GET RID OF THE OLD GUARD!

It saddens me to still have PMB hold on to known appointees/ loyalist of the previous administration in key and sensitive positions in this Government.

Over 80% of the top executives in the MDA's are known appointees of the last administration. While a few merited the positions, greater percentage where appointed to (use a local parlance), "come and chop".

Sensitive positions like the CBN is headed by a well known "friend" and loyalist of the last administration. Most of the Directors are well known loyalist of the last administration.

These guys can only feed PMB what they want him to know. Obviously they intuitively will not want PMB to succeed. PMB did not make pretence about this when he stated at a fora, when asked about the downward spiraling of the value of Naira against the Dollar, that Directors in the CBN own most BDC's who engage in currency round tripping and speculation.

We are now in a recession due to multiplicity of complex situations and events. Poor crude prices and sales,  less FDI inflow, rising inflation, and  poor revenue receipts from exports have worsened the situation in the country. Handling of affairs by the current CBN cannot be whisked away as a contributing factor.

As it is now, all the tiers of Government are existing only to pay salaries of public servants, which constitute less than 5% of the nations population.

The pertinent question to ask is, why is PMB holding on to these" cartel "
in the CBN? In the last Presidential Media Chat, PMB told the nation that the last President directed the CBN governor to release 40B Naira to the then NSA for no known and documented purposes. For the President to say this giving his vintage position of receiving intelligence and key information daily, shows that he is well aware of the misdeeds carried out with the CBN Governor as co-conspirator.

Why hold on to these moles who obviously wine and dine with "yesterdays men and women", (apologies to Ruben Abbati), whose actions and inactions led us to this deep pit of mess we are in today?

Why hold on to these cabal, who derive pleasure intuitively to see your good intentions not come to fruition?

Why hold on to these people whose interest is to turn the applecart so that "change the change" will come to pass?

Feelers coming in from the last CBN's MPC meeting suggest a further devaluation of the naira. This will translate to further downward spiral of the Naira against the Dollar. If we take the petroleum sector for example, marketers will have to pay more for forex, which will snowball into higher cost of imports. To cover cost, pump prices will have to increase. The vicious cycle starts again.

In general, inflation will increase, infrastructure deficit cannot be bridged because of higher cost of projects. Without infrastructure, FDI will not flow. Higher cost of living will lead to higher wage demand, which I doubt if the Government can accommodate. Unemployment, poverty and crime will increase. There will be general hopelessness amongst the population.

Its about time to get rid of these moles in the various MDA's especially in the CBN, and bring others with patriotism and vigor to get us out of the woods.

The herculean problems of this nation can never be solved by holding on to those who caused the problems in the first instance. Not when they are never loyal and nor believe in the course of this administration.

There are thousands of capable individuals driven by patriotism, who have the requisite knowledge to proffer solutions to the complex problems that can, God Wiling, get us out of the doldrums towards prosperity.

What we are facing now is continuity, not change, especially when, as I have earlier stated, the Government is holding onto more than 80% of the executives of the MDA's appointed by the previous administration and whose loyalty clearly is where it used to be.

I don't want to sound pessimistic, but PMB has to rid his administration of these moles for him to succeed.

God Bless Nigeria.

STEALING BAZAAR IN NIGERIA'S AIRSPACE AGENCY.

EFCC FREEZES NAMA TOP CHEIFS' ACCOUNTS

The Federal Government has frozen the personal accounts of top managers of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) found N3.2billion in their accounts with choice properties and investments in Lagos.

The EFFC found N700 million in the personal accounts of the Acting General Manager ICT, Akinrinbido Bolarinwa, popularly known as Bido; General Manager, Procurement, Olumuyiwa Adegorite N800million.
The largest find was traced to the General Manager (Finance), Segun Nurudeen Agbolade AKA General with over N1b with three petrol stations, named Ajoke Resources in Agege of Lagos and another shopping mall in Ikeja, Lagos.
Agbolade is alleged to own over 200 tricycles in Ikorodu, Lagos that are used for transportation business.

