Read how Ibukun Awosika conquered the world

The indefatigable Ibukun Awosika is the Founder and Chairperson of The Chair Centre Ltd, a market leader in the office furniture and banking security systems industries. In 2004, The Chair Centre Ltd went into a joint venture with Sokoa S.A of France and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc to set up Sokoa Chair Centre Ltd, and she was appointed the MD/CEO of the joint-venture company.

Mrs. Ibukun Awosika delivered this address as a Guest Lecturer at the Second Convocation Ceremony of theEntrepreneurship Development Center, Lagos.

_________________________

My assignment this morning, which is to look at entrepreneurship as a viable option to white collar jobs, is a duty I must carry. I would start by telling a little of my own story often mistold in many places. I understand that it has been read on the internet. One of the areas we have to work on is the area of our journalism, so that they can accurately report news and give information correctly.

I went to Ife (University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University) and studied Chemistry. Was it because I loved Chemistry? No. I could pass very well in school, and I passed the sciences. I also loved Arts and I could draw. Initially, I wanted be go into Architecture. Anyway, I got into the university to study chemistry. Did I enjoy my university days? No, because I didn’t even like Chemistry. In-between that, I wanted to be a lawyer. I put in a lot of effort to see the Dean of Law to accept me into Faculty of Law. But I have to fail the chemistry for chemistry to release me to Law and Law wanted me to pass with the best result in order to accept me into Law. It was all confusing. By the end of that year, I changed my mind about wanting to become a lawyer. I decided I wanted to be an Accountant. So, I started taking a lot of electives in the Department of Accounting.

I took elective courses in Accounting from Part Two to Part Four. I made sure I went to serve (National Youth Service Scheme) in Akintola Williams & Co (now Delloitte). I also did that so I could take my accounting exams with the hope of just going to work in a bank later. Like many young people, I thought it was a good idea. When I got into Akintola Williams, within the one year of my service, I discovered that I hated Accounting. I was good at the figures but I hated the idea of moving from one company to the other going through old dusty files. I didn’t need anybody to tell me this. I was too restless to just keep following some certain procedures that are laid down. I was so restless and I needed to be able to express myself as there was no room within auditing to do that. At the end of my service year, even though they offered me permanent employment, I turned it down, I served in Kano and I came back home. My parents were wondering what to do with me. I wanted any job, anything I could do. But the first job I found was with a furniture company and I didn’t care. I took the job because I just wanted to be busy and I only lasted three and a half months with that company. But it was three and a half life defining months for me. Within those months, I discovered why I wanted to study Architecture in the first place. Within the context of furniture, I discovered I could play around with space. I loved the process of creating and designing furniture. I could turn this place around but, I hated that because they were Lebanese and their values were quite warped. And without thinking much, I said to myself I could do this, and I could do it right, and I left that company to start a manufacturing company.

Did I have capital? No. The three and a half months were critical to my life story. Within those months, I saw the inside out of furniture making. I understood what is involved. Did I ever think I could go into furniture making before then? No. I never did. Not for a second did I think of doing that. But from the onset, I made up my mind that any customer who is interested in my product should pay 70 per cent upfront. So what do I need a start-up capital for? The customers provided the capital.

Did I have a factory? No. Did I have workers? I could only afford to hire carpenters, but I didn’t have to pay them for one month. They operated from their workshop. Their service was in advance but their payment was in arrears. I also had labour in advance. Did I have the machines? No. But all the machines and machinists were available. I paid per unit of what they produced for me. I didn’t need a generator because they would provide their own generator. I was paying them for what they did. For spraying, I discovered that I could rent a spray gum on a day-to-day basis.

Everything I needed was in the system. The carpenters came with their tools. So I didn’t even need to buy tools. All I needed was to have a place to operate from. I noticed that furniture making company need basically three divisions -carpentry, upholstery and spraying. So I engaged three carpenters, two upholsterers and two sprayers. We were seven. So where do we start from? The chief carpenter said there was an uncompleted building close to his house. The man lives in Ejigbo. I had never gone to Ejigbo but I had to go because what I needed was there. The next thing was where do we get jobs from? When people heard that one of our first customers was Prime Merchant Bank, it sounded so big and great. But I had handled the transaction in my former place of work. I went there to see if there was any extra job that they could offer me. I treated them well. But how do you give a bank’s major furniture work to a 25 year-old girl who had nothing? All the same, I went there and they felt it would be nice to also be nice to me. The first order I got was to supply wooden trays and wooden dust bins. I took it because I wanted a foot in the door. I just needed a starting point. We worked on that like our lives depended on it. They had a lot of young staff who were just starting life so I took all manners of jobs – people who wanted stools in their houses, bed and all sorts. Every job was a big job and so we plugged ourselves into it. Six months later, there was a furniture show at the National Theatre and I decided we were going to go there. All the big guys, of course, were there. I needed to showcase that we can also do it. We have the skills, what we lacked was the network. So I scrounged all the monies we have to pay for space at the show.

My guys made assorted furniture and for the one week period of the show, we went there and we had to close workshop. Whilst we were there, Texaco Nigeria was building a new factory at McCarthy, and they came to scout for a company that would supply their furniture. We were there among the big guys, but nobody realised that we were a tiny, little dot. We made our paper work and had a good presentation. Our attention to details was different from theirs. By the time we did the samples, we were shortlisted among the best. You can image how hard we worked on it. At that point nobody was dealing with me. They were dealing with the quality of our work. By the time TEXACO awarded the contract, they had given it to a tiny, little company that had nothing.

Now the difficult part. Oil companies do not pay down payment for their jobs. You have to go and look for money to do the job. In 1989, the value of the 66 chairs and tables was N166, 000. I had to look for N50,000 to add to the savings we had made over time. The bank that I had worked for could not risk their money on us. I looked for the N50,000 all over Lagos, but nobody offered a helping hand. It was one person who was starting a finance company and believed in me that offered me a loan. We were able to prove that we could do excellent jobs if we are given the opportunity.

But TEXACO didn’t move into the building and for five months, we were paying interest on a loan that we could have paid off in two months. Did we have problems? Yes. Two weeks after we delivered those chairs, 28 of them were broken. Not because of us but the base of the chairs were not too good. I had done my research and got warranty on the base from a Syrian or Lebanese company at Oshodi, but the warranty didn’t work. For a company of our size, it was a big loss. We could abandon the customer and move on. But my name is more important than even the money. I however choose to maintain our integrity and retain our credibility. We replaced them. It was a killer. But I realised that we stood to benefit more if we do the right things at all times. That job produced many other jobs. It will be 21 years in January since that 25 year old girl started her entrepreneurship. As at today, the company I run makes turn-over in hundreds of millions of naira. We have the largest office furniture factory in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa set up with the largest French furniture manufacturing company here in Nigeria. The factory is at Ileje in Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos. Our second factory is at PUNCH premises in Ikeja here. I have an expatriate as Factory Manager. Apart from him, every other person is a Nigerian.

On Monday, I will be jetting out to sign a strategic partnership agreement with one of the top three furniture companies in the world. They came to the West coast of Africa to look for us. It’s an American company, a big player in the global furniture market. I know them by reputation and name. It’s an awesome deal, I tell you. Your starting point is irrelevant. If you insist on doing the right things and doing it well. Don’t give me the crab that this is Nigeria. That is things are done in certain ways. That is not a sustainable theory. No, Nigerians have value and it’s not right that Nigerians are corrupt people. There may be some corrupt people in Nigeria. Nigerians have integrity and value it. There could be some people without integrity, but such people also exist in other countries of the world – It’s not peculiar to Nigeria. Who you are is who you choose to be. Tell me a Yoruba or an Igbo or a Hausa man who knows where a thief is celebrated? Where is it honourable to do what is wrong in Nigeria? We need to change the image of the country from the bad image that the corrupt minority do. Every one of us should know that we need to seek knowledge to whatever extent possible.

