We have not only the benefit of Freedom of Information, we can also listen for free to the music of black American singer Dionne Warwick and her evergreen best-seller: 'Breaking Up Is So Hard To Do'.However, what we are forced to listen to right now under duress is not music to our ears.Headline: 'THE NATION' newspaper (11th January 2012) 'NIGERIA HEADING FOR CIVIL WAR''Nobel Laureatte Prof. Wole Soyinka warned yesterday that Nigeria is heading towards a civil war. He blamed political leaders for encouraging religious intolerance. Asked whether he agreed with President Goodluck Jonathan that the current unrest is worse than the civil war, he told the BBC World Service: 'It's not an unrealistic comparison ' it's certainly based on many similarities.'We see the nation heading towards a civil war.'Also asked whether the unrest threatened the state of the country itself, he replied: 'It is going that way. We no longer can pretend it's not.''When you've got a situation where a bunch of people can go into a place of worship and open fire through the windows, you've reached a certain dismal watershed in the life of that nation.'Soyinka said the issues raised by Islamist group Boko Haram, which was blamed for violence targeting Christians in the North has sparked fears of a wider religious conflict, had been brewing for some time.'There are people in power in certain parts of the country, leaders, who quite genuinely and authoritatively hate and cannot tolerate any religion outside their own,' he said.'When you combine that with the ambitions of a number of people who believe they are divinely endowed to rule the country and who '..believe that their religion is above whatever else binds the entire nation together, and somehow the power appears to slip from their hands, then they resort to the most extreme measures.'Youths who have been indoctrinated right from infancy can be used, and who have been used, again and again to create mayhem in the country.'He added: 'Those who have created this faceless army have lost control.' Soyinka, a dramatist and essayist, became Africa's first Nobel laureate in literature when he won the prize in 1986.Headline: 'THISDAY' newspaper (January 12, 2012) BOKO HARAM LEADER APPEARS IN VIDEO'The leader Boko Haram, Imam Abubakar Shekau, has challenged the authority of Nigeria's president in an online video, promising more attacks, Associated Press (AP) reported yesterday.Shekau is believed to be successor to Yusuf Mohammed, the founder of the group, who was killed in 2009 allegedly by the police after he was captured alive in the uprising that led to hundreds of deaths.According to AP report, the video of Shekau seems to have cemented his leadership of Boko Haram. The group has claimed responsibility for the majority of the assassinations and bombings carried out in recent times in the country.'In the end, they said they should kill us. They kill us. They burn our houses. They burn our mosques,' Shekau said in Hausa language in the video.'They didn't even leave us. Because of that, we thought, let us protect ourselves as well,' he added.Boko Haram, whose name in Hausa means 'Western education is sin', has carried out attacks in North-east and Abuja that killed at least 510 people last year alone, according to an AP count.The sect has been blamed by the government for killing at least 67 people in the last weeks alone, continuing its campaign to Islamise Nigeria. Yesterday, suspected Boko Haram gunmen attacked a bus in Yobe State carrying Igbo traders fleeing the North, killing four people, police said.Shekau took control of the sect after a riot and security crackdown in July 2009 which saw Boko Haram's leader and about 700 others killed.Police initially claimed to have killed Shekau during that violence, but the emerged last year in audio and video messages just before Boko Haram began its campaign of violence.In the 15-minute video uploaded on Tuesday to YouTube, Shekau appeared relaxed, wearing a camouflage bulletproof vest and sitting between two Kalashnikov rifles. He criticized President Goodluck Jonathan for speaking out about the sect and hinted that the group carries much more popular support across the North than what authorities believe.'All these things you've been seeing happening, it's Allah who has been doing it because you refuse to believe in him and you misuse his religion and because of that, the thing is more than you, Jonathan,' Shekau stated.'You can meet other people who think what we're doing is good.'Shekau also recites a list of areas where Muslims have been killed in communal violence across Nigeria, then called on the president of an umbrella group of Christians to 'repent' for calling on worshippers to defend themselves after Boko Haram began targeting Christians.'People are talking about us, that we are a disease, a cancer, to people in Nigeria,' Shekau stated, 'But we are not cancer and we are not a disease. And we are not wicked people with a bad habit. If people do not know us, Allah knows us,' he said.While Boko Haram attacks began as drive-by shootings on motorcycles, the sect's assaults have become much more sophisticated over time, including using suicide car bombers.The sect claimed responsibility for the August 26 attack on the United Nations headquarters in Abuja that killed 25 people and wounded more than 100 others.It also carried out attacks that killed at least 42 people in Christmas Day strikes that included the bombing of St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Madalla.The US government believes Boko Haram remains in contact with two al-Qaida-inspired terror groups in Africa, which could account for the increasing complexity of their attacks.The Shekau video also suggested an outside influence, copying the style of other terror groups' messages, AP reported.Tension over Boko Haram's attacks has seen mosques attacked in recent weeks. On Tuesday, an angry mob attacked a mosque and school in Benin, Edo