Boko Haram: Oby Ezekwesili says Nigerian Army has violated human rights..

 Ezekwesili concedes Nigerian army has committed human right abuses in the fight against Boko Haram

• “Oby” thinks #BringBackOurGirls has not failed and Boko Haram can still be defeated

• Former government minister and World Bank vice president says Nigeria has a problem with the “political class” and insists she is “not a politician”

• Former President Obasanjo was “aware of the elements of corruption” but the government “didn’t succeed fully” in tackling them

• She believes the IMF and World Bank should pull out of Africa by 2033

Obiageli Ezekwesili, co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, former Nigerian Minister of Education, and former World Bank vice president for Africa, tells Al Jazeera’s Head to Head that Nigerian armed forces have committed human rights abuses in their fight against the violent group Boko Haram in the north of the country. “It clearly does have instances where human rights violations have happened,” she says.

In this new episode of Head to Head, airing 1 May 2015 at 20.00 GMT on Al Jazeera English, Oby, as she’s affectionately referred to in Nigeria, tells host Mehdi Hasan and an audience at the Oxford Union that, a year after over 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped in Chibok, northern Nigeria, by Boko Haram, the #BringBackOurGirls campaign was not a failure. “No, I wouldn’t say that we have failed. I would say that we have not been able to move the elephant.”

Oby blamed the outgoing administration of President Goodluck Jonathan for its inaction and failure to rescue the young hostages, and said she thought it was still possible to defeat Boko Haram.

Known as “Madam Due Process” for her fierce anti-corruption drive, Oby founded Transparency International in 1996, was an advisor to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and served in two of his cabinets as Minister of Education and Minister of Solid Minerals between 2003 and 2007. After leaving government, Oby moved on to become vice president of the World Bank for Africa, where she stayed until 2012. More recently she coined the phrase “Bring Back Our Girls,” which turned into a world-famous Twitter-hashtag campaign. 

Questioned by Hasan about endemic corruption in Nigeria, Oby said her country has a “political class problem,” but refused to condemn her former boss and mentor President Olusegun Obasanjo, who ruled between 1999 and 2007.

Under pressure by Hasan, she conceded Obasanjo was “aware of the elements of corruption, and it was his responsibility to tackle” them, but categorically denied he was corrupt himself. “Of course it [the government] was [corrupt]! [But] There was no way it could have been more corrupt than the government of Abacha,” she said, referring to the military dictatorship of Sani Abacha that preceded Obasanjo’s rule. Oby lamented that the government she was part of was not able to “succeed fully” in tackling corruption, and defended her own track record, saying she had not been “window dressing” for a corrupt regime and insisting – despite holding two ministerial positions in the Nigerian government, being an advisor to presidents and holding high office at the World Bank – that she was not a politician.

During the interview, Ezekwesili and Hasan discussed whether widespread poverty, inequality and corruption are at the root of the brutal Boko Haram insurgency, and debated whether World Bank policies have helped or hurt Africa’s development.

Challenged over the effects of Word Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionalities for African countries, Oby told Hasan she would “define an exit date” for both institutions. When pressed about setting the exit date, she said she stuck to her 2008 suggestion of a 25 year deadline by 2033.

Hasan is joined by a panel of three experts: Priscilla Nwikpo, a British-Nigerian broadcaster and commentator; Richard Itaman, a Nigerian economist and researcher at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies; and Richard Dowden, executive director of the Royal African Society in the UK and former correspondent for The Economist.

In each episode, Hasan goes head to head with a special guest, asking the probing and hard-hitting questions few dare to ask on the big issues such faith, foreign intervention, the Middle East, US foreign policy, and the economic crisis.

The interview with Ezekwesili is part of the fourth series of Head to Head, which is Al Jazeera’s forum for ideas, hosted by Mehdi Hasan. The fourth series saw Hasan interview former NATO boss Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former head of Pakistani Intelligence Agency ISI Gen. Asad Durrani, and Israeli historian and anti-Semitism expert Robert S. Wistrich.

NEWS FLASH: Have Chibok Girls been rescued? 200 Girls rescued from #Sambisa Forest…

 

Atiku advises Buhari to reverse PHCN privatisation process…

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has advised the in-coming government of Gen. Muhammad Buhari (Rtd), to reverse the current privatisation exercise of the power sector for it to move forward, Leadership reports.

