Monday, 21 May 2012
Proud To Occupy Nigeria By Sonala Olumhense
Youngest protester, Mayegun, at the Nigerian consulate in New York as part of the "OccupyNigeria" protest
Columnist:
Sonala Olumhense The following story appeared in The Economist on October 24, 2011: “At political gatherings people often spend much of their time talking about other events they have attended. At a conference (organised by The Economist) in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on October 20th a high-level participant related the following story. President Goodluck Jonathan recently invited a group of top entrepreneurs to a cattle ranch to discuss how to generate economic growth. At one point he handed each attendee an unmarked brown envelope. Eyebrows raised around the room. Mr Jonathan frequently speaks out against corruption. He motioned for the tycoons to open the envelopes. Inside they found not cash but blank pieces of paper, on which he asked them to each write the names of three rent-seeking officials who were hurting their business, promising to investigate.”
That was one week after Shamsudeen Usman, the Minister of National Planning, declared that Mr. Jonathan was getting ready to announce his transformation agenda. And his government is almost eight months old.
When the President first began to speak about a “transformational” agenda during the election campaign, he announced the following plans he would pursue if he won:
• February 9, Ibadan: A new road construction scheme to be structured on five-year plans, instead of annual budgetary allocations;
• February 17, Oturkpo: A five-year plan to revolutionize agriculture and establish industries in the country;
• February 22, Bida: A five-year strategic plan for road projects (as opposed to the Ibadan plan);
• February 25, Asaba; A five-year development plan to accelerate development in the country;
• March 2, Akure: Roads and other basic infrastructure to be developed in four years;
• March 7, Calabar: A four-year development plan that would open up the South-South geo-political zone; to include a blueprint for coastal roads and railways;
• March 12, Ile-Ife: A holistic review of the nation’s our education policy
At his inauguration, he stated: “Over the next four years, attention will be focused on rebuilding our infrastructure. We will create greater access to quality education and improved health care delivery. We will pay special attention to the agricultural sector, to enable it play its role of ensuring food security and massive job creation for our people.” But Jonathan is now down to less than three and a half years on his tenure he is even more porous on the goodwill with which he began.
On April 12, 2010, while visiting the United States, Mr. Jonathan told Council on Foreign Relations in Washington DC his focus would be on “electoral reform, delivering peace dividends to the Niger Delta and the rest of the country, and standing strong on our resolve against corruption.”
Making sure he said all the right things, Jonathan declared he had “set up the machinery to make sure that we continue to reduce [corruption]…and that …will continue.” At the White House, President Barack Obama encouraged him to use his tenure, ending in May 2011, to make “historic and tangible” progress in strengthening the Nigerian government’s commitment to follow through on countering corruption.
Jonathan returned to Nigeria, and decided to capture the presidency. At his inauguration last May, he said: “The bane of corruption shall be met by the overwhelming force of our collective determination, to rid our nation of this scourge. The fight against corruption is a war in which we must all enlist, so that the limited resources of this nation will be used for the growth of our commonwealth.”
Assuming he has enlisted, we can draw special attention to a few anti-corruption reports on his desk, the first two of them being on the Halliburton scandal. The first, the foreign report, dates from February 2008, and shows that several several former Nigerian rulers and their wives, most of them still alive, and about 80 people in all, collected Halliburton bribes.
The domestic Halliburton Report, otherwise known as the Okiro Report, was widely published in the Nigerian media in April 2010, when Mr. Jonathan was Acting President. Mr. Umaru Yar’Adua had received it the previous year. It confirms the foreign report, and lists many more Nigerians who took the money.
And then there is an entire armada of petitions and complaints about Ministers, Ministries, agencies, budgets, allocations, and projects.
Speaking of projects, in March 2010, Mr. Jonathan set up the Presidential Projects Assessment Committee to examine cases of abandoned federal projects. Originally scheduled to complete its assignment in May 2010, Mr. Jonathan later extended its mandate. Its May 2011 report identified an astounding 11,886 projects.