Besides, N148 million was traced to the account of female air traffic engineers who is a project manager in NAMA.
Also under investigation is the Assistant General Manager (Electromechanical System), Atiku Abubakar. They risk confiscation of the monies and assets found with them and possible prosecution.

Also being investigated is the 64 million Euros Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) project which has come under scrutiny, with air traffic controllers complaining that the safety of the country’s airspace had been compromised severally. To them, “there is nothing in reality about total coverage of Nigerian airspace.”
Meanwhile, a top official of the EFCC said more arrests would be done this week of virtually all the management staff of the agency for what the source described as mind boggling ‘fraud’ in NAMA and virtually all the parastatals in the aviation ministry.

Furthermore, those to be picked according to the anti-graft agency are former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, Director, Finance and Accounts, Mrs. Clara Aliche. Aliche was a former Bank accounting officer to Stella Oduah. She was appointed as Director in NAMA after she was relieved of her job.
The EFCC had stormed the headquarters of NAMA last week Friday.

After ten hours of interrogation, the commission arrested the managing director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, Adegorite and Deputy General Manager Finance, Amos Akpan after Agbolade allegedly escaped arrest. He has been declared wanted by the agency.

Abdulsalam was appointed NAMA MD in March 2014. He served as General Manager, Procurement in the organisation before his appointment over and above his seniors.
He succeeded Mr. Nnamdi Udoh who was sacked from office on March 4, 2014. NAMA is a parastatal under the ministry of Aviation.

The arrests of top NAMA chiefs has sent shock waves down the spines of top officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT).

FAAN is the cash cow of the aviation industry.
The EFCC arrested them to explain how Abdulsalam and his predecessor both highhandedly signed off payments of over N3 billion on ‘questionable contracts’ between 2013 and 2015.
Documents obtained by woleshadare.com shows that the bulk of these payments were for clearing of containers and customs duties which amounted to N2, 101, 689, 304.14 within the period in review.
Most of these clearing/customs duties payment were said to be non-transparent as the agency had never really undertaken any, ‘major importation that warrants payments in tens of millions of naira at different times as claimed by the management.’

To further show how questionable some of the payments were, the trail of approvals and payments revealed a lack of due process and transparency in approving the sums involved which in most cases were said to be above the approval limits of the MD of NAMA and should have either been referred to the Board or the Minister of Aviation.

An example was a request for payment by Delosa Limited of N39, 650, 000.00 for ‘cost of customs clearing and haulage of 10×40 FT ZIMU 1169653, ZIMU 4029722, ZCSU 2985348, GSLU 2025405, TRLU 9623242, CLHU 9634293, FSCU 2596026, TGHU 4687174, ZCSU 2596026, and EMCU 5201729 STC Wire Managers Scale Electronics addressed to the MD in a letter dated October 16, 2014.
Of the total amount in the letter, N25, 941, 750 was submitted as payment for duty while the balance of N13, 708, 250 was for agency fee.

Investigations by woleshadare.com shows that the letter was received in the office of the MD on October 9, 2014 who in turn minuted it to General Manager (Finance) same day. By that same day, payment process had been concluded without any trail of the letter going through other key departments like legal and audit for authentication and confirmation of the contract as stipulated by public service rules guiding NAMA.

In another shocking discovery, of the N3, 147, 866, 524.14 paid out by the different chief executives of the agency, the sum of 748, 139, 386 was expended as ‘expenses made through special officers as mandated to the banks’ while another N298, 037, 834 was spent on ‘overseas travels’ through Multeng Travel agency, a company owned by the wife of arrested General Manager, Procurement for NAMA, Adegorite.
With details of direct payments to bank accounts of staff members of NAMA showed a breach of civil service rules, majority of staff in the agency had severely complained of lack of adequate overseas training, confirming leads that most of the payments under the two sub heads were questionable.
Spokesperson for NAMA, Mrs. Jumoke Adetona could not be reached as her telephone numbers could not be reached for comments.

