No. 1378: Gary K. Busch on Nigeria

Editorial
"Bí a bá to sílé, onípò a mo ipò"
By Dr. Gary K. Busch 27/11/05
Nov 27, 2005, 10:32

Nigeria is going through yet another crisis of governance. Obasanjo
is seeking a third term and has taken his plans to the U.S. and
Malta to try and convince the U.S. and the Commonwealth that
his `fight against corruption' must not be interrupted by anything
so trivial as a Constitution. His well-publicised fights with the
governors and with his Vice-President are depicted in terms of his
anti-corruption efforts and he has announced that his heroic efforts
has succeeded in reducing the level of corruption in Nigeria so that
it isn't at the bottom of the Transparency International table, but
a few countries up from the end.

Obasanjo's plan for a third term, and the reaction of many of the
erstwhile leaders of Nigeria, is not founded on some great notion of
anti-corruption. The answer is more simple. These leaders have to
stay in power or run the risk that their successors will prosecute
them for their crimes when their immunity runs out. Whom do they
think they are fooling? Do they think that the rest of the world
doesn't know exactly what is going on in the country? Do they think
that the average Nigerian has any illusions about the probity of his
leaders or institutions? Is there anyone over the age of seven in
Nigeria who has not been hassled by a policeman, an okada driver, a
teacher or another authority figure engaged in some form of petty
corruption? What kind of self-delusional arrogance assumes that the
Nigerian people and the international community will put all this
aside and call it `democracy'?

In recent months there has been a constitutional forum meeting to
evaluate the way forward in pursuing Nigerian democracy (which has
had its agenda hijacked). The Chairman of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, has pronounced (in South
Africa) that the former President Ibrahim B. Babangida (`IBB')
cannot run for the Presidency in the next election in 2007 (without
saying why). The head of the ruling party (`PDP') has been dismissed
and has writen a letter attacking the President; the PDP has purged
itself by denying registration to Obasanjo's political opponents.
Several governors are under pressure; some are barred from the U.S.;
others from Britain; Orji Kalu has written an eight-page
denunciation of the President which has had wide international
circulation; and the battle between the President, Obasanjo, and his
partner in crime, Atiku Abubakar (the Vice-President), is still the
core issue at the centre of Nigerian national politics.

This is nothing new for Nigeria; it is all routine business.
However, for some reason, the Nigerians think that the rest of the
world doesn't know exactly what is going on in the country; how much
is being stolen; and where the money is going. This is a foolish
conceit. Every day the Nigerian economy loses between 150,000 and
320,000 barrels of oil. These are stolen by `bunkerers', who have
small tanker vessels which load the oil in the Delta and tranship
this stolen oil to offshore tankers which deliver this stolen oil to
other West African states. Further inland illegal tanker trucks load
their stolen oil and refined products and drive these into
neighbouring countries for black market sale. At the current price
of around $50 per barrel this amounts to a `leakage' of around
US$7.5 to US$16 million a day. On a monthly basis this amounts to
around US$365 million or US$4.4 billion a year.

This illegal trade was pioneered under President Abacha when
Akhigbe, Victor Ombu and Ibrahim Ogohi perpetrated the smuggling of
petroleum products from Port Harcourt and Warri to neighboring West
African countries. Between the month of June and December 1996,
Nigeria lost a total of 202,130 Metric Tonnes of petroleum products
to smuggling with the connivance of Rear Admiral Mike Akhigbe,
Victor Ombu and Ibrahim Ogohi. It hasn't stopped since then.

Who are these bunkerers? Recently, an aerial surveillance of Lagos
coastal waters revealed no fewer than 50 vessels and boats being
used for oil theft. Minister of State for Transport, Alhaji Musa
Mohammed said the survey extended up to 10 miles into Lagos waters.
The minister, who expressed shock at the findings, said that
operators had no license for the vessels and boats and that they
were not manifested. There are even more vessels in the Delta.
Earlier this year three prominent naval officers were reprimanded
and one dismissed for their part in this illegal bunkering. Several
vessels had been captured. There are fifteen such vessels arrested
in the Delta. There is no mystery in Nigeria to whom these vessels
belong and into whose pockets the revenues stream.

