any, for the west in all of this?
I don’t think the West must themselves decide whether they should have a role. If they do feel like helping, that’s fine. But it should be something that we do freely, as members of the human race. Don’t misunderstand me, there is still room for the West in Africa, but I’m very anxious not to give the impression that we’re waiting for someone to come develop the African continent.
Originally published by NEWSWEEK
* Home » Interviews Interviews Chinua Achebe On Nigeria's Future-NEWSWEEK
Chinua Achebe On Nigeria's Future-NEWSWEEK
A Man of the People: Although best known for his 1958 masterpiece, Things Fall Apart, about a simple yam farmer in tribal Nigeria, novelist Chinua Achebe is still writing about Africa a full half century later. The 79-year-old author and social critic spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Jerry Guo about recent developments in his home country and politics on the continent.
Excerpts:
Why do you think Nigeria has such a bad reputation?
It’s possible to go to Nigeria and feel that the people are very dynamic and hardworking and want to do well. Yet you could [also] have an impression that this is a very corrupt country. Nigerians had very serious problems in their history since the times of the colonial masters. Now Nigeria is trying to become a modern state on one hand; on the other, it’s still a very corrupt and violent country.
So how did notoriously corrupt African states like Nigeria become that way while others such as Botswana and Ghana went down a different path?
Nigeria is very wealthy because of the amount of oil. This richness becomes a drag if there is no order and no honesty. I write about Nigeria, yet I cannot understand why we refuse to grow up. It’s a mystery to Nigerians and a mystery to me. Come to any election in Nigeria and it’s full of bad news. Nigerians know what they want. So why don’t you get your house in order, I ask?
In your political commentary, you talk about the importance of personalities in african politics. is this a sustainable way of governance?
I don’t think so. You need to have leaders who feel the need or are compelled by their people to be good and reliable. The failure of leadership is the explanation in my famous piece, if I may so say, “The Trouble With Nigeria.” This is the failure of Nigerian leaders, not their followers.
You don’t place any blame on the enabling conditions from which these kleptocrats emerge?
We do have the need for followers to put pressure on their leaders, but the problem is that their leaders are corrupt. When you talk about the few African countries where things are working, you will find generally the quality of leadership is better than in other countries. We need to hand power over to those people who have special training through good education or people who have some qualities that can pull together the resources of a nation. Of course, the colonial system prejudiced our development, but we have also now had enough time and opportunity to straighten it out. But we haven’t done that.
You’ve said president Jonathan Goodluck wasn’t bringing in the good luck. So what was your reaction to the news of the death of president Umaru Yar’Adua?
I wouldn’t pursue that line. It’s not a question of changing my mind, but that we must give [Goodluck] the opportunity to show his leadership. We must not assume anything at this stage, because as acting president, he did not have this position before.
There’s been an uptick in ethnic violence between the Christians and Muslims in nigeria. are you afraid of radical islam taking root there and spreading?
That’s a very serious problem. A politician will use whatever is handy, and the things that are handy are ethnicity and religion. It’s very worrying and it could damage the nation permanently. I think it’s a sign of a lack of development.
Speaking of development, do you think there’s still a role, if any, for the west in all of this?
I don’t think the West must themselves decide whether they should have a role. If they do feel like helping, that’s fine. But it should be something that we do freely, as members of the human race. Don’t misunderstand me, there is still room for the West in Africa, but I’m very anxious not to give the impression that we’re waiting for someone to come develop the African continent.
Originally published by NEWSWEEK
IBB, Atiku’s alliance crumbles over 2011 presidential ticket
A sharp disagreement appears to have crept into the alliance between former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over who between them should fly the North’s flag in the 2011 presidential election.
Information available to the Nigerian Tribune indicates that the two leaders have failed to reach an agreement on this issue after spending some time discussing the details of the issue.
Sources confirmed, on Tuesday, that the duo of Babangida and Abubakar were unable to agree on who should step down for the other, if they succeeded in winning the zoning war in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Babangida and Abubakar had been at the forefront of the zoning campaign in recent weeks. They had held meetings where they insisted that the zoning policy of the PDP remained sacrosanct.
Sources insisted that the relationship between the inner circles of the two leaders who are championing the zoning cause had not been that cordial, notwithstanding the public show of unity on the matter.
While Abubakar was said to be flaunting his democratic credentials and the fact that he fought his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, between 2005 and 2007, to strengthen democracy, he was said to be insisting that such qualities should stand him out in 2011.
A source monitoring the developments quoted Abubakar as having insisted that his stance against the third term agenda of the Obasanjo administration showed him as a veritable democrat far above the credentials being flaunted by Babangida.
“There is the belief in Atiku’s camp that Babangida should not be seen in the forefront of a democratic contest because of the indelible dent of annulment of the June 12,1993, presidential election which he cannot wish away.
“The belief is that Atiku should be supported as the candidate with the appealing democratic credentials from the North right now,” a source said.
The source, however, added that Babangida believed he had the best political experience to handle Nigeria at this time and that he should be supported by former Vice-President Abu-bakar to run the 2011 race.