Atiku made this statement at the 36th Kaduna International Trade Fair’s Seminar organised by the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA).

He said the failure experienced in the power sector of the economy has been due to successive governments’ approach in tackling the problems in the sector. According to him, President Goodluck Jonathan also took a wrong step in solving the power sector problem which has accounted for the current epileptic power supply in the country.

In response to why private investors were unable to collect licenses to build private refineries during the Obasanjo/Atiku administration, he said that in his eight years as Vice President to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, he knew nothing about what happened in that sector as Obasanjo doubled as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

“During our administration, there was no transparency and accountability in the oil and gas industry. There was a time we were handed a Ghana-must-go memo on the oil and gas sector and asked by the president for our input and I refused to support it”, he added.

ENERGY MIX REPORT

Photo: Corporal Punishment for not using pedestrian bridge…

A MAN BEING PUNISHED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER FOR NOT USING PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE AT IKEJA IN LAGOS ON TUESDAY. (THE NATION)

Buhari gets G-7 invitation for Berlin summit..

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has invited the President- elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to the forthcoming Group of Seven industrialized nations of the world (G-7) summit in Berlin.

The invitation to the summit slated for May 8 and 9 in the German capital was delivered to Buhari by the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Zenner, at the Defence House, Abuja, on Tuesday.

The G-7 nations are Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States.

Merkel is the head of the G-7 group.

The Ambassador, however, did not elaborate on the details of the letter, but told journalists after holding a closed- door meeting with the President- elect that he came to congratulate him (Buhari) on his election and handed over to him the letter from the German Chancellor, inviting him to the G7 summit.

“We have a very deep and intense relation with Nigeria and there are several areas where we can deepen our relation and develop them further such as in the area of economy and energy among others.

“We have a bi- national commission with Nigeria and we are one of the countries with which Nigeria has this bi-national commission and it covers the whole range of political, economic and security areas. There are many areas in which we can move further and deepen our very close cooperation,” the envoy stated.

The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Denys Gauer, who was also at the Defence House, said the French government was ready to collaborate with the Nigerian government to end terrorism in the country in particular and the sub-region in general.

He told journalists after his meeting with Buhari that “As the French Ambassador, I came to congratulate the President- elect for his brilliant achievement. His election is an enormous achievement for Nigeria and the democratic development of Nigeria. The people of Nigeria had expressed their confidence in the President- elect. The challenges of Nigeria are enormous and I have come to wish him success.

“We also held a small talk about our bilateral relations. As you know, our relationship has developed quite well in recent years. In the economic field, Nigeria is already the first commercial partners of France in Africa.”

THE NATION

Indonesia executes 8 drug convicts including Nigerians Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Raheem Agbaje Salami and Okwudili Oyatanze..

Defying intense pressure from the international community, the government executed eight death row prisoners early on Wednesday on Nusakambangan prison island near Cilacap in Central Java.

“We’ve carried out the executions,” said an Attorney General’s Office (AGO) official, talking to the press on condition of anonymity.

The eight were Indonesian Zainal Abidin, Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte, Nigerians Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise (pictured above), Raheem Agbaje Salami and Okwudili Oyatanze (pictured below), Ghanaian Martin Anderson.

Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of the Philippines was spared after a woman who allegedly recruited her to act as a drug courier gave himself up to police in the Philippines on Tuesday.

“The executions were carried out at 12:30 a.m.,” Suhendro Putro, funeral director with the Javanese Christian Church (GKJ) in Cilacap, said in a short message service.

AGO spokesman Tony Spontana said the government had agreed to the final requests fielded by two Australian death-row convicts for their bodies to be flown to Australia for burial.

A Cilacap Police officer said that after the executions, prayers were said for each person according to their respective religion. “The executions went well, without any disruptions,” he said.

The AGO stated that the executions had been carried out after it had heard all eight convicts’ final requests.

The execution was the second round after the first was carried out on Jan. 18, during which six inmates from Indonesia, the Netherlands, Brazil, Nigeria, Vietnam and Malawi were killed by firing squad. (ren)

JAKARTA POST

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MUSIC VIDEO: We Are The World (African Version – All Stars) in aid of Africa Against Ebola and Xenophobia…

The new Africa Against Ebola and Xenophobia rendition of “We Are The World” features 180 musicians from seven African countries (Cameroon, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe).