Take a personal decision to be excellent in whatever you do. The only reason a French company will concede 21per cent equity to a Nigerian company is because we have a track record. The only reason the company that I’m signing strategic partnership agreement with in the US is because when they were looking for information, one of our clients, an international bank said we are the best. It is the way we relate with them. What makes the difference in whatever you choose to do as an enterprise is to make the first one look the best. You also ensure that when you get to the 1000th, you remain the best. Take whatever knowledge you have learnt here seriously. Seek knowledge to whatever extent possible. Take a personal decision to be excellent in whatever you do. My commitment is to deliver international standard and topmost quality business within Nigeria with pride without saying this is Nigeria. A time would come when the guy who knows the right thing would come up and when he does, he would judge by what he sees. It doesn’t matter if you can do better, he will judge you by what you have presented to him.

My challenge to you is that whether you produce one product or a thousand; make the best of the best from number one so that if you get to the last, it would still represent the best that you are capable of doing. When you deal with one customer, do the right thing. You don’t know the “small” customer who buys a small thing today. You might think you know him because he’s a small man – tell me who knows the future of any man? The man you deal with today may turn up in 5 or 10 years time, based on your service he could come to order 5,000 or 10,000 units of what he bought from you. Your investment in people matters. The people I dealt with many years ago- doing their babies’ chairs and beds, are still around. Even when I said I was not doing any house furniture again, people thought I was crazy. In Nigeria, everybody does everything. They think you increase your chances of making more money than limiting yourself to office furniture. But I stood my ground. Sometimes you have to take a hard decision and when you take such decision, you have to stand by it. It’s not everybody who sees what you are seeing.

At a point when we started that way, every office knew we were the only one doing office furniture exclusively. We became sole office furniture experts. It could be an adventure. But it paid off. We have created something out of nothing. So I challenge you, It’s a chance to express yourself, It‘s a chance to be a game changer. It’s a chance to receive knowledge; it’s a chance to change people’s lives. It’s a chance to be other people’s employer and the families of those you employ will benefit from the wages you pay them. It’s a chance to change a nation; it’s a chance to create value for the people and organisations that will benefit from your services. It’s a beautiful thing to know that you have had the chance to know, to receive knowledge about entrepreneurship. I should not say congratulations. I welcome you to the real world. There are challenges everywhere. You must have tenacity; you must have strength of character not to cheat. Don’t run at the sight of the first problem. He who confronts challenges wins, you must learn every day-you must seek in order to find.

I’m always going to school. In year 2000, I went to Lagos Business School. I did a Chief Executive programme. After about three years, I knew there are new things to learn. Having just had a baby, I took off to Barcelona, Spain to do a MBA Global Executive programme. People thought I was crazy. They said “what do you need all these for? You are already successful. What do you need all these degrees for?” Success is left to the person interpreting. What others consider success, for you, it might be the beginning. I don’t give myself out for people to measure. I will be the one that is measuring. Every year, I must go for at least a brief course. The world is changing so rapidly and you must give yourself up to new things so that the world would not leave you behind. Knowledge rules this world. Whatever, business you go into, learn how you can do yours differently to make you stand out.

I know some of you might be thinking about money. No amount of money can keep you away from your dream if you stay focused. Because you would find a way. I’m a Christian and the Bible says we should not despise the days of humble beginning. If you start big, your problems to would be big. The best of your business plan is full of assumptions. You’ve assumed your market; you assumed your customers, you’ve assumed taste and level of reactions. You might think they would not want to buy. It’s better to test your assumptions small. There could be hiccups, but you can adjust. If you go out big, the cost is also very great and huge. Going to get huge machines, large place and if it turns out that your assumptions are not right, what happens? You can grow a business from within the business.

By the time I took my first major loan for the business, we were already at over N150million profit. Everything I did from the first job of paper tray was to plough back everything into the business until when we were going to buy our own machines. I couldn’t buy the big machines, so I looked for small fairly used machines. We started that way and started moving on. That grew the business a little. Did I buy a car? Ah, car ke? Car was the last thing on my mind. People called me all manners of names – you this Ijebu woman. I said to them, I was doing a business that was capital intensive when I had no capital. I allowed the business to grow itself. I was going out in taxis. If the car breaks down on the way, it not my business, I simply would go down and wave bye to the driver. If I had bought a car, I would pay driver, make provision for mechanic… No, I didn’t have that luxury. Don’t get carried away by the false life people live.

What I always tell people is that if you have sand and you play with it, you have sand. If you increase the sand, you still have sand. If you add more sand, you still have sand. But if you make the sand into a block, you have a block. So never you talk about your sand until you have moulded your block. Sand in this sense is your disposable income. I could buy a car every two months if I wanted to. But a car was not my priority. The business was my priority. When I decided to buy myself a car, I bought a used car. My friends were harassing me. I simply ignored them. I knew what I was doing- I kept building. The day I even went for the loan, the Executive Director of the bank that gave me simply called the branch manager nearest to him to perfect the paper. I got that N10million facility because they were chasing us. They knew we already had a high turn-over. Our leverage level keeps us attractive.

Two years ago, when I wanted to buy a 2million euro worth of machine for our factory at Ikeja here, I had approached the Bank of Industry and they had approved the facility, they now needed a bank guarantee as collateral. I went to my bank to ask for the guarantee because they already have in our account something worth more than the guarantee we were asking for. They came back to me that they cannot give me a bank guarantee. I said “Am I such a bad customer?” They said on the contrary, it’s because I’m sure a good customer that they cannot give me out to another bank. I said BoI is a developmental bank and they charge less than you commercial banks. They then made a proposal that they were willing to give me for five years for the value of what I was going to pay in the developmental bank. That’s exactly what happened. I never had of a commercial bank giving a five year loan before. They added the cost associated with the guarantee and gave me for five whole years.

I told you the story of how I started small. The first brand new car I used was a gift from my husband. I had got so used to not wasting my money or indulging in any ostentatious thing that pulling out N9m or N10 million naira to buy a car was big deal. He knew I wanted a car but because each time we talked about the car, I will say “for what?” It was for the price that I didn’t want to buy. I could afford to buy. But I advise you not to eat up your profit. The day you go out for money, they look at the papers. Open an account for every penny that comes through your business. Don’t think about the COT. It will cost you more if you don’t keep your money in a financial institution.

There’s a whole world waiting for you. I never wished to be a Beninoise, Togolese or Ghanaian or South African. Tell me how many countries have a population of 150 million? That’s what they call market. It’s not only the 150 million Nigerians; you are looking at the whole of West Africa. That gives you like 280 million. These smaller countries have less than the size of Nigeria; just add them to what you have. They don’t have your production capacity either. Go out there and conquer the world.

Source: http://woman.ng/2015/04/nobody-realized-that-we-were-a-tiny-little-dot-ibukun-awosika-on-how-she-used-the-little-she-had-to-build-the-successful-business-she-wanted/

Fifa: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini get lengthy bans

Fifa: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini get lengthy bans - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35144652

Michelle Obama drops new rap video

America's First Lady, Michelle Obama has just dropped a new rap single in which she encouraged young Americans to go to college.
In the song, one can hear Mrs Obama and her rap partner, Jay Pharaoh, say the following:

"If you wanna fly jets you should go to college/ Reach high and cash checks, fill your head with knowledge."

“If you wanna watch paint, don’t go to college. But for everything else, you should go to college.”

"South Side Chicago, we all know/ We had to do overtime every night to make it to tomorrow," raps Obama -- who grew up in the city's south.

"And everyone could really make their dream come true/ Hey kid listening in Michigan, this could be you."

The music, which was filmed in the White House, was released by College Humor.
The video is part of the "Better Make Room" campaign launched by the first lady's Reach Higher Initiative targeting 14-19-year-olds "to inspire every student in America to take charge of their future by completing their education past high school, whether at a professional training program, a community college, or a four-year college or university."

“I want to honor and empower young people who are working hard in school and pursuing their dreams – and I want to do it in a fresh and fun way,” Obama said in a statement.

Watch the video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1yAOK0nSb0

Who released, killed and ate our lion? By Reuben Abati

“Did they send you your own share of the bush meat?”

“Bush meat?”

“The lion in the zoo that became bush meat in Jos”

“What’s my own inside? I don’t know any zoo worker in Jos and how could a lion that was allowed out of its cage and got shot end up in my stomach. The kind of things you say sometimes.”

“That means you have not been following the story.”

“It is an animal tale”

“Created, concocted and delivered by animals in human skin, working in animal kingdom, telling us animal tales. What surprises me is the fact that there has been no public uproar, no outrage.”