“In IBB’s camp, the belief is that being a former leader, he should have the chance of first refusal and Atiku should advert his mind to that reality.
“But for now, they are patching up the public image of the zoning war until it is the right time to neutralise the other. I think they want to first fight a common enemy before going fully for each other’s jugular,” the source stated.
However, the spokesman for Atiku Campaign Organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Tuesday, said the two leaders had not experienced sharp disagreements on the zoning battle.
Shehu, in a telephone conversation, said “the situation has not even arisen. So how can there be a disagreement on a situation that is yet to arise?”
Meanwhile, the camp of President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, insisted on the need to emphasise Nigeria’s unity above sectional interests.
Jonathan, speaking through his Senior Special Assistant, Research and Strategy, Mr Oronto Douglas, said he would not preside over a divided Nigeria.
Information available to the Nigerian Tribune indicates that the two leaders have failed to reach an agreement on this issue after spending some time discussing the details of the issue.
Sources confirmed, on Tuesday, that the duo of Babangida and Abubakar were unable to agree on who should step down for the other, if they succeeded in winning the zoning war in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Babangida and Abubakar had been at the forefront of the zoning campaign in recent weeks. They had held meetings where they insisted that the zoning policy of the PDP remained sacrosanct.
Sources insisted that the relationship between the inner circles of the two leaders who are championing the zoning cause had not been that cordial, notwithstanding the public show of unity on the matter.
While Abubakar was said to be flaunting his democratic credentials and the fact that he fought his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, between 2005 and 2007, to strengthen democracy, he was said to be insisting that such qualities should stand him out in 2011.
A source monitoring the developments quoted Abubakar as having insisted that his stance against the third term agenda of the Obasanjo administration showed him as a veritable democrat far above the credentials being flaunted by Babangida.
“There is the belief in Atiku’s camp that Babangida should not be seen in the forefront of a democratic contest because of the indelible dent of annulment of the June 12,1993, presidential election which he cannot wish away.
“The belief is that Atiku should be supported as the candidate with the appealing democratic credentials from the North right now,” a source said.
The source, however, added that Babangida believed he had the best political experience to handle Nigeria at this time and that he should be supported by former Vice-President Abu-bakar to run the 2011 race.
“In IBB’s camp, the belief is that being a former leader, he should have the chance of first refusal and Atiku should advert his mind to that reality.
“But for now, they are patching up the public image of the zoning war until it is the right time to neutralise the other. I think they want to first fight a common enemy before going fully for each other’s jugular,” the source stated.
However, the spokesman for Atiku Campaign Organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Tuesday, said the two leaders had not experienced sharp disagreements on the zoning battle.
Shehu, in a telephone conversation, said “the situation has not even arisen. So how can there be a disagreement on a situation that is yet to arise?”
Meanwhile, the camp of President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, insisted on the need to emphasise Nigeria’s unity above sectional interests.
Jonathan, speaking through his Senior Special Assistant, Research and Strategy, Mr Oronto Douglas, said he would not preside over a divided Nigeria.
Akingbola Returns, May Report to EFCC Today
Former Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Dr. Erastus Akingbola, made a surprise return to the country yesterday and is said to be ready to challenge allegations levelled against him by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Akingbola, who has been in the United Kingdom since the CBN removed him and other bank CEOs last year, arrived Abuja in the morning. He was received by close family members as well as his lawyer, Chief Felix Fagbohungbe (SAN).
"Akingbola's voluntary return to the country is to defend himself of all allegations against him in the law courts. His return shows that he is not afraid to face trial in proper courts of law. He is presently consulting with his legal team and the outcome of these consultations would determine his next steps," a family source said last night, hinting that Akingbola may report to the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) today. Akingbola "emphatically denies all allegations of wrong-doing or improper conduct", the source added, disclosing that the former CEO has challenged the legal validity of his removal from office as Group Chief Executive of the Intercontinental Bank Plc by way of Judicial Review.
On August 14, last year, the CBN governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had sacked the senior management teams of five banks - Afribank, Finbank, Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank and Union Bank - and injected N420 billion, saying lax governance had left them dangerously undercapitalised. Akingbola has challenged the legal validity of his removal, maintaining that he was the target of the CBN action. Akingbola and Sanusi had reportedly had some disagreements over de-marketing when Sanusi was the CEO of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. The former Intercontinental Bank boss had alleged that First Bank was de-marketing Intercontinental Bank and even placed an advertorial to that effect in some newspapers but did not mention First Bank or the name of its CEO.
The advert referred to "one of the old generation banks whose CEO had an ambition to become the Governor of the CBN". De-marketing is a term used to describe competitors trying to pull down one another. Akingbola left the country shortly before his removal and EFCC filed charges against him and other directors of the bank. The directors were arraigned by the EFCC on a total of 131-count charge bordering on fraud, concealment and granting loans without adequate collateral running into about N700 billion.