The EFCC is also acting on a myriad of petitions to probing litany of sleaze among which are allegations of purported payment of an inflated amount as rent for a single apartment to accommodate the Managing Director.
Against laid down financial rules and regulation, the agency recently made payment to a company, Moloney Nig. Ltd through Fidelity Bank, account number 5080013048 dated May 12, 2015 to the tune of N43 million for only two year rent.
The accommodation is said to be the official residence of the Chief Executive Officer of NAMA, even though the agency has residential accommodation for management staff within the airport environment, where even some officers who retired are still occupying.
NAMA is also under investigation for allegedly not conforming to competitive bidding in a manner which is transparent, timely, equitable for ensuring accountability and conformity with the Act and regulations of the Public Procure Act.

The N1.14billion and N1.89 billion contracts awarded to MACE Aviation on November 27, 2013 for one year maintenance agreement for obsolete navigation equipment is said to be a fraud because it did not pass through the Bureau of Public Procurement.
Curiously, the same equipment that has been managed by NAMA engineers for decades despite technological challenges occasioned by lack of spare parts were contracted out to contractors the engineers said had no technical know-how to handle same.

Penultimate year, NAMA workers especially air traffic controllers protested that the direct procurement s which the Ministry of Aviation obtained a certificate of no objection begs for scrutiny since, “selective tendering can only be applied where there is only one manufacturer of such equipment.”

According to them, “In the event where there are more than two or more manufacturers, the Public Procurement Act allows open tender only. Granting certificate of no objection to MACE Aviation to the tune of over N20 billion therefore is a complete violation of sections 39, 40, 42 and 43 of the PP Act.

Peace Council as Errand Boys

I need to be educated on the mission of Gen. Abdulsalami's  peace council vis-a-vis their recent visit to PMB. If I could get Father Kukah right, who spoke on behalf of the council to journalist, hinged on the issue that PMB's Government is expending its energy on probes rather than governance. They admonished that it is about time governance kick starts and gave the impression that the nation is impatient with PMB's government. I doubt if that is the mood of the nation though. Another issue is that PMB's administration is enjoying tremendous goodwill from International community. This goodwill could be eroded if the government continues in this way and will eventually make us a laughing stock. Then the shocker; The role played by GEJ in conceding defeat was a "spectacular" achievement that has brought about peace that we are enjoying today. The scenario would have been disastrous today if GEJ had acted otherwise. Father Kukah, who is a Psychologist, is subtly saying then GEJ should not be demonized but rather celebrated. In other words PMB should let by gone be by gone and move forward. Bluntly put, PMB shouldn't probe or investigate GEJ's government, or at least it shouldn't be associated to his (GEJ's) person.  GEJ should not be humiliated. At least that is the literal interpretation of the peace councils round tripping with words as espoused by Father Kukah.

Another issue which I think is Father Kukahs' personal opinion rather than the councils thought, came up during an interview on Channels TV. Chamberlain Usoh asked him if he hasn't seen semblance of governance in the country with all that is happening since the Clergyman insinuated all that are happening now are probes? Father Kukah came up with a very cynical answer in my opinion. He said PMB had contested for four times and had ample time to pick his cabinet by now. He was insinuating that there is no governance as the country is now, because there are no ministers, even though acknowledging that PMB has the prerogative to appoint them when he wants. What he is implying again subtly, as a psychologist is that PMB is ill prepared for governance.

I think no one is in doubt as to the mess inherited by PMB. I stand to be corrected if Nigeria had ever had it so bad with respect to destruction and compromising of national institutions by corruption, nepotism and opaqueness.  We should respect the enormous challenges confronted by this administration. PMB had already stated before now that he wants round pegs in round holes.

I very much doubt if Nigerians share in Father Kukahs line of thought that the non appointment of ministers amounts to ill preparation for governance by PMB. Perhaps he has other things in mind.

BabaZau Shettima is an advocate for Good Governance and has a deep rooted passion for an egalitarian society. He can be reached through e-mail, baazau@gmail.com or followed on twitter @baazau.

