Court Vacates Order Granting AMCON Power To Seize Capital Oil Assets

By Chukwudi OHIRI

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has vacated order granting AMCON power to seize capital oil assets.

Encouraged by a vacation order it secured at a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja which amended an earlier order granted to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, over its assets and facilities, Capital Oil and Gas Industries Nigeria Limited and its embattled managing director, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, mounted an intense legal battle to have the court set aside the order granted to AMCON, which empowered it to take control of the company’s assets and facilities.

The court had on 13 November granted a temporary forfeiture order against Ubah and his company in favour of AMCON following an exparte application brought before the court by Amcon. The court granted the Corporation control of Uba’s assets and companies, including petroleum products at the company’s tank farms.

He however successfully secured a vacation of the order which allowed him access to 25 per cent of his personal and company’s funds in sixteen accounts domiciled at UBA to enable him attend to some personal issues and pay salaries of over 5000 staff working in his companies.

At the first hearing, Ubah, who was represented by Chief Wole Olanipekun, a senior advocate of Nigeria, challenged the order made against him by the court on the ground that a recovery action had already been commenced against him and his company, Capital Oil and Gas Industries Nigeria Limited, since on the 9th of November, before AMCON approached the court with an exparte motion on 13th November for an order to recover its funds. This, according to the embattled oil importer, is contrary to the provisions of section 49 sub-section 3 of the AMCON Act 2010.

He urged the court to discharge the order it granted earlier as it was obtained by AMCON through misrepresentation and non disclosure of material facts and circumstances touching on the status of the facilities immediately preceding the institution of the action.

He further stated that Capital Oil is the second largest importer and supplier of fuel across the country and that a forfeiture will have a negative impact on a large number of the society who depend on its products to run their lives and businesses.

AMCON’s lawyer, Mr. Femi Balogun, however opposed the application, and argued that section 49 sub-section 3 does not preclude AMCON from commencing a recovery action against the Ubah before applying to the court for an order to take possession of his company and properties. The court presided by Justice Abdul Kafarati subsequently adjourned till 11th December to rule on the application.

At the resumed hearing however, the court granted capital oil leave to have access to its assets pending the full determination of the case which has been adjourned till 15^th January 2013.

Enebeli Enebuwa Dies In India

By Chukwudi OHIRI

 
Report reaching us some hours ago has it that Nollywood veteran actor “Andrew Wan Check Out” Enebeli Enebuwa has died. He died in an Indian hospital where he was receiving treatment for an ailment.

 He was diagnosed with the illness some months back and was moved to an Indian hospital in Karu Abuja by some Nollywood actresses led by Stella Damasus. After sometime, he was referred to India where he was flown to at the expense of his home state governor, Gov Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State. 

Few weeks back he spoke to Mrs. Lara Owoeye Wise on AIT where he told Nigerians that he will soon be back. His condition worsened some days back and all efforts to revive him were futile.

The former President of Actors Guild of Nigeria, Segun Arinze was quoted by our source to have confirmed the story saying it was a great loss to the industry. According to him, Enebuwa was one of the shining stars of the industry and will be greatly missed.

Arrangement is being made to bring his body back to Nigeria. 

(Source: CKN Nigeria)

Spain To Vote In Support Of Palestinian Bid For Statehood

Indications are rife that Spain will back the Palestinians’ bid to win recognition as a state at the United Nations, Foreign Minister Jose-Manuel Garcia-Margallo told the national parliament in Madrid on Wednesday, 28th November, 2012 reports Bloomberg.
Delegates are set to vote tomorrow on a resolution circulated Nov. 8 by the Palestinian Authority that would put the Palestine Liberation Organization on par with the Holy See as a non-member state at the UN.
France and Russia have already said they will support the proposal. No country has veto power in the General Assembly, so the U.S., which opposes the initiative, can’t block it.
U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague will make a statement to Parliament today on whether Britain will support giving the Palestinians statehood. Hague is willing to back the motion if the Palestinians can shift their position in three areas to provide reassurances to Israel and the U.S., an official familiar with the foreign secretary’s thinking said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with U.K. government practice.
(Curled from Bloomberg)