They were alleged to have committed offences contrary to and punishable under Sections Section 20(b) (7), 28 (1,2, and 3), 24 and 50 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) Cap B3, Laws of the Federation, 2004; Section 422 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap C38 Laws of the Federation, 2004. In a statement earlier this year, Akingbola's counsel, Mr. Charles Nwajagu, had indicated that Akingbola was ready to come back to Nigeria as soon as the suit in London would have been given mention in court, saying that the suit required his personal attention.
The case, mentioned in London court on July 14, 2010, was adjourned till December, 2010. According to the counsel, all the transactions conducted under Akingbola's stewardship were legitimate and lawful and that he never wrongly took or misappropriated any funds whatsoever. He said if there were any allegations against Akingbola, they should be left up to an impartial and fair court to decide, stressing that by resorting to trial in the court of public opinion through the media, his accusers are turning themselves into the complainant, the prosecutor and the judge.
"He would like to reassure Nigerians that he is and has always been prepared to come home, once he is sure of his personal safety and that of his family, and confident that no steps will be taken to attempt to implicate him in other crimes as a way of forcing him to withdraw his case in court against the CBN. "His whereabouts are known to the United Kingdom authorities. He is not now or ever been in hiding," said the counsel.
Who Wants Obudu Mountain Ceded?
By Emmanuel Onwubiko
In 2005 when I did the second and concluding segment of my book titled “Politics and Litigation in contemporary Nigeria”, I dedicated three chapters in the 516 page work to analyze the negotiations that took place between Nigeria and her South Eastern Neighbor – Cameroon on the contentious issue of who owns Bakassi Peninsula even though it was controversially resolved by the International court of Justice [ICJ] in favor of Cameroon.
The chapter four of that book encapsulated the entire gamut of my postulations on the dispute over the ownership of the oil rich peninsular which hitherto was part of cross River State. I raised the question of whether the Nigerian – Cameroon mixed commission which was set up by both countries through the effort of the United Nations secretary General has failed in working out acceptable formula for implementing that unpopular 2002 verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
My concern was brought about by the decision in late October 2004 by the Cameroon-Nigeria mixed commission to transfer negotiation concerning Bakassi Peninsular transfer of ownership date to a parley between the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Paul Biya and the United Nations Secretary General who at that time was the Ghana- born Kofi Anan. The decision to refer further negotiations as stated above was reached after a stormy twelfth sessions because the members of the commission could not agree for a particular hand over date of the oil rich peninsular to Cameroon.
In that chapter I warned both Cameroon and especially the Nigerian government to carry along the popular view of the inhabitants of Bakassi peninsular in reaching any decision regarding whether to respect the controversial World court’s judgment and hand over the oil rich Island to Cameroon or not.
I had written thus; “Leaders of both countries believed that the aim of the commission would be actualized. But one critical factor that must be considered before the actualization of any future hand over time table is that the commission must consider the over-all interests of the inhabitants of the area most of whom desire to remain in Nigeria”.
Initially, I was persuaded by the strong argument put forward by the then Attorney General of the Federation that handed over Bakassi to Cameroon Mr. Bayo Ojo that doing that would foster stronger ties and promote greater peace between Nigeria and her neighbor-Cameroon.
I was also persuaded to believe that Nigeria will enter the good book of the International community as a ‘good boy’ who always respects the voice of the ‘elders’ that preside over the United Nations. But I was wrong. I was dead wrong to have supported the hand over of Bakassi because the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of that oil rich region opposed the transfer.
The then Federal government made the blunder of flouting section 12 of the Constitution by failing to get the approval of the National Assembly before the Green Tree agreement becomes a binding agreement between Nigeria and Cameroon. It was that so-called Green Tree Agreement entered into unilaterally by then President Obasanjo with his counterpart from Cameroon on the promptings of the Ghanaian-born then secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Anan that provided for the transfer of ownership of Bakassi by Nigeria to Cameroon in line with the ICJ verdict.
Secondly, we argued then that handing over Bakassi to another country without amending our constitution to excise that part from the federation of Nigeria will amount to a massive violation of the constitution since Bakassi is recognized as part of Nigeria. The inhabitants of Bakassi also went to the federal High Court, Abuja Division to try to stop the transfer but they lost because of undue executive interference in the judiciary. The Nigerian government proceeded with the ill-advised hand over. Now the chicken has come home to roost. Millions of Nigerians who hitherto resided in Bakassi are now internally displaced and those who bravely chose to remain in Bakassi because of their fishing activities are constantly being harassed by the Cameroonian gendarmes.
As a little boy I was used to hearing that “when you give somebody under your control allowance he will look for balance”. This saying is playing itself out because certain mercenaries working for the interest of Cameroon have gone to town with the rumour that Obudu cattle ranch which is a part of the current Cross River state would be ceded to Cameroon. The Cross River government was so embarrassed by the wild rumour that it issued a press statement denying the rumour making rounds concerning the prestigious Obudu Mountain in which Billions of tax payers’ money has been invested by the Cross River state government which has now made it as one of the choicest destinations for international tourists.