“People are too busy thinking of how to survive as human beings, how to fight the current nationwide epidemic of empty pockets and stomachs, and survive the change in their lives.”

“But when a similar incident occurred at the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, there was serious outrage all over the world. Dr. Palmer, the American who killed the lion was the target of abuse and attacks. He even had to shut down his dental office. There were calls for his prosecution.”

“I know. In our case, the international community is indifferent. It is as if nothing has happened. A lion was killed in Zimbabwe; there was protest. A few days ago in Kenya, two Maasai herdsmen were charged for poisoning a lion. A lion is killed in Nigeria, not a whimper. “

“The truth is that the rest of the world is convinced that Nigeria itself is a zoo. Boko Haram is slaughtering thousands of human beings, girls are being abducted in hundreds, women are being raped, voters are getting killed in Kogi and Bayelsa. With such evils against humanity, why should anyone worry about a Nigerian lion being shot and ending up in the zoo of stomachs?”

“The zoo of stomachs”

“Look, I can swear that if you open some people’s stomachs in this country, what you will find is a zoo: lions, grasshoppers, horses, cats, rats, snakes, dogs, rabbits, antelopes, crocodiles, birds, elephants, extinct animals, disappearing species, anything that can serve the gut, and ginger the taste buds. That is why we can never successfully run a zoo, or a Games Reserve.”

“See, the situation in Zimbabwe with Cecil, the lion is no different. In Zimbabwe, the zoo guides deliberately released the lion and Dr. Palmer laid siege and gunned down the lion, and beheaded it. In Jos, their explanation is that the lion slipped out of its cage when it was being fed breakfast.”

“Lying liars. Fibbing fibbers.”

“They made it sound as if the lion was living in a room and parlour and he just moved from the room to the parlour, to the verandah and to the streets.  It is a zoo, for Heaven’s sake and there are standards and best practices!.”

“How will they know what the best practice is, when they don’t even know the age of the lion? The manager of the zoo says the lion has been there since 1972. A 43-year old lion, and yet there is no established protocol for managing it.”

“There is no 43-year old lion anywhere in the world. That is a lie. They don’t have records. They don’t keep records.”

“The lion doesn’t even have a name. In Zimbabwe, and Kenya, they name their lions.”

“That is not a problem. We can give the lion a name, right now. What is the name of the state Governor?”

“Simon Lalong.  What about him?”

“Good.  Simon, the lion. How about that?”

“Ha. The man is still alive oh. And of what use is a name to a lion that is dead, skinned, cut into bits and pieces, taken home to the cooking pots, eaten, digested, and washed down with whatever the animals eating animal meat deemed fit.”  

 “The very reason the Governor should order a serious investigation. Who released the lion? And why? Who killed it, skinned it? And who took part in the Feast of the Lion? For all you know, the zoo-keeper deliberately released the lion. He may have been commissioned to do so, by herbalists, who I hear value the body parts of a lion. In that kind of world, the teeth of a lion, the paws, the skin, the ears, all of this can be used by ritualists to give a human being, lion-like powers.”

“Blood of Jesus!”

“Did you not see how the killers posed with the lion for photograph, drooling from the mouth, salivating, looking hungry?

“They made it seem as if the lion was a jailbird who escaped, and resisting arrest, they shot it, instead of tranquilizing it. And they turned the zoo into an abattoir!”

“All the characters involved should be investigated and sacked. Otherwise, tomorrow, they will release a rabbit and gun it down, next tomorrow, an antelope will also break jail, and it will be shot, to be followed by a snake, all getting shot and ending up in people’s pots as bush meat.”

 “That is why we can’t run a proper zoo, games reserve or a tourism programme. We talk about climate change and the environment but we don’t know that animals are important to the ecosystem. Sad.”

“Have you not heard of the lion that the Saraki Senate has also let loose?”

“A zoo in the Senate? I don’t get it.”  

“They have just released one lion called Social Media Bill.”

“You mean the Frivolous Petitions Prohibition Bill”

“The law seeks to gag the social media. It says you can’t even complain on your what’s app, email, twitter, BB or blog and if you say something that is frivolous, you can go to jail or pay a fine.”

“That is an assault on the fundamental right to free speech; a dangerous lion that should be tranquilized!”

“They don’t have tranquilizer in Jos zoo or any other zoo in Nigeria, is it in the Senate that they will have it? Look, some activists have decided to organize their own public hearings and shoot down this particular lion.”

“Let’s go there then. Let the shooting shooters, the gunning gunners, the writing writers, the protesting protesters, the marching marchers, the shouting shouters, the fighting fighters, the petitioning petitioners, the blogging bloggers and the tweeting children of anger have their own public hearing. That’s democracy.”

“You left out the Wailing Wailers”

“They too. I think this is the type of lion that Nigerians should kill, not Simon.”
“I like your passion. But there was a protest in Abuja on Tuesday. I didn’t see you joining them?”

“Hen. Hen. You want them to mistake me for a lion that escaped and shoot me, abi? You don’t know that to be an activist, you must also be wise, and protect your stomach from bullets.”

“I thought you were bullet-proof. And you need not be afraid, anyway. The Senate has made it clear that it is acting in the public interest and that its members are not opposed to free speech. Just a simple matter.”

“Please! My fear is that they are all shooting already and because they are yet to hit target, there are stray bullets flying all around, respecting nobody. You go and ask Dino.”

“Which of the Dinos? Dino 1, Dino 2, Dino 3 or Dino $1,000?”

“I don’t know. But the people in Aso Rock have been smart enough to duck.  They are now talking about free speech. Free speech. Free speech! Thank God oh, for free speech!”

“Not in Bayelsa at this time, though. Or in Kogi, where people are suspicious of tomorrow.”  

“Why not in Bayelsa? I saw the people insisting that they should be allowed to choose  their Governor. Too much violence in that election.”

“I hear Countriman has declared that he’s not going to die and that the election will be concluded.”

“Who is so-called?”

“Dickson”

“Ha, Dickson na Ijebu Ode boy oh. Him no ready to die. Bobo no go die, afi to ba di Governor. Bobo!”

“But INEC says the Bayelsa election is inconclusive.”

“This new INEC should just be renamed Inconclusive National Electoral Commission (INEC). If they take weeks to conduct elections in eight local governments, with less than one million voters, if they have to run a nationwide election, then the entire country will be declared inconclusive. Where is Jega by the way? They need him as a Consultant.”

“Why? Let him enjoy his retirement, I beg.”

“Why not?” 

“It is called change, my brother.”

“But not in Kogi where I hear the Deputy-Governor elect is swearing that if he is not allowed to inherit the Audu-Faleke undeclared victory, he will not show up to be sworn in as a Deputy Governor on January 27, 2016.”

“He doesn’t want to be Deputy Governor again?”

“He says he cannot betray former Governor Abubakar Audu.”

“Ha. Inconclusive matter! I think we should declare 2015 our year of inconclusiveness. 2015: Nigeria’s Inconclusive Year. How about that?

“Nigeria’s Year of Inconclusivity.”

“Two weeks to Christmas, see how people are looking sad. Some people this year will just pretend that there is no Christmas, Christmas having been declared inconclusive! Even prostitutes have reduced their charging rates; everybody is looking for survival, and anything is fair game, be it a live lion, or the people’s rights or what is that famous blogger’s favourite word again? Yes, eggplant. As Douglas Adams said: to summarize the summary of a summary, people are a problem.”

“Tell me more about these prostitutes and their current rate cards.”

“No be me and you.  You go and find out. You see, you are part of the problem.”

“That includes you too, I beg. You always talk about change; now you have it, and you don’t want to talk about it. My friend, don’t complain. Go and sit down.”

“Change?”

“Change is the necessity of history”  

“You know the truth?”

“What?”

“Things do not change, we do.”  Henry David Thoreau.”

“I don’t know him. You know what? Stop quoting dead people.”   

[BREAKING] FG approves N407bn payment to oil marketers

The Federal Government on Wednesday finally approved the payment of N407.07bn as fuel subsidy to oil marketers.

The payment was confirmed by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, through a statement issued by the Director, Press in the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Marshal Gundu.

The payments according to the statement include arrears from the 2014 financial year as well as payments for the current year.

The minister in the statement said the approval was given following a directive issued by President Muhammadu Buhari that the amount be paid immediately to the oil marketers in order to end the lingering fuel scarcity in the country.