Well known African musicians have come together to sing for peace and tolerance in Africa.

The song debuted at the 2014 MTN Radio Awards on 18 April. Organisers of the awards have called on radio stations to broadcast the song as an act of solidarity against xenophobia in South Africa.

The organizers said, “It features 180 artists from across the African continent and is a demonstration of the beautiful music that Africans can make when we work together.”

FG Declares Friday Public Holiday…

The Federal Government has declared Friday May 1 as public holiday to commemorate the 2015 Workers’ Day.

Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, who made the announcement, according to a statement on Tuesday in Abuja by the Permanent Secretary, Abubakar Magaji, congratulated all Nigerians on their resilience and commitment in the face of the challenges of daily living.

He enjoined them to sustain their support for President Goodluck Jonathan in his efforts to build a stable, peaceful and economically vibrant nation.

The Minister wished all Nigerian workers a joyous and peaceful celebration.

PUNCH

JOE IGBOKWE: Open Letter To APC

From the innermost chambers of my heart, I want to celebrate all the leaders of All Progressives Congress, APC, from the commonest members to the President-Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari. I appreciate all of you for taking the Bull by the horns to get to where we are today, I thank all of you for drilling the deepest to restore hope to the fatherland, I honour you all for standing firm in the face of intimidation and falsehood, I celebrate you all for looking at PDP leaders straight in the eyes to tell them no power on earth can crush the decency of the human spirit and I felicitate with all of your believing that APC can make the difference. To God be the glory for where we started, where we are today and where we are going. From this victory, my faith in God has been cemented further to hold on to the basic truth that Nigeria is not a hopeless case.

In their arrogance and stupidity, PDP (the opposition now) never gave APC a chance right from day one. They said APC will never be. They said that the centre cannot hold in APC. They told the world that the merger of the legacy parties will never see the light of the day. They mocked the leaders of APC, they abused their sensibilities and thoroughly harassed them hours on end. They said implosions will soon swallow the outcome of the merger and they even sponsored hooligans and charlatans to frustrate the registration of APC. But the leaders of APC held on to what they believe in. They gave up personal gains, ambitions and positions just to make things work. They put in both human and material resources to make things happen. They sat down hours on end for endless meetings and sometimes until the wee hours in the morning. They left no one in doubt that they know where they are going.

Today APC has made a remarkable history in Nigeria by defeating the incumbent President. APC now has 22 states in its kitty. APC now controls the National Assembly and 22 State Assemblies out of 36. With this sweet victory and unprecedented miracle, APC now has the great opportunity now to rework Nigeria and reposition things. History has beckoned on APC to lead Nigeria to greatness. Nigerians have voted for APC to change the way we do things, the way we run government and the way we manage our affairs.

I have no doubt in my mind that APC has the capacity and the capability to restore hope and confidence in the land. Given all the troubles APC leaders went through at the formative stages, the harassment and intimidation from PDP, I have no doubt in my mind that APC leaders have built enough stamina and muscle for the great task ahead.

Expectations are very high. The demands are very high. There are thousand and one problems to be fixed. Almost every sector in Nigeria is suffering. 16 years of PDP leadership has been an unmitigated disaster. Everywhere you look, you see failure and gross abuse of office. Consequently PDP left what Thomas Hobbes called State of Nature where life is nasty, brutish and short.

I know that by now APC leaders will be gathering its arsenals to take on Nigeria. I know that APC leaders are preparing to roll up their sleeves for the task ahead. I know APC leaders are working hard to get a crack-team that will overhaul Nigeria. I believe that APC leaders understand the enormity of the problems they are going to inherit. I have no doubt in my mind that they understand they are likely to meet an empty treasury. I hope that APC will not out of omission or commission give PDP the chance to rise up so soon.

Nigerians will never ever accept excuses. They will never accept failure any longer. They want actions and results. They want to see things done with every sense of responsibility. Nigerians want a transparent, dedicated and committed leadership. They want things to be done differently. They want new ideas and new approach to issues and matters of governance.