The Cross River State government dismissed as “very unfortunate”, rumours that Cameroon was about to take over the Obudu Mountain Resort. A statement by Governor Liyel Imoke’s office said: “The rumours are not only malicious but a well articulated attempt from yet to be ascertained quarters to undermine the tourism initiatives of the state government, incite the passions of the indigenes of the state including the host community of the Obudu Mountain Resort, and generally cause disaffection and instability in the state.
“The relevant sector of the Nigeria-Cameroon International boundary has been well defined by the Anglo-German Agreement of 1913 and other legal instruments, which were upheld by the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 10th October, 2002. Following the judgment, the sector was traced and physically confirmed by the Nigeria-Cameroon Joint Technical Team (JTT), which comprises of technical experts from Nigeria and Cameroon as well as the United Nations in November/December last year”, according to Patrick Ugbe.
Cross River Governor’s spokesperson stated: “The delineation of the boundary line on satellite images map covering the whole boundary length made by the JTT using the Agreement does not put the Obudu Cattle Ranch or any of its part in the Republic of Cameroon. Also, during the field tracing, the Ranch was found to be entirely in Nigeria territory. …”
I think the mistake of handing over Bakassi to Cameroon has now turn out to be fatal but certainly not irreversible because I see the possibility of the emergence of a patriotic government at the center with a strong President with Nigeria’s interest at heart who would one day stand up for what is right by reclaiming Bakassi Peninsular. Nigerians are waiting for such a bold Leader.
Between HiTv and Nigeria By Edward Idenu
When I told a friend that I was going to do an article about the HiTv saga: loosing the licence to beam the English Premier League (EPL) to Nigerians for the next European football season commencing in August, He warned me that the article will receive unfavourable responses as most cable Television viewers in Nigeria liked or preferred the DSTV (Multichoice) package and for them it was a welcome development.
My concern was and still is that Nigeria is important and so any success recorded in Nigeria is a clear indication that Africa is on track to attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), this fact is true considering the population of Nigeria and so I wonder if we know this simple fact.
The biggest news in the corporate agenda in Nigeria last week was HiTv (an indigenous cable television company) loosing the licence she acquire last year supposedly for 3 years to a major continental rival DSTv a Nigerian company working in collaboration with Multichoice South Africa.
The question on every ones lips was: How can a company sitting on a gold mine not protect the mine with every thing there is? And as expected there were many answers: some rumours others backed with fact. A friend told me Nigerians lack the entrepreneurial skill to effectively manage large corporations, Others thought that the Banks in Nigeria were a disappointment to the business community, some even say that how can the government allow an indigenous company go under when BAILOUT has now become a global measure taken by governments to prevent ailing enterprises from going down, the American and UK governments were cited as examples.
It was reported that the reason why the right to the EPL was revoked was because the Banks could not give the required financial guarantee to the EPL by the agreed deadline. This is sad in a country that boast of nearly or more than 20 functional bank, some with branches in the UK and other west African countries. Don’t get me wrong Banks are not registered as Charity and so are in the business for profit, but we also know that its not all transactions that are “quick wins” some investments are long term investment that will facilitate economic growth and whose profits often times come after some years of persistent marketing , packaging and some time re-investment.
Multichoice/DSTv did not reap the benefit of its investment in Nigeria in their first attempt it staggered until today it’s a major foreign income earner for its investors and the Republic of South Africa. I was told that like HiTV DSTv is a Nigeria owned company, this could be true but even the lay man in Oshodi market (Lagos) knows that some percentage of it income must be shared with its mother company in South Africa. I might be wrong but as at the last count there was no Nigeria company operating successfully in South Africa This Day News papers and Globacom tried it I heard, the result is there for us to see.
Back to my point, for the government of Nigeria whose responsibility to the business community is to provide an enabling environment for business to fold its hand while an indigenous company employing Nigerians and paying tax to the FIRS loose its most lucrative commodity of trade because it could not be protected by the Governments and Bank in my opinion is UNACCEPTABLE. We saw government bailout programme in developed economies in the world why is that of Nigeria different???
I am one of those who strongly advocated for the pull out of Government in the Private sector but as I said before the government has a duly to provide the environment and regulations: these could also be financial support to local entrepreneurs this is why we have local or external reserve. I recall couple of years ago when the US government announced that because she has enough food reserve some selected farmers where paid off to stay off the farm for a year this is an example of Government being responsive to its people. Some body said ours are too busy with the politics of Government House and Houses of Assemblies or State Vs National allocation that the business of true governance is left at the mercy of God.
It was reported that Multichoice made so much from the just concluded World Cup in South African that she was able to pay ($40 million) requested by EPL for a 3 year period what she could not pay last year. What is my point? Foot ball is big business so hosting football event is also big business, Nigeria have hosted 3-4 continental/global foot ball event in the last 11 years starting from Nigeria 1999 how has those event change the face of sport or local companies, has the sport authorities ever told us the profit they made from these event and how that was plunge back into the economy? South Africa has shown us. DSTv shows that Nigeria Premiere League (NPL) atleast so they tell us, if DSTv will pay $40 million to air the EPL for 3 years, they should at least pay $2million annually to air the NPL, if this has been the ongoing arrangement we need to know why the development of the league is so slow which is what DSTv who even air the South African league to Nigeria more frequently that they air the NPL promised Nigerians.