TWENTY QUESTIONS FOR IG SULEIMAN ABBA.

1. Was the IG part of the National Council of Defence meeting chaired by Mr President which agreed on the need to extend the State of Emergency in the troubled N.E States?

2. Was the Attorney General and Minister of Justice part of the meeting?

3. It is a constitutional requirement that the President forwards a request to both houses of the National Assembly through their Principal officers, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House. Was the IG aware that such letter had been forwarded to the National assembly?

4. In his oral submission to the House Committee on Police affairs on Wednesday 26th November 2014, the I.G refused to acknowledge Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as the speaker of the house, citing that there is a pending issue before the courts with respect to the Speakers eligibility and therefore he will not delve into a matter that is subjudice. The question here is, did he raise the issue during the National Defence Council meeting that recognising Hon Tambuwal as the Speaker of the house was wrong and gave a better suggestion?

5. Has the IG been served with a court order or ruling detailing that Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has lost his seat and that such order or ruling should be enforced?

6. Is the IG aware that Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal received the letter from Mr President on behalf of the members of the House of Representatives?

7. If Mr President doesn't recognise Hon Tambuwal as Speaker, why would he write to the Speaker since the matter according to the IG is in the courts.

8. The Speaker reconvened the house from a recess so as to deliberate on Mr President's request for an extension of the SOE in the three N.E States. Was the IG aware that most members acknowledged and reconvened that day? These members cut across party lines and include principal officers.

9. Is the IG aware of any member of the HOR and by extension the Senate that does not recognise and acknowledge Hon. Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House?

10. Did the members of the HOR, irrespective of party affiliation attend the session despite not acknowledging Hon. Tambuwal as Speaker?

11. Is the IG aware that Hon. Tambuwal, along with other members of the HOR were denied entry into the Parliament by security forces for several hours, necessitating them to force themselves in?

12. Why did the security forces deny the Speaker and other members of Parliament that came along with him entry, even after submitting themselves for identification for several hours.

13. Why did the officer captured on the footage refused to acknowledge Tambuwal even after identifying himself(Tambuwal) but rather chose to disregard him (Tambuwal)?

14. In his submission to the House Committee on Police, the IG said that tear gas accidentally exploded when "thugs"crossed the gate and started to molest the policemen and that only one canister exploded. Has the IG studied the footage which shows tear gas were shot by his men in a deliberate manner?

15. The IG referred to the persons that crossed over the gate as thugs, why did his men not arrest them since they are breaching the law?

16. The spokesperson for the police force earlier gave the forces' reasons for barricading the Parliament as security reports received that thugs will invade the National Assembly. How many of the thugs came and how many were arrested?

17. The IG stated during the House Committee hearing that on the 19th of November 2015, members of a political party including their leadership, aspirants etc (obviously referring to the APC) barricaded the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force and made threats to invade national Institutions which included the National Assembly. Why did the IG not order their arrest or invite them for questioning? Is the force not supposed to be proactive since they have intelligence at their disposal?

18. The argument presented by some of the I.G supporters make reference to section 68(1)(g) of the constitution of Nigeria which points that legislators that change parties loose their seats, unless there exist a division in their parties or the change is as  a result of a merger. The section according to the supporters, is "self triggering", therefore, the IG is duty bound to uphold the law, hence the removal of Tambuwals' security and by extension, he (IG) not recognising Hon. Tambuwal as a member of the HOR. Is the IG hinging his action towards Tambuwal on this section of the constitution? If so, is the IG an enforcer or an interpreter of the Law?

19. If section 68(1)(g) is what the IG hinges his action on not recognising Hon. Tambuwal as the speaker as well as a legislator, why has he not extended same to other legislators both Federal and State, cutting across party divide that have switched political parties? Is the IG selective in enforcing the Law?

20. Does the Action of the police under the leadership of the IG, goes in line with the passion and zeal he stated earlier to have a police force that will imbibe the tenets of democratic principles and culture?

