There is nothing wrong with fighting
corruption. All those indicted must be
severely punished according to the laws of
our land. This has always been my
position. However, running after treasury
looters is a different thing from running the
economy of a country. These are obviously
two different things.
A government should not spend all its time
and resources fighting corruption at the
expense of its core mandate of running the
economy of the country and providing
succor to the people. Institutions set up to
fight corruption should be allowed to do
their jobs while the government
concentrates on its core mandate.
The security and welfare of the people shall
be the priority of the state, so says our
constitution. A good government should
be running the economy in such a way to
actulise this constitutional mandate. This is
what I was expecting from the
Muhammadu Buhari administration and
not taking up the jobs of the EFCC and
other anti-corruption agencies.
Running the economy of this country
should be about getting our manufacturing
plants working at optimum capacity and
providing jobs for our people. It should be
about ensuring uninterrupted fuel and
electricity supply, good roads, good schools
and good health institutions. It should be
about providing cheap food and affordable
housing to our people and creating an
enabling environment for businessmen to
do legitimate business with functional
infrastructure. It should be about
government coming out with policies and
programmes to reflate our depressed
economy and rolling out pragmatic fiscal
and monetary policies to revive our sliding
economy.
Unfortunately, this has not been the case
in the last seven months in this country. All
we hear is the war against corruption while
millions of Nigerians wallow in poverty.
Our jobless youth roam the streets with an
uncertain future while they are told that
billions of Naira is being recovered from
looters. Many go to bed without food, yet
they are told of billions of Naira being
returned. Our schools, roads and hospitals
remain in frightening state, unchanged by
the anti-corruption songs. Because Buhari
has neglected his core mandate of
managing the economy, our manufacturers
are shutting down and sacking workers.
Over 100,000 have lost their jobs in the
construction industry alone in the last six
months. Over 120,000 have been sacked in
the oil and gas sector. The number of
people sacked at Airtel has jumped to over
300. Retrenchment of Nigerians at Virgin
Atlantic has also hit about 150. So many
companies are downsizing. The online
stores are also badly affected.
Inclement economic environment has
reduced industrial production across the
country. Access to forex and frustrating
economic policies are big issues. I have
been making so much noise about the gale
of retrenchment across the country for a
number of weeks without a proactive
response from this administration
government. The embarrassment of fuel
scarcity in an oil-exporting country has
also continued for the 8thweek running
across the country, with petrol selling for
as high as N400 per litre in some states. A
country that claims to be broke has just
paid out N407 billion to fuel marketers as
subsidy claims; a subsidy that never gets to
the consumers.
This economy is in a mess.
We have never had it so bad. Virtually all
economic indices are on the negative side.
Inflation is at a level we have never
experienced before. Our GDP is sliding.
Industrial capacity utilization is dwindling.
Small and medium scale firms are folding
up. The capital market is crumbling.
Unemployment is at a frightening level. A
large number of unemployed youth is no
doubt a time bomb that can explode at any
time and consume this country. Nigeria’s
crude oil production is falling. Last month
alone, crude oil production fell by 250,000
barrels per day (bpd), making the country
lose its status as Africa’s top oil producer
to Angola. Nigeria recorded the biggest
drop in output in November among its
peers in OPEC. In the midst of all these
calamities, all we hear is “war against
corruption.”
The former President of the Lagos Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Remi
Bello recently spoke for many, when he
said, “significant disruptions, distortions
and dislocations have been created in the
business environment as a consequence of
the restrictions on the use of export
proceeds, denial of access to foreign
exchange market for many products,
including critical inputs needed in
manufacturing and service sectors,
prohibition of cash lodgments into
domiciliary accounts, tight exchange
controls and administrative allocation of
foreign exchange “which are typically
characterised by lack of transparency,
corruption and considerable abuse.”
The former LCCI boss added: “The economy
is now faced with a scenario where there is
much pressure to move funds out of the
economy than moving funds into the
economy. This can be likened to a run on a
system. This is a typical scenario which a
confidence crisis would create. Future
international trade transactions, financial
and investment relations are now at risk.
Round tripping of forex has continued to
flourish because of the disparity in the
exchange rate between the official and
parallel market. Inflow of forex into the two
autonomous sources has been adversely
affected. It is worthy of note that Diaspora
funds into the country was about $23
billion in 2013.
The current policy will discourage the
inflow of such funds which normally help to
strengthen the supply side of the foreign
exchange.”
No doubt, the sovereign risk perception of
Nigeria has worsened over the last three
months. Several credit lines for Nigerian
investors have been cut off following the
numerous cases of payment default to
foreign suppliers. This forex policy is
stifling. “Even reputable blue chip
companies have defaulted for the first time
in the several years of business relationship
with their foreign suppliers. Considerable
damage has been done to the image of
many companies and the country in the
international trade and investment arena. A
major confidence crisis has been created
for investors,” noted the LCCI.
The position of the Association of Resident
Doctors, Federal Capital Territory chapter