Jonathan Fires BPE DG--Mrs Bolanle Onagoruwa

President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) Mrs. Bolanle Onogoruwa to vacate office.
Accordingly, he ordered her to handover to Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki who is the most senior Director in the Bureau. Dikki is to hold for to the position of DG of the BPE in acting capacity until further notice.
Although reasons for Onogoruwa sack was not given as at the time of handling this report, LEADERSHIP gathered that the change of baton effected with immediate effect yesterday was not unconnected with the shabby handling of the on-going privatisation process in the power sector.
A terse statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Vice President Namadi Sambo, Alhaji Umar Sani to this effect noted: "The Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) Mrs. Bolanle Onogoruwa has been relieved of her appointment with immediate effect.  She is to hand over to the most Senior Director in the Bureau, Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki who is to hold the position in an acting capacity.
"Mr. President extends his sincere appreciation to Mrs. Bolanle Onogoruwa for her services to the nation and wishes her the best in her future endeavours".
The Vice President is the Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NPC), while Onogoruwa, the erstwhile BPE DG and business man, Atedo Peterside are at the helm of affairs. They had always briefed the press at the end of the council's monthly meeting.

I Pity Mr. President

By Chukwudi OHIRI

Sometimes, I sit in my little closet pondering on the demands of leadership, having been in that position myself at a lower level for decades by dint of sheer providence just like our dear President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. I shrug at myself and at many ‘selfless leaders’ especially when I realize that it is hardly possible to please everybody and yet, a good leader must do what he must do not minding the vituperations that must come from the opposition.

President Jonathan is one of such people I pity most when I discover that any of his actions or inactions elicit reactions that are mostly negative from the critics. Even when they are tempted to give him some accolades, it is usually shrouded in such dialectics that tend to rather credit some external factors instead. An analogy of a homily delivered by Rev. Fr. Francis Ike on one fateful Holy Thursday Mass aptly captures the picture I intend to paint of Mr. President’s dilemma.

On that fateful Holy Thursday evening, the church was filled to the brim as usual for the day’s celebration to mark the beginning of the Easter Tridum. Holy Thursday is a very significant day among Catholics all over the world. Apart from marking the anniversary of the institution of the Holy Eucharist, Holy Thursday is a day set aside to remember the Roman Catholic priesthood and so the homily of that day is usually phased, one tilting towards the functions and character of a typical priest.

                The Parish was Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church Aguda and ministering on that day were about four priests including Rev. Fr. Jude Anyaehie, the Parish priest of the church, his Assistant then, Rev. Fr. Philip Sosu Mobee and two other priests including Rev. Fr. Francis Ike, a visiting, though indigenous priest of the Parish. The homily of Fr. Ike was one of the most touching homilies I had heard to the point that the entire church could not but release a tumultuous applause as he dropped the microphone (a practice that is not ideally customary with Catholicism).

                Of a Catholic priest, Fr. Ike said, if he starts the mass a few minutes after the scheduled time, the parishioners will complain that he does not keep to time. He is too fond of starting the mass late and so he must be a lazy priest. He has neither wife nor children so what excuse does he have to give for starting the mass late? When he starts the mass a little before the scheduled time, they will complain that he lacks sense of keeping appointments. “Is the mass not scheduled for 9:00am, why must he start before 9,” the parishioners will complain. If he starts the mass at exactly the scheduled time, the late comers would still complain that he is too officious and high handed. He should have given a few minutes grace knowing full well about the traffic situation in Lagos.

                When the priest takes much time in his homily, the parishioners would complain that he wastes so much time and talks a lot. Does he think that long sermons will make people to repent? Doesn’t he know of the saying that ‘a word is enough for the wise? But when the homily is very short, they still complain that the priest does not know what to say anymore. He needs to prepare his homilies well in advance so that he can know what to tell the people.