The committee lamented that the inventory was actually incomplete, and that the correct figure could be up to 20 per cent higher. It gave the example of the 30-year old multi-billion dollar Ajaokuta Steel Company project, on which, it observed, $4.5 billion has been squandered. “We take no joy in confirming that there is indeed evidence of large scale, widespread institutional mediocrity, deficiency of vision, and a lack of direction in project management, which result in poor conceptualisation, poor design and faulty execution,” its chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Bunu, said. "Needless to add that this has resulted in avoidable loses of billions of Naira to the government."
Mr. Jonathan pledged action, but since then, there has only been silence, of the “transformational” variety.
There is also the seminal Justice Uwais Report on Electoral Reform, on which, upon assumption of office, Mr. Jonathan vowed action. On March 10, 2010, the Secretary to the Government, Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, told demonstrators in Abuja that Mr. Jonathan, the Acting President, had sent the report, unedited, to the National Assembly. That meant that the doctoring of the report that his predecessor had embarked on had been abandoned and that Nigeria could expect a new law that would not make the electoral commission a tool of the executive.
All of that was before Mr. Jonathan decided he would run for office. Since then, he has said nothing about report, by which he had sworn to reform Nigeria’s elections.
On January 20, 2011, the Theophilu Danjuma-led Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) submitted its report to Mr. Jonathan in which it recommended, among others, reduction of the cost of governance by either merging or cutting down number of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Mr. Jonathan agreed…until the elections were over, and then it did not matter. But now, we are back to all of the same issues: absence of transparency: a bloated government, lack of monitoring, lack of action, corrosive corruption.
The truth is that we are where we are because Mr. Jonathan is insincere and ineffective. It is a condition some of us identified before he took power.
For things to change, he must accept that his government is unwieldy, unrealistic and unmanageable. It suffers from poor vision, and it lacks commitment and character, and the responsibility for it is his.
When the government says it will create jobs, this must not be understood in terms of a multiplication of Ministers, Special Advisers, and aides of aides. It is shameful, for instance, that some Ministries have two or three Ministers. Little wonder one jobless Minister from Foreign Affairs was traveling around the United States last week on a rebranding jamboree.
Our problem is not the absence of law, but our willingness to implement the law and be governed by it. Our problem is not the absence of resources, but the absence of the determination to use them to serve the common good.
That is why I am proud to be a part of Occupy Nigeria. If you are tired of being shamed by people who have no shame, you should be too; it is a patriotic duty. To quote James Brown, I would rather die on my feet than keep living on my knees.
Comments
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Unbelievable
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 5, 2012 - 16:20.
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IF HE HAS ENLISTED...
Submitted by Sumanguru (not verified) on January 26, 2012 - 17:44.
If he has enlisted in the fight against corruption, he should first of all declare his assets as required by law, abi. The man is fake. Thanks Sonala.
Emenike: put up or shut up
Submitted by Odogwu Nathaniel (not verified) on January 24, 2012 - 22:23.
You say you did not vote for Buhari, but Olumhense, who supported Buhari because he believed the man can arrest corruption, "is nothing short of diabolic." And then you say Olumhense (who recommended Buhari) "dished out lies" against the same Buhari. And that "Sonala has changed allegiance once again & is now attacking President Jonathan."
I think the problem is that you have not been taking your medication. As Bashir has pointed out, these are lies and contradictions. And you either apologize to Olumhense, or shut up.
Nigerian Leaders
Submitted by Sunny (not verified) on January 24, 2012 - 12:31.
Actually, All Nigerian leaders have NO SHAME! talking of the past and present. Integrity is not by doing what seems to be easy or popular - it is doing the right thing which they are lacking. Fortunate enough that our leaders are not in any of the countries like US/UK; they would have been languishig in jail by now. Far better to be right and poor than to be wrong and rich. All they do have traces of corruption. They need to be transformed and if not the price is waiting for them. For what a man sow shall he reap!
Kalu Emenike is a confused idiot
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 20:50.
