At a recent advocacy workshop organized by the Revenue Mobilisation Commission (RMAFC), on the need for economic diversification and revenue generation, in Abeokuta, former President Olusegun Obasanjo dropped another bombshell on the economic performance and problems confronting the nation.

His criticisms of the government could be his usual blunt frankness as this writer had witnessed some of his combative postures in villa while he was President some years ago. I will come to that.

Against the backdrop of grinding poverty and allied economic hardship caused unemployment in Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo warned that popular revolt as recently witnessed in the Arab World might occur in Nigeria if the precarious socio-economic conditions of the citizenry were not urgently addressed. He pointedly stressed that there was discontentment in the land.

Before his warning in Abeokuta, just recently at his investiture as the First Grand Patron of Nigeria- China Business Council (NCBC) in Lagos, Obasanjo had queried the squandering of $35 billion Nigeria foreign reserves that he left in office in 2007, saying the country’s leaders and people need to be prudent to get out of its economic woes currently confronting the country. He even advised that Nigeria should borrow a leaf from the Chinese economy that is designed for sustainable growth and development.

While bemoaning the shrink in the nation’s foreign reserves, he said China was working assiduously to improve its economy and foreign reserves while Nigeria was busy reducing its own. According to him: “We left what we call excess crude for the raining day, up to 35billion dollars; within three years, the 35 billion dollars disappeared. Whether the money disappeared or-like the governor said-it was shared, the fact remains that $35 billion disappeared from the foreign reserve I left behind in office.” Surprisingly up till today no one is asking question after the disclosure before he dropped another bombshell.
The Abeokuta workshop gave the former leader ample opportunity, as usual to speak extemporal with jokes and innuendoes which are loaded with warning messages. He said: “There is the possibility of having the Arab Spring in Nigeria if similar conditions, hardships and un-employment which gave birth to it are not addressed.”

Citing Libya and Egypt as countries that witnessed the “Arab Spring”, Obasanjo said though there was appreciable economic growth in both countries, their people revolted because there was “a disconnect” between the “economic growth” in those Arab nations and “discontentment” of the people for democratic practice. Obasanjo said: “It doesn’t matter which way you look at it today. People are now talking of Arab Spring. And some people will say, is Egypt not developing? On economic scale, after South Africa, it is Egypt in Africa. Has Libya not got resources? At one time Libya was producing as much oil as Nigeria and in terms of Gross Domestic Products (GDP), it was growing well.”

The former leader, agreed with the current Chairman of RMAFC, Engr. Elias Mbam in lamenting that the nation has been “mobilising and sharing revenue” from only one source – oil, and stressing that the time had come for the governments to devise ingenious ways of expanding their revenue base by venturing into agriculture, tourism and manufacturing which was the purpose of the workshop.

He therefore advised the three tiers of governments in Nigeria to pay special attention to agriculture and agro-business as tools for employment generation for the “burgeoning army of unemployed Nigerians so that the Arab Spring does not rear its head in the country.

He also urged financial institutions, large-scale farmers, small and medium scale farmers, researchers, retailers and distributors and governments to get involved in using agriculture and agro-business to create jobs and food in order to enhance national security and stability.

After the workshop some of the participants who had never met or seen Obasanjo spoke in public were marveled by his power of oratory with proven statistics in his extemporal remarks. They asked: “Is this the same Obasanjo that many Nigerians love to dislike?”

Though many Nigerians may have reservations on the man that ruled them twice first as a military leader and later a civilian president making him the longest serving Head of State in Nigeria, Obasanjo is eloquent, charismatic and intellectual leader who could discuss any topic with meticulousness and distinctiveness of academic scholar and political orator. In the face of some of his obvious shortcomings, especially unforgiving nature, he is widely respected globally as an African leader of repute. His views are still respected abroad, though the same could be ignored in the country.

Obasanjo is largely misunderstood by some of his actions against those he perceived as his enemies. He seems to be very sincere about Nigeria project and to some extent a patriotic man. While some officers during his tenure found it difficult to tell him the truth, but with my korokoro eyes I witnesses several occasions where the former Chairman of RMAFC, Engr. Hamman Tukur always took on him whenever we were on a visit to submit some damning reports on the oil sector, external debt management, monetization policy and fiscal issues.