                If the priest is the very social type who mingles with the parishioners very freely and playfully, people would complain that he is a worldly or canal priest who does not respect his position as an oracle of God. When he is the reclusive type, some people will complain that he is too proud and so full of himself. “He must be a pretender that thinks himself holier than thou,” they say.

                If the priest gives any lady a ‘lift’, then he must be a womanizer. Why must it be a woman? If it were a man, he wouldn’t stop. But when the priest refuses to stop for somebody on the way, then they tag him a selfish person who does not want to help anybody.

If the priest is the type that quotes extensively from the bible during his sermons, some will complain that he is turning the Catholic Church into Pentecostal but when he never makes reference to any scriptural passage, some others will still complain that he does not know the word of God. He must be lazy in studying the word. Rev. Fr. Ike gave much more examples that at the end, he called on the people of God to always pray for their priests because the task and challenges of priesthood is quite enormous. The plight of President Jonathan is no different from the above scenario. A few instances of this will suffice to buttress this point even as I do not in any way intend to hold brief for Mr. President nor do I claim in this piece that he is faultless.

On December 13, 2011, President Jonathan presented the draft budget for the 2012 fiscal year to the National Assembly. Before then, tongues were already wagging. Many complained that the budget was getting to the National Assembly rather very late and will apparently affect its early passage. In the heat of the whole argument, President Jonathan pledged to avoid that kind of delay subsequently. This he fulfilled and by September 2012, the 2013 budget was ready for presentation. Again, the House complained that it was rather too early as they needed time to appraise the performance of the 2012 budget first and the yet to be adopted 2013-2015 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy (MTEFF) paper forwarded earlier by the president. The same people that complained of delayed presentation last year now double speaking so to say.

At the beginning of the year 2012, Mr. President rolled up his sleeves in readiness to battle the oil cabals. First, he took the bull by the horns by announcing the total removal of fuel subsidy, an act that required so much courage to embark upon considering the caliber of people involved in the perennial scam. The cabals were systematically taken aback, but this move was grossly criticized. Nigerians in their numbers went to the streets to protest against the policy. Today, reports that emanated from the probe that followed shortly after revealed monumental fraud. Every Nigerian is clamouring now for a showdown with the cabal blaming the president for ineptitude.

The National Judicial Council (NJC) had on August 18, 2011 recommended the compulsory retirement of Hon. Justice Isa Ayo Salami, OFR, over allegations of purported ‘misconduct’. In a matter of days after the recommendation, Justice Salami was fired by the President and hell was let lose. People questioned the president for acting so fast on the matter and till date, tongues are still wagging. Only recently, the National Assembly recommended the sack of the Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh. As at press time, this recommendation is yet to be carried out and again, tongues are wagging over the ‘delay’ or outright rejection of the recommendation. They have even gone ahead to threaten the president with impeachment for ignoring the ‘advice’ of the National Assembly.

When in 2010, the President proposed what was described by critics then as a ‘lavish’ independence anniversary celebration, the press was agog with criticism. Many condemned the proposed celebration with pomp and pageantry, though for various reasons. The condemnation was indeed widespread. The critics argued that there was nothing to celebrate at 50. In 2012, the independence anniversary was celebrated just at the forecourt of the Presidential Villa at a very low key. Again, critics went hay wire. They accuse Mr. President of bowing to Boko Haram threat, “an ominous sign of weakness,” they claim.

If there is a situation and Mr. President allows due process to take precedence, then he is a weakling and ‘lily-livered’. People will complain that he is a coward lacking a sense of direction. If he reacts promptly, then he is interfering with due process, irrational and clueless.

At the wake of Boko Haram insurgency for instance, he relaxed and allowed the security chiefs to do their job. Even when there was pressure on him to declare state of emergency in some of the affected states, he kept his cool. This was termed by critics as weakness, incompetence and naivety. At some point, he ordered the Joint Task Force into the streets of Maidugiri to arrest the situation, many critics started accusing him of killing an ant with a sledge hammer. Some northern elders even went as far as accusing him of a calculated attempt to render the town “desolate and the people refugees in their own town.”

