ARUNMA OTTEH: ARE NIGERIANS ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS?

The Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) Director General, Ms Arunma Otteh is no doubt, in the eye of the storm. She has been SEC's top boss since December 2009. Her travails started when she leveled grave allegations of graft against the then Chairman of the House Committee, probing the crash of the capital market, Mr. Herman Hembe. Ever since, controversies have trailed her every move. 

In a televised public hearing by the newly-constituted House of Representative's ad-hoc Committee investigating the Nigerian capital market meltdown, both lawmakers and colleagues lashed at her, raising moral questions that border on her professional immaturity and lack of leadership. Typical of Nigerians, the drama playing out at the National Assembly has evoked deep emotions, just as intensely divided viewpoints dominate public discourse. Take a look at these divergent positions held by two Nigerian youths:

 Kelechi Deca wrote:  It is a pity that Nigerians, lazy as usual to ask relevant questions have all gone to market with the charade that played out at the House of Representative's hearing on SEC. But while I would not mind Oteh's head on the platter for underestimating the power of tribal knowledge in management - which is also a problem most returnee Nigerian have been faced with as soon as they are called to come home and serve - there is this 'we-don't-want-this-tokunbo-to-tell-us-what-to-do-attitude among many Nigerians at home. This is principally to maintain their entitlement mentality.

I would also like the House of Representatives to dig deeper and get to the real issues. The first question we should ask is: "who supervised the crash of the capital market in 2008? Oteh or all these 'hirelings' who were already executive directors while the market was having a free fall,with two of them already over 20 years at SEC?

Because they are afraid Oteh may not recommend for their second tenure with their first tenure expiring next month after 4 years, they want to push her out so they can get someone they will intimidate into recommending all of them for another 4 years. Since she came in, they made it open that they do not want an outsider. They wanted to continue business as usual. That's why they had rooted for one of their own Daisy Ekineh who is as old at SEC as the institution.

How could the executive directors deny knowledge of the Project 50 when most media outfits that participated interfaced with most of them? Visit the SEC website gallery and see these shameless old people performing one duty or the other. How I wish they could upload the videos for Nigerians to see how otherwise respected people could come and swear on oath and tell lies. Nigeria we hail thee!

Was it not the same Daisy Ekineh who delivered the votes of thanks and spoke glowingly of the project and how it captured the road SEC has traveled being the oldest staff of SEC? Was it not Mr Charles Afamefuna Udora who introduced Alhaji Shehu Shagari, for an award for establishing the SEC in 1980? Its a big SHAME because there are evidence of their contributions in all the things they openly denied knowledge of. Nigerians should learn to ask critical questions.

Whereas SEC commissioners accuse OTTEH of not convening meetings, but rather communicating with them through text messages and emails, this picture was taken after SEC's Strategy Meeting held on August 15, 2011. For more pictures of SEC's activities, please visit ... http://www.sec.gov.ng/galleries

  Disagreeing with Kelechi Deca, Kunle Rotimi wrote:

"...In public service in which Ms Oteh has found herself, her act is called gross misconduct. Her management officials openly alleged that she was highhanded, that she took decisions outside statutory bounds. She has lost the confidence of her team and finally she is not qualified to hold that post, in that she's not a chartered stockbroker with minimum of 15yrs experience in stock broking! Her appointment is in error, out of person specs!

Ms Oteh is not qualified to hold that post in the first instance, her appointment is flawed, so she should leave. Every position has person specification, (relevant qualifications, years of experience, etc). Ms Oteh is not a stockbroker and she has no 15 years experience in stockbroking (that is the bottomline). She is occupying that post in sufferance and therefore now that her imconpetence is glaring, my recommendation is simple, she should recuse! QED.

