Why Jonathan Should Not be Blamed for Corruption

A Nigerian political writer and popular columnist has penned a yet another though-provoking piece to Nigerians. Read on and enjoy!

Goodluck Jonathan

 

When former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, appointed Dora Akunyili as DG of NAFDAC in April 2001, Akunyili started to reform NAFDAC from a docile Agency to a very active one. It is instructive to note that the reforms she carried out at NAFDAC with the support of the then President, Obasanjo, were not because the President asked her to reform NAFDAC, but it was because of her passion and love for her country.

 

She carried out her duties diligently without caring whose ox was gored. She made a lot of Nigerians to be conscious of NAFDAC and its activities. Nigerians began to check for expiry dates on products they wanted to buy, especially drugs. NAFDAC became the most popular government agency during her spell there. There were many Directors of Agencies and Heads of Parastatals during her stint in NAFDAC, but Akunyili purposed in her heart to distinguish herself from the crowd just like Daniel in the Holy Bible “who purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s meat”. Former President Obasanjo, gave the same instruction he gave to Akunyili to other members of his government; the difference is that Akunyili saw it as a responsibility and a rare opportunity to solve a challenge Nigeria was plagued with.

 

Enter Magu, a former Director of Operations at EFCC and now the Acting EFCC Chairman. I see it as a mockery of the intelligence of Nigerians, to say that it is because of Buhari’s anti-corruption stance that EFCC started doing their already established work of going after corrupt Nigerians. It simply means that the EFCC is telling Nigerians that once President Buhari is done with his tenure and the next President is not anti-corruption inclined, then their job will be left undone!

 

Lack of strong institutions seems to be the major problem with the Nigerian system, everybody is waiting for their leader to tell them to do their work, not minding the fact that their salary is statutory. That explains the reason why everything seemed to be on standstill during the last year of Yar’Adua as President. Until the Doctrine of Necessity was used as a political solution.

 

US President Barack Obama once said that Africa needs strong institutions and not strong leaders. It goes to say that once we have strong institutions, Nigerians would not be too bothered about the posture of the President, because institutions will function properly whether the President is interested or not. It is obvious to everyone in Nigeria that the EFCC will go back to sleep once Buhari leaves office, which should not be the case.

 

EFCC has not been successful in prosecuting corrupt government officials, simply because EFCC have been building a house from the roof downwards, instead of building from the foundation upwards. EFCC has been prosecuting suspected corrupt government officials in the media, instead of gathering enough evidence first. We all know that after all the media trial, you still have to go to court to prove your case and sadly that is when EFCC starts to gather evidence. An accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

 

The way forward is for EFCC to stop all the media trial that takes no one to jail, EFCC should gather enough evidence and assemble a good prosecuting team before heading to court. It is foolishness to continue to apply the same method that has yielded no positive result and be expecting things to change. Magu should focus on building EFCC into a strong institution just like Akunyili did with NAFDAC.

 

Nigeria can have strong institutions once people in authority and citizens alike take it as a responsibility to do the right thing irrespective of the posture of the President in power.

 

About the Author:

Chuka Igwegwe is a columnist for TheCable News and writes from Awka, Anambra state.

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Serious Tension as Ex-president Gets Arrested on Corruption Charges...See Details

A former president has been arrested over allegations of corruption which has plagued his image since stepping down from office.

Antonio Saca

 

Antonio Saca, a former president of El Salvador has been arrested.

 

The man was arrested on Saturday on corruption charges alleging misuse of public funds.

 

This development was revealed by the attorney general's office on Sunday.

 

According to Reuters, Saca, a businessman who ruled the small Central American nation from 2004 to 2009, was detained Saturday night during the wedding reception of one of his sons at a reception hall in the capital.

 

He was arrested along with high-ranking former officials of his government, including ex-communications minister Julio Rank and youth minister Cesar Funes.

 

Several hours after the initial arrests, Saca's former private secretary Elmer Charlaix voluntarily surrendered to the police. He faces charges of embezzling at least $18 million.

 

In addition to Saca, a total of six other suspects have been arrested, the attorney general's office added in a post on Twitter.

 

In March, El Salvador's supreme court ordered a civil trial of the former president, as well as his wife, Ana Ligia de Saca, because he could not explain how he acquired $5 million at the end of his term.

 

Saca, who also had his bank accounts and properties frozen, was expelled from his political party, the conservative Nationalist Republican Party (Arena), in 2009 due to the alleged irregularities.

 

In February, former president Mauricio Funes was also ordered to stand trial for more than $700,000 that he was not able to account for following his 2009-2014 term.

 

Funes, a former TV journalist, was leader of the leftist political party Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front.

 

In January, another ex-president of El Salvador and Arena leader, Francisco Flores, died after suffering a stroke as he waited to face trial over embezzlement charges.

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$15bn Arms Deals: Panel Traces N2bn to five children of the ex Army Chief

The Presidential Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement (CADEP) has traced about N2billion meant for the purchase of vehicles for the Nigerian Army to the accounts of five children of a former Chief of Army Staff. The Nation reports that the report by the panel states that the children of the ex-Chief of Army Staff allegedly used two companies for the deal. Read it after the cut.. 