Last week during the media chat with Mr. President, the issue of poor handling of the Lagos Ibadan road project by the concessionaires—Ms Bi-Courtney was openly raised and people clamoured for an immediate action against the contractor. Within 48hrs, the president revoked the contract, re-awarding it to Julius Berger and RCC. Rather than applaud the swift action of the president, the debate in the media now is about how right or wrong the action was and how due process was not followed.  

Little wonder why Mr. President once cried out that he was the most criticized president in the world and I quite agree with him. Could it be that he is actually making some progress? This reminds me of an inscription I saw at the office of the Deputy Registrar of Abia State University when I went to collect my degree certificate. It read: ‘If you are not stepping on anyone’s feet, it means you are not making any move’ (can’t remember the exact words). This applies more in leadership. No matter how hard a leader tries, critics will always throw arrows that are very capable of derailing a leader that is not well focused and John C. Maxwell once said: “A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit”. Maybe Mr. President must begin to learn this aspect.

The roads that were bad decades before his assumption of office are today blamed on him. The comatose power sector which had gulped billions of dollars long before Goodluck Jonathan came near the corridors of power are today blamed on his ineptitude. The endemic corruption that past leaders purportedly fought and made no head way with are today blamed on only one man, even when those pointing one accusing finger at him have three other fingers pointing at them. When flood submerges communities across the states, the people cry ‘Jonathan!!!’, as if he sent the flood. The decay and rot that have bedeviled this country over 52 years now are now termed ‘the making’ of Mr. President—Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan. Rather concentrate on the import of his speeches, his critics pay greater attention to his grammar, his eloquence or the lack of it and his application of tenses.

These very few instances which are not even the most classic as there are many other more congruent cases are the reasons why I pity Mr. President with all the passion in me while not trying to be defensive of his actions and inactions.

           

NYSC: When Salt Looses Its Taste

NYSC: When Salt Looses Its Taste

By Chukwudi OHIRI

“If salt loses its Taste, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot” says the holy book. This brings to the fore, the knotty question about the viability or otherwise of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme as it stands today. Has it lost its saltiness? Does it still serve the purpose for which it was introduced by the initiators of the scheme several years ago? A peep into the historical background of the scheme will suffice in our assessment of the journey so far for the NYSC.

In line with the three point agenda of General Yakubu Gowon in the immediate aftermath of the Nigerian Civil war, the idea of a scheme that will see to the reunification and soothing of the wounds of both the ‘vanquished and the victor’, --the NYSC scheme was hatched by the administration. On May 22, 1973, Decree No.24 which established the NYSC scheme was promulgated "with a view to the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity". This was further elaborated upon in 1993 to look beyond the immediate present and to think of the future leadership of the country that necessitated the mobilization of certain categories of our youths through the National Youth Service Corps Scheme. This was done with a view to giving them the proper guidance and orientation relevant to the needs of the country. The National Youth Service Corps Decree No. 24 was repealed and replaced by Decree 51 of 16th June 1993.

Furthermore and most importantly, the purpose of the scheme is primarily to inculcate in Nigerian Youths, the spirit of selfless service to the community, and to emphasize the spirit of oneness and brotherhood of all Nigerians, irrespective of cultural or social background. The history of our country since independence has clearly indicated the need for unity amongst all our people, and demonstrated the fact that no cultural or geographical entity can exist in isolation.

All these ideals were succinctly spelt out in Decree 51, of 1993 as follows: to inculcate discipline in Nigerian youths by instilling in them a tradition of industry at work, and of patriotic and loyal service to Nigeria in any situation they may find themselves;
to raise the moral tone of the Nigerian youths by giving them the opportunity to learn about higher ideals of national achievement, social and cultural improvement;
to develop in the Nigerian youths the attitudes of mind, acquired through shared experience and suitable training. which will make them more amenable to mobilization in the national interest;
to enable Nigerian youths acquire the spirit of self reliance by encouraging them to develop skills for self employment;
to contribute to the accelerated growth of the national economy;
to develop common ties among the Nigerian youths and promote national unity and integration;
to remove prejudices, eliminate ignorance and confirm at first hand the many similarities among Nigerians of all ethnic groups; and
to develop a sense of corporate existence and common destiny of the people of Nigeria.