APC has a lot to learn from the failure of PDP. Failure must never be an option for APC. In two to three years, APC must practically demonstrate to the world that it understands the way to go. APC must do in 4 years what PDP couldn’t do in 16 years. I have said that APC will remain in power for a reasonable time if it gets things right and make PDP look foolish for wasting our time for 16 years.

I have told APC leadership to close its doors from PDP’s gold diggers and interlopers and I am repeating this call again. They should be compelled to go and rebuild their party like we did in APC. PDP leaders who are knocking at the door have nothing to offer APC or Nigeria but mediocrity and impunity. They have nothing to bring to APC’s table but character of non performance, election rigging and abuse of power. I want APC leaders to work so hard in such a way that they will bench PDP for years as opposition. I plead that APC should try as much as possible to checkmate implosions that may arise in the formation of the federal cabinet. Anything that will put APC in bad light must be clinically avoided and jettisoned.

Finally in forming the Cabinet, I want APC to look beyond party members. Only the best is good enough at this point in the nation’s history and we must go beyond borders to get the best hands to help rebuild Nigeria. We must get decent people who are not looking for something to eat but something to offer. We must look for men who are men, men who can hold their heads when others are losing theirs. Men with the strength of Samson, the wisdom of Solomon and the courage of Esther to drive Nigeria to glory. APC should be searching for men who are goal getters, men in a hurry to add values to Nigeria and men who have developmental orientation.

This is Nigeria’s finest moments and APC must sustain the momentum and restore the glory of Nigeria. If APC leaders want to know how difficult it is to manage success, they should go and ask the PDP leaders. May we never be arrogant, may we never claim to know it all and may we never make the mistakes of PDP. We must learn from the silly mistakes of PDP.         

•Igbokwe is Lagos APC Publicity Secretary.

PM NEWS

AIT BAN: APC releases Statement…

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that all accredited media organizations in the country, including the African Independent Television (AIT), are free to cover the activities of the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the incoming Buhari Administration will not discriminate against any media organization, irrespective of its role during the electioneering campaign leading up to the recent polls. 

It however enjoined all media organizations to observe the highest level of professional standards in carrying out their duties.

”There is a Code of Ethics guiding the practice of journalism in Nigeria, and this demands every journalist to ensure a strict adherence to the highest levels of ethics and professionalism in carrying out their duties.

”There must be repercussions, within the realms of the law, for media organisations which have wantonly breached the Code of Ethics of the journalism profession and turned themselves to partisans instead of professionals. But such repercussions will not include barring any accredited media organization from covering the activities of the President-elect,” APC said.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed

National Publicity Secretary

All Progressives Congress (APC)

Abuja, April 28th 2015

THE AIT BAN; Why @MBuhari Must Engage Social Media In Communicating Messages…

Frontline rights activist and constitutional lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has lambasted the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, for stopping the crew of African Independent Television (AIT), from covering his official activities.

Buhari’s directive was based on documentaries aired by AIT in the course of the just-concluded presidential campaigns.

But, Adegboruwa, in a statement on Tuesday, said Buhari’s ban on AIT was totally unacceptable, unpalatable and dictatorial, and same had no place in the new Nigeria.

The lawyer argued that by virtue of Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, every person, including AIT, has a right to freedom of expression and the press, and that the position was further restated in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

Besides, Adegboruwa pointed out that the ban was contrary to Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution, which prohibits discrimination and preferential treatment.

Whilst I understand where Ebun is coming from, the fact remains, as my numerous tweets this morning had suggested, the ban or bar is all politicking. I am of the assumption that it was an APC directive and not necessarily a personal move by the President-elect. It was pay back time.

For me, it may have come across as petty and unnecessary, Buhari must realise that being in opposition is much easier than being in control, being in power. Never before will a Nigerian administration be scrutinised as much as his. Social Media has made it possible for a flicker of thought to be escalated, rightly or wrongly.

Personally, as a Social Media consultant, I would have advised against the usage of ‘Ban’.  APC, knowing fully well the President-elect had been accused  in the past, as a former Military Dictator, as his political opponents would like the world to remember  of suppressing the press. They ought to have erred with caution.