It called on the oil marketers to reciprocate the action of the Federal Government by ensuring that all fuel queues disappear within the shortest time possible.

The fuel scarcity which has been on for about a month had caused severe hardship to Nigerians.

The minister in the statement said despite the dwindling revenues, the Federal Government is still committed towards ensuring that Petroluem products are made available to Nigerians.

The statement reads in part, “The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has confirmed payment of N407,076,805,386.30 for subsidy claims to oil marketers so as to end the lingering fuel situation.

“The Minister stated that the President has directed that payments be made immediately in order to bring to a quick end the lingering fuel crisis which has caused great suffering to Nigerian families and businesses.”

“She also said that despite dwindling revenues, the government is committed to ensuring continuous availability of fuel to Nigerians.

“The payments include arrears from the 2014 financial year as well as payments for the current year. It is expected that the recipients would ensure adequate supply of fuel to end the persistent fuel shortage in the nation.

“With this action which shows that government is fully committed to meeting its financial obligations in respect of fuel subsidy, the Minister further implored the major oil marketers to reciprocate the action by doing all they can to bring the fuel scarcity to an end.”

A total of N143bn was approved by the National Assembly in April this year for subsidy payment for the 2015 fiscal period.

A breakdown of the amount showed that the sum of N100bn was provided for as subsidy for Premium Motor Spirit, while N43bn was approved for Dual Purpose Kerosene.

Following the utilization of the amount, President Muhammadu Buhari had sent a supplementary budget to the Senate requesting additional N413bn for payment of subsidy to oil marketers.

However, the senate after considering the proposal increased the subsidy budget by N109bn bringing the amount approved by the upper chamber as subsidy to N522.25bn.

The federal government in 2013, budgeted the sum of N970bn for fuel subsidy same as the 2014 fiscal period.

Source: punchng

More work needed to perfect elections in Nigeria, says Buhari

More work needed to perfect elections in Nigeria, says Buhari : http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/more-work-needed-to-perfect-elections-in-nigeria-says-buhari/

Femi Falana speaks on $2.1 billion arms scandal, says total amount missing is $6 billion!

Lagos-based lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has said that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was within its rights to detain suspects arrested in connection with the $6 billion arms scandal.

In a statement titled, “$6 billion arms gate: suspects’ rights not violated” released by the lawyer on Sunday, Falana contended that “the detention of the suspects is in strict compliance with the rule of law”.

Falana pointed to sections 293-299 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (ACJA) which stipulate that a suspect arrested for an offence which a magistrate has no jurisdiction to try, shall within a reasonable time, be brought before a magistrate court for remand.

He stated that “the order which shall be for a period not exceeding 14 days may be further extended provided that if the investigation is not concluded within 28 days the court may summon the appropriate authority to show cause why the suspect should not be unconditionally released.

“Suspects who are remanded in custody are at liberty to ask for bail or apply to the appropriate high court to secure the enforcement of their fundamental right to personal liberty. In view of the clear and unambiguous provisions of the law it is misleading to insist that a magistrate court lacks the power to grant the application filed by the EFCC for the detention of the criminal suspects.”

The lawyer recalled that some of the principal suspects who had last week been implicated in the probe of the $2.1 billion and N643 billion arms gate were arrested by the Economic and Financial Commission.

“Pursuant to the ex parte orders validly issued by the courts the suspects have since been detained for the purpose of investigation. But in a desperate move designed to divert the attention of the Nigerian people and the international community from the grave allegations of reckless and criminal diversion of the public funds earmarked for arms procurement to prosecute the war on terror, some reactionary politicians have accused the Buhari administration of engaging in impunity for detaining the suspects beyond 48 hours without trial,” he noted.

Falana, therefore, urged the Muhammadu Buhari administration to ignore the reckless campaign of calumny of certain people who he said have lost their sense of shame. According to him, as far as such people are concerned, the suspects should be left alone to enjoy their loot while soldiers are losing their precious lives due to lack of adequate weapons.

“The anti graft agencies should disregard the cheap blackmail, speed up the investigation and charge all indicted suspects to court while the courts are enjoined to conduct the trial of the suspects under the ACJA which requires that the trials be conducted day by day. The federal government should open a dedicated account to warehouse the recovered loot with a view to using the fund to provide equipment for the armed forces, create jobs for our army of unemployed graduates and fix our dilapidated public schools, hospital and roads.

“However, it is pertinent to correct the error in respect of the extent of the amount of money involved in the arms gate. The well publicized $2.1 billion is the foreign component of the loot. The actual amount stolen is $2.1 billion and N643 billion. The total missing fund is $6 billion.

“In the light of the earth-shaking and ear-aching revelations oozing out of the EFCC to the effect that a handful of individuals cornered and shared the huge fund earmarked for the procurement of military hardware to prosecute the war on terror all the convicted military officers and soldiers who have been convicted including the 70 who were sentenced to death should be released forthwith.

“As I have repeatedly maintained the soldiers were committed and sentenced to death for asking for weapons to fight the terrorists. They were ordered to fight with unserviceable equipment on the ground that there was no money to purchase new weapons. In the process, the well-equipped insurgents routed and massacre thousands of the country’s ill-equipped soldiers due to the diversion of the fund set aside to purchase equipment. The suspects must bear full responsibility for committing such grave crimes against humanity.

“Consequently, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 we have applied for a certified true copy of the report of the arms procurement panel with a view to ensuring that some of the suspects are prosecuted by the Special Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity,” he added.

THE MATYRISATION OF NNAMDI KANU BY DELE MOMODU

Fellow Nigerians, the roof is on fire. And the owners of the house should not sleep and snore lest they get badly burnt. Please, let no one treat or dismiss this Biafra controversy as humbug because it is very serious and has the potential of spiralling out of control and snowballing into an unprecedented conflagration of unquenchable propensities. War has never been a tea party.

I was about seven years old when the Nigerian civil war broke out in July 1967. I was a child but not too young not to know and understand some of what was happening. I certainly felt the tremor of it even in far-away Ile-Ife. We knew something was definitely wrong when we suddenly noticed the inexplicable disappearance of our neighbours and family friends. The most painful for us in my own home was the forceful separation from our prayer warrior and spiritual Guru, Papa Fineface. Papa Fineface had migrated from the Eastern part of Nigeria to Ile-Ife many years earlier. Suddenly like a wisp of smoke he was gone! At that time, we called such citizens of Nigeria from that part, Ibo. Much later, I somehow learnt that the people should actually be addressed as Igbo. Well, we continued to use the two names interchangeably till today.

The civil war that started like a joke raged on for about three years and sent many innocent casualties, running into millions, into despair and sorrow. Hundreds of thousands went on a journey of no return to their Maker. Many more lost their limbs and other vital body parts. Others parted ways with all their worldly possessions. Some still carry the scars of war till this day, more than 45 years after the war ended.

The post war trauma is certainly even far worse. I have read many Nigerian civil war accounts, as I grew older, in newspapers, books, novels and memoirs. By any of the accounts, the pogrom was maniacal and the extent of man’s inhumanity to man was heartrending. Unfortunately, History is no longer a compulsory subject in our school curriculum. Therefore, there is no point blaming those beating the drums of war. Most of them were either too young to appreciate the horror of the war or worse still had not even been born at the end of the war.  It is therefore easy for them to romanticise the ideals which they fight for and issue a call to arms even though they know nothing about the horrible plight that they would want to plunge their people and their country into. If they could just travel down memory lane and see for themselves what the true meaning of war is and why it should never ever be contemplated on our shores again, maybe they will begin to see some sense and reason. It is a shocking shame that despite the graphic images of sectarian violence that we have witnessed all over the world in recent times, in other climes, those in the know who have lived abroad and had access to such information and images will still feel that they must unleash similar violence on their own country and people.

The reason for the preamble thus far is to settle one fact; that I knew a bit about the Biafran war even if I did not experience it directly. This is why all men and women of good conscience should urgently reach out to the young folks stoking the embers of revolution, secession, war, or whatever they wish to call it and beg them profusely to kindly perish the thought. Such ideas have no place in Nigeria of the 21^st century. We thought that they had been consigned to the dustbin of history but alas that is not the case probably because that history has been denied the propagators of these ill-thought and ill-conceived notions. The bigger plea should even go to the Federal Government of Nigeria. My reason is simple. The government is about to pour petrol and explosives into the towering inferno by reacting angrily to a battle that is in its infancy and can still be nipped in the bud without casualties.

