Nigeria Property

Monday, May 25, 2015

ABUJA – To show his determination to rid Nigeria of corruption, the president elect, General Mohammadu Buhari, after his inauguration on Friday, will unveil his anti-corruption strategy, Vanguard learnt yesterday. The Strategy will be such that will put Nigerians with corruption baggages on their toes and make them to return their loots back to the federal government coffers even less persuasion.

To realize this objective, Vanguard investigations indicated that there is likely to be an establishment of a high powered anti-corruption panel with a mandate to investigate corrupt government officials and private individuals who had swindled the country. The panel shall also have the responsibility of tasking the corrupt individuals on making valuable returns in the form of plea bargain.

A timeline, Vanguard learnt will be given for the returns and once it expires, there will be full probes of the persons who had returned their ill gotten wealth and also of others who refused to return theirs. This, Vanguard learnt is to ascertain whether such returns were commensurate with history of looted money. The investigations would also touch on all other government properties which included buildings.

It was not however known if the probe would be restricted to the outgoing government of President Goodluck Jonathan which would cease to exist on Friday.

A dependable source who is a close ally of Buhari both in military and civil politics confided in Vanguard that the president-elect is likely to shock most Nigerians immediately after he is sworn in. According to him, Buhari is committed to stamping out corruption in Nigeria and would not relent. The source who didn’t want his name in print said that though talks were ongoing on how best to approach the issue of corruption, the methodology was yet to be fully discussed. He however stated that the conventional anti-corruption agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission, ICPC, would be reorganized and reactivated to play the lead role in the fight against graft.

He said: “We have not discussed with the president-elect on how he wants to treat his anti-corruption policy. I know he has said he has zero tolerance for corruption. He is a structured man. He is a man of the system. So, to begin to go round the idea may not be correct.

“I believe he will used the structures that are available to fight corruption. That I know. And the modalities it will take, that will be determined by the time he is in office. He will look at the entire thing and then based on the inputs he will get from the experts, he will determine the methodology to go about fighting corruption.”

“Certainly, I know that that is one of the things on the table which he must face squarely. Corruption is everywhere in the country. It has eaten so deep in our psyche. So, it needs to be fought head on. There has to be an assault on it from every angle.”

Asked if the president-elect will quickly swing into action immediately after he is sworn in on Friday, the source who also has a rich military background said Buhari has since fathomed how best to make Nigeria work again.

“You don’t want him to start that day? This is a man who has been trying to be president for the last 14 years. So, if he has not made up his mind on how to govern this country all these years, then there is problem. So, he knows what to do and he knows how to do it. Just give him the chance”, he said.

Vanguard investigations also showed that the incoming government would reorganize the nation’s security apparatus including the paramilitary especially those whose offices are not tenured starting with the Nigerian Army down to the EFCC.

But whether the reorganization would include relieving the current Heads of the institutions and agencies their present appointments we don’t known.

“I don’t know about that but I am sure he is going to take decision and whatever decision he takes, I am sure it is in the interest of the nation and the interest of greater proportion of Nigeria. So, let’s wait and see whatever decisions and pronouncements he will make. May 29th is just knocking by the door”, the source told Vanguard.

One may think that Buhari may be selective in his anti-corruption fight judging from public perception of many of Buhari’s political allies who may have soiled their hands in the past.

But here, the source said that the fight against corruption would be total and complete cutting across all strata of the society and in the All Progressives Congress, APC.

He added that no one would stop the wind of change either in or outside the APC.

“Are you alleging that someone people around him are corrupt? If you are not alleging that, then what will stop him from fighting corruption? You must understand one thing. General Buhari’s government is going to be far from the PDP government because if you have been following his comments, his pronouncements since the campaigns, there are three items he has selected and said these are the areas he will concentrate.

“He talked about corruption. He talked about insecurity. He talked about economy and by implication job creation. These are cardinal. Not that there are no other things but these are key things to getting this country turned around. These are things that can not be compromised by him. He has only identified and made up his mind that he is going tackle them.

“So, the question of people insinuating that there are people around him who are corruption, that is their business. If people are alleging that, I don’t know of any but if there is any, that is their business because that will not stop the wind of change when it comes to fighting corruption.

“So, the issue of saying he would be handicapped because he is surrounded by anybody, I don’t think that will stop him from forging ahead. There is going to be no sacred cow in this fight because if you want to make a change, it has to be total. And fighting corrupt in all ramifications is the way to go and I am sure the government will face it because the level at which corruption has gone in this country, if you don’t face corruption and fight it squarely, then whatever thing you put on the ground is a waste.

