Nigeria Content Online

Some
former staff of the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, yesterday
made a passionate appeal to the Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, to
compel the office of the Head of Service to pay their gratuities and
pension arrears dating from 2008.

The workers,
numbering about 31, were disengaged from service on April 16, 2007, as
part of the federal government’s reform of the public service in 2007,
through its monetisation policy.

The aggrieved
workers, in a letter made available to reporters in Akure, also urged
the federal government to make sure that the pension board paid them
three months salary in lieu of notice of sack.

They faulted the harsh way they said the federal government handled their dismissal, describing the action as an injustice.

Spokesperson of the
affected workers, Samuel Idowu Alejo, said the affected workers
deserved to be paid gratuities and pensions, having spent up to 10
years in service. He said it is wrong for the federal government to
neglect them when their colleagues in other states were being paid
their entitlements on a monthly basis. He also accused the Federal
Pension Board of short-paying some of his colleagues whose dates of
service were changed to deny them of their benefits.

“In line with the
federal government pension decree 1979, as amended, we are entitled to
monthly pensions because we fell within the old scheme which guaranteed
retirees either voluntary or compulsory pension,” he said.

“One expects
government policy to be interpreted uniformly because as of 2007 when
we were disengaged, the old policy on pension schemes covered us and
this put us in advantage of monthly pensions because the old scheme
terminated on June 31, 2007. It is important to note that most of our
colleagues in sister institutions are enjoying their monthly pensions
without hindrance. We beg the acting president to urgently wade into
the matter, so that our demands can be met.”

Living in penury

Alejo added that
despite different letters written to the office of the Permanent
Secretary and Pensions in the office of the Head of Service of the
Federation, nothing meaningful has been done about the issue.

He pleaded with the
office of the Head of Service of the Federation to direct the
Accountant General’s Office to pay their pension arrears because some
of the disengaged workers are living in abject penury.

The
Nigeria Police, yesterday, said it was still making efforts to arrest
the former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, even after the
expiration of the 48hours deadline given to the arresting team led by
an Assistant Inspector General.

The Force Public
Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said Wednesday that the police was
still hunting for the wanted man. “We are still on his trail. All I can
say is that we will get him very soon,” he said.

Attempts to arrest
Mr. Ibori on Tuesday failed after the joint police and Economic and
Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) team were overpowered by a gang of
well armed local youth at Oghara, the hometown of Mr. Ibori in Delta
State. The order for his arrest followed the decision of the EFCC to
declare him a wanted man, following his refusal to obey an invitation
to visit the commission.

However, when asked
what the police is doing to ensure the arrest, despite the initial
media report that Mr. Ibori was guarded by heavily armed individuals,
Mr. Ojukwu said: “we are trying our best, that is all I can now tell
you. But he has not been arrested.” Recounting the attack on the police
yesterday by the armed group, Mr. Ojukwu said “So far, I am not aware
of any casuality.” He said the 48 hours time frame is a working guide
and not a specific deadline as to when the arrest should be made.

The spokesperson
for the EFCC, Femi Babafemi, also told NEXT that Mr. Ibori has not yet
been arrested. He, however, refused to say how much effort the
commission has put into ensuring the arrest.

Persona non grata

Meanwhile, the
opposition Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), and the
Delta State Elders group, on Wednesday, condemned the action of the
youth and the refusal of Mr. Ibori to surrender himself to the police.

Kayode Ajulo,
counsel to the Delta State Elders who sent the petition against Mr.
Ibori to the EFCC, said Mr. Ibori’s argument that he has a court order
stopping his arrest was faulty.

I want to, “on
behalf of our client, state clearly that the reported resistance and
argument canvassed for, is not only a misconception of the court’s
status quo order, but also untenable, irrational and a deliberate
flagrant violation and disregard to constituted authorities and
directives.” Mr Ajulo said the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies,
including Nigerians, are duty-bound to arrest the ex-governor in the
extant circumstances, “as the much touted statuesque order by the
Federal High Court, Asaba only complement, reinforce as well as fortify
the warrant of arrest earlier issued on Mr. Ibori..” Mr. Ajulo also
explained the meaning of status quo in Nigerian jurisprudence.