To achieve the objectives above, the Decree recommended as follows: the equitable distribution of members of the service corps and the effective utilisation of their skills in area of national needs;
that as far as possible, youths are assigned to jobs in States other than their States of origin;
that such group of youths assigned to work together is as representative of Nigeria as far as possible; that the Nigerian youths are exposed to the modes of living of the people in different parts of Nigeria;
that the Nigerian youths are encouraged to eschew religious intolerance by accommodating religious differences;
that members of the service corps are encouraged to seek at the end of their one year national service, career employment all over Nigeria, thus promoting the free movement of labour;
and finally, that employers are induced partly through their experience with members of the service corps to employ more readily and on a permanent basis, qualified Nigerians, irrespective of their States of origin.

Can we look back today and say that these initial lofty dreams by the progenitors of this scheme are still in place? The answer will definitely be in the negative, sustaining the view that the salt (NYSC scheme), may have lost its saltiness or relevance owing to several factors that is not limited to the present security situation alone.

Looking back in the years gone by, the NYSC programme connoted a full year of selfless service and suffering though, due to the policy of dragging youths from their home zone to completely new terrains and cultures with only stipends for sustenance, yet most graduating students looked forward to the programme with glee and pride, not necessarily because it was mandatory and a primary prerequisite for securing any government appointment as a graduate, but because the experience was most rewarding to the individual and the country at large. It never mattered so much where one was posted and corps members were treated with dignity by the host communities and organizations. All these are now in the past. Graduating students now lobby and pay huge chunk of money in order to be posted to their choice areas leading to the overcrowding of certain areas to the detriment of the others. This has also become business for NYSC officials who would feel great loss if the scheme is eventually proscribed.

The reality on ground now is that the seemingly intractable insecurity situation in the country, especially in many parts of northern Nigeria, the uncertainty of even securing a job outside one’s zone after the service year and many other anomalies associated with the NYSC scheme are now threatening the foundations of this laudable scheme. Corps members are now endangered species, prone to greater dangers like violent deaths through bomb blasts, mob attacks or gunmen’s onslaught and gang rape (for the female ones).

During the April 2011 post election violence for example, about 10 corpers were reportedly killed. Many others were killed in one form of violent attack or the other especially across the northern region. Before the election violence, several other corps members employed as ad hoc staff by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met their untimely death in places like Suleja, Niger State, as well as in Jos, Plateau State in the wake ethno-religious crisis in those areas. This spate of insecurity has been a source of worry for every sector of the polity including the House of Representatives who recently directed the authorities of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to cancel posting of corps members to volatile states in the North (including Yobe, Borno, Gombe, Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and Plateau States) which are currently facing security challenges. At first, it was a tall order for the Director General of NYSC, Brigadier Genenral Nnamdi Okore-Affa who insistence that “by our (NYSC) mandate, we must post corps members to all states. However, because some areas have been described as volatile, what we will do is to reduce the number of corps members sent to such states. They will be posted to areas where their security will be guaranteed”. Feelers received by this magazine suggested that the order was later carried out by the DG and it is not yet clear how long this directive will continue to be in force. Confirming this status quo, the NYSC boss in a later statement on the redeployment of corp members posted to the North directed that “Yobe State prospective corps members will now hold their orientation course at the Nasarawa State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Keffi, Keffi LGA, and not as stated in their call-up letters. Borno State prospective corps members will undertake their orientation programme at the Benue State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp at Wanume, Tarka LGA, and not as stated in their call-up letters”. If this arrangement persists and the insecurity situation remains unabated, how can the expected national integration as well as the anticipated synergy between and among the youths from the diverse cultures of the country be achieved? Will it not amount to naught continuing on the NYSC scheme where graduates will now have to serve in their home States, acquiring nothing new about the country they are out to salvage?  