If Muhammadu Buhari had in mind to playfully forget to appoint a social media aide, the fury that had accompanied this AIT-BAN move should change his mind. He will need an astute Social Media expert able to convey, without any rancour, thoughts of his presidency The person must be able to learn from mistakes of Jonathan’s aide Reno Omokri, who blindly and arrogantly politicised and defended every wrong and daft move of the President, instead of communicating some of  his undeniable achievements.

Buhari can’t afford to get it wrong from day one. Never before has there being a window of opportunity opened up to Nigeria than now. His integrity as the incoming leader already has the foundation of the government laid. Selection of his lieutenants will positively cement his mission to change the country for better.. It is for these reasons the personalities couldn’t be more important to him than Rotimi Amaechi, his campaign DG.  Any presentation of a candidate with an explained or unexplained form of baggage will no not wash with Nigerians. Baggage, as excellently exhibited by Jonathan’s administration is not only a distraction, it is a disaster waiting to happen. And happened it resulted into for Jonathan’s presidency..

JSD

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest plans to quadruple the supply of gas to Nigeria…

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, plans to quadruple the supply of gas to Nigeria by building pipelines that may be backed by Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group, the world’s two biggest private-equity firms.

Dangote, who has a net worth of $15bn according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, will invest $2.2bn to $2.5bn in two sub-sea 550-km pipelines running from Nigeria’s oil and gas-producing Niger River delta region to the commercial hub of Lagos, Dangote, 58, said in an interview on April 25. 

The pipes will increase the amount of gas available in Africa’s biggest economy to 4 billion standard cubic feet per day from 1 billion, he said.

While Nigeria has gas reserves of about 180 trillion cubic feet, more than any other African country, most of what’s produced is flared or exported because of a lack of infrastructure to transport it to local companies and households. 

Boosting domestic supply will help increase electricity generation in a country where power cuts are common and about 70% of electricity plants are fueled by gas, according to Dangote.

“Having an additional 3 billion scf will sort out all the gas issues we have today in Nigeria,” he said in the lounge of his house in the Victoria Island district of Lagos, overlooking a half moon-shaped swimming pool. “It’s badly needed.”

Dangote, who has interests ranging from cement to sugar and oil refineries, plans to start laying the pipelines before the end of the year, he said. The first one should be ready by mid-2017.

Private Equity

The International Finance is considering an investment in the pipelines are Blackstone and Carlyle, Dangote said. Neither buyout firm responded to e-mails requesting comment. Desmond Dodd, a Johannesburg-based spokesperson for the IFC, declined to comment by e-mail on Monday.

“We have a lot of companies that are very interested in participating,” Dangote said.

Blackstone and Carlyle said in August they would partner with Dangote Industries, the holding company for the billionaire’s operations, to invest in sub-Saharan Africa. Blackstone said its Johannesburg-based partner Black Rhino would jointly invest as much as $5bn with the company on energy and other infrastructure in the region.

The pipelines could be used by oil producers in Nigeria that currently have little incentive to sell gas from their fields in the country, including Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil, Dangote said.

No Infrastructure

“If today they process that gas, there’s no infrastructure to remove it, there’s no pipeline,” he said. “We’re trying to build that infrastructure.”

Nigeria’s economy, which gets 90% of export earnings and two-thirds of government revenue from oil, has been hit by the 40% fall in Brent crude prices since June. The naira has weakened 18% against the dollar in that period, while the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index is down 19%.

Dangote, who controls Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s largest listed company, has seen his wealth fall $3.4bnn this year, more than anybody else aside from Warren Buffett, according to the Billionaires Index.

His investments in oil and gas include a $9bn refinery near Lagos, which will be able to process 650,000 barrels a day when completed. The company got a license from the government earlier this year and will export refined fuel to the rest of sub-Saharan Africa as well as sell it locally, Dangote said.

“We will be in the market with our petroleum products by the first quarter of 2018,” he said.

Investors’ Concerns

Dangote Cement, which has a market value of $15bn and a free float of 7% in Lagos, will be ready to list its shares in London by the end of 2016, Dangote said. It is addressing investors’ concerns in the meantime about the composition of its board and other corporate governance issues, he said.

“There are a lot of criteria we’ve met,” he said. “Our aim is to create a world class company. That’s why we’re going to London. It’s not purely because we’re looking for money.”