I remember an episode where he banged his table in the villa and shouted at Tukur: “Chairman or whatever you call yourself I am the President and the Commander-in-Chief. You cant come here to be talking nonsense and indicting my officials.” Though the report was submitted after heated arguments, he nevertheless implemented some aspects of the recommendations through probes and sanctioning of officials involved in billions of Naira hanky-panky. And the mother of all surprise: he reappointed the same Tukur against stiff opposition from most members of his cabinet.

The fact is Obasanjo had a good team with good intentions during his tenure. The alleged Third-Term ambition and his unnecessary infighting with his Vice President Atiku Abubakar distracted the administration and consumed their reputation.

This article by Yushau A. Shuaib has appeared in the Economic Confidential, Daily Trust, Thisday, Nigerian Tribune, Vanguard, Champion, New Nigerian, the Sun and Punch in December 2011

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Hamman Tukur, Chairman RMAFC

Just as there is confusion over the names of the major oil company involved in the bribery scam for a gas plant in Nigeria, so also are the different lists of alleged beneficiaries. The story of bribery scandals by a consortium of foreign oil firms operating in Nigeria has resurfaced again with names of the main culprits who were actually involved lumped with alleged victims whose only offense is that they held sensitive offices at the period when the projects were awarded.

Sometimes between 2004 and 2005, this writer while working as a PR person at the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) was inundated with various enquiries from the foreign media on the alleged bribery. They sought to verify if the Chairman of the Commission, Engr. Hamman Tukur was aware of his name, allegedly featured in a handwritten note by an official of one of the oil companies.

As at that time the US Securities and Exchange Commission had subpoenaed documents from several multinational companies in an attempt to probe into the $170m alleged bribery for a gas plant on Bonny Island in Nigeria. The companies involved in the project including Shell of UK which was the largest private shareholder on the project, Total of France, Eni of Italy, Halliburton of US, NNPC of Nigeria and Marubeni conglomerate of Japan which acted as a subcontractor on the project.

The scandal in the first instance was leaked by a former executive of one of the foreign companies who was sidelined in the deal. The subsequent investigations largely centred on the conducts of TSKJ, the major contractor for structures of the gas plant which was said to have ‘picked up about $7bn worth of building contracts between 1995 and 2004.’ TSKJ is a global consortium that includes a subsidiary of Halliburton, which was claimed to be owned by a former Vice-President Dick Cheney of the US.

Precisely on September 19, 2005, one of the emails received by this writer came from Michael Peel an award-winning journalist with the Financial Times of UK. He has reported the oil sector and financial crimes in Africa which expose corporate corruption especially in multinational oil companies and the effect on the environment. Though I had refused to respond to his first email which came through yahoo address, thinking it was from those notorious 419ners. A Google search indicated that Peel had published a profile interview with former GMD of NNPC Mr. Gaius Obaseki. Before then, I had advised my Chairman to ignore the early questionnaire.

Subsequent enquiries from him and others provided insights into the alleged scandals. The award of the first railway contract was made to TSKJ in 1994 when Engr. Tukur was a board member of NLNG by virtue of being the Director General in the Ministry of Petroleum, a tradition in various ministries where senior officers are directors in related institutions and parastatals. Surprisingly Engr. Hamman Tukur did not last long when the former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha relieved him of his appointment.

Tukur’s name in the imbroglio stemmed from some notes by one William Chaudan, an employee of the TSKJ consortium, made of its meetings in the run-up to the 1994 contract award. The Peel’s email stated that: “A section of the notes, taken at an alleged ‘cultural meeting’ of consortium members in December 1993, is entitled ‘Marubeni suggestions.’ The section lists some people, next to the words ‘cover directly.’ Beneath, four other names of NLNG directors are listed next the words ‘already covered’. A note was said to be below that that says: ‘M requested approval and commitment for $30[m] for the above. Excludes Abacha, extra for Etiebet.'”

The Financial Times actually wanted to know whether the people named as “already covered” were offered or received bribes. Therefore the question by the reporter is to confirm “if any representative from TSKJ offer or give (gave) out money? If not, to confirm what the phrase “already covered” might mean?”