Writing on one of the national dailies recently, Kunle Rotimi in an opinion page opined that “the gory situation has called for an urgent review in the posting of these promising youths. Henceforth, NYSC should ensure that every corps member is mobilized and posted to their states of origin. One can serve his or her fatherland anywhere. It does not have to be at hostile communities, cannibal abattoirs as they are now, where bodies of ill-fated young men, purportedly serving the nation would have to be parceled back to their toiling parents who have hungered to send them to school”. Many parents have vowed to withdraw their wards from serving at the NYSC if posted to certain parts of the country thereby defeating the sole aim of establishing the NYSC programme. The teething question that has been repeatedly asked at this point is: “should the baby be thrown away with the bathwater”? Investigation by this magazine revealed that most erstwhile corps members who went through this scheme benefited beyond their expectations from it, especially those who served outside their region. Their perception and understanding of people from other tribes usually changed for the better which was what the NYSC scheme was set up for.

Mr. Nath Amadi who served in Sokoto State in 2007 narrated his experience then to Nigerian OrientNews. “The people were nice to me”, he started. “In the morning, a good number of families would be the first to wake me up with their traditional meals which I did not want to taste at first. But when I tasted the ‘tuwo shinkafi’, I never stopped eating it until I left the north. Contrary to the present general notion that Hausas are very hostile people as is believed today, they supplied me with all kinds of farm produce and bush meat and showed me great reverence as though I was a deity. ‘Koffer, koffer,’ they usually shouted when they needed attention. It was real fun and I hope the current security situation would not lead to the eventual collapse of this laudable structure,” he concluded. It is very worrisome to observe that the above story which corps members in the past replicated can no longer be the same. Efforts of the present administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to make the NYSC members happy through increased wages/allowance have been rubbished by both insecurity problem and non-complementing of the decent wage payment by some state governments.

At the Orientation camp of the latest Batch of the 2012 corps members, rather than emphasize the cardinal aim of the scheme which is National unity and integration among members, the Various State coordinators of the NYSC and State Governors  who addressed the participants harped more on the security concern of the nation proffering the learning of martial arts as a solution.

 Speaking during the swearing-in ceremony of the ‘Batch-B of the 2012 corps members, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State emphasized on the primary objectives of the scheme, which is to promote unity. But his Ogun State counterpart, Senator Ibikunle Amnosun, focused more on the security concerns in the country calling for intensified martial arts training for corps members so that they can defend themselves in case of insurgency. The State Coordinator of NYSC, Mrs. Theresa Anosike further corroborated this explaining that the 2,000 corps members comprising of 999 males and 1001 females would be trained in martial arts to equip them with self-defence skills in addition to the normal para-military drills and physical training during the three-week orientation programme. She stressed that the training is meant to “instill discipline in them, toughen their resistance, and imbue in them Spartan-like resilience that will prepare them for whatever challenges they may encounter, during and after their service period.”

On his part, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State charged the 2,426 comprising of 1,355 male and 1,071 female corps members in his state to be security conscious throughout their service year in the state. The governor urged them to be potent instruments in checking the menace of terrorism in the country, adding that this was the only way by which they could save the country from the international embarrassment caused the nation by the terrorists.  “You are all aware of the security challenge which is gradually turning the nation into a terrorist nation before the international community. I charge you to see yourself as instruments to check the menace. Be security conscious at all times," he said.

In Enugu, the issue of safety of corps members also dominated the speech of Governor Sullivan Chime, who tasked the security agencies in the state to provide adequate cover for the corps members wherever they may be posted in the state. This was reinforced by the NYSC Coordinator in the state, Hillary Nasamu, who assured the corps members that the agency had put measures in place to guarantee the safety of over 2,500 corps members posted to the state.

Such is the gory tale of a lofty dream that is gradually heading towards irrelevance or extinction if nothing is urgently done to arrest the situation before hand. Security concerns have taken the place of national unity and integration leading to the vociferous call for the scrapping of the NYSC scheme.