I Googled the name Kalu Emenike in the context of this issue, and found nothing. That means he is a paid ghost with no balls, because if he was genuine, he would have joined issues with Olumhense when the article was written (before the election). He was not sufficiently convinced at that time when it mattered, And now, he comes and starts to abuse someone when he probably did not even read the article. If he read the article, he did not understand the argument. If he understood the language then he is evidently an idiot, especially for pretending he is not a GEJ supporter. He voted GEJ and PDP. Emenike, you are not needed in OccupyNigeria.
Emenike, Please apologise to Sonola Olumhese
Submitted by Bashir (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 19:21.
Here is the article to which you are referring. I saved it because I liked it. It seems you read it upside down, because this article was recommending Buhari as a superior candidate in April's elections. If you have another article in mind, please post the link here. Otherwise, if you re-read this one, you obviously owe an apology to the said writer.
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/sonala-olumhense/i-endorse-...
Emenike, Please apologise to Sonola Olumhese
Submitted by Bashir (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 18:49.
Here is the article to which you are referring. I saved it because I liked it. It seems you read it upside down, because this article was recommending Buhari as a superior candidate in April's elections. If you have another article in mind, please post the link here. Otherwise, if you re-read this one, you obviously owe an apology to the said writer.
Ajaokutal Steel and other Issues
Submitted by Hamiltonatlarge.blogspot.com (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 16:03.
This piece is not about corruption, but policy failure. And that is the our number one problem.
We have laws and regulations, but we don't implement them. We are good at setting up projects we do not care to implement as designed. Good at inaugurating committees and study groups, but at the end, we do not implement their findings
As a teenage current affairs enthusiast in the early eighties,an elderly looking accountant, told me that Ajaokuta Steel Mill was set up to spread the wealth around the country. I didn't understand what he meant. Now, I know better.
When are we going to hold people accountable for the Billions of Dollars wasted on that projects and others like that?
Mr. President, please do not wait for another four years. Make the best of the opportunity that you have now. You cannot fight corruption from outside, but from within - your inner cycle, your party, your administration, and then, Nigeria at large.
Olumhense is Shameless
Submitted by Kalu Emenike (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 14:55.
For people who did not read my previous comment carefully before forming an opinion, I am actually saying that I did not agree with the terrible and wicked lies Sonala Olumhense dished out against Buhari during the election when he seemed to be busy campaigning for Goodluck Jonathan & thought Buhari was so unpopular that he (Sonala) will win more readers& admirers over to himself. All of a sudden, Sonala has changed allegiance once again & is now attacking President Jonathan. Olumhense is so fibble. For the record, I do not support Jonathan's policies so, you can criticise him as much as you want. Dat one no be my business.
Emenike, nna how much?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 04:47.
You do not have to be a supporter of someone to know when someone is lying against any of them, and that includes Jonathan? So who are you fooling here? Who is lying against Jonathan? If you do not like what Olumhense is writing about your yeye President why don't you tell him he is out of his depth and to go back to his ogogoro and leave Nigerians alone?
Olumhense has outlined a lot of things here, as he has done before, factually and coherently, about what GEJ said with his own mouth. So you want to blackmail an innocent man for a crook? You may not like Buhari, but he showed character. If you like GEJ's character, just take what they have paid for your services and shut up. Like him, you must be another PDP lackey with no character.
Kalu Emenike, You Two-Tongued Fool
Submitted by Uche Nduka (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 02:24.
Emenike, I trust you be one of those people when dem talk say dem vote for Jona, not PDP, and you installed in office an imbecile.
Me, I happy say I vote Buhari, not your incompetent, clueless GEJ. Olumese write say him like Buhari as candidate because the man go fight corruption. Na dat one be menda-kini?
Abeg comot for here, yeye bombaklat!
We are stuck in A STEADY STATE of NATIONAL TREASURY PILLAGING!
Submitted by Elmango Meat (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 23:29.
Goodluck has clammed up on his transformation agenda. Under his very watch, Billions are creamed off by his ministers, crooked business men and NNPC officials.