As for me and our house, we did not know of anyone called Nnamdi Kanu until he was arrested and locked up during a visit to Nigeria from his base in the United Kingdom a few months ago. At the very best, some people knew him as the founder of a pirate radio station called Radio Biafra. I’ve never tuned in to it and so wouldn’t know what profanities it disseminated that led to the government chasing its owners. I’m aware that even about 20 years ago, when I participated in the Radio Freedom (later changed to Radio Kudirat) from the same United Kingdom, it was impossible to track us down. We communicated with the central operations, located in a Scandinavian country, remotely by telephone. The rest was left to the engineers to sort out.

Today, technology has become even more advanced and volatile. The whizz-kids of science are on the rampage. And don’t forget that the Igbo people are naturally brilliant in all spheres of human endeavour. They are endowed with genes that we could liken to those of Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Pythagoras, and Bertrand Russell combined. If the Black man would ever venture into Space exploration, I’m sure of the shock that awaits us; an Igbo would not only land on the moon, he would have a permanent abode there and a shop to sell all common needs to us. Such is the dynamism of the Igbo geniuses that I often refer to them as the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans of Africa all rolled into one.

It is usually an exercise in futility to ban anyone or anything. I was once told by my former Literature teacher at the then University of Ife, Okot p’Bitek, who was a visiting Professor from Uganda, about how one of his controversial works, Song of Lawino, was ostracised by Government because of its atheistic proclivity but all that it did was that many readers rushed out in search of the book and soon it was all sold out. Many reprints came thereafter and the literary giant was smiling all the way to the bank whilst the object of the ban was roundly defeated.The same thing happened to Salman Rushdie when he released a book of complete heresy The Satanic Verses, according to Muslims in 1989 and a Fatwa was placed on his head. That was what attracted people like me to find, buy and read this much-talked about work of esoteric literature. As a matter of fact, when I could not get a copy to buy initially, I had to photocopy the only one in circulation which was owned by my boss for life, Mr Mike Awoyinfa of the Weekend Concord fame. I still bought an original copy much later. The hype generated against the book actually worked wonders in its favour. Salman Rushdie, from relative obscurity became a household name from then onwards.

I will give only one more example nearer to home. When Professor Wole Soyinka released his prison memoirs titled The Man Died, Nigeria’s military authorities frowned at its rambunctious flavour and clamped down on it pronto but the attempt failed woefully. As a young man, the day I bought my personal copy would rank amongst my happiest days on earth. I had heard too many fabulous stories about Soyinka’s socio-political exploits and could not wait to settle down and savour the breezy work. Soyinka became my idol henceforth.

I have cited these examples in order to demonstrate the pointlessness and uselessness of locking up Nnamdi Kanu. What the government needed to do was to meet him on the field of ideas and pummel him with superior logic. They should have allowed him even to come on national television and explain his new concept of Biafranism. He should show the world if he was more brilliant and braver than our Oxford-trained Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu who fought gallantly before absconding to safety while leaving behind a tale of woes. Nnamdi would have been asked to justify the claims in certain quarters that the Igbos are treated like second class citizens in Nigeria. I would have wished to be told that Azikiwe, Ekwueme, Okadigbo, Enwerem, Wabara, Soludo, Okonjo-Iwealla, Pius Anyim, Ezekwesili, Nnaji, Emefiele, Ovia, Elumelu, Kachikwu, Onu, Ngige, Onyiuke, Onyeama, and others are from Planet Mars.

Some of what Mr Kanu advocates are not much different from the current battles the Government is waging, especially against Boko Haram, corruption and societal decay.  I am not even sure that the Government or those presently pursuing him have bothered to read the mission statement of Radio Biafra. I hereby produce it below:

“The ONLY PURPOSE for the existence of Radio Biafra London is to set a largely misinformed public free from the twin evil of tyrannical rule of a cabal of ill-educated and institutionally corrupt men and women and the sponsored sectarian killings directed against Christian Southerners living in Northern Nigeria by terrorists operating in the name of Islam. It will also serve to articulate a solution to the plight of impoverished and confused Igbo families abandoned by their leaders in Northern Nigeria to a fate worse than those endured by black slaves in plantations in the Americas.
Radio Biafra London will use and deploy every available resource to campaign for the rights of all oppressed indigenous peoples of Southern Nigeria to determine how they wish to structure their societies and live their lives. Radio Biafra London would broadcast debates on issues of national and international importance affecting the lives and rights of the indigenous peoples of Biafra and indeed indigenous people of all ethnic persuasions in Nigeria.
Radio Biafra London further wishes to give advance warning to all looters, embezzlers, kidnappers, sponsors of terrorism, child traffickers, corrupt judges, crooked university lecturers, murderous Nigerian security forces and all thieving individuals masquerading as public officials who steal public funds thereby preventing developmental projects from impacting positively on the lives of the ordinary people. These looters and workers of iniquity will be named and shamed. There will be no hiding place for common thieves who use the cover of high political offices to steal in the name of Nigerian politics. For Radio Biafra London, there will be nothing like no-go-areas in what can be reported, discussed and analysed. The governing principle of the Public-Right-To-Know of the issues affecting their lives will be rigorously upheld.”

There is a constitutional right to freedom of speech.  It is only when it begins to tear at the very fabric of society that the right needs to be curtailed.

Sugabelly, rape and Audu’s sons By Reuben Abati

You probably don’t know Sugabelly. I don’t know her either. But it is the twitter handle of a Nigerian lady: @sugabelly, who in the wake of the death of former Governor Abubakar Audu of Kogi State felt the urge to go public with her story. My foregrounding her/story as opposed to his/story, is further affirmation of an earlier submission that Audu’s death is “inconclusive” (The Guardian, Nov 27).

As the rest of Nigeria mourned the death of Abubakar Audu and pondered the implications of an inconclusive electoral process, Sugabelly showed up on social media and started celebrating his death. Her message was that the death of the man was good riddance to bad rubbish. “I feel so amazing”, she wrote. “Like God actually answered my prayers… That’s usually how it is. Powerful people rarely remember the people whose lives they destroy.”

 She alleged that Audu’s sons once gang-raped her- seven of them, when she was an impressionable 17-year old and that Governor Audu used his position as a big man to rubbish her, slammed her with a $2 million libel suit, denied her from getting justice, with his lawyers insisting that “14 years” is the age of consent under the Penal Code in the FCT, and so there is no case. For eight years, her life, she says, has been a nightmare including contemplations of suicide and spells of manic depression. Her frustration is well articulated in her twitter handle and an extended commentary titled “Surviving Mustapha Audu and His Rape Brigade” (sugarbellyrocks.com/2015/11/surviving-mustapha-audu-and-his-rape-brigade.html).

I have heard people proclaim loudly that a traditional proverb says: “the witch cried last night and the child died in the morning” and they have been wondering whether there was some kind of extra-terrestial, meta-physical animus which led to Audu’s sudden death. Howbeit, Sugabelly’s allegation is that of rape. Her protestation made the rounds for a few days largely uncelebrated, but it caught fire last Friday. For days, rape was the subject of discussion on Nigerian twitter. Opinion was divided with some calling Sugabelly, “a whore” and a badly brought up child but soon, the weight tilted heavily in her favour as the reactions panned out to focus on the menace of rape and the devastating effect on persons, families, the victims and society.

One of the sons of Abubakar Audu was soon fingered as the leader of the rape brigade -by both Sugabelly and her staunchest supporter, @Echecrates. What happened subsequently is better experienced. A lady tweeting as Zahra – @oakleafbycg – jumped into the fray to defend him – hers was quite a spirited fight that lasted for hours, defending the integrity of her husband. She probably was defending herself too. Her father-in-law was so close to being Governor and he lost it, only for some twitter activists, and a sugabelly (what a name!, by the way) to start suggesting that her husband has a rape case to answer. She is a good woman, isn’t she? I monitored the conversations, and it is difficult to conclude that anyone was successfully convicted for there were persons who raised questions about sugabelly’s identity, her motives and whether she is not just a spoiler, playing a sponsored political game.