The company’s stock was unchanged at 175 naira by close in Lagos on Monday. It is down 13% this year, more than the Nigerian stock index, which has fallen 1%.

Dangote’s companies will increasingly focus on exports from Nigeria, including of cement, fertilizer, petrochemicals and refined fuel.

“But 2018, in the worst case, the Dangote Group will be able to export about $8bn to $10bn worth of goods,” he said. “We are totally transforming the business to be export-orientated.”

FIN 24

ORONSAYE REPORT: Why Buhari Must Tread Carefully to Avoid Unrest..

Former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, NUC, Professor Peter Okebukola has urged the Federal Government to implement the Stephen Oronsaye report, noting that implementing the report can save Nigeria N860 billion in two years.

Okebukola who disclosed this during the 2013/2014 University of Lagos, UNILAG, Convocation Lecture, held at the UNILAG Main Auditorium, decried bloated government’s recurrent expenditure, saying there is need for urgent implementation of the Oronsaye report according to reports in Vanguard.

Delivering a lecture on ‘Taking Advantage of a Depressing Nigerian Economy to Accelerate Socio-Economic Development’ Okebukola said: ” Data from the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, put costs of inflated contracts at about N569 billion at the Federal Level, N350 billion at the state and local governments level in seven years.”

Instead of focusing on key issues for national benefit, he noted that governments are busy with foreign conferences and jamborees which cost the country N98 billion annually.

Recall that in 2012, the federal government set up the Oronsaye Committee to look into the measures for streamlining the operations of its various organs for efficient service delivery.

The report suggested that the Federal Government should reduce the size of government to a manageable level, considering that over 70 per cent of government resources are currently channelled into running a government that is unduly large and cumbersome to manage, leaving the remaining, less than 30 percent, for issues such as debt servicing and execution of capital projects.

According to the report, reducing the size of government has become imperative given that a large government has inevitably led to stunted development and a very high level of poverty in the country.

The former NUC scribe, however, suggested that the incoming administration of General Muhammad Buhari should prune down public spendings by 45 per cent.

I agree fully with Professor Peter Okebukola that that there is a need to reduce the cost of governance. I also agree that implementing the report will bring some savings. It must be noted though that the N860 billion reduction estimate is somewhat way over the N6 billion mark estimated by Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR).  

My advice to Buahri’s new government is to revisit the government White Paper in response to the report. Buhari would soon discover that Ministers simply defended their turf when the matter came to the Federal Executive Council, which meant that something like 90% of the recommendations were rejected. 

A few senior government officials have indicated there were significant errors in both the Oronsaye Report and the White Paper, which need to be corrected. Also, some recommendations appear to have been focused on cutting, just for cutting sake. Some, like the recommended merger of Aviation agencies will compromise air safety and the International Civil Aviation Organisation has advised against it. 

It would have been good for the Oronsaye Report to also have focused on getting agencies to deliver and perform better, not just focus on cutting costs. By not focusing on improvement, there were virtually no recommendations for the big players like NNPC, NCC and NNDC, since nobody is talking about scrapping or merging them. 

What nobody is talking about is what happens to staff that work in those agencies when you fully implement the Oronsaye Report?

People want government to fully implement the report but don’t want government to sack anybody.

How will this be done? If you don’t sack people, what have you saved? If you sack people, will government survive the industrial unrest that will come with it?

It will soon become clear to the Buhari presidency that being in opposition is much easier than being in government. The President-elect knows this and has, wisely, been tempering some of his party’s pre-election promises. Many others will get a rude awakening after May 29.

I’ll say his choice of ministers is key to getting it right. As I had alluded in prior remarks, his presidency would be the most scrutinised since independence. I want him to succeed for Nigeria. He must get it right from May 29th. He has to continuously remind himself that he was elected on the ‘CHANGE’ mantra and nothing else. As a result, Nigerians will be impatient with any move that remotely resembles the mindset of Jonathan’s presidency

JSD

‘Missing’ $20billion Oil Money audit report not reliable says PricewaterhouseCoopers…

The much anticipated report of the forensic audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, operations on the missing $20 billion oil money may not amount to much after all, with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the audit firm that conducted the probe, saying it cannot vouch for the integrity of its findings.