Despite a budget that is security heavy, what we hear and smell is death everywhere. Nigeria is now worse than Afghanistan, Pakistan combined at their hey deys of terrorism tyranny! Innocent lives are lost each time these desperate boys lob bombs or let off cacophony of Kalashnikov fire.
I am most troubled about the eerie silence of the likes of Adamu Ciroma, Atiku, Gusau and a few old time losers of this unfolding PDP power-struggle saga.
Until Goodluck can get to the bottom of this primitive attempt at cowering the populace, by LOOKING OVER HIS SHOULDER and by also gathering and analyzing the political speeches of these people in the last 1 year, to find the financial sponsors of this cowardly, despicable and faceless Boko Haram 'area boys', we are stuck in A STEADY STATE OF NATIONAL TREASURY PILLAGING!
Saharareporters, Where is my Comment?
Submitted by Kalu Emenike (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 23:20.
I was the first to make a comment here but my comment for some strange reasons has not been published. Is this a selective approach to things or Sonala Olumhense a sacred cow?
I had commented that for me, once Olumhense joins Occupy Nigeria, it would be time for me to move on. This is because I find him very untruthful, conniving, deciving, mendacious and evil. Though, I didn't not vote for Buhari, what Olumhense wrote about Buhari is nothing short of diabolic. So, to me, Olumhense is not somebody that can be trusted, now or in future.
I know I do not have to be a supporter of Jonathan, Ribadu or Buhari to know when somebody is lying against any of them.
Saharareporters, Where is my Comment?
Submitted by Kalu Emenike (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 23:19.
I was the first to make a comment here but my comment for some strange reasons has not been published. Is this a selective approach to things or Sonala Olumhense a sacred cow?
I had commented that for me, once Olumhense joins Occupy Nigeria, it would be time for me to move on. This is because I find him very untruthful, conniving, deciving, mendacious and evil. Though, I didn't not vote for Buhari, what Olumhense wrote about Buhari is nothing short of diabolic. So, to me, Olumhense is not somebody that can be trusted, now or in future.
I know I do not have to be a supporter of Jonathan, Ribadu or Buhari to know when somebody is lying against any of them.
@ Oladeji Sulaimon, your
Submitted by Pure Nigerian (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 13:37.
@ Oladeji Sulaimon, your claim that the GEJ administration has "commenced design or implementation of the majority of them (project)" why don't u provide the evidence. Nigerians of all stride would like to know. Stop making comment u cannot backup. Every Nigerian knows this is one of the clueless govt Nigeria has ever had. In the run to the election, I ask some pple who were so bent on voting for GEJ on what ground they want to give their hard earn vote to GEJ given that he had not tangible record first as a deputy gov, gov, and VP other than he looted state treasury: remember from being a "lecturer" to worth over N300m (three hundred million naira). Now Nigerians are living to witness incompetence at work.
I am sure many are waiting for Oladeji Sulaimon's list of Jonathan accomplishment. But first let me start with the list -
1. Giving Nigerians more pains by removing subsidy on the first day of the year. Now Oladeji Sulaimon, complete the rest...
Mr Oladeji, this is why our
Submitted by The Don (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 12:32.
Mr Oladeji, this is why our country will never move forward. We always do things backward. This is a challenge to you, I want you to name one benefit we the citizens receive from the Government.
The fact that you can afford to rent mobile police as bodyguards, you think all is well, think again Mr.
DONT LET GEJ DIVIDE US
Submitted by ibrahim saad (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 10:06.
IT WAS A THING OF PRIDE TO WATCH Mr. Omoyele Sowore STAND UP TO THE SO CALLED "MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS" IN NEWYORK. WORST THINGS AWAITS NIGERIAN FROM THIS CLUELESS PRESIDENT IF WHAT HAPPENED IN THE OCCUPY AND BOKO HARAM SAGA IS SOMETHING TO GO BY. ANY ONE CAN SEE THAT GEJ IS BEREFT OF ANY IDEAS AS TO HOW HE CAN GOVERN. AND SO HE IS RESORTING TO ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS POLITICS WHICH IS TO SAY THE LEAST "EXPLOSIVE". NIGERIANS MUST NOT ALLOW HIM TO SUCCEED IN THAT DIRECTION.