The emergent consensus however focused on the menace of rape in our society. Some male commentators seeking to genderize the discussion also pointed out that they were once raped too, but the pervasive impression was that young girls are more often the victims. I noted that there was very little talk about marital rape, which is ordinarily a major issue in the West, but which will be considered absurd by Africans. There were some suggestions about rapists being put to death in line with the still untested Violence Against Persons Act, but as is the case with twitter, 140-word interventions do not necessarily a honest thinker nor an intellectual make. It creates an illusion though, the illusion that someone whose reasoning is below 140 words is a mega-man of knowledge and insights.

Nonetheless, the matter between sugabelly and the Audu sons deserves a little more probing. I am tempted to commend sugabelly for throwing up the subject, but the real problem with rape in our society lies in the inadequacy of both legal and social responses. Both the law and the society stigmatise rape, and wrong-foot the victim. The relevant sections of the law in Nigeria today more or less ridicule the victim, and usually, the victim is female. The biggest challenge for decades has been this manner in which the law humiliates the female victim: the procedure requires examination by a medical doctor and in open court, proving actual penetration up to the labia majora. That is a tough call for victims and families, and so, many cases end up unreported. Besides, the criminal justice system peopled by phallocentric officials is wont to dismiss any woman reporting rape: in Nigeria, it would be ridiculous indeed for a married woman or a girlfriend to report being raped by her husband or fiancée. From the policeman at the station to the presiding judge, if it gets to that stage, the case may die a natural death in the vortex of misogyny.

Culture is a major barrier: the search for virgins at the bridal chamber by African families is a long dead custom, but few families can stand the stigma of taking as wife, a woman who has been raped, and whose indignity has been broadcast. Female victims are therefore reluctant to seek legal redress, first because of social stigma, and that is why there are very few convictions despite the regular incidence of rape. Any woman that is labeled a rape victim stands the risk of not getting a husband: families of prospective suitors will latch on to that evidence as if it a mark of leprosy, and urge their sons to steer clear, creating for the woman’s family an undeserved dilemma. Despite the wave of modernity in our land, tradition remains resilient and marriage, going to a man’s house, is still, quite sadly, considered a woman’s ultimate achievement.

This is probably why, in due course, the accused also showed up in the conversation releasing e-mail exchanges between him and Sugabelly, and going as far as revealing her true identity and painting her as a “whore,” a liar and an opportunist. Parents, keep an eye on your sons and daughters! The family, the most important social unit, has a role to play. Both male and female children should be brought up to respect ethical values and the rights of other human beings to dignity. The inferiorization of the female gender often begins in the home, and there are too many cultural paradigms sustaining an objectionable model of parenting, which must change. Too many parents, too busy trying to make survival possible, have abdicated responsibility and it is society that is hurt as a result.

The solution also lies in legal reform: the laws on rape must become more progressive and enlightened. The statutes have been in urgent need of review for long; they must provide the necessary deterrence and not ridicule the victim; even the Violence Against Persons Act (2015) does not fully correct the mischief in the Criminal and Penal Codes.

There is also a trend now that must be addressed, namely the objectification of women for profit or other purposes. The most recent illustration I find is the battle being waged on twitter and instagram by @blossomnnodim, who has since changed to @blossomozurumba (good luck to the man who is responsible for this blossoming), as she takes on a TBWA power charger advert, which instead of promoting the subject focuses on a woman’s biological gifts. Blossom objects to this but she has since been accused of witch-hunting and idleness. Her critics miss the point. The objectification of women in popular culture erodes the dignity of women. But the worse of it all, is that women themselves promote this negative effect. Nigeria has been lucky in locking into global trends on all fronts, but in a global village, we have not been successful in retaining local standards as a bulwark against negative, imperial cultural influences.

Social media, for example, is dominated by images of sexual libertinism; even our young ladies who are now role models on the basis of concrete accomplishments help to foster this image. I am making this point delicately; my concern is that we have too many Nigerian female role models who are busy trying to be like Amber Rose, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Rita Ora, Miles Cyrus, Blac Chyna – if you know what I mean, all those foreign cultural icons whose lifestyles commodify women. Our own equivalents are all over social media: pretty girls who are perpetually showing cleavages, wearing body tights that accentuate curves, some even boast that they won’t wear bras and pants and that illicit sex is cool: that is how this self-denigration has grown all the way down, creating a sexual tension even among the uneducated wannabes.

I am not victimizing the victim, knowing fully well that there is that human rights border of freedom of choice and expression; still, new cultural realities should command certain limits. Sugabelly may not get the sugar of contentment that she seeks, but let her be consoled that she has ignited a debate that may shed more light on the dilemma of rape, and/or sex with a minor (Penal Code or not), and the sad manner in which our society continues to produce children and adults who behave badly. Let us also hope that sooner or later, the sleeping Abubakar Audu will be allowed to lie, by his sons and the girl they allegedly raped. It is not Audu that is on trial, it is his sons: sons of big men who go overboard with their life of privilege, and of course, Sugabelly- the overtly impressionable young girl- who are all still alive to be called to account, if not in regular court, but now, in the court of public opinion.

Buhari and the Old Woman in Katsina by Olusegun Adeniyi

“Wata tsohuwa taji matsin rayuwa, kuma sai taji ance bom ya tashi acan da can, ga wahalar mai, Abinci ya na neman gagarar talaka, malamai na kukan ba albashi, don haka yaran ma sai dai suje makaranta suyi wa sa su dawo. Sai ta kirawo babban danta (Auwalu) tace, nasan baza kamin karya ba, Auwalu ka fadamin tsakaninka da Allah, Wai Jonathan ya ba Buhari mulkinna kuwa?”

The foregoing text message (in Hausa) that has been going round among members of the Northern elite in the last one week was said to have originated from Katsina, the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari. And here goes the message: An elderly woman was feeling the challenges of life. She hears that bombs have been going off here and there, fuel queues have returned, food items are becoming expensive and teachers are owed their salaries. She summoned her first son, Auwalu, and said "I know you would not lie to me, Auwalu, so answer me truthfully. Has Jonathan handed over the government to Buhari, or is he still holding on to it?"

Whether the story in the SMS is true or it is made up, its real import is that six months into President Buhari’s administration, there is already a growing sense of foreboding that the security challenge that has for years plagued the nation may be spiraling out of control while the feeling that his government lacks any clear economic direction is fast gaining grounds. Even the talk about fighting corruption is already sounding hollow to many Nigerians since, as a Yoruba adage goes, “eni ebi n pa ko gbo iwasu” (an hungry man would rather have food than listen to any sermon).

President Buhari campaigned on three things: security, anti-corruption and job/economy. Most fair-minded people would agree he has not done badly on the first two but he deserves all the raps he gets on the third, which is clearly not his strong suit and on which many believe he is being unnecessarily doctrinaire. The issue, however, is not his economic bias but whether that bias would not compound what ails us or that it can be implemented and explained by a credible team with clear understanding of the fundamentals of economics. Of course, there are no easy answers and there will be trade-offs and unintended consequences but it is more re-assuring when the citizens and real investors feel that the people in charge know what they are doing. 

Unfortunately, recent reports in the international media about the economy of our country are, to put it mildly, not flattering. There are stories of a freeze on commitments by both the local and foreign potential investors and a general air of uncertainties about the economic policy thrust of the current administration. Yet my interactions in recent days with some of the people close to Buhari reveal that while he appreciates the challenges, the president actually has an idea of what he wants to do, and nothing illustrates this than the situation in the downstream sector of the economy. But first, let us situate the story properly.

In 2013, the total volume of PMS brought in by marketers (at least on paper) was 10,217,678,006 litres while the total subsidy payment was N522,665,346,576. For those who may not have temperament for long figures, that can be summarized as 10.2 billion litres for volume and N522.7 billion in subsidy payment for the year. But that does not tell the complete story given components like interest rates and foreign exchange differentials though the 2014 figures explain these better.

The total PMS brought in by marketers in 2014 was 12,276,443,741 litres with subsidy of N444,622,753,752 paid them while a balance of N120,552,317,186 was left outstanding. Those figures also translate into 12.3 billion litres and payment of N444.6 billion with N120.5 billion outstanding. That would attract interest of N51,562,973,868 (about N52 billion) with N20,969,519,683 of that amount paid. At the end, by the time the interest rate and foreign exchange differentials are added, there is a balance of N317,211,472,634 left to be paid marketers for year 2014 supplies. So, if you do simple arithmetic, we would be paying marketers about N830 billion in subsidy for 2014.