“If we must ask
ourselves, what is in existence that is yet to be vacated before the
status quo order is a duly drawn Warrant of Arrest of Chief James
Onanafe Ibori,” Mr. Ajulo said. “As of now, and with the effect of the
order of warrant of arrest on Ibori, the ex-governor is a persona non
grata and an outcast whom all hands must be on deck to apprehend and
brought to justice in pursuance of the Abuja High Court’s Order.”

No one is above the law

The Conference of
Nigerian Political Parties described the ‘wall of resistance’ allegedly
put up by the former governor’s supporters as an irony of the
anti-corruption war.

The party’s
National Chairman, Maxi Okwu, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos
that the people being protected against economic crimes and
deprivations had become a bulwark for perpetrators of such crimes.

“The law was made
to protect public funds from being looted, but now the same public has
turned round to fight for those accused of such crimes,” he said. “We
saw similar scenario in Bayelsa, when its former governor, Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha, was impeached and later arrested for embezzlement of
their funds. The same thing also happened when Olabode George was
arraigned and tried for misappropriating port funds. The spate of
demonstrations by the so-called supporters of public figures accused of
defrauding the nation have become so worrisome. Something must be done
about it.”

Mr. Okwu also said
although Mr. Ibori is presumed innocent until proven guilty, no effort
should be spared to arrest him to face the law.

“He should be
arrested no matter the cost to the nation. There is need for a serious
re-orientation of Nigerians on anti-corruption issues,” he said.

“Ibori is not above the law. If he thinks he is not guilty, then
there is no reason for him to go into hiding or look for legal
loopholes to evade arrest.”

To
address the problem of power supply in Lagos State, the government
should set a target date to ban the use of generators and work towards
providing alternative source of power generation, the Managing Director
for British Gas Nigeria, Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, said yesterday in Lagos.

Mr. Adeyemi-Bero,
who spoke during a session on ‘Power Infrastructure, Institutions and
Operations’ at the ongoing 5th Lagos Economic Summit, urged the Lagos
State government to consider itself a city state within a country that
does not have power, and work towards resolving the problem to its own
benefit.

“I believe there is
a flaw in our thinking,” he said. “If we continue to do what we have
always done, we will continue to get what we have always gotten. We
need to have a mindset change.”

He debunked the
claim that Nigeria generates only 3,000MW of power, saying that Nigeria
actually produces about 20,000MW, out which 5,000MW is generated by the
Power Holding Company of Nigeria, and the remaining 15,000MW is being
produced by generators in Nigerian homes, offices, and industries.

“This isn’t too far
from South Africa’s level of generation. But we are spending way too
much in producing power by way of diesel and petrol,” he said.

The British Gas
boss said the state government, in its bid to build Lagos into Africa’s
mega city, must tackle, with urgency, the issue of power. To do this,
he said, the government should set a target date of about ten years
from now to ban the use of generators in the state.

“An emerging model
city will never happen if the state does not solve the power crisis,”
Mr. Adeyemi-Bero said. “Until we aim at something, then we will try and
work at getting to the target. And the ban must be backed-up with a
plan on how to achieve the aim.”

The energy expert
also recommended that Lagos designs its own power generation
master-plan, which must state the energy resources available in the
state, such as gas, wind, and waste.

“The master plan
must talk about what proportion is expected from each of the resources
or alternatives avaliable to the state,” he said. “When we go to
mega-cities around the world, we don’t see NEPA poles and over bearing
cables, so Lagos needs to develop a master-plan to dictate its plans.”

Looking for private support

He also warned the
state government to eschew the reliance on the sole supply of the
needed gas through the Escravos trough, noting that “nothing stops
Lagos from importing gas, as Japan does, if the cost of laying pipeline
from the Niger-Delta is a trouble that it has always been.”

Ayo Gbeleyi, the
Director General of the Lagos State Public-Private Partnership, in his
speech, disclosed that the state has set a medium and long term goal of
generating between 12,000MW-20,000MW of power in collaboration with the
private sector. He noted that the failure of the federal governement to
meet the set-target of 6,000MW by December, 2009 has created a massive
opportunity for the private sector to come and invest in the sector.