BabaZau Shettima is an advocate for Good Governance and has a deep rooted passion for an egalitarian society. He can be reached through e-mail, baazau@gmail.com or followed on twitter @baazau.

INSTITUTIONALIZED DIVIDE AND CONQUER: WHY GEJ MAY WIN IN 2015.

The recent gubernortorial elections in Ekiti and Osun States has given an indication of the trend to expect in the 2015 presidential elections.
The hundreds of thousands of votes gained by the PDP in the gubernotorial elections if replicated in the presidential elections, will only make the coast clear for another 4 year term for GEJ.
If APC wants to seriously wrestle power at the center from the ruling PDP, then they really have to up their game. Don't get me wrong! I am not an advocate of GEJ's continuity, rather, my prayers and desire is to have a selfless, patriotic leader who will run the country as his/her entire constituency. A leader that will fight to a standstill, or at least reduce to a bearest minimum, the level of corruption and/or stealing, a leader that will ensure strong and disciplined institutions are ran, a leader that will ensure adequate security for the citizens and a leader that will ensure evenly spread development.
The ruling party has to a large extent, over the years, subtly promoted a divide and conquer strategey using religion, ethnicity, region, use of state power to intimidate opponents and the use of money and other material inducements( The CBN of recent indicated worries that election spendings may increase inflation). The divide and conquer strategy is a trend that is found all over the world but it varies in degree as to the factors employed and its effectiveness lies in the level of awareness in a society. In climes like ours, where there is widespread poverty and illiteracy/ignorance, it is used  fully to achieve political goals. Having looked at the above, let's forecast the outcome of the presidential elections based on the Nigerian peculiarities. (This piece presupposes that GEJ will run and the main opposition will field a Northerner, which is the likely outcome of the 2015 elections.)
There are 36 States in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the FCT, where elections are expected to be conducted in 2015. (If normalcy eventually returns to the 3 states under the SOE, otherwise elections will be conducted in 33 States).
The SS and SE regions are the natural strength of the President and he is easily expected to get/alloted 95% of the votes. (Amechi factor may hinder GEJ from getting 100%).
In the SW region, the influence of religion and region will play a vital role to the advantage of GEJ. ( FFK and Metuh have started the game. They portray the main opposition party as "JANJAWEED", almajiri party and the military wing of Boko Haram). GEJ will loose in 4 of the SW states but not with a wide margin. He will make up for his lost with victories in Ekiti and Ondo States. (Fayose and Mimiko factor).
Religion will be the key factor to be used in the North Central States as has been the trend in previous elections. There has been a delibrate use of religion in politics in the North in general, so much so that, a persons religious affiliation gives his allegiance to which candidate he/she will vote for. Another card is the minority card. The North Central States are a conglomeration of minority tribes, who had been made to believe they are under the shadow of the majority Hausa/Fulani. To tow the line of a Hausa/Fulani rulership is to perpetually remain under their shadow. Voting anyone other than Hausa/Fulani will be better. Looking at these two factors, GEJ will win in Benue and Plateau States by wide margin majorly due to religious influence and State might. Nasarawa State will be a close call this time around but religion will definitely play a part. Kogi state will be GEJ's to loose as the trend has shown previously. This is because no state in the region has political manipulation so pronounced as in Kogi State. Kwara State will be fall for APC due majorly to Bukola Saraki factor. The margin may not be much because Federal might may be used in cornering Saraki into making "political concessions".(The State will be yours but we will get a significant chunk of the presidential votes, otherwise you'll face EFCC). Niger will be the only State the opposition will get a clear cut victory, judging by the trend shown in previous elections.
The Northwest, which has the greatest voter population in the country is also where serious political manipulations are carried out. This largely owes to the widespread poverty and illiteracy that is prevailant in the States. Even with the re-alignment of political equation, in which Kano and Sokoto States now belonging to the opposition, PDP will still make a great showing. The political awareness in this region is only in the cosmopolitan areas where it is difficult to manipulate the outcome of votes.(Recall the VP, Namadi Sambo, never won in his polling unit in the last elections). Politics in this clime is played in the rural areas, where due to widespread poverty and ignorance, voters can be influenced to vote for as low as #200 monetary inducement. Ruling party stalwarts will ensure that they get significant percentage of the votes to ensure a respectful showing. People will be jubilating over the euphoria of winning but the consequences is that GEJ, through the influence of State might will easily get an average of 25% of the total votes cast. This added to his SS and SE votes together with NC and SW votes, will already guaranty him a victory. The NE has a similar peculiarity as the NW but this time around, the factors of religion and minority card will be played. The Christian population in Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe and Bauchi States will definitely align with GEJ. This has been the trend in previous elections.
If one is to assess the politics of 2015 on the above, it is just a matter of time that GEJ will be in power again till 2019. Readers may dismiss this as a mere postulation that is devoid of verifiable facts, but, having known the type and trends of politicts in these climes, there is no way one can divorce politicking with sentiments of religion, ethnicity, use of state power and manipulation before, during and after elections.
GEJ will win convincingly in the 11 States of the SS and SE, 2 States in the SW, 3 States in the NC plus FCT, non in NW, and 2 in NE, bringing the total states to 18.
The opposition needs to do a lot within a short time to overcome these challenges, otherwise there may not be another chance to dislodge the PDP from the grip of power at the center.
The road to yet another PDP victory is just a matter of time, not because they had performed, but because they have succeeded in perfecting a divide and conquer strategy, hinging on sentiments.