 FOLLOW THE DISCUSSIONS HERE...ARUNMA OTTEH: A GUSH OF CONFLICTING VIEWPOINTS 

ARUNMA OTTEH: A GUSH OF CONFLICTING VIEWPOINTS 2 

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Nigerian Insecurity Challenge: Frank Conversation with Northern Youths

By Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri

It was not until May 3, 2012 that I realized that most of my Facebook friends were the youth of northern extraction. With the escalating  security crisis in Nigeria: daily news of bomb blasts, rising death toll, and the deepening of hate lines across religious and ethnic divides, northern youths are often targets of blame games, and verbal attacks on the social media and other platforms for youth engagement. Consequently, an officious bystander would observe with ease, the disappearing northern voices, and the deafening silence of  northern youths in discourses and conversations that affect them. Its even worse where the conversation borders on the activities of the Boko Haram Islamic sect operating in northern Nigeria.

In my line of work, interacting with people is a longstanding tradition and passion. The silence must not continue, as it fuels the accumulation of unspoken grievance and murderous rifts. Dialogue, in my view, especially frank dialogue is critical to the restoration of peace and harmonious co-habitation of different ethnic, cultural, tribal and religious groupings. This conversation represents an effort to get Nigerian youth talking about national security, and to inspire them to take a deep interest in peace-building, peace-keeping and nation building. 

Enjoy! Happy reading. Follow the conversation here:..Frank Talk with Northern Nigerian Youth

For anonymous feedback, please send email to: spacesforchange.s4c@gmail.com

Refugees in their Homeland

Posted by Admin

On the orders of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) and the Nigerian Army, a demolition squad comprising heavily-armed soldiers and mobile police officers invaded Gosa 1 village, located along the Airport Road, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and demolished homes, businesses, churches, mosques, schools, farmlands, crops, shrines and important cultural relics belonging to indigenous Gbagyi farmers and low-income residents. The Thursday, April 26, 2012 demolitions - carried out without prior notice, payment of compensation or provision of alternate shelter - left thousands homeless, including children, the youth, women and the aged  people who had lived on the land from time immemorial. 

The military officials claimed that the Federal Government has earmarked the demolished areas for the construction of a military barracks, and hence, they mounted a signpost after the violent demolitions, warning indigenes to keep off from the land. Ten days after the demolitions, scores of families continue to live near the ruins of their demolished homes because "they have no where else to go", and cannot afford the soaring rental costs in the city.

The soldiers used extreme force in carrying out the demolitions.  Some local youth who attempted to protest or resist the demolitions were teargassed, arrested and detained. They were only released after the intervention of the village head, Chief Micah Waliki and the Local Government Chairman, Honourable H. Micah.

As Mama Hauwa Abdulahi, 78, said in Hausa language, (who was seen sleeping in the open with two of her grand-children), "I was born and raised in this community. I feel so much pained that i am now a refugee in my homeland".

 

Homeless children cluster in Gosa 1 village, along Airport Road, Abuja

Properties of displaced families litter every corner in the community

Onyeka Ani, and her brother and sister have no where else to go. They continue to live in the open, near the debris of their former home 10 days after the demolition.

Onyeka's sister sleeps in the open

Like Onyeka Ani's family, Hussain's family: 2 wives and his aged mother also live in the open. They have no where else to go

A demolished home

This Primary School is the only structure left standing in the demolished portion of the community

Homeless families seek refuge in the Primary School at night. Defecating in and around the school premises is quite common, increasing the vulnerability of the 'refugees" to health hazards.

Demolished buildings

Community wears a forlorn look following  the demolitions

The traditional ruler and his cabinet lament the demolitions

Right on the demolished site, the Nigerian Army mounted this sign post warning residents to "keep off".

SPACES FOR CHANGE strongly condemns this violent demolition of a poor indigenous settlement by Nigeria's security forces. We urge the Nigerian President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, the National Human Rights Commission to investigate the circumstances of the demolitions and accompanying gross violations of human rights perpetrated  by armed security security forces. We demand the authorities to take immediate steps to provide relief in the form of alternative housing and/or fair compensation to all indigenes and residents evicted from the Gosa 1 community.