He said that the
state would be needing the help of the private sector in a number of
projects it has initiated to make the state a model city in Africa.

The Director
General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Mansur
Ahmed, said that for Lagos to achieve its dream of becoming Africa’s
model city, “we must address constitutional power of power generation
vested in the federal government.”

He also said that for Nigeria’s economy to grow to achieve its vision 202020, Lagos economy has to grow faster.

Generic logic would
seem to suggest that when a problem mutates into a priority, which then
becomes a re-current objective, there should be a question mark over
the potential for lasting solutions to it. In recent months, Acting
President Jonathan has opted to wear a few more hats, including the
burning Stetson of the power sector. Cynics wish him good luck with a
wry smile.

Not many Nigerians
know this rather taciturn man. Jonathan had been sitting on the reserve
bench for a long time, perhaps sulking, but certainly observing and
mulling over the progress of the team’s attacking strength and tactics.
Suddenly, the coaching crew has called on him to replace the team’s
injury-prone striker, and also to wear the captain’s armband in green
and white colours. Instructions are specific – organise the midfield
and defence, score some badly-needed goals! A first back pass from the
new skipper is the statement in the US to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour,
that the power sector would be one of his priorities. The lady appeared
somewhat startled, but quickly regained composure before pinning
Jonathan down to agree he meant, “electricity.” Nobody suffering in
Nigeria would quarrel with that, but have we not repeatedly heard about
this priority in the last 50 years?

Did Awolowo and
Azikiwe not promise it in their 1959 and 1979 manifestos? So did Gowon,
Murtala, Buhari, Shagari, Babangida, Obasanjo, Shonekan, Abacha! Awo
and Zik were unfortunately condemned to the reserve bench as well, from
where they watched the destruction of a nation they freed from colonial
rule. In ‘The Problem with Nigeria,’ Chinua Achebe had written that the
country never plays its matches with the best eleven.

As always, when a
team is replaced in the federal or state governments of our nation,
ministers leave in a pique, some removing cars and the office air
conditioners in revenge. We then read in the tabloids that the handing
over was done amicably, and in 30 minutes! Why should anyone hand over
the national affairs of prioritised development objectives such as
power, water, health or agriculture so rapidly? What is the hurry to
destroy the development continuum by our public office holders?

There are now many
calling for this probe or that audit in the power sector, and in
particular, the NNPC. The thinking is to unearth misused funds and get
someone nailed. The NNPC was famous worldwide for awarding expensive
consultancies to foreigners or expatriates, which practice it believed
was commensurate with its high profile.

Foreign ‘expertise’

Unfortunately, not
every expatriate equates to an expert. In view of Nigeria’s shameful
energy predicament, either of two things or both happen at the NNPC –
taxpayers’ money and oil revenues are drawn down to pay charlatan
consultants who write fairy tales, or experts do a fantastic brief and
nobody reads or understands what subsequently gathers harmattan dust in
the ministerial vaults and presidential villa.

An audit or probe should also constitute finding out how published knowledge had been misused or ignored.

An Abuja Senior
Magistrate’s Court, on Tuesday, sentenced to one month imprisonment
without an option of a fine, a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps
personnel, Mathias Odeh, for stealing a car radio.

Mr. Odeh, 26, was
said to have committed the offence on April 8, while trying to force
open a car marked AG 908 KLU, belonging to one O.E. Esangbedo.

The Police
Prosecutor, Mohammed Ahmed, a corporal, told the court that the
complainant reported the convict to the Maitama Police Station the same
date the theft occurred.

Mr. Ahmed also said
that the police, during the course of their investigations, were able
the recover the said car radio from the convict.

The convict pleaded guilty to the charge, and the prosecutor urged the court to summarily sentence him.

Delivering judgment, Senior Magistrate Aminu Abdullahi, sentenced
the convict to one month imprisonment without any option of a fine.

Human Rights
Writers Association (HRWAN), an NGO, on Wednesday criticised the
decision of the Federal Government to execute all convicted persons
serving death penalties as a way of decongesting prisons.

Emmanuel Onwubiko, the Chief Operating Officer of HRWAN, made the criticism while briefing journalists in Abuja.