It was discovered that a number of notes suggest that the TSKJ partners were keen on hiding what they were doing. Notes of several so-called cultural meetings record discussions between TSKJ partners of “secret” and “open” commission payments. It was further revealed that at one point, another company Technip rejected a proposal as possibly opening up an opportunity for blackmail.

In my response to Peel’s enquiry on October 6, 2005, after speaking to Engr. Tukur on phone (who was then on a break in his hometown) I stated that “Engr. Tukur did not attend any nocturnal meeting for ulterior motives and was not aware of those coded messages and what they stood for in the notes.” I went on to clarify that “It might not be strange for individuals to impersonate others for extortion, in the name of fronting as link-person, a fraudulent practice that still exists.”

While some of the foreign media refused to mention names in their reports because of the risk and implications of indicting innocent victims from the main culprits, Financial Times was magnanimous enough in balancing the story even when it named names.

It is suspected that either the names of some innocent persons were featured to give the deal a semblance of legitimacy or some crooks were cunningly using other people’s name without authorisation, for fraudulent activities in the name of commission charges.

It is necessary to point out that as much as we keep accusing some of our leaders of corrupt practices, we must realise that there are many Nigerians that are honest, sincere and fighting corruption in various ways. Engr. Hamman Tukur has been a single individual that has stake his life to expose misdeed in the oil sectors, campaigned against misuse of revenues by the custodians at the federal and states levels and does not spare the Presidency and National Assembly in his acts and deed.

There are many honourable and distinguished Nigerians that are indeed very clean but not celebrated. One can even cite Tukur’s deputy at the commission, Alhaji Abu Gidado who is popularly referred to as an Incorruptible Minister during General Sani Abacha’s administration who could neither be bribed nor tempted as Chairman of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) during the military era.

While it is agreeable that corrupt practices like bad news make the headlines, the media should be cautious in lumping innocents with criminals as the fifth columnists are presently out in full force to achieve hidden agenda towards their 2011 election. The government must also immediately investigate and prosecute those found wanting in the scam. It must also take further steps to blacklist the foreign collaborators and revoke the licenses of the foreign firms involved in this monumental scandal rubbishing the image of our country.

Apart from the victims whose names where wrongly or mischievously added to the list of Halliburton TSKJ Scandal, Nigerians are victims of the damaging campaigns which invariably affect the reputation of the great African nation and its citizens abroad.

The post The Victims of Halliburton and TSKJ Scandals appeared first on YAShuaib.

Hamman Tukur

For those conversant with the Nigerian economy in the present democratic dispensation, a constitutional agency has created tremendous awareness and public participation on issue bordering on public finance such as monetisation policy, revenue generation, federal allocation and fiscal efficiency. The agency is the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, under the leadership of humble and courageous Engr. Hamman Tukur who was recently named for the conferment of national honours of the Order of Federal Republic (OFR).

Though some leaders have received a lot of accolades from fair commentaries, chieftaincy titles, honorary degrees, sponsored advertorial and solidarity rallies, there are some achievers whose introverted disposition of refusing to blow their trumpets are not widely acknowledged. Engr. Tukur falls in this category. Even though various groups and individuals have nominated him for traditional titles and awards, he often humbly refused such honours that are usually attached to monetary values, unwholesome reciprocation and objectionable conditions. Not all honours are bad but the rate at which honours are dashed to wealthy and public office holders without any commensurate contributions and achievements made the motives of such exercises questionable.

Tributes are also not intended to praise-sing but highlight some emulative sterling qualities and selfless sacrifices made by individuals and organizations towards a better and prosperous society, not to eulogize selfishness and accumulations of wealth. Having been close to the chairman at official and personal levels, due to the nature of my professional calling, I may say that Nigeria is truly blessed with people of high integrity, honesty and piety.

It may surprise many to note that, under his leadership the Commission received tremendous support from the stakeholders, especially from President Olusegun Obasanjo who has magnanimously endorsed most of its recommendations for economic rejuvenations. It is within the first term of the democratic dispensation that the Commission introduced monetisation of public officers’ pay to reduce wastage of funds and instill discipline in the management of public properties; it resolved crises over disputed oil wells among states in the Niger Delta; it proposed fair and just revenue allocation formula and created awareness on the need for transparency and accountability in the oil and non-oil sectors for more revenue to the federation account for the benefit of Nigerian populace. It serves as a forerunner in the campaigns for financial independence of the tiers and constitutional panels. The Commission also successfully reconciled federal and states’ external debts and by extension recommended better measures of managing those debts.