FAAN, please remove these garbage from Lagos International Airport!

Monumental waste as a fleet of air-crafts rot away at Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria. The sight of these air-crafts is not good for the image of our airports.  They should pull them away from the airport vicinity and sell them off as scraps.

FEDERAL AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OF NIGERIA (FAAN), please remove these garbage from the Lagos international airport!

African Juju: To be or not to be

BY J-ONE ANJOORIN

Last week, a university don, and political scientist, Professor Chinedu Nwolise suggested that Nigeria should revert to traditional methods of combating corruption and insecurity since western ways have failed. He said, “We need to apply efficacious oath, not with just the Bibles or Qurans used during swearing-in ceremonies but a Bible or Quran blessed by a real man of God or a machete taken straight from the shrine of Ogun.

This statement evoked an intense debate on our FACEBOOK  platform among Nigerian youth in different parts of the world. This is how Adejuwon J-One Anjoorin responded to the debates centered on the efficacy or otherwise of  Africa's traditional oath-taking strategies. 

Hear Adejuwon: 

                              

This reminds me of a story that happened in Benin City recently when the goods of billionaire Bob Izua were stolen. My uncle told me this story: the looted premises were located either within or beside a major market in Benin, Edo State, and somehow, word had gone round that certain boys from the market area were responsible for the looting. The man Bob Izua employed the police to investigate the case but they could not reach a headway. He even invited the Bishop of the Catholic diocese in the area to come plead with the people to return the goods, but this too was to no avail. Then he reportedly brought a voodoo priest into the market place who publicly did his incantations and stuff and unleashed "ayelala" to pursue the thieves if they did not return what they stole within seven days. The very next morning, every stolen item was found at the gate of Bob Izua's compound!

The story proves that our people have lost the fear of God simply because the mill of God grinds slowly. However, it grinds surely. Our people fear the wrath of idols more than the wrath of God. God is ever patient, always waiting for the sinner to come to repentance, and that seems to many of our people, as though, an act of evil will not be recompensed. Yes it will!

Where are those who looted Nigeria in the 70s? Where are their children today? In the same vein, many of today's looters are setting up poverty and long seasons of lack and arid deprivation for their generations to come. That is the mill of God grinding, slowly, but surely.

I will not subscribe to the application of idolatrous oath-taking as a measure to curb corruption. Men who do not fear God will ultimately defy idols as well out of their greed. For all the Okija oath between Ngige and his godfather, we know how it all ended in a fiasco as the agreement could not be sustained. Political godfatherism, with all its oath-taking has continually been defied by men. Ladoja/Adedibu is another example. The reason is simple: voodoo is strange and its powers have a way of appeasing each other. For instance, somebody that has taken a voodoo oath can escape judgment from that oath if he turns back on it, provided he knows the right countering voodoo to do. It might have to take a sacrifice of human lives; it might even take the life of the person's most beloved child. But they can always go back on their oaths.

Let our people arise and hold our leaders accountable instead of abdicating our responsibilities for idols. Let us do it ourselves. Let our people hold our leaders accountable. Let our people stop leading dance troops and protest marches in support of corruption and indictments. Let our people stop celebrating wealth that has no traceable root. No idol can do that for us. But if we truly embrace the fear of God we can do it by ourselves. Afterall, we ourselves are gods.

Great and enduring nations were built by a disciplined people, with disciplined thoughts and disciplined actions. We all must abhor corruption even if it is perpetrated by our tribesmen. We must allow the law to take its full course, we must push our congressmen to pass laws that are stiffer on corruption and ensure right judgments are passed. We must make life miserable for looters and those who help them sustain their loot, be them lawyers or judges.

The fight against corruption in Nigeria can only be fought and won by our collective steel-resolve, and not by a descent into darkness and idolatry.