on Buhari’s “war against corruption” and
our decaying health infrastructure is also
instructive here. Dr. Isaac Akerele,
President, of the association who spoke
recently on behalf of the association said:
“While we are not against the anti-
corruption war, we call on President
Muhammadu Buhari to invest greatly in
health sector. Investment in health is the
only way his government can be seen as
working. It is not enough to fight
corruption alone. There is urgent need to
upgrade our facilities.”
Buhari has mopped up and locked up huge
amount of money from the system through
the Treasury Single Account. To just lock up
the money is an archaic economic policy.
The money is idle in the treasury of the
CBN. This is quality money that should be
expeditiously used to reflate the economy
by investing in infrastructure and getting
contractors back on site. Rather than do
these, all we hear is the war against
corruption while the economy degenerates.
Can Buhari, in all honesty, point to a single
sector of the economy that he has
positively impacted on in the last six
months? I don’t think so.
His legion of sycophants who go about
saying ‘there is no money’ should please
shut up. Almost N1.5 trillion has accrued to
this administration in the last seven
months from the monthly revenue shared
by all the tiers of government. So, what did
Buhari do with all the money? How has he
impacted on our health, education, roads,
housing and general welfare in the last six
months? All we hear is “war against
corruption” while the country slides. He
has shown great ineptitude in the war
against Boko Haram. Over 1500 people have
been killed under his watch in the last six
months.
It seems the offices of anti-graft agencies
are now domiciled in the Presidency.
Buhari has taken direct control of these
agencies at the expense of running our
economy. The other day, he was directly
giving instruction to the DSS to arrest those
indicted by a probe panel. Buhari should
resign as the President of this country and
take up the position of EFCC chairman, so
as to fully concentrate on running the anti-
graft agency. I strongly believe that he
would perform very well as the Chairman of
EFCC than as the President of Nigeria.
Thereafter, we can look for a President to
run our economy and wage proactive war
against unemployment, underdevelopment,
poverty, disease, hunger, malnutrition,
insecurity and other challenges ravaging
our country. There is nothing wrong with
fighting corruption but managing the
Nigerian economy and providing security
for the people require much more than
running after treasury looters. Turning
around Nigeria requires much more that
fighting corruption. A man cannot give
what he does not have. The truth be told;
Nigeria has not experienced any change in
the last seven months. Pain, blood and
tears are still very much with us. There is
too much suffering in our land. Nothing
has changed.
Still on Compensation for THISDAY after
Terror Attack
I got so many text messages last week
following the revelation that THISDAY
Newspaper Group was compensated by the
federal government following the bombing
of its Abuja office by Boko Haram terrorists.
Some queried why public fund was used to
compensate THISDAY while others said the
compensation should not have been drawn
from the money voted for the war against
Boko Haram. Some others said THISDAY
ought to have provided insurance cover for
its buildings and equipment. The standard
in sane societies is for government to
properly compensate victims of terror
attacks, whether individuals or corporate
bodies.
There is nothing unusual for public funds
to be used for this. The cost centre from
which the fund is drawn is immaterial here.
Let’s look at the United States after the
9/11 terrorists attacks. The “September 11th
Victim Compensation Fund” was swiftly
created by an Act of Congress, (the Air
Transportation Safety and System
Stabilization Act) to compensate the victims
of the attack (or their families) in exchange
for their agreement not to sue the airline
corporations involved. About $7 billion was
awarded to 97% of the families; the average
payout was $1.8 million. Destroyed private
businesses also benefited from the
compensation.
Also, “The September 11th Fund” was
created by the New York Community Trust
and the United Way of New York City in
response to the destruction of the World
Trade Center. This was a private sector-led
initiative. The Fund collected $534 million
from more than two million donors and
distributed a total of 559 grants totaling
$528 million. Grants from the Fund
provided cash assistance, counseling and
other services to the families of those killed
in the 9/11 attacks, the injured and those
displaced from their homes or jobs. The
Fund also provided grants to affected
businesses and community organizations.
So, those querying why THISDAY
newspaper Group was compensated should
learn from the succour provided by the
United States Government after 9/11.
Just this year, the United States promised
to make “condolence payments” to families
of the victims killed in a deadly American
airstrike on a Medecins Sans Frontieres
(MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. The
US will also pay for the repair of the
hospital. The US mistakenly hit the hospital
while attacking Taliban terrorists.
This country also has a lot to learn from the
United Kingdom in terms of compensation
for victims of terror attacks. Britain has a
standby body for compensating victims of
terror attacks called the Criminal Injuries
Compensation Authority (CICA). After the 7
July 2005 London bombings which resulted
in the death of 52 people, the CICA
(formerly called the British Criminal Injuries
Compensation Board) swiftly paid out
billions of Pounds as compensation t
victims. So, in the light of persistent Boko
Haram attacks, what stops this country
from having a Criminal Injuries
Compensation Authority? This is food for
thought.
www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nigeria-will-be-better-off-with-buhari-as-efcc-chairman/228401/

Sai Baba

I'm not here to read text book

ECONOMICALLY, BABA IS DAFT, HE MADE THINGS WORST WHEN HE CHOSE PEOPLE THAT ARE 'DAFTER' THAN HIM
*Buhari MAKA WHY*