State, killing at least five people.'Front page headline: 'THE NATION' newspaper (January 12, 2012) 'ACN SENATORS ATTACKED IN IBADAN''Four Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) senators had a bad experience with hoodlums posing as anti-petrol subsidy removal protesters yesterday.Senators Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central); Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti Central); Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East) and Babajide Omoworare (Osun East) were travelling by road from Lagos to Abuja in a convoy of vehicles. They could not travel by air due to the ongoing strike.In Ibadan, they were attacked by the hoodlums, who extorted money from them, smashed their vehicles and turned them back to Lagos.The youths, who claimed to be jobless and hungry, threatened to 'deal' with them, if they refused to give them money, the senators said they brandished dangerous weapons, including cutlasses, broken bottles and knives. For some minutes, the senators were held to ransom. They were eventually allowed to go back to Lagos.Narrating their ordeal, the senators complained that the system had broken down.Senator Tinubu said: 'We were trapped in Lagos since Sunday. We could not fly to Abuja because of the strike.'But we need to make our contributions on the floor of the Senate. So, we decided to leave for Abuja by road. At Ibadan, we were stopped by youths who complained to us that they were hungry and jobless and that they wanted the petrol subsidy issue to be addressed. They also demanded for money. They said they would want to see the money we were carrying'She added: 'They have lost faith in the system. The President has no time frame for what he intends to do. It is promises upon promises.'Ojudu warned that a revolution was fast. He approaching urged the President to avert the calamity by doing the wish of the people.He said: 'We ran into protesters. Before we could introduce ourselves, they pounced on our vehicles. The experience of today at Ibadan points to the fact that a revolution is looming.'What we experienced today was the magnitude of the anger by Nigerians. They are angry at the system. This can spark off a revolution. The youths were saying they are jobless, they are unhappy. They smashed our windscreen. We appeal to the federal government to hearken to the voice of the people.'Omoworare said: 'The federal government is adamant. Nigerians are insisting that the pump price should be reversed. The ACN has said that the federal government should listen to the people. Our leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, still said it yesterday. Subsidy is now new. Why is it an aberration in Nigeria is that we have oil, but we don't have refineries. People do not believe in what the executive is telling them about what to use the proceeds from subsidy removal for. To them, it is rhetoric. People are telling the President to rescind his decision.'Omoworare said the anger on the faces of protesters sent a dangerous signal which the country can only ignore to its peril. Lamenting what he described as thedisconnect between Aso Rock and Nigerians, he added: 'People do not have confidence in the palliatives being reeled out. The solution is to build refineries.Ashafa, who looked ruffled, said the experience at Ibadan demonstrated that 'things are not well in the country.' He urged the President to half the crisis by reverting to N65 per litre of petrol.'Let the President accept the mistake of introducing the new policy on January 1. The people are ready to forgive him, if he reverts back to N65. People will applaud him. He is not God who cannot make a mistake', he said.Editorial: 'AGF's DAMNING REPORT' An example of how the country is being milked dry'Operating within the statutory authority powers of his office, the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF), Samuel Ukura, has alleged the plausibility of gross distortions in the day-to-day running of the Federation Account. In the 2009 yearly report, the AGF alleged illegal conversion of equity and missing records of some huge financial transactions.In section 2.32 of his report titled: 'Omission of N10,000,000,000 for Federal Mortgage Bank' submitted to both Senate and the House of Representatives, the AGF said: 'The sum of N10,000,000,000.00 debited to Consolidated Revenue Fund in favour of Federal Mortgage Bank for investments in affordable Housing Mortgage Scheme for civil servants could not be traced. The Accountant-General of the Federation has been requested to explain this omission from the financial statements.''It is not in the interest of the Federal Government to sweep these alleged financial scandals under the carpet. Government must recognize the fact that other countries are watching these unsavoury developments. Official response is required, first as a face-saving measure, and secondly, as a tool for shorting up the badly deflated public confidence in the system.On illegal conversion of loans to equity, the report said: 'The loans converted to equity, as earlier reported in my annual reports for years 2004 to 2006 have now been converted to loans without authority and to the knowledge of the beneficiaries.' The report listed the beneficiaries as Ajaokuta Steel Company (N72,756,239,000.00) and NITEL (N42,395,300,872.00), totaling N115,343,932,195.00.Nigeria Airways, Nigerian Ports Authority and Nigerian Coal Corporation were similarly affected, even as loans granted to Ghana and Republic of Sao Tome and Principe were not reflected in the accountant-general's financial statement forwarded to the AGF.If these scandalous allegations by the AGF are sustained, and there are no compelling reasons to doubt his assertion, then, there are urgent and legitimate grounds for Nigerians to be agitated.First, we commend the forthrightness and patriotism of the auditor-general for toeing the path of honour in discharging his responsibility. The AGF