For the first nine months of this year, between January and September, the marketers brought in 8,847,731,662 litres (about 8.85 billion litres) with subsidy claims of N292,810,817,319 but were not paid anything, going by the records at the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). That yielded interest of N6,681,101,883 aside other claims like forex differentials which pushed the figure to N323,021,620,111. So by the end of September this year, the total outstanding amount owed the marketers for 33 months (between January 2013 and September 2015) was N642,922,253,878 after the sum of N1,063,811,837,114 (about N1.1 trillion) had been paid. That put the total claim for the 33 months at N1,706,734,090,992 (about N1.71 trillion).

However, it must be understood that the marketers supply only about 50 percent of total national fuel demands (sometimes even less) which means that those figures tell only half the story since the NigerianNational Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) supplies the remaining balance. If we therefore add the subsidy from the NNPC side, we are looking at another N1.71 trillion (making about N3.42 trillion on subsidy) for a period less than three years. Of course we all remember that in year 2011 alone, we, for obvious reasons, spent more than N2 trillion on fuel subsidy!

If we calculate subsidy payments in the last five years, we must have expended more than N8 trillion, just on one single product. Even at the current exchange rate, we are talking of an amount above $40 billion that is practically down the drain because it is perhaps only the people in Lagos and Abuja that buy petrolat the official pump price. Besides, how do we calculate the disruptions in peoples’ lives during fuel scarcity that has become part of the national calendar—the days many spend in fuel station etc.?

Ordinarily, the foregoing makes a compelling case for the immediate termination of the subsidy regime but in speaking with those close to Buhari who provided the figures, they also gave insights that reveal the thinking of the administration. One, removing subsidy without dealing with the rent element and associated issues that have dogged the sector for several years would mean covering all the corruption without learning any lesson. Given prevailing situation, I was made to understand that removal of subsidy would aggravate, rather than ameliorate, existing problems in the sector. What the government is working on is removal of subsidy that is tied to a long-term solution that involves self-sufficiency in refined petroleum products, hopefully within the life of this administration.

Two, it was explained to me that removing subsidy by government fiat would necessarily engender hike in prices not only of transport but also of other essential services as well as commodities and the poor would suffer the most. To that extent, a more seamless process is being worked out bearing in mind the declining price of crude in the international market. Three, removing subsidy without putting a system in place to checkmate the antics of profiteers, I was told, would not guarantee adequate fuel supply and might sooner than later bring us back to Square One. For instance, one big man in the sector whose company recently brought in a large volume of PMS decided not to discharge in anticipation of a higher profit margin (on top of subsidy) until the authorities had to threaten him with sanctions.

The implication of that is obvious: except the cartel that has for years been feeding fat on the misery of the people is dismantled through a systematic manner before removal of subsidy, they would easily game the system as they always do. Four, it is believed that most of the governors are pushing for removal of subsidy so they can have more money to share and for that reason, were it to be done today, Nigerians would not see the benefit of what would hit their pockets. Therefore, the thinking is that it is better to have in place a proper structure that will ensure that the people can see the gains of subsidy removal in practical terms, whenever it is done.

Five, removal of subsidy is tied to some of President Buhari’s anti-corruption reforms in the petroleum sector which has over the years been turned to a slush fund by the presidency. For instance, a total sum of $2.1 billion withdrawn on the pretext of security by the last administration between May 2014 and January this year were from the NNPC accounts, based on some spurious directives to the Group Managing Director of the corporation. Those, I was told, are some of the loopholes that would have to be plugged in what appears a holistic effort at reforming the oil and gas sector.

As much as I understand some of the issues being considered, I believe that the Buhari administration should put them in the public domain so we can have a proper debate on the way forward. What I find more surprising is that, in the plan of the president for the economy—from road infrastructure to power to the refineries, the private sector will play a very critical role, especially considering the idea of launching anInfrastructural Fund to finance key projects on a long term basis as opposed to budget-cycle financing. Yet that is difficult to decipher from his “body language” which is all that Nigerians have had to rely on in the last six months since he would not speak to us. In fact, the only times the president speaks are when he is outside the country which in itself has brought about a joke being circulated which reads: “Breaking news: President Buhari to visit Nigeria on Wednesday December 2. No indication of how long he will stay.”

It is perhaps in response to that joke that Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, intervened last weekend in an opinion piece titled, “Buhari’s trips are not for enjoyment”. But there is a message he himself perhaps didn’t get from what he wrote: “In public diplomacy, experts say that it is better conducted through face-to-face interaction than through third parties…” The inference from that is simple: Nigerians want to know, and indeed deserve to know, what Buhari is doing about the economy and they want to hear it from him. As it would happen, he is not telling us anything so everybody is relying on his body language and giving it his/her own interpretation.

Given the good governance deficit in the land, Nigerians are desirous of serious action and quick-wins. They want a sure-footedpresident, one who is not afraid of making mistakes and desirous of making impact quickly. Havingspent the last six months putting together his team, Nigerians are eagerly waiting for them to begin to deliver. But there is no sign of that yet since the ministers are also not telling Nigerians anything about the direction of the administration perhaps because, like the rest of us, they are waiting for the president’s body language!

While I agree that the trips the president has had to undertake in recent months are important, time has come for Buhari to stay home, rally his troops, speak to those who gave him their mandate to be president over their affairs and begin the difficult task of leading our country to peace and prosperity. If we, as journalists in Nigeria, would have to be quoting foreign media on critical pronouncements of the president, then something is wrong.

More importantly, the presidential system that we have adopted from the United States of America thrives mostly on communication. President Buhari must therefore talk to us; he must touch and be touched by that old lady in Katsina; he must go into Aba or Onitsha market as a gesture to defuse the fake Biafra protests that have become a lucrative enterprise for, and being fuelled, by some people; he must undertake a sudden visit to the strategic Apapa port in Lagos to personally experience the chaos; he must visit the IDP camp in Maiduguri to carry some babies in his arms; he must come out openly to assure the ‘Sugabellys’ of our country that rape is a heinous crime and that culprits, no matter who their fathers are, would answer to the law etc.

What President Buhari and his handlers must know is that body language politics belongs to the age of medieval kings and overlords. Nigeria did not elect an inscrutable monarch but a popular president. Buhari must therefore quickly strike a balance between his personal aloof and inscrutable mien and the robustness of the Nigerian national character. We are a sunshine people, even in the face of odds and hardship. Once you tell us why we have to sacrifice, we can make adjustments. But if you ignore us, frown at us or turn your back at us, we feel hurt and begin to take a close look at the king's costume. And the consequences can be very dire.

The core policy challenges today remain the fuel subsidy regime and foreign exchange restrictions and control. Whether or not President Buhari is seen by local and international private sector people as business friendly will depend on what he does with both. However, the best way to show gratitude to the common man is not to fumigate them with “cheap” gasoline that is hardly ever available at the official pump price or float a dual exchange rate regime where somebody can make a “profit” of N40 Naira or more on $1 without engaging in any productive activity.

Even when the economic problems that Nigerians now grapple with were not created by this administration and might be deeper than he anticipated while campaigning for votes, President Buhari promised ‎to fix them once elected. It is therefore not unreasonable to expect that he would act with more dispatch, sure-footedness, clarity and open communication.If the president persists on his current course, we may soon be witnessing a harvest of separatist protests, labour unrest and private sector indifference. And should that happen, the vested interest in the corruption edifice that he is trying to dismantle will ensure his nights are sleepless.

All said, the imperative of the moment is to create an environment in which investment flows in to complement local effort so we can clear the streets of miscreants and potential criminals and put the people to work.

Rogbodiyanat Loyola Jesuits College

Last Sunday, the Loyola Jesuit College (LJC), Abuja held the annual Memorial Drama 2015 in memory of their 60 students who died in the 10^th December 2005 Sosoliso plane crash in Port Harcourt. The ceremony marked the beginning of a two-week programme of activities that will culminate in the unveiling next Thursday by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo of a monument at the Jesuit Memorial Port Harcourt (a school started in thememoryof the 60 students who died in the crash). That would mark exactly ten years after the tragedy that claimed 10 percent of the entire population of one of the best secondary schools in Nigeria at a time the students were going home for the Christmas holiday.

