The more things seem to change, the more they remain the same. I don’t know the author of that saying, but I find myself repeating it all the time. Take a cursory look at the history of Nigeria and you’re confronted with the stark truth of false dawns. One government comes and we’re obliged to renew our hopes and dreams for this country – but it takes only a few weeks or a few months or even a few actions and pronouncements for us to lose faith. It is nearly always more of the same.
That is why many have given up on Nigeria – although I disagree with that notion. I believe, irreversibly, that the moment we have competent and patriotic leaders in control, there would be no stopping Nigeria from achieving greatness.
I have been generally amused with the huffing and puffing of this administration over the Halliburton bribe scandal. We’ve seen this before. We’ve been here before. Since he assumed power in 2007, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has had several great opportunities to boost his anti-corruption CV – but what did he do? He switched to “sleep” mode. This government had threatened brimstone and fire against corruption. It turned out to be just a large dose of hot air. That’s why I fail to understand the motive behind the latest setting up of a “security committee” to probe the Halliburton scandal. The committee is made up of the heads of EFCC, SSS, NIA and all that. Of course, the committee will expend millions and millions and millions to “probe” the scandal, but what will come out of it? Who is trying to have fun at our expense?
Yar’Adua has had at least two good chances to put us to shame on his anti-corruption credential but he retreated each time. The first was the Willbros scandal. The American engineering company was said to have distributed over $6 million in bribe to some officials of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Shell Petroleum to facilitate a $387 million gas pipeline contract in the Eastern Gas Gathering System. The payments were said to have been made from 2003 to 2005. Last year, the American government fined Willbros over $32 million in addition to forcing it to forfeit some assets over the scandal. What action did Yar’Adua’s government take against the Nigerian beneficiaries of the scandal?
The second was the Siemens scandal. Siemens AG, a German engineering company, was convicted by a German court for distributing bribes to Nigerian government officials to win contracts in the country. Siemens was fined 201 million euros by a Munich court in October 2007 after being found guilty of the charges. The company on its own said it had uncovered more than 1.3 billion euros in “suspicious payments”, with Nigerian ministers and officials alone having allegedly received 10 million euros between 2001 and 2004. The Nigerian officials were named and shamed in court papers, widely reported by the media. What came out of it?
And now the Halliburton scandal. Over $180 million is said to have exchanged hands between the American company and prominent Nigerian government officials from the 1990s to 2000s over the award of contracts for the LNG projects. The bribe givers classified their immoral activities under the sickening subhead of “cultural obligation”. The American culprits are facing justice in their country. The Nigerian culprits, on the other hand, are still using presidential jets and nominating ministers into the cabinet. They are decorated with national honours. They preside over boards and parastatals. They own oil blocks. In fact, their “elderly advice” is sought on matters of critical national importance. It pays to be corrupt, isn’t it?
To be sure, it was not Yar’Adua that invented corruption. He met it on the ground. So I don’t blame him for that. However, if I may ask, is he really interested in dealing with corruption decisively? No matter our misgivings with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and his anti-graft war, he did what no head of state had ever done: sack an Inspector-General of Police, remove ministers and prosecute ex-governors – all for corruption. You can say he was selective or vindictive, but for as long as no innocent person was “persecuted”, the vindictive argument would remain tenuous.
Yar’Adua’s attitude to the anti-graft war is a bit confounding. When he was picked as Obasanjo’s successor, I was somehow hopeful, even though I didn’t know him quite well. But three things gave me that faint optimism. One, he did not lobby for the job. I, therefore, thought he would have some level of “freedom” to do the job since it was a “bonus” for him. Two, his lifestyle was described as “spartan”. Such a person, I concluded, would be very tough on corruption – like you would say of the late Gen. Tunde Idiagbon and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari whose successor, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, could not establish a single case of corruption against. Three, I believed that the anti-graft war was too important to Nigeria’s development that no president would toy with it or create the impression that he cannot be bothered.
But what do you expect from an administration that has a funny character like Chief Mike Aondoakaa as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice? We have an AG who seems to be more interested in the exuberance of public office than anything else. At the slightest opportunity, he proudly announces himself as the “Chief Law Officer of the Federation”. It’s like an intoxicant for him. He feels so important. Anytime he opens his mouth and talks about “rule of raw” and “the anti-corruption stance of this government”, I get a headache. Are we so luckless in this country that we never have the right kind of people in power? This is a country that boasts of thousands of highly educated, competent and genuine patriots. Yet, we’re always saddled with liabilities.
Last month, Aondoakaa, on his usual junket to the US, announced to Nigerians that he had written to the US government, demanding that individuals involved in the Halliburton bribery scandal be named. In the letter Aondoakaa addressed to the US Attorney-General, Mr. Eric Holder, he asked Holder to allow the Nigerian government access to all the evidence in his possession on the scandal. He demanded that all information and names of the individuals involved be released to him. He said the Nigerian government would commence criminal action against the Nigerian officials involved. The request, he said, “is pursuant to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between the US and Nigeria reached in 2003”. This was the same Aondoakaa who utilised the MLAT to frustrate the EFCC in corruption cases against former governors in the UK. Isn’t this government having fun at our expense?
While we were still waiting for the Halliburton list from the US, the Federal Government suddenly set up a “security committee” to probe the scandal. I wish I knew what this is all about. We already have the lists of Willbros and Siemens. What action have we taken? Who has been brought to book? Cases in which people have been named, in which identities are not hidden, in which other countries have taken legal action and got convictions, we have done nothing about them. Instead, we’re busy setting up panels and burning oil money on meaningless trips to the US in the name of Halliburton. What is all this drama about? Must everything be dramatised? Can’t this government even give us the benefit of the doubt that we are not all idiots in this country?
Yar’Adua must not give people the licence to loot. The hanky-panky on the anti-graft war can only encourage looting. If I were a public officer who set out not to steal, I would have gained enough encouragement to loot judging by the action and inaction of this government in the last two years. Now I am beginning to notice a trend. That is, the government seems to want to focus on the small fries – like the Vaswanis – while treating the big boys (political associates) with kid gloves. That is not the way to go about it. Nobody should have the impression of being “untouchable”. The lowly and the mighty must face the music in the interest of this country.
While many people may be hallucinating that the government is about to deal a big blow on the big boys in the Halliburton case, some of us cannot be deceived. For as long as nothing has come out of the Willbros and Siemens cases, I want to predict that Halliburton will go the same way. Shame us, Yar’Adua, shame us – by going for the kill!
THISDAY ONLINE
Simon Kolawole
04.19.2009