I think it is time we begin to ask ourselves if we know the true meaning of Government and may be redefine the concept of Governance as we look ahead to the 2011 elections. That the government and the financial systems in Nigeria could not support an indigenous company against external competition is UNACCEPTABLE - a failure of government and the financial system in my opinion.
I also agree with all those innovative Nigerians who believe that HiTv failed to live up to the bidding, it is true that a lot still needed to be done in terms of quality and packaging but all these come with time a year is to quick to judge a company operating in an erratic environment as ours.
Let me illustrate why I think the Government and the Banks should be interested in the HiTv investment: We assume the number of subscriptions to DSTv is 3 million and assume an average subscription charge of N4000/month. DSTv there fore reaps a whooping N12 Billion in a month and by implication N144 Billion annually which equates to $1 Billion annually. Why should these funds not be controlled by an indigenous company who will plunge it back into the Economy? How many registered company ion Nigeria or even the world makes generate an annual income of $1 billion in a year? I rest my case.
We need to speak out, the textile in the North went under no body is talking about it many more have gone owning to power and funds we must redefine the role of the banking/financial sector in the economy. Nigeria can not make meaningful progress if the work force (potential tax payer) is unemployed not to talk of attaining the MDG’s. Nigeria is far too important to fail……..
How Police Personnel Raked In 9.35Billion Naira From Roadblocks In The Southeast-Nigeria In 18 Months
Titled: Police-Oiled Blue-Collar Crime In The Southeast-Nigeria: How Nigerian Police Personnel In The Zone Unlawfully Made N9.35Billion (over 60 Million US Dollars) From 1,350 Check-points In 18 Months As Against N3.5 Billion Lost To Kidnappers In The Zone Since 2007
(Onitsha- Nigeria, July 28, 2010)-In Criminology, blue-collar crime is regarded as any crime committed by an individual from a lower social class, as opposed to white-collar crime committed by individuals of higher social class. An example of a blue-collar criminal is a police person who demands for a bribe at the police check-point. On the other hand, it is bribery when one other than a public official corruptly takes the initiative and offers what he knows is not an authorized fee to a public official; and it is extortion when a public official corruptly makes an unlawful demand which is paid by one who does not realize it is not the fee authorized for the services rendered (see latest (2009) edition of the Black’s Law Dictionary).
It is on the basis of the foregoing that we decided to take a cursory look at the blue-collar criminality or roadblock extortions in the Southeast-Nigeria from January 2009 to June 2010 or in the past 18 months. We had severally observed that between June 1999 and December 2008, the Anambra State Police personnel unlawfully made a whopping sum of N3.3Billion from various police check-points or roadblocks in the State.
This was as a result of our earlier investigations, using commonsense principles such as observations from, and interactions with travelers and transporters and the eyewitnesses’ accounts. We had in the course of the said investigations, interviewed several victims such as commercial motorcyclists, commercial motorists, private car operators and other eyewitnesses. Our investigations then were (and are still) restricted to roadblock extortions and did not cover other branches of blue-collar crime being perpetrated by corrupt police persons such as extortions associated with conveyance of goods and other related items, unlawful bail fees, extortions arising from criminal investigations, etc. We also made a finding of the fact that, if calculated, the foregoing extortions would either be at par with the sum total of extortions associated with roadblocks or double same.
It was our further finding that between June 1999 and December 2003, toll benchmark used by the extortionists was N10.00 per extortee and a total number of 70 roadblocks were estimated to have existed then on Anambra roads. And each roadblock, manned by a five-person or four-person police squad made the sum of N10,000 per day from commercial and private motorists and motorcyclists, who encountered the affected roadblocks about one-thousand (1000) times per day, meaning that a total sum of N700,000 was generated by the extortionists per day from the 70 check-points.
Therefore, between June 1999 and December 2003, a total sum of N1,26 Billion was believed to have been unlawfully realized from the affected roadblocks. But between January 2004 and December 2008, the toll benchmark was increased to N20.00 per extortee and the private vehicle operators were exempted, with the exception of extortions arising from lawful and unlawful examination of vehicular papers. The total sum unlawfully realized daily, moved from N700,000 to N1.4Million per day, N42Million per month and N504Million per year. As a result, between January 2004 and December 2008, a period of four years, a total of N2, 016Billion was believed to have been unlawfully realized from the police check-points. In all, between June 1999 and December 2008, a period of 9 ½ years, a total of N3.3Billion or about N30Million Dollars (using the then exchange rate of about N110,00 per US Dollar) might have been unlawfully realized.