BabaZau Shettima is an advocate for Good Governance and has a deep rooted passion for an egalitarian society. He can be reached through e-mail, baazau@gmail.com or followed on twitter @baazau.

GEJ and Greatness

The media of recent is awash with campaigns portraying President Goodluck Jonathan as a great leader and as the only alternative to take Nigeria  to the proverbial promised land. He is equated to be at par with great world leaders and global shapers like Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Lee Kwan Yew and Barrack Obama.
To possess the quality of a great leader influencing men towards positive change, I will like to borrow from the criteria used by a great United States psychoanalyst and professor in the Chigaco University, Jules Masserman.
Set of qualities that make a leader great in the degree that the marketers of GEJ want him to be seen should not be based on fancies and prejudices. Besides, these campaigns are bankrolled by "political investors" who hope to be compensated with juicy appointments and other favours,( though I see no fault in that if round pegs will be placed in round holes.)
Jules Masserman does not want us to depend on our fancies and prejudices: he wants to establish objective standards for judging before we confer greatness upon anybody. He says that "leaders must fulfill three functions":
1. The leader must provide for the well being of the led.
The leader whoever he/she is must be genuinely interested in the welfare of the generality of the people irrespective of their ethnic background, region, political affiliation, social class or religious leanings. Do we see that under GEJ's Government? I urge the reader to make an objective assessment.
2. The leader or would be leader must provide social organisation in which people feel relatively secure.
In other words, the leader must ensure that the people he leads or intends to lead develop confidence that, with him/her at the helm of affairs, they will feel secure. Are we in Nigeria now secured or feel secure under this Government? Some argue that insecurity currently facing the nation did not start under GEJ's watch, rather it predated him and therefore, he should not be blamed for the current situation. As a leader, one is not elected to solve problems that only emanated during his/her reign. Nonetheless, security and how it is handled is a topic for another time.
3. That the leader must provide his people with one set of beleifs.
Beliefs in this context does not equate to religion. A belief of pride in a nation, love for country, love for unity, love for development, passion for positive advancement as a nation, a belief to be the envy of other nations. Great leadership means ability to move masses of men towards unity and development.
The Great leaders of the world we hear of, respect and revere, to a large extent fulfilled these criteria. Does GEJ possess these qualities to be equated along with the world's great leaders and global shapers? It is for us to ponder objectively and give our assessment of GEJ's capacity to be termed great as his image makers want him to be.

BabaZau Shettima is an advocate for Good Governance and has a deep rooted passion for an egalitarian society. He can be reached through e-mail, baazau@gmail.com or followed on twitter @baazau.