Theodore Orjji, the
Abia State governor, had said on Tuesday after the 11th National
Conference of the National Council on Finance and Economic Development
that the Federal Government decided to carry out the execution to
decongest the prisons.

Mr. Onwubiko called
on Acting President Goodluck Jonathan and governors not to go ahead
with the policy, saying the execution would amount to an abuse of human
rights.

“Life cannot be restored after it has been terminated,’’ he said.

He recommended that the death penalty be replaced with life imprisonment with no option of fine.

“There is a need to rehabilitate these people, life imprisonment can be an option,’’ according to Mr. Onwubiko.

“The Association is demanding the implementation of section 33 (1)
of the 1999 constitution which reads that every person has a right to
life,’’ he said.

The
Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, has urged the National Assembly to
quicken its delivery of two key executive-sponsored legislations,
namely: the anti-corruption bill and the anti-terrorism bill, which are
expected to help turn around his brief administration.

In a fresh
correspondence with the Senate and the House of Representatives, Mr.
Jonathan expressed his concern that the two bills be passed into law
before the end of June.

“Given this
administration’s commitment to combat corruption and terror and boost
the country’s economic development, a blacklisting by the Financial
Action Task Force (FATF) will no doubt seriously hamper these laudable
efforts,” the acting president wrote in a letter read yesterday in the
House of Representatives. The letter is dated April 8, 2010, a few days
before he travelled to the United States of America where he made
renewed commitments to combat the two issues. “Mr. Speaker and the
respected Honourable members of the Federal House of Representatives
are therefore, kindly requested to ensure the passage of the two bills
into law before the end of June, 2010,” Mr. Jonathan concluded.

The two bills were
introduced at the National Assembly in 2009 and have both reached the
committee stage after passing the second reading.

Getting back on track

Mr. Jonathan
recalled that in October 2009, ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua
constituted a Presidential Inter-Ministerial/Agency Committee to engage
the global task force and review Nigeria’s deficiencies in tackling
money laundering and possible funding of terrorist activities. The
engagement, according to the acting president, observed a lack of
comprehensive anti-terrorism laws in the nation, as well as an absence
of the FATF’s recommended standard provisions in the existing
anti-money laundering law.

At its last meeting
with the FATF in Bahrain in February this year, Nigeria promised to
address the issues raised before June 30 2010 through the passage of
the two legislations currently at the National Assembly. Mr. Jonathan
noted that this was not the nation’s first attempt at complying with
the FATF’s strictures. An earlier promise by Mr. Yar’Adua had assured
the bills would be ready before the end of 2009.

Close to deadline

With about two
months to the deadline, the acting president told the lawmakers that if
Nigeria defaulted on its latest vow, it could be blacklisted again by
the FATF and face potentially stifling economic consequences. “It will
frustrate and hamper legitimate international financial transactions
flowing from Nigeria. Some countries will not honour international
financial instruments emanating from Nigeria, including letters of
credit,” the acting president explained. “International investors will
be scared to invest in Nigeria, and those willing to do so will request
for the most stringent conditions. Nigeria’s international image will
be highly dented as a country without the political will to cooperate
in the global war on terror.”

Inmates
of Kaduna Prisons went on rampage Tuesday morning, allegedly because of
reports that convicted former head of the Christ Praying Assembly,
Reverend King, had been killed.

Mr. King, according to a prison official, was recently transferred to Kaduna from Kirikiri prisons.

The officer, who
asked to remain anonymous, said when Mr. King, who was awaiting a death
sentence, was moved from the jail to another prison in Kaduna, other
inmates thought the free-spending convict had been executed and went on
rampage to protest this.

An unspecified
number of inmates died in the melee as they attempted to flee the
prison. The inmates had set part of the prison on fire and dug part of
the wall, in order to escape, but hundreds of police officers, prison
guards and other security agents were deployed to the scene to curb the
crisis.

Abdul Bola, the
Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Prison Service, Kaduna, also
said order has been restored to the prison, that the inmates have been
returned to their cells and that no one escaped during the disturbance.

A source at the prison added that the prisoners were also not happy
with the poor feeding arrangement at the prison and its overcrowded
cells.

The
National Economic Council (NEC) has decided to decongest prisons by
hastening the execution of inmates on death row, and commute some death
sentences to life terms.