FUEL SUBSIDY PROBE: Coalition of Civil Society Groups declare support for House of Representative's decision

A coalition of civil society groups met in Lagos on Sunday, 29th April 2012, to review the House of Representatives report on the fuel subsidy management. After an extensive deliberation, the group resolved in a communique as follows:
 

1.  The civil society groups commend the Farouk Lawan Committee of the House of Representative for a thorough review of the petroleum sector and the fuel subsidy regime.

2. The group expressed satisfaction with positions taken by the House of Representatives on the report of the Farouk Lawan committee.

3. The groups noted that the President has assured Nigerians that all those found culpable in the review report will be prosecuted. It however noted that there was no timeframe given for the promised prosecution of those indicted. Also it noted the failure of the Senate to issue a report on it's own committee hearings and the silence / inactions of the Senate on the House of Representatives'ol resolution.

4. Pursuant to paragraph 13 of the Lawan report's executive summary, the group noted that the four NNPC refineries have installed capacity of 40 million liters per day of PMS, 10 million per day of Kerosine, 8.97 million per day of diesel, 0.62 million per day of LPG and 2.31 million per day of FO. The implication of these is that "with the current refining capacity of 53% and the SWAP/Offshore processing arrangement of the balance of 47%," the NNPC has the capacity to refine 5 million litres per day PMS in excess of the 35 million liters per day required for our daily consumption from the 445,000 barrels per day allocated for domestic consumption.

5. Therefore, it demanded the immediate development of framework for the prosecution of all the people indicted in the report. It as a matter of urgency demand that the appropriated PMS subsidy for the year 2012 be deleted from the 2012 budget by the National Assembly as there is no need for the importation of PMS in the first instance as unravelled by the House of Representatives.

The Communique signed by Olanrewaju Suraju as Convenor, Abiodun Showunmi as Secretary and Victoria Ohaeri as member urged the President and the EFCC to ensure a speedy prosecution of all those involved in the crime against the Nigerian State in order to restore some measure of public confidence in the democratic governance.


Signed:


Olanrewaju Suraju. Victoria Ohaeri. Abiodun Sowunmi
Convenor                   Member                   Secretary

Fitch: Nigeria fuel subsidy report increases chances of reform

BY FITCH RATINGS

The fact that corruption in Nigeria's oil subsidy programme has been officially uncovered is encouraging, both politically and economically, Fitch Ratings says.
 

Politically, it shows the government can clean up the system if there is political will. However, a key test will be the penalties suffered by perpetrators and what is done to make the system more transparent. However, it does make it more likely that further steps will be taken to reduce or eliminate the fuel subsidy, though the timing of such a move remains uncertain.

A parliamentary report published last week estimates that Nigeria lost USD6.8bn due to corruption and mismanagement of its fuel subsidy programme between 2009 and 2011. According to the report, the programme cost USD16.5bn in 2011 a 10 fold increase since 2006. This is more than double the USD7.5bn previously estimated by the government.

Economically, the amounts uncovered are big enough to allow both increased spending on infrastructure and improve fiscal savings and foreign exchange reserves, all of which would be positive for creditworthiness.

When the government attempted to repeal the subsidy in January its intention was to spend the savings on improved public transport and other programmes to persuade the population of the benefits from removing the subsidy. This recent report has clearly demonstrated the waste and potential savings to the electorate as well as the scale of corruption, all of which could help push the case for further reform.
 

The findings in the report regarding the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company may also expedite the passing of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). This is a key reform for Nigeria as certainty about the oil sector framework is needed to attract new deep water foreign investment. It is also important in terms of increasing government revenues from existing production sharing contracts (PSCs) and implementing institutional reforms that would improve transparency and organise the oil and gas sector to meet international standards.
 

President Goodluck Jonathan has made passage of the PIB a key priority this year but the need to resubmit the legislation to the National Assembly means progress is likely to remain slow. Together with reforms to the key electricity sector, following on from progress cleaning up the banking system after the 2009 crisis, reform momentum is gradually building but remains beset by political hurdles. The Boko Harum insurgency also risks distracting politicians' efforts from the crucial economic reform process.