Today, there are between 350 and 400 police check-points in Anambra State, manning about 14 Federal Roads and over 700 kilometers of the State roads or Trunk B roads in the State and manned by over 1800 police personnel. There are also increasing number of commercial vehicles and motorcycles on Anambra roads. Apart from over 200 Markets in the State, the State is highly urbanized. And more urban centers are springing up. Four, out of every five adult persons in the State are engaged in the art of buying and selling of goods and services. As a matter of fact, Anambra State is the most urbanized and most densely populated in the Southeast-Nigeria, followed by Abia State. The State has over ten urban centers and they are : Ekwulobia/ Oko, Umunze, Ihiala,Nnewi, Oba,Ogidi, Nkpor,Obosi, Ogbaru, Onitsha, Nsugbe, Awka, Nise/Agulu zone, etc and self-efforts development index is very high among her adult population. The State is also a trade-prone society, and occupies a land mass of about 4,611 square kilometers. Anambra also informally contributes about fifty percent of non-oil revenues to Delta State, especially to Asaba, the State capital city.
In addition, Anambra State is home to largest number of commercial motorcycles in Nigeria after Lagos State. As at June 2010, for instance, there are 326,652 registered commercial motorcyclists in Lagos State, according to statistics released recently by the Government of Lagos State. It is estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 commercial motorcycles may be operating in Anambra State as of date, owning to influx of commercial motorcycle operators into the State on the heels of bans placed on them by various States’ Governments in the Southeast and South-south zones. Their second safe heaven is Abia State, especially before they were banned in Aba and Umuahia in June 2009. They have now relocated to semi urban and remote areas of the State.
In other words, Anambra and Abia States are predominantly blue-collar societies, where many, if not, most adult populations are engaged in physical activities in formal and informal industries. Businesses are predominantly conducted on cash-and-carry basis. The cash-carrying ratio in the two societies is very high. This is largely in contrast to what goes on in respect of Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi States, which are regarded as “civil-service States”, where white-collar criminality may be predominant.
Therefore, in order of categorization, Anambra leads as a State worse hit by police-perpetrated blue-collar criminality, followed by Abia State, then Imo State, Enugu State and Ebonyi State. This is also evidenced by the number of police check-points present in the five States. From our investigations, anchored on commonsense principles and eyewitnesses’ accounts, there are between 350 and 400 police/military check-points in Anambra State; between 300 and 350 in Abia State; about 250 in Imo State; about 200 in Enugu State and about 150 in Ebonyi State totaling over 1,350 police check-points in the zone as at June 2010.
The remote motives behind the sharp increase in the number of these check-points are for the perpetration of blue-collar criminality, while the outer motives are to combat the political class-oiled violent crimes, especially the crimes of kidnapping for ransom and hi-tech armed robbery (banking and bullion van robberies). In the case of Anambra State, part of the outer motives has to do with the February 6, 2010 gubernatorial election. These over 1,350 police check-points in the Southeast- Nigeria are manned by over 7,000 policepersons on average of five or four policepersons per check-point. This is excludes over 25,000 policepersons believed to have been deployed and cramped in the existing police formations in the zone sine January 2009 and they are not part of those statutorily stationed in various police formations within the zone. In Imo State alone, according to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ogbonnaya Onovo, over 5,000 police personnel mainly from the Mobile Police Division of the Force were recently deployed to the State.
Statistics:
Those involved in the roadblock extortions in the Southeast-Nigeria are mainly drawn from the Mobile Police Division of the Nigeria Police Force. Others are members of the Regular Police Division, Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS), Anti-Terrorism Squads (SWAT) and the Military Police Personnel. Soldiers rarely extort road users where they are stationed, except at joint roadblocks with members of the Mobile Police Division. In this case, MOPOL persons do the extortion, while soldiers stay at a distance, watching, but they partake in the sharing of the “proceeds” at the end of the criminal roadblock exercise.
The toll benchmark is N20.00 for MOPOL and Regular Policepersons; N50.00 to N100.00 for the Military Police Personnel and the SARS; while the Anti Terrorism Squads, who are not stationed, but on patrol, target wares’ couriers for extortion at random, which ranges from N1,000.00 to N20,000.00 per victim. Members of the Federal Highways’ Patrol Teams also engage in this nefarious activity. Their victims are asked to park off the road, and locate their leaders by the bush side and part with N100.00 to N200.00 (per victim). Members of the Federal Roads’ Safety Corps (FRSC) engage in “booby-traps” extortions; whereby out of over twenty “offenses” contained in their “offense sheets”, road users rarely escape from such “booby-traps”. Some road users, especially commercial motorists have formed the habits of parking miles away from check-points, mounted by the FRSC personnel; walk up to the check-points and settle (bribe) them so as to be given clean passage.
In Anambra State, the non-statue-backed Anambra State Roads’ Traffic Agency (ASTA) is nightmarish. Their pattern of extortion ranges from random removal of plate numbers to flattening of tyres/impoundment of vehicles. Once a road user parks his or her vehicle off the center of the road so as to answer a phone call, he or she will be surrounded by the Agency’s operatives and accuse of “obstruction”, and he or she will be intimidated to part with N5,000.00 to N15,000.00.