Oladeji Sulaiman indeed!
Submitted by Liberty A. on January 22, 2012 - 09:13.
Oladeji Sulaiman is as clueless as agendaless Jonathan he defends. No point whatsoever to suport his arguement. His arguement sound like that of a mere political thug.
Occupy Nigeria and The Uniform of the Executive
Submitted by Muhammad NaIya (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 07:55.
Thanks for the Tonic, We have long come to realise that the elites justare either Unable or Unwilling to allow Nigerians to a real say in the national Discourse by our votes. Thats why the Uwais Committee report will gradually disappear from the radar and business continues as usual. All pretenses and tensions will be created to foster the required Emergency to deploy the Vote Enforcers in Unifrom to make sure the Election Results Comply 'Substantaillay' with the intended Winners gospel!
What progress?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 07:10.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself. What progress are you talking about? The electoral reforms, the shrinking of government, the building of roads, improvements in education or healthcare or fight against corruption. You say this because you are obviously feeding fat from the government. I understand that but please stop trying to insult the intelligence of Nigerians. We may be slow to action but we are definitely not fools.
What progress?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 06:32.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself. What progress are you talking about? The electoral reforms, the shrinking of government, the building of roads, improvements in education or healthcare or fight against corruption. You say this because you are obviously feeding fat from the government. I understand that but please stop trying to insult the intelligence of Nigerians. We may be slow to action but we are definitely not fools.
Oladeji, you know you lie!
Submitted by E do! (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 05:55.
Mr. Oladeji Sulaimon, if that is your true name, it is your responsibility, not Mr. Olumhense's, to list what is missing. Equally important, you must state where the started projects are. Otherwise, you hired agents must shut up, and be grateful there are people like Mr. Olumhense who are paying attention and are willing to spend their time on such a waste of time and opportunity as Mr. Goodluck Jonathan.
@OLADEJI SULAIMON
Submitted by Okwuchukwu Ezeanyika (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 05:46.
@Oladeji Sulaimon. What do you mean by "govt has commenced design or implementation of the majority of them?" Are you government's mouthpiece? It is up to a responsible government to tell the Nigerian public what it has accomplished with regard to those projects. I am certain you are one of the beneficiaries of the massive corruption that is labeled governance and that is why some of you would try to defend what is indefensible.
Sonala, please continue to remind Jonathan that good governance is NOT empty rhetorics. With his insistence on increasing the price of fuel I doubt the man has ever sat down for a second to articulate the problems of the COMMON MAN in the country. If you cannot identify the problems how can you proffer the solutions?
The ignorance exhibited so far in managing the country's economic affairs is what you would expect when a Geographer merely because she was employed by World Bank is picked as the so-called CO-ORDINATING MINISTER OF THE ECONOMY.
Jonathan's Ineptitude
Submitted by Oladapo Odumosu (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 05:05.
Mr. Oladeji Sulaimon: what projects did Mr. Olumhense miss? Is it project 'fight corruption'? Is it project 'make life less miserable for Nigerians'?
Is it project 'fight Boko Haram'?
Is it project 'stop being a weakling'?
We know that sycophants abound everywhere. Jonathan will be well advised to stay away from them. He has already has too many problems on his hands.
Occupy till i die
Submitted by Jomokenyatta (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 04:43.
Pls arrange immediately with allthose foreign and local based
Social crusading liliputs to Occupy Maiduguri,Damaturu,
Kano,Mubi,Madalla and all the Northern state
Till Boko Haram remeba dem.
Una no dey shame
Check the Progress before criticism
Submitted by Oladeji Sulaimon (not verified) on January 22, 2012 - 04:22.
I want to challenge Mr Olumese to cross check and verify action on the projects listed in his article above, he will find out that indeed ,the govt has commenced design or implementation of the majority of them, over to you Mr Olumese