“So, that is our bane and we must face it. Any government that must make a change and bring succour to the people of Nigeria must fight corruption. There are people who will resist it but government is mightier than anybody. As far as the president-elect is concerned, I can tell you that there is no going back when it comes to fighting corruption. There is no second thought about it”, he said.

Source

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'I don’t know what fuel subsidy means' - Buhari

In another meeting with Daily Trust, President-elect, Buhari expressed reservations over cases by the legislature of subsidizing the petroleum sector.

He talked on how during his time as Military leader, they were able to make fuel accessible at all times. The following are excerpts of what he said in the meeting.

One burning issue is fuel subsidy. I believe you are aware of the queues in major cities like Lagos and Abuja. The fuel importers say they are unsure of the direction of the new government in this area. Have you considered maintaining or withdrawing this subsidy or are you questioning whether it didn’t exist at all?

One of the problems I have, other than the military, is the petroleum industry where I served for three and a half years under General Obasanjo. When people start talking about this subsidy I honestly get confused. I will tell you this, and I hope it will answer what you want to know. Back then we had a refinery in Port Harcourt, which was refining 30,000 barrels a day of Nigerian crude. Later, it was upgraded to refine 100,000 barrels a day.

Another refinery was built in Port Harcourt to refine 150,000 barrels per day of Nigerian crude. So, Port Harcourt alone had the capacity to refine 250,000 barrels per day of Nigerian crude. But when I found myself as the Minister of Petroleum I set up another refinery in Warri for 100, 000 barrels per day of Nigerian crude and the Kaduna refinery a 100, 000 barrels per day. So Nigeria built capacity to refine 450,000 a day. Four Hundred thousands of which is purely Nigerian crude, but 50,000 was imported. The type of crude could be Venezuelan, which could be a bit heavier. But the lighter ones – kerosene, aviation fuel, diesel, PMS of different grades could be produced from our crude because Nigerian crude is about the best in the world. If you could recall, after finishing as Minister of Petroleum, I subsequently became Head of State.

You remember, I appointed Professor Tam David West as the Minister of Petroleum. When we rounded up bunkers, collected their illegal jetties and allowed jetties for only big firms which were doing production and development in the country, we were shocked that we had too much fuel. We had to begin to export 100,000 barrels per day. Don’t forget that we didn’t stop at building refineries, we built more than 20 depots during my time, from Port Harcourt to Ilorin, Makurdi, Suleija, Maiduguri and Kano. More than 3,000 pipelines were laid to connect them. A number of stations were also built to take the trailers off the road, save lives and the infrastructure on the road. It is more economical because each trailer uses fuel.

We did all that in this country and we didn’t borrow any money as far as I know. It’s Nigerian money. From each Nigerian crude, whether Akwa Ibom, Bonny Light or whatever it is, you can work out how much products it will give you; how much petrol it will give you; how much diesel it will give you if you want to produce diesel. We could tell how much Nigerian crude cost, the cost of transportation from there to the refinery, the cost of refining, the cost of transportation to the pump stations and maybe 5 per cent go for overhead. I can understand if Nigerians pay for those cost but somebody is saying he is subsidizing Nigerians. Who is subsidizing who?

But they argue that the price should not be the same in Lagos and Daura, for example?

It has to be the same because it is the Nigerian crude.

But they consider the cost of transportation?

Why didn’t it make any difference when we were around? Why did we build the network of pipelines? Why did we build the network of depots? What can Nigerians benefit from the God-given gift of petroleum? No refinery is built unless there is an in-depth research that there is enough reserve of up to six layers to be produced.

The argument I have heard is that refineries are aged. Mostly, they are performing at less than half of their capacity…?

You can’t defend these corrupt and incompetent people. You can’t defend them. There used to be what they call turn-around-maintenance. You close the refinery in order to overhaul and clean it. What we did: we asked our producers, we need various refined products of this type at this time when the refineries are being cleaned. Take this type of Nigerian crude and bring us the refined products. What we don’t need, we will calculate and pay you as fees for refining and transportation. If it is more than what the crude can handle, then we take it from the treasury. But you are trying to justify all these frauds by saying the refineries are aged.

Of course, they are actually aged?

They said the refineries are aged. The pipelines are leaking. There is vandalisation. Who ordered the vandalisation?

Does it suggest that you don’t believe in the subsidy? So, you are not going to agree to its continuation in anyway?

I would like to be on ground and find out what really has been going wrong. Why is it that people are doing round-tripping with the Nigerian products and take money from the treasury? Some people are still in court. You know about it. So, I’m not taking anything for granted. But I will try and find out what went wrong.

Read the rest of the interview on Daily Trust