In a startling introductory letter addressed to Nigeria’s Auditor General, the audit firm said findings in its 199-page report were limited to available information and did not constitute a review in accordance with generally accepted standards.

“The procedures we performed did not constitute an examination or a review in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards or attestation standards,” the firm said.

“Accordingly, we provide no opinion, attestation or other form of assurance with respect to our work or the information upon which our work was based,” it added.

The report and all accompanying deliverables, the company pointed out, were “solely for the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation, for their internal use and benefit and not intended to, nor may they be relied upon, by any other third party.

The firm concluded that the NNPC should refund to the government a minimum of $1.48 billion of missing oil funds, a figure many Nigerians believe is smaller than the likely actual figure.

The report however gave no strong and independent opinion of its findings despite saying the investigation was carried out using forensic techniques.

The firm instead listed a series of potential factors that could render its findings implausible, saying it had no access to the full account of some relevant agencies like NPDC, the upstream petroleum industry subsidiary of the NNPC.

The firm said where it lacked data, it turned to details of earlier investigations carried out by the Nigerian Senate, which all but cleared the NNPC, and the petroleum ministry of any wrongdoing.

“We did not obtain any information directly from NPDC, but in accordance with NPDC former Managing Director’s (Mr Briggs Victor) submission to the Senate Committee hearing on the subject matter, for the period, NPDC generated $5.11billion (net of royalties and petroleum profits tax paid),” the firm said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers also said without an independent legal opinion, it relied on the legal advice of the Nigerian government’s Attorney General (AG) on the subject of the transfers of various NNPC (55%) portion of Oil leases (OMLs) involved in the Shell (SPDC) Divestments which impact crude oil flows in the period.

“The AG’s opinion indicated that these transfers were within the authority of the Minister to make. Thus, these assets were validly transferred to NPDC. The same AG’s Legal Opinion also indicated that NPDC was to make payments for Net Revenue (dividend) to NNPC, which should ultimately be remitted to the Federation Account,” PwC said.

Still, the PwC said that although it reviewed documents submitted by the key parties involved, its work was conducted independently, with its findings based on the review of documentation, analytical reviews of data, and interviews conducted.

The firm said with the exception of the Deputy Group Managing Director/ Group Executive Director Finance and Accounts of NNPC, the Auditor-General for the Federation, and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, it did not discuss the findings of the report with anyone.

It is not clear for how much the Nigerian government hired the audit firm that has now delivered a report which it said should not be relied upon by Nigerians and the global community.

PREMIUM TIMES

ARTHUR EZE, staunch Jonathan ally visits Buhari…nothing wrong with that, or is there?

Arthur Eze, the multi-billionaire businessman, philanthropist, staunch Pres. Jonathan ally (the last time we checked) and controversial politician paid a courtesy visit to the president-elect Muhammadu Buhari today. It was Arthur Eze who sponsored billboards and posters of Pres. Jonathan in faraway Ghana. Yep. 

It was Arthur Eze who said this two years ago: “First, there must be support for President Jonathan in 2015 so that his zone, the South -South, will complete eight years in the presidency. The South West has already had its eight years.

“After Jonathan, the North should do its eight years and it will them be the turn of the South East. If we do not do it this way, there will be no end to the problem of which zone should produce the president at any point in time. What the zones require is patience and wait for their turns.”

Arthur Eze who is the CEO of Orient Oil, was with Buhari today, alongside the managing director of TOTAL E&P Nigeria Limited, Mrs Elizabeth Proust and General Manager, Total E&P Nigeria Limited, Ahmadu-Kida Musa.

Ever the charmer, Eze was all smiles even. After the meeting, Eze said he now supports Buhari because God has given him power.

This is what he had to say:

“Things will change in this country. It is God that gives power, and God has given it to Buhari. 

“He is coming to change our economy especially the oil sector, as you can see, most of the oil companies who left Nigeria are now coming back,” he said.

Mr. Eze also said he has total confidence in Mr. Buhari based on his experience to take the right decisions, especially as it concerns the oil Industry.

“You know General Buhari has been President of Nigeria and also a former oil minister; he knows the oil industry very well; he is a man who has ability to take a decision.

“He has been in the system for a very long time, that is why God brought him back. Everyone of us is supporting him because God has given him power,” he said.

THE SCOOP