has pointed out the way forward for credible and purposeful prosecution of the culprits. So, relevant agencies of the Federal Government should swing into action, on the strength of these allegations, and commence investigation into the cases immediately. It is not in the interest of the Federal Government to sweep these alleged financial scandals under the carpet. Government must recognize the fact that other countries are watching these unsavoury developments. Official response is required, first as a face-saving measure, and secondly, as a tool for shoring up the badly deflated public confidence in the system.Without doubt, a cursory look at the AGF's litany of allegations, which range from missing and inaccurate records of huge financial transactions, illegal conversion of equities (with the intent to defraud), and a total disregard for global finance and accounting standards suggest that corruption has taken root in the federal bureaucracy. The implications are quite dreadful; public administration in Nigeria has gone bananas. The regime's rhetorical slogan of 'zero tolerance' for corruption has lost its vitality and has therefore become a laughable pastime among Nigerians.Secondly, since governance is tied to public finance and accountability, which is in short supply in this country, future policy statements from government will be treated with derision; after all, the Federal Government hs failed to demonstrate its seriousness and or, preparedness to fight corruption headlong. A case in hand is the subsidy removal issue in which Nigerians believe that the Federal Government would be pleasantly surprised at the recoveries it would make if it concentrates on blocking the leakages in the domestic economy than chasing petroleum subsidy removal.Within the last five years alone, diverse allegations of corruption (proven and otherwise) in the government bureaucracies have left no one in doubt that corruption is not only ubiquitously pervasive in the Nigerian society; it is endemic. Again, another opportunity has provided itself for the Federal Government to begin to address the issue of corruption. Missing records of transactions in the Federation Account did not just happen; they were made possible by some people. Government's investigation agencies must ensure that the culprits are brought to book.'Editorial: 'THE GUARDIAN' newspaper (January 12, 2012) 'THE N11.25 BN BUDGET ON FOREIGN TRIPS''Emerging indication that ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government will spend a whopping N11.25 billion on foreign trips alone in the 2012 budget is deplorable, scandalous, and shamefully insensitive to the state of the nation. It amounts to no more than unbridled expenditure and wastage of taxpayers' money in frivolous entertainment of a few privileged public officials under the guise of official foreign trips.Given the current ugly state of affairs in the country, especially with regard to fuel subsidy removal, which has occasioned spiraling inflation, the logic step would have been for government to shelve most foreign trips this year to reduce cost of governance, and show seriousness of its empathy, if any, with the people; rather than behaving in a business as usual manner.Government should be minded that Nigerians are deeply aggrieved over removal of fuel subsidy which, according to government, is meant to raise funds for infrastructure development, but which has not gone down well with Nigerians.For the same government to impose crushing tax on the common man through its fuel policies and then turn around to earmark such huge funds for foreign travels raises a moral question on government. President Jonathan's knee jerk reaction in reportedly aiming to reduce the budget on foreign trips in the wake of looming national strike over the fuel subsidy, does little to assuage public feeling about the blatant rape of the nation. Suspending foreign trips this year would have been a more sensible measure. Under the foreign trips largesse, reports say the Ministry of Defence has the largest allocation of N4.14 billion, followed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidency, which have N3.31 billion and N951 million respectively.Others are Ministry of Finance, N287 million; Education Ministry, N283.4 million; Ministry of Petroleum, N155 million; Justice, N122 million; Trade and Investment, N109 million. The Ministry of Police Affairs was earmarked N48.5 million; Youth Ministry, N24.2 million; Women Affairs, N60.5 million; Agriculture, N34 million; and Water Resources Ministry N49.9 million. Other ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) equally have various huge sums allocated to them.Again, the penchant of public officials to fleece the country under various guises is condemnable and it should be stopped forthwith. The National Assembly should not approve the proposal since it is glaringly a drain on the economy. Previous globetrotting by public officials yielded no return for the country. There is nothing to suggest that this year will be different.It is sad that foreign trips have become such a huge drain on public purse. Nigerians were piqued at the revelation that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs alone lavished a whopping N2.7 billion on foreign travels. The revelation came to limelight during the Ministry's 2012 budget defence at the National Assembly.The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs had rightly condemned the extravagant spending and advised that it should be cut down. Before then, there were reports of similarity excessive expenditure on foreign travels by members of the National Assembly. In all this, there is no accountability or proper audit of who spends what and for what purpose. That gives room for unrestrained squandering of public funds.It is ridiculous that in a country where capital budget is a meager 27 per cent, while recurrent expenditure takes the lion share of over 70 per