The most shocking bombshell was dropped by a ship owner and active
stakeholder in the industry, Isaac Jolapamo, to the effect that 15
more vessels are currently roaming the Nigerian waters doing illegal
bunkering. Testifying before the House of Representatives panel
probing the missing vessel, Jolapamo alleged that the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Pipeline and Products
Marketing Company (PPMC), major and independent oil marketers
patronise these vessels which he said are "owned and managed by
known international crooks."

According to Jolapamo, these vessels and their customers engage in
round-tripping with refined oil and stolen crude oil which they sell
at rock bottom prices at the international market. He also revealed
that the bunkering vessels change names at random in a bid to beat
coastal surveillance by security agents. In this way, they are able
to clandestinely carry out their illicit trade which oil companies
in Nigeria claim has been costing the nation $ 100 million weekly.

Equally disturbing is the allegation that three Nigerian banks are
being investigated for allegedly funding this bunkering. They funded
the recently exposed MT African Pride bunkering activities to the
tune of $ 15 million. In August last year, the Navy impounded a
tanker reportedly laden with 15,000 barrels of crude oil. Also
impounded within the same period for similar offence were five other
vessels namely MT Jimoh, MT Efunyo, MT Cape Breton I, MT Destiny and
MT Betty Nello. These are expensive vessels to charter and operate
so bank assistance is welcome. This backing for this bunkering goes
to the top.

It is widely believed that both the President and the Vice-
President, as well as key members of the PDP, condone or participate
in the illegal oil bunkering (stealing of crude and refined
products) which represented almost 300,00 bbl/day in 2003. When a
real effort at anti-corruption was undertaken by the journalists of
the "Insider", retribution was swift and severe. The editor-in-
chief, Chucks Onwudinjo, and Janet Mba-Afolabi, both executive
editors of Insider, a weekly magazine, were picked up by men of the
State Security Services. Their arrest and detention were on the
orders of Atiku Abubakar, the vice-president. They were arrested on
Monday, November 24, 2004

While the nation enjoyed Ed-el-fitri public holiday, the trio cooled
their heels at the Panti Police Station in Yaba, Lagos where they
were detained for a story the Insider ran in its November 24, 2004
edition. The story, which made the magazine's cover alleged that
Abubakar and a close colleague were behind a bunkering ring recently
smashed at the Forcados and Escravos Creeks.

Specifically, Atiku was accused of being behind three of the
vessels, MT Gloria. MT Tina and MT Sara, which had about 4,000
metric tonnes of crude oil aboard, while his colleague was allegedly
linked to two vessels, MT Berinelo and MT Breton 1 with 17,800
metric tonnes aboard. The eight ships captured in the bunkering deal
collectively had about 124 million barrels on board valued at N35
billion.

On August 30, security officials attached to the Vice-President,
Atiku Abubakar, attacked and beat into coma, Akintunde Akinleye, a
photojournalist with the Daily Independent newspaper. He was
eventually compensated in a face-saving mission by the Vice
President. He received $1,900 and N56,287.00 cash. There is a
widespread belief that Atiku and his front men are major figures in
oil thievery in Nigeria and Sao Tome. This is the type of corruption
which is very hard to confront.

It should also be noted that there are no provisions in the Nigerian
constitution or laws which empowers the Vice-President to order the
arrest and detention of journalists because he felt they had defamed
him. There is due process in Nigerian law and this isn't it.
However, it serves as a warning to all who want to fight corruption
that if they mention the names of the members of the inner circle of
corruption, e.g. Atiku, they will likely face extrajudicial attack
and arrest.