According to the
Abia State governor, Theodore Orji, who spoke on the resolution of the
council yesterday, government is also determined to assist the
judiciary and police to reduce the number of inmates awaiting trial.
These inmates account for 80 per cent of the prison population.

The governor said
he believes that these measures will go a long way in decongesting
prisons and reducing incidences of jail breaks.

“There is no basis
that somebody who [has] not been committed, at least has not been
condemned, [should] be in prison for ten years for an offence committed
which the court has not ruled against him,” Mr, Orji explained. “So the
proper thing is to decongest the prison by looking at these cases and
leaving them to go. And that will also on the long run make sure that
this upheavals and protest that we have in the prisons are also taken
care of and curtailed adequately.”

Other decisions

The council
further decided that the N31 billion Universal Basic Education
Commission (UBEC) fund should be made accessible to states that are
still unable to provide their 50 percent counterpart funding. The fund
will given to commercial banks that will lend it to the states at a
single-digit interest rate.

On the problem of
multiple-taxation, the governors noted that this has led to higher
prices for commodities across the country. The council resolved that
states should do away with tax consultants or collectors and ensure
their boards of internal revenue do their professional duties while the
federal government properly coordinates and implements national tax
policies.

The council also
decided to replace the Workmen Compensation Act with a
recently-proposed Employees Compensation Bill that they hope will be
passed into law by the National Assembly. One per cent of the states’
and federal budget is to be committed to the implementation of the new
Act when it becomes law.

Meanwhile, a
central database of statistics is to be developed by the National
Bureau of Statistics with the support of the African Development Bank
and the United Nations Development Programme.

Seventeen states have already been linked to Abuja electronically
for the project which will gather data on all aspects of the nation
from federal to state levels for the purpose of proper planning of
policies.

The
National Economic Council rose from its meeting yesterday at the
presidential villa determined to replace the Excess Crude Account with
a National Sovereign Wealth Fund to manage the country’s excess funds.
All but five governors, who were stranded in various countries due to
weather problems, were in attendance. The inspector general of police
and the central bank governor were also at the event. The meeting,
which holds quarterly, was chaired by Acting President Goodluck
Jonathan. After the closed-door meeting, the Minister of Finance, Segun
Aganga; his National planning counterpart, Shamsudeen Usman and the
governors of Ogun and Abia states, explained that the fund is designed
to boost the institutional framework and improve the fiscal policy for
managing excess crude earnings. “This is a concept which is quite
familiar, particularly to oil-producing countries. It is a very robust
institutional framework for managing excess revenue which today we do
have in the excess crude account,” said Mr. Aganga.

Use of the fund

Mr. Aganga pointed
out that it would be irresponsible to spend all the nation’s crude oil
earnings now, explaining that the fund will be deployed to critical
infrastructure needs like power and mass transportation.

He noted that the
fund is similar to the excess crude account except that the new fund
will have legitimacy instead of being a product of political and
economic expediency that crude account became under former president
Olusegun Obasanjo.

“The acting
president today said he wanted us to get to a position where we should
be able to do something within the next three months. Already there was
a presidential committee set up by the president which has been looking
at this.”

Mr. Usman added
that Nigeria is the only country within the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) without a sovereign wealth fund, adding that
the idea was discussed two years ago but its implementation was delayed
because of inconsistent government polices.

Mr. Aganga said it was important to begin the fund as soon as possible, regardless of the initial cost.

“So even if it is
$1 billion we start with, the idea, the institutional framework, the
fiscal discipline is so important to the credibility of the country
itself and the credit rating of the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Jonathan yesterday sent two additional ministerial nominees to the Senate for confirmation.

The nominees are
Obadiah Ando (Taraba) and Christian Chukwu (Ebonyi). Senate President
David Mark informed the senate of the appointments during the plenary
session of the upper chamber on Tuesday. The Senate had earlier
confirmed the appointments of 38 ministerial nominees who had since
been sworn-in by the Acting President.

Meanwhile, Jonathan in a separate letter condoled with the Senate
over the death of Tawar Wada and Kawo Dukku both senators from Gombe
who died on March 31 and April 2 respectively.