It was a tragedy compounded by the fact that many of the parents, who were at the airport to pick their children, watched helplessly as the aircraft crash-landed several metres from the runway, collided with a concrete drainage culvert and burst into flames. But as the school remembers and the parents still mourn, Ms Kechi Okwuchi, the lone survivor among the 61 LJC students on the ill-fated Sosoliso flight (and one of the two persons who survived the crash that claimed 108 lives altogether), is expected in the country (for the first time since the tragedy) from the United States where she recently completed her first degree, against all odds.

For this year, Loyola students chose to act ‘Rogbodiyan’, a play written in 1994 by Professor Ojo Rasaki Bakare, respected playwright, choreographer and instrumentalist. The play is set in a fictional village called ‘Koroju’ where the combination of a dictatorial regent, corrupt king-makers, an easily-carried-away people and some self-serving princes--who would do anything and sacrifice any principles to achieve their objective of becoming king--eventually led to catastrophe. ‘Rogbodiyan’ is a play that depicts high-level corruption in all its variants, debauchery and hypocrisy of the highest order as well as violence and treachery--all as weapons for seeking power.

However, the highpoint of the occasion last Sunday was the incredible performance by the Loyola students who kept all of us at the edge of our seats in the twists and turns that the story took. Victoria Lapite as Regent; Precious Anyanwu as Ara Orun; Ikem Okeke as Gbadegesin; Gbubemi Yonwuren as diviner, Ikaay Ebi as Asagidigbi, Onyinye Odom as dancer and David Eno as Aloba were so convincing that it is almost difficult to believe they are students and not theatre arts practitioners. And the star of them all: Jeremiah Nnadi who acted Eto, a man who is easily swayed by, and concurs to, every opinion, however ludicrous and contradictory. At the end of the play, the message became very clear: every society gets the leadership it deserves.

Evidently set as a parody of the Nigerian condition, the play that was acted by Loyola College cast members is also a reminder that the tragedy of 10^th December2005 that claimed the lives of 60 of their colleagues would perhaps not have happened or could have been less fatal if our society were more functional. First, the students used to travel by road in buses until a spate of accidents and armed robberies forced parents to decide on air travels in 2001 when Sosoliso Airlines started the Port Harcourt route. Besides, more lives would have been saved after the crash if there were ambulances (none was available) and there was water for the single firefighting vehicle stationed at Port Harcourt airport that day.

In his interpretation of ‘Rogbodiyan’, especially within the context of Nigeria’s socio-political and cultural situation, Anish O’Cornel wrote that the play “pictures the various hierarchies of corruption, maladministration, violence, misappropriation, terrorism…It depicts the widespread level of bribery in all bureaucracies. It features several characters that are archetypes of contemporary political individualists, egomaniacs and diplomats. It also punctuates on the issue of moral decadence which thrives in all aspects of the constituency. The play portrays a decline in cultural values and normative behaviours. It demonstrates the mordant effects of corruption on the divan of traditional jurisprudence. In a stringently unimaginable artistic twist, it demonstrates the high level of insecurity, hypocrisy and pretension amongst the leaders of the land.”

The choice of ‘Rogbodiyan’ as the play for this year was explained by Father Emmanuel Ugwejeh, SJ, the President of Loyola Jesuit College, in his opening remark: “…on this 10^th anniversary of our 60 Angels, we remember, once again, that we must make decisions that are imbued with wisdom so as to act virtuously in the community. The elders in ‘Rogbodiyan’ remind us that true wisdom can be compromised by greed and selfishness. When we remember our 60 Angels, we also remember the crises (‘Rogbodiyan’) that led to their death and say, J’amais Encore—Never Again!”

Watching the students perform ‘Rogbodiyan’ last Sunday at the Loyola Memorial Hall was as entertaining as it was solemn, especially with the presence of some of the parents of the deceased students who came all the way from Port Harcourt. Speaking on their behalf after the play, Mrs Adekunbi Amachree who lost a daughter, Owanari, to the crash said they have a group in Port Harcourt called “the 10/12 Parents Association”, comprising parents of the 60 Loyola College Students. She ended her emotional speech with a prayer: “May we never experience such a tragedy again”.

I hope readers will join me in saying Amen!

Source: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/buhari-and-the-old-woman-in-katsina/226924/

SUGABELLY AND HOW WE ARE ALL GUILTY OF ENCOURAGING RAPE!

This post was first published in January, 2014 under the title, “We Are All Guilty of Encouraging Rape!” but recent events have made me decide to republish it. Whether the allegations made by Sugabelly recently are true or not, the fact remains that we have a culture that encourages rapists to carry out their devilish acts with impunity. The content of the post still remains relevant so I have decided to republish it without any addition. I published another post on rape on 29th January, 2014. You can read it here

Early this year, Nigerians experienced the first drama on our social scene, which I have termed the Basketmouthgate scandal, when Bright Okpocha, popularly known as Basketmouth, goofed by posting a rather insensitive joke online. Basketmouth had in the post suggested that it was okay to rape a black girl after some dates, especially after spending heavily on her. But in an unexpected twist, Nigerians have strongly condemned the joke. While the overwhelming outcry against the offensive joke is commendable, I think Baskethmouth is not to blame on this issue. Yes, he is not to blame. All of us are to blame.

For a long time, we have condoned comedians in Nigeria making vulgar, obscene and totally inappropriate jokes. On many occasions, we laughed at their jokes about the female anatomy, especially their breasts and buttocks.

What we didn’t know was that we were encouraging them to be bolder and more adventurous with their jokes. We were sowing the wind and now that we are reaping the whirlwind, we are shouting. Why are we shouting? We egged them on. We cheered them. We paid them to ‘yab’ us. Then, we saw nothing wrong in what they were doing. After all, we were only catching fun and it didn’t matter if they said anything that was gross. Why are we now up in arms when an ‘ambassador’ has shown that carrying the tag of a celebrity does not make you a savant?

Basketmouth’s faux pas is only a reflection of our society. He has succeeded in exposing our underbelly. For a long time in our society, we have turned blind eyes and deaf ears to the plight of abused women; and it is not just women. We have not demonstrated the right response to cases of abuse of any kind, except on a few occasions. Recently, some women were sodomised in Lagos and the video was posted on a social media site for all to see. These women were accused of stealing pepper and it was decided that the judgment to be meted out on them was that ground pepper should be poured into their private parts. HABA! Some people also inserted sticks into their private parts and Nigerians did not cry out until Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin (God bless the woman) of Women Arise led some other people to ask for investigation into the matter. I am sure the Baskemouthgate scandal got more coverage and publicity than the sodomy case. Why then are we blaming him for joking about rape?

Haven’t we come up with various justifications for rape? Do we not almost always blame the lady? Do we not ask why she went into the same room with a guy? Do we not say there is no free lunch anywhere, so why should a guy be spending on a lady and not get anything in return? Is that kind of warped mentality not what informed Basketmouth’s joke? How many times have we insisted that justice be dispensed in a rape case? How did the case of that traditional ruler who was accused of raping a youth corps member end? What has happened concerning the gang rape of a lady by five men from the Abia State University some years ago, the video of which was also posted online? Now in Nigeria, rape cases are reported almost on a daily basis and we do not hear of the rapists being punished, when sentencing has been pronounced in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case. So why are we blaming Basketmouth for ‘merely’ joking about rape?

Why will he not go on air, even after apologising for his gaffe, to say that jokes should have no limit, since, like many of us, he has no sense of propriety and appropriateness? Why will he not make half-hearted apologies? 

But thank God Nigerians rose up this time. I believe Nigerians should be commended for letting Basketmouth know that certain societal standards are expected from people and even celebrities, who nowadays wield enormous influence through social media. He has been made to understand that ambassadors whether of countries, products or brands are expected to uphold certain societal conventions.

Even if he has failed to realise the foolishness of his actions, Nigerians have united to condemn his thoughtlessness and if he has the good sense to make amends, it will be good for him. If not, he will find himself on downward slope into the abyss of ignominy and irrelevance. Other comedians, musicians and film producers should also take note!

Thank you, Nigerians for standing up against rape.