Recently Atiku's name came up with the arrest of several more
vessels engaged in the bunkering trade. His partner, this time, was
Audu Ogbeh, the erstwhile head of the PDP national party. Ogbeh
wrote a public letter to Obasanjo complaining about the catastrophe
in the state of Ananmbra, where the Governor (`Ngige') had a falling
out with his `godfather' (Chief Chris Ubah) and the police and the
godfather kidnapped the governor and forced him to resign. Of
course, when he was freed, he renounced the resignation. This became
an important case because each side agreed that the last election
was won by fraud and bribery; only not everyone paid the full value
of the bribes. The last election in Anambra was the deteriorating
relationship between a different Governor (Mbadinuju) and
his `godfather' (Emeka Offor). The end was the same, an imbroglio
over who was entitled to which corrupt payment and which government
contract.

The head of Naval Staff reported daily to the President's office of
the bunkering activities of the Vice-president and the head of the
PDP. Apparently, according to the Navy, this duo made off with over
$400 million in the last two and one-half years. When things came to
a head the pair were warned off and no public exposure or anti-
corruption charges filed. No one expects any charges to emerge as
this process is part of the battle for the 2007 election in which
Atiku claims the right to stand. The head of the EFCC, Ribadu, has
filed no suit. Perhaps he is too embarrassed by the news that his
mistress in Accra is living in a mansion with chauffeurs and
servants paid for by the anti crime commissioner. The Deputy head of
the senate is not likely to bring charges as his multimillion dollar
hotel holdings in the Gambia have become public knowledge. The Oil
Minister is not likely to press charges since the Oil Minister is
the President.

The Nigerian leadership struggle is characterised by the mutual
blackmail of one corrupt politician threatening the exposure of the
other. The next election is being fought over who can be elected who
can be safely allowed to take the job without indicting the current
leadership. None of this is a mystery to the Nigerian public. They
suffer from no electricity, polluted water and air, ethnic and
religious violence, failing public services, dangerous hospitals,
closed universities and an income of less than $1 a day. Nigeria's
claim to a write-off of its debt is more than ludicrous - it is
preposterous. Nigeria is producing (officially) 2.35 million barrels
of oil a day at around $50 per barrel or around $115 million a day.
Its budget was set at a price of oil at under $30 a day, so there is
a windfall profit of at least $20 a barrel per day from high oil
prices or $46 million a day or $16.8 billion a year. This `rainy
day' fund is kept in a special account in a number of private banks
which helps fund their liquidity ratios.

The Nigerians say that this money, or at least some of it, should be
returned to the Nigerian people in terms of improved services,
better roads, better schools and a better life. Experience says that
this in unlikely, with or without a coup. The gap between the
agbadas (the powerful people in fancy dress) and the Nigerian people
is too wide to even contemplate. Instead there will be more of the
same; grinding poverty, destroyed opportunities and the destruction
of hope.

This doesn't count the vast wealth accumulated by the politicians
and generals from the granting of oil leases; in Nigeria and in the
Joint Development Zone with Sao Tome. All the famous names are
there, and their wives and children. There is no point listing them
because the whole world knows who they are. When the Nigerian
governors and officials show up in London or Potomac, Maryland to
buy their multi-million pound houses, or their children buy
expensive apartments for cash, no one is so naïve to think these
vast millions come from their salaries or pension cheques or the
sale of regular quantities of palm oil. This is oil and gas money
and no one is fooled. How they got their private hands on this money
is the shame and pity of Nigeria.

So, when the Nigerians roll up asking for help from the West in
reducing their burdens, the answer should be that these burdens will
be eased when the burden on the Nigerian people is lifted. When
Atiku complains that he is being unfairly treated perhaps he will
answer the question asked of him in America by a congressman after
the FBI raided his house,"How did you, as a customs officer,
accumulate sufficient wealth to endow an American style university
(about £350 million) in Nigeria?" When Obasanjo lobbies for a third
term he should be asked if he wouldn't just be satisfied with
immunity from prosecution for what was done in his first two terms.
Or, as they say ""Bí a bá to sílé, onípò a mo ipò" " (If someone
wets the bed, each person should know where he or she slept.).

Source: Ocnus.net 2004

--
---------------------------
Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220Editorial
"Bí a bá to sílé, onípò a mo ipò"
By Dr. Gary K. Busch 27/11/05
Nov 27, 2005, 10:32

Source: Ocnus.net 2004

--