Relying on eyewitnesses’ accounts, interactions with some road users and observations by our fact-finding teams, the following findings were made: 1. There were about ten police check-points as at June 2010 between Enugu State (Ninth Mile) and Oturkpa in Benue State, whereas the Oturkpa to FCT (Federal Capital Territory) etc routes recorded near-zero police check-points. 2. There were at least twenty police check-points as at June 2010 from Enugu to Okigwe in Imo State, using Enugu–Port Harcourt Dual Carriage Way. 3. There were about sixty police check-points from Enugu to Abakaliki in Ebonyi State as at June 2010, using Enugu-Abakaliki Road which is about an hour journey. 4. There were about thirty police check-points as at June 2010 from Onitsha in Anambra State to Enugu State (New Market Park) using Onitsha-Enugu Dual Carriage Way in a journey of about 1½ hours. 5. There were at least twenty police check-points as at June 2010 from Onitsha to Owerri in Imo State using Onitsha-Owerri Dual Carriage Way in a journey of less than two hours. 6. There were about twenty police check-points as at June 2010 from Onitsha to Benin in Edo State (via Onitsha-Asaba-Benin Dual Carriage Way) in a journey of less than 2 hours, whereas from Agbor to Abuja and from Benin to Lagos, there were not up to ten check-points for the two routes that take up to 9hours. 7. There were at least twenty police check-points as at June 2010 from Okigwe in Imo State to Aba in Abia State in a journey of less than an hour. 8. There were at least thirty police check-points as at June 2010 from Aba to Port Harcourt in Rivers State in a journey of about two hours.
Furthermore, between ten and twenty police check-points were each recorded as at June 2010 from Aba to Owerri via Aba-Owerri Road, Umuahia (Abia State)- Obowe to Owerri via Umuahia-Obowe-Owerri Road; Aba to Ikot-Ekpene in Cross River State via Aba-Ikot-Ekpene Road; Uturu in Abia State to Abakaliki in Ebonyi State via Uturu-Okigwe-Abakaliki Road; Abakaliki to Ogoja in Cross River State via Abakaliki-Ogoja Road; Owerri in Imo State to Port Harcourt in Rivers State via Owerri-Elele-Port Harcourt Road, etc. It is our further observation that major nooks and crannies in all the urban areas in the Southeast-Nigeria, as well as strategic points on states’ governments’ built roads were flooded with police check-points as at June 2010
Mr. Tochukwu Ohanehi is a commercial motorcycle operator in Onitsha. He told Intersociety that he encounters police check-points in the city of Onitsha twenty times a day and he loses N400.00 to police extortion, meaning that he parts with N20.00 at each of the check-points, especially when carrying a passenger. He parts with N50.00 if he carries wares, such as loaves of bread, bags of maize, rice, etc. Mr. Rufus Durueze is a commercial bus operator who plies Onitsha to Awka via Onitsha-Enugu Dual Carriage Way. He told Intersociety that he spends between N600.00 and N1, 200.00 per day in the hands of policepersons mounting roadblocks between Onitsha and Awka; depending on how many trips he covers a day. Each trip (thro and fro) costs him the sum of N300.00.
Our investigations further revealed that the amount of money being made unlawfully from each police check-point varies, depending on the juicy nature of the area. For instance, police check-points in Onitsha and Nnewi zones in Anambra State make more evil money than their counterparts in Ihiala, Aguata and Awka areas. A police check-point in the former collects as much as N50,000 per day as against the latter’s N10,000 to N15,000. On average, each police check-point in Anambra and Abia States may be going home with the sum of N20,000 per day, while each of them in Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi States may be making the sum of N10,000 per day because of their “civil service” status.
Therefore, as at June 2009, when there were about 150 police check-points in Anambra State, a total sum of N540Million was believed to have been unlawfully made from roadblock extortions (between January and June 2009). Between July and December 2009, when the check-points were doubled to about 300, the sum of N1, 08Billion was believed to have been realized on average of N20,000.00 per police check-point a day, N6Million for the 300 check-points per day, and N180Million per month. Between January and June 2010, when the check-points increased to about 350 to 400, the sum of N1,260Billion to N1,320Billion might have been unlawfully made.
In all, in the case of Anambra State, it may be safe to conclude that between June 1999 and June 2010, a period of eleven years, a total sum of N6,180Billion (over 40Million US Dollars) might have been realized from police roadblock extortions in the State. It is also possible that the police might have realized more than this considering the fact that extortions arising from commercial motorcycle operations in Anambra State alone is more than N4Million per day. For instance, since Lagos State parades the largest number of commercial motorcycle operators in Nigeria with more than 326,000, it is estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 of them will be operating in Anambra State, making the State the second State with largest Okada operators and if N20.00 multiplied by at least 200,000, it is N4Million, even though it is not possible for them to part with only N20.00 per day at these police check-points.