 “The committee reviewed the procurement carried out by Chok Ventures Ltd and Integrated Equipment Services Ltd, two companies that shared the same registered office, had one name as common controlling shareholder and sole or mandatory signatory to the various banks accounts of the companies. The committee further established that between March 2011 and December 2013, the two companies exclusively procured various types of Toyota and Mitsubishi vehicles worth over N2, 000,000,000.00 for the Nigerian Army without any competitive bidding. Most of the contracts awarded to the companies were also split, awarded on the same date or within a short space of time at costs and mobilization higher than the prescribed thresholds. For instance, on February 13 and 15, the two companies were awarded contracts worth N260, 000.000.00 and N315, 000,000.00 respectively for supplies of various vehicles. The Nigerian Army could not justify the exclusive selection of these vendors against other renowned distributors of same brands of vehicles procured. More seriously, the committee found no credible evidence of delivery of the vehicles by the two companies as there were no receipt vouchers, but only unauthenticated delivery notes, invoices and waybills that were purportedly used for the deliveries. Nevertheless, the vendors were fully paid based on job completion certificate authenticated by the then Chief of Logistics, Maj Gen D.D. Kitchener (rtd). The payments were also made without deduction of Withholding Tax (WHT). Furthermore, analyses of the various bank accounts of the two companies showed transfers to individuals , some of who are believed to be children of the army chief. Thus, the committee recommends further investigation to determine delivery of the vehicles and relationship of funds beneficiaries with the former COAS and the two companies. Furthermore, the panel said that Lt Gen O. A. Ihejirika (rtd), Maj Gen D. D. Kitchener (rtd), Col A. M. Inuwa and Mr Chinedu Onyekwere should be held accountable for the issues arising out of the contracts.”

The panel during its findings discovered that contracts in the Nigerian Army were awarded without due process. It said a company was registered on November 17, 2014 and awarded $125,179,299.10 on the same day.

“The Nigerian Army, between April and August 2014, entered into four contract agreements with Societe D’Equipmenteux Internationale  (SEI Nig Ltd)  for procurement of Cobra Armoured Personnel Carriers, Shilka Self-Propelled Artillery Guns, Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) as well as various ammunition and spares funded by the ONSA. The contracts for the Cobra APCs and Shilka Guns were not executed as they were not funded. However, the costs for procurement of the AFVs; ammunition and spares were $398,550,000.00 and $484,765,000.00 respectively totalling $883,315,000.00. In November 2014, the ONSA awarded contract to Conella Services Limited for procurement of 72 various arms and ammunition that included MRAP vehicles, Mi-17 helicopter at the cost of $125,179,299.10. The committee observed that the company was registered in Nigeria on 17 November, 2014 and awarded the contract on the same date, while the EUC for the procurement was issued a day later on 18 November, 2014. Furthermore, the ONSA paid $36,996,530.00 and N2,209,582,296.00 to the vendor between November 2014 and 15 April, 2015.

 However, the Nigerian Army denied receipt of any procurement from Conella Services Ltd.

“Similarly, the committee tried in vain to reach officials of the company to confirm execution of the contract. There is, therefore, the need for further investigation of Conella Services Ltd. The committee observed that SEI and its two associated companies, APC Axial Ltd and HK-Sawki Nig Ltd, were incorporated in May 2014 with two Nigerien brothers, Hima Aboubakar and Ousmane Hima Massy as the only directors.  Between May 2014 and March 2015, the ONSA mandated CBN to release various sums totaling $386,954,000.00 to SEI and the two associated companies for ‘procurement of technical equipment’, without tying the money to particular items of procurement. Thus, the allotment of the funds was left at the discretion of the vendor without input or consultation with ONSA or the Nigerian Army. Furthermore, some of the funds transferred preceded the formalization of SEI contracts with the Nigerian Army. There was also no evidence of any contract to justify the payments made by ONSA to the SEI associate companies. Consequently, it had been difficult for the ONSA, the Nigerian Army and SEI to reconcile the accounts vis-a-vis the equipment delivered.”

The panel also uncovered that 42 units of Armoured Personnel Carrier(APC) which were rejected by Iraq were later sold to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram insurgents. It claimed that some of the APCs were either expired or unsuitable leading to loss of lives.

“The committee observed that one of the new equipment SEI procured for the Nigerian Army from Ukraine was BTR-4E APC.”

However, according to the Ukraine’s state enterprise, Lviv Armour Repair Plant, the designers of the equipment, “some of the products sold to Nigeria in 2014 were actually among 42 units designed for Iraq which subsequently rejected them due to poor performance rating”.

“The Nigerian Army did not also undertake the mandatory pre-shipment inspections provided for in the contract agreements. Instead, the NA deployed an infantry officer, who lacked the technical knowledge to assess the capabilities and shortcomings of the equipment, to oversee the shipment of the items for the Nigerian Army from Ukraine. Additionally, the two-week training availed the technicians and operators was inadequate for them to comprehend the technical workings of the newly introduced equipment. The committee’s interactions with the field operators revealed that although the platforms and ammunition procured by SEI were deployed for the NE operations, some of them were aged or expired, lacked spares and prone to breakdown without immediate recovery equipment. Therefore, failure to carry out pre-shipment inspection and inadequate training resulted in procurement of some unreliable equipment that reduced the capacity of the Nigerian Army in the North East operations and resulted in the loss of lives and equipment.”

Source: LIB

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