As a man who doesn’t believe in cheap publicity to boost any egocentricity, the deployment of this writer to the Commission on its inauguration in 1999, as Public Relations Officer was received with skepticism. Afterall since the establishment of the Commission in 1988, there never existed Public Relations Department in whatever nomenclature. It took some level of reasoning for the consideration of the officer that information dissemination in a democratic era is vital for maximum public participation in policy formulation and success of people-oriented programmes. The acceptance of the officer also coincided with the decision of the Commission to marshal out best strategies to seek for public contributions through submission of memoranda on some of its constitutional roles and requirements.

As a man who appreciates excellence no matter from which tribe, religion and age, Engr. Tukur allowed this writer to provide full machinery for the Public Relations Unit and to also recommend relevant and qualified officers to beef up the unit without allowing godfatherism and sentiments into the exercise. This was also extended to state representatives in the Commission to recommend experienced and qualified staff from their localities to boost its manpower through a recruitment exercise. The Chairman’s relationships with the committees and departments in the Commission are exemplary.
On personal note, in Public Relations Unit, where the young staff benefitted from regular training to enhance their professionalism, the chairman neither subjects their press releases to his scrutiny nor interferes with media strategies in unethical ways. The environment is so conducive to practice public relations that the officers do have the opportunity to engage the Chairman in hot and cordial debate on public issues on one-on-one basis. To sustain the integrity of the Commission whose activities cut across the tiers and arms of the government, Engr. Tukur initiates an open door policy of listening and attending fairly to issues brought before the Commission. As an avid reader of most national dailies, he studies public moods, accepts constructive criticisms, and acts on those relevant to the workings of the Commission. As a man who values the importance of a well-informed public, the press have access to information that would better the lot of Nigerians and is straightforward in discharging his responsibilities.

Though being the chairman of the Commission, he doesn’t allow his position to becloud his sense of reasoning as he sees himself like every other member. Every session of the Commission is a reflection of Market of ideas where members armed with relevant materials, like lawyers, to debate and take up issues through factual presentations, historical perspectives, legal and constitutional provisions devoid of political undertones and fables. It may surprise many Nigerians that for the past four years as the Chairman, he has never travelled outside Abuja or abroad on official assignments. As a dynamic leader who delegates responsibilities, he prefers members to represent the Commission at most of the public fora. Though he has a higher respect for politicians, but due to his stubbornly principles, he has a strict reservation to partisan politics and sectional alliances. It is in the account of this that he abhors political solutions in place of laid down rules and procedures to resolve sensitive fiscal issues.

Even though to those in the business of mass-communication, goodwill is expensive, not in monetary terms, the chairman created and sustained it through honesty and open interaction with stakeholders. In fact being a constitutional body, the Commission under him does not treat issues and policies based on sentiment, emotion and politics but purely through acceptable technicalities and constitutional provisions for fair judgments.
How come he was able to carry out his roles so meticulously and succeeded? The answer is not far-fetched. He had garnered a lot of experience from the academic circle, bureaucratic environment and structural consulting at different stages of his life. For many years he was the Rector of Kaduna Polytechnic, Managing Director National Electric Power Authority, Director General Ministry of Power and Steels and that of Petroleum Resources and was on retirement when the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo invited him to serve in the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

Though Engr. Hamman Tukur was shocked on learning of the award, he nevertheless credited it to the united family of the Commission, where some of its members like Otunba Ayora Kuforiji-Olubi, General AB Mamman (Rtd), Chief Bayo akinola and Alh. Salihu Jega have received similar awards. The Order of the Federal Republic award to this dynamic Nigerian is truly deserving and timely for his selfless service, patriotism and loyalty to the nation.

This article by Yushau A. Shuaib was originally published in Daily Trust Dec11, New Nigeria Dec12, Daily Champion Dec19, Daily Times Dec22, 2003, Saturday Times Jan 17, 2004

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