All in all, in Anambra State, with about 150 police check-points as at June 2009; 300 police check-points as at December 2009; and 350 to 400 police check-points as at June 2010, a total of N2, 880Billion might have been realized from the police–oiled blue-collar criminality, otherwise called “extortion”. In Abia State, with about 300 to 350 police check-points, the sum of N3,24Billion might have been unlawfully realized from police roadblock extortions between January 2009 and June 2010, a period of 18 months, on the average of N20,000 per check-point a day, N6Million for the 300 check-points per day, and N180Million per month.
In Imo State, with about 250 police check-points, the sum of N1,350Billion might have been unlawfully realized in the past 18 months (January 2009 to June 2010), on average of N10,000 per check-point a day, N2.5Million for the 250 check-points per day and N75Million per month. In Enugu State, with about 200 police check-points, the sum of N1,080 Billion might have been realized in the past 18 months, on average of N10,000 per check-point a day, N2Million for the 200 check-points per day, and N60million per month. And in Ebonyi State, with about 150 police check-points, the sum of N810Million might have been illegally realized in the past 18 months on average of N10,000 per check-point a day, N1,5Million for the 150 check-points per day, and N45Million per month.
Therefore, in the past 18 months in the Southeast-Nigeria, a total sum of N9,35 Billion or over 60Million US Dollars might have been realized from police roadblock extortions that is, Anambra-N2,880Billion, Abia-N3,240Billion, Imo- N1,350Billion, Enugu-N1,080Billion and Ebonyi-N810Million. Anambra State also had lost a total of N6,180Billion to police roadblock extortions since June 1999. Just like we earlier noted, these calculations are very conservative, because the figure arrived at, may be much lower than the actual proceeds that were criminally realized.
Our findings also clearly showed that blue-collar crime thrives in the Southeast-Nigeria more than crime of kidnapping for ransom rooted in organized crimes. While it is estimated that the sum of N3,5Billion might have been lost to kidnapping for ransom in the Southeast-Nigeria since 2007, on average of N5Million per victim, out of about 700 persons believed to have been kidnapped in the area since 2007, the sum of N9,35Billion is believed to have been lost to police check-point extortions meaning that evil proceeds realized from the roadblock extortions is three times more than that lost to kidnappers.
We also found out that the crime of police roadblock extortions appeared to be well-patterned. It is perpetrated by the rank and files (lowest ebb of the Nigeria Police Force) and seemingly backed by the Command hierarchy of the Force. Proceeds’ sharing channels reportedly exist through which the proceeds reach those in the command structure of the Force, such as : from the toll collector to the team leader; from the team leader to off-the-scene squadron commander; from the squadron commander to the DPO in-charge of the police station where they are attached, to the Area MOPOL Commander; from them to Area Police Commander (an Assistant Commissioner of Police); from him or her to the Deputy Commissioner of Police/Commissioner of Police; from them to the Assistant Inspector General of Police; and from him or her to the DIG/IGP. These channels are commonly known as “channels for returns”.
Recommendations:
In addition to our earlier recommendations on ways to curb rabid corruption in the Nigeria Police Force as well as ways out of kidnapping and arm robbery menace in the Southeast-Nigeria (please visit Intersociety’s website at www.intersociety-ng.org, under (“Newsletters and Press Releases”), it is our further recommendation that situations where police recruitment exercises are commercialized and politicized must be prohibited. It has been revealed that an average police recruit coughs out between N30,000 and N100,000 so as to be formally recruited into the Force. Also, it is widely believed that three, out of every five policepersons are loyal to Nigeria’s gangster politicians, who facilitated their entry into the Force.
We also recommend that all forms of bribery arising from postings and transfers of police personnel especially from other geopolitical zones to the Southeast zone shall be prohibited. We have it on good authority that many of those affected by the IGP’s recent announcement of the transfer of over 3,500 policepersons from the Southeast zone are “working”(bribing) their way back to the zone. A woman Police sergeant recently told her friend in Onitsha, who is closed to Intersociety that her boss (an Inspector) attached to the Old Toll Gate on Onitsha-Enugu Federal Road, Onitsha, makes at least N200,000 (1,500 US Dollars) weekly (from illegal conducts) and “eats all of them alone”, neglecting his subordinates. According to her, though her boss is on transfer to Borno State, he is working very hard (“bribing very hard”) to get back to Onitsha, which has been christened “police land of milk and honey”. She also confided in her friend that she, too, is “working” to annul her recent posting to Zamfara State so as to come back to Onitsha.
Finally, it is our recommendation that the Police Service Commission as presently constituted, should be dissolved and reconstituted so as to be able to curb these excesses and properly civilianize and re-orientate the Force and its personnel. It is also very sad to note that as at 26th day of July 2010, most of the police personnel stationed at check-points in the Southeast zone of Nigeria, are still busy collecting bribes at those check-points. Few road users who defied them are molested and brutalized. Few lucky ones have had their journeys delayed for hours on flimsy grounds.
For Immediate Release
A Report By International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), Nigeria
Prepared for Intersociety By: Emeka Umeagbalasi Chairman, Board of Trustees
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)