LAGOS HOSPITALS DESERTED ON WORLD MALARIA DAY!

 

 The BT Pediatric Ward of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital was deserted when SPACES FOR CHANGE visited the hospital on WORLD MALARIA DAY, marked every April 24 to assess the progress that has been made in combating malaria globally. The April 24, 2012 visit to the hospital aimed to find out how Lagos hospitals were marking the event, and meeting global targets for malaria control.  

Unfortunately, the ongoing indefinite strike action by Lagos doctors has crippled healthcare services across the state, frustrating important gains made in reducing the prevalence of infant and maternal mortality in the country. The striking doctors under the aegis of the Medical Guild had earlier suspended a three-day warning strike from April 11-13, 2012 to protest what they called "illegalities in the healthcare system" in Lagos State.

Crying babies, dejected mothers, sick children strolled in an out of the Malaria Prevention and Treatment Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital without any doctors to attend to them. Matrons assumed the role of doctors as they attended to some of the sick children. 

Lekan 32, whose 3 month-old baby showed symptoms of hepatitis lamented the absence of doctors.  After running series of tests, there was no doctor to analyze test reults and make make proper diagnosis. A visibly angry Mrs. Olusola Taiwo, 30, had waited in vain for more than 3 hours for the doctors to arrive. She told SPACES FOR CHANGE that she could not afford to take her 4-month old coughing baby to  a private hospital. She continues to hope the doctors would have a change of heart and return to the hospital. 

An estimated 655,000 people are afflicted by malaria every year. WHO’s new initiative, T3: Test, Treat, Track, urges malaria-endemic countries and donors to move towards universal access to diagnostic testing and antimalarial treatment, and to build robust malaria surveillance systems. 

SPACES FOR CHANGE learned about NAFDAC's Roll-Out Malaria Testing Programme iniatited by the National Food Drugs Administration Regulation Agency where  600 patients will receive free AA + AL  (Artemisinin Combination Therapy, used to treat malaria) treatment and treated mosquito nets plus a transportation stipend. 

SUBSIDY PROBE REPORT: DON'T SIT ON THE FENCE. ACT!

Young people across the country have begun to react to the extreme concentration of wealth in a few hands thanks to the latest subsidy probe disclosures regarding how N999 Million was paid for a record 128 times within 24 hours on the 12th and 13th of January 2009, totaling N127.872 Billion to undisclosed beneficiaries. This figure alone (N127.872) far exceeds the combined N76.075 Billion and 26.629 Billion Naira allocated to youth development and education (all Nigerian universities, colleges of education, and unity colleges) respectively in the 2012 national budget.

See annual budget on youth development via this link: 

http://www.budgetoffice.gov.ng/2012_budget_pro_details/3.%20Summary_Youth%202.pdf

See budget breakdown on education: http://www.budgetoffice.gov.ng/2012_budget_pro_details/12.%20Summary_Education.pdf

 

The Nigerian Government must not treat this subsidy probe report with levity as has been the trend with past probes. SPACES FOR CHANGE enjoins Nigerian youth to use every legitimate avenue and spaces -  be it streets, squares and business districts, social media -  to express their angst, and protest against the resulting corruption, high rates of unemployment, reduced social services, blighted futures and above all, massive deprivations of social and economic rights. The same socio-economic problems and symptoms that shattered the very foundations of the Greek and American financial systems are now very much present in the Nigerian economic landscape, and continually frustrate important gains in the realization of social and economic rights.

Support the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)! If passed, the PIB offers enormous prospects for improving the technical, operational and regulatory efficiency in oil industry operations, and through enhanced efficiency, expected to reduce oil waste, corruption and environmental degradation.

                             

                                    DON'T SIT ON THE FENCE!!!

                                                                             

                PARTICIPATE. ACT CHANGE!