cent, government has not thought it wise to cut wasteful foreign spending. And, at the same time, government is asking people to tighen their belt when it ought to show example in saving money so that people can take it serious.Equally disheartening is the fact that squander mania is rooted in government's departments at the federal as well as the state levels. Governors, instead of staying in their states to address pressing issues, are always abroad for one reason or the other. For instance, they go on pilgrimage and on each occasion with a retinue of aides, spending huge sums on estacodes. Another example was the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Perth, Australia, in which the Nigerian Government reportedly went with the largest delegation of officials to the embarrassment of the country's High Commissioner there. The large delegation did not translate to any remarkable contribution from the country at the meeting. Questions arising from such wasteful trips have not been answered, thereby depicting government as having more than enough funds to lavish.Government must adopt moderation as a policy. Foreign trips should not be an opportunity for government officials to squander public resources, and earn fat estacodes for doing nothing There should be consideration for the abject poverty in the land. Government should explore effective ways of cutting overheads rather than engaging in unrestrained profligacy that makes the nation a laughing stock.'Headline: 'LEADERSHIP' newspaper (January 12, 2012) 'FEMI OTEDOLA'S CONFESSION TO US GOVERNMENT ON FUEL SUBSIDY RACKET ' WIKILEAKS'A scandal is brewing in Nigeria over prices paid by the government for imported fuel. International fuel traders have been falsifying the dates of bills of lading to reflect particularly high market prices, overcharging the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by $300 million or more. END SUMMARY.2. (C N/F) On April 2, Christ Finlayson, Chairman and Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Corporation of Nigeria (SPDC), told Consul General and Econoff that a scandal is brewing within the NNPC over payments made to international fuel marketers. Finlayson said some marketers have been changing the dates when fuel shipments bound for Nigeria were loaded in order to take advantage of particularly high market prices. He said the total overpayment by NNPC may be as high as $330 million. Finlayson noted that Shell is not one of the marketers in question, but is becoming a leading fuel supplier for NNPC.3. (C N/F) On April 6, Femi Otedola, President and CEO of Zenon Petroleum and Gas, the largest supplier of diesel fuel in Nigeria, essentially corroborated Finlayson's report.Otedola said ovter $300 million has been overpaid by NNPC for fuel imports, and that many leading international traders are involved. According to Otedola, NNPC contracts to pay its suppliers the market price on the day a ship is loaded with fuel. He said NNPC recently discovered, however, that bills of lading were altered to reflect loading on days of high market prices. Discrepancies were found when comparing dates on the bills of lading with dates of landing in Lagos.4. (C N/F) Pointing to examples, Otedola said that while a tanker loading fuel at a refinery in Bahrain usually takes four weeks to arrive in Lagos, comparisons between the bills of lading and dates of arrival of some shipments reflected only a four-day difference, and in other cases, if taken at face value, indicated the journey took nine months. Otedola said 73 shipments from refineries in the Persian Gulf, England, and Venezuela listed delivery times of only one day.NNPC is attempting to get compensation for the over-charge. Otedola went on that most of the fuel traders supplying Nigeria are implicated in over-charging NNPC, and showed a list of 17 companies that supplied fuel in the first quarter of 2004, several of which, he said, are significant players in international markets, such as Trafigura and Vitol.Otedola added that three companies clearly not involved in the scandal are British Petroleum, ChevronTexaco and Shell.5. (C N/F) Otedola recommended that NNPC stop contracting with international fuel traders and negotiate purchase s directly from refineries worldwide. According to him, such a move would have two positive effects. Otedola calculates that NNPC would save some four billion dollars a year in expenditure on imported fuel. (Note: Prior to deregulation in October 2003, NNPC then the sole importer of fuel, lost two billion dollars per year because if sold stock to retailers below purchase price. After October 2003, NNPC initially stopped subsidizing fuel sales, letting marketers import fuel to be sold at market prices. However, sources agree that NNPC is back in the business of subsidizing gasoline sales while it maintains a faade of deregulation by encouraging private marketers to import fuel that NNPC purchases a at market price. NNPC then sells the fuel to marketers and retailers at a reduced price to ensure that those companies maintain a profit margin while holding consumer prices to informal caps set by the Department of Petroleum Resources. End Note)6. (C N/F) Otedola added that by cutting out the international traders NNPC would also enhance the environment in which Nigeria's refineries could be restored and operated. Otedola said he believes international fuel trade 'mafias' are behind the failure to bring Nigeria's refineries back on-line and to capacity. Otedola is convinced these traders arrange for the vandalization of crude oil feeder pipelines, which keep the refineries at Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna closed or under-capacity. He said the international traders generally receive at least one million dollars per shipload of fuel to Nigeria and have grown accustomed to the easy money Nigeria offers as long its refineries remain down.
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