posted
It was only a few weeks ago that some unpatriotic people here were celebrating that Nigeria did not get debt relief in the Bush-Blair talks leading to the G-8 summit. Now, all that has changed.
posted
And who will benefit from any debt relief? Certainly not you Ayodele...much less the Nigerian Igbo community. What you will see is another round of pocket-lining, courtesy of the Paris club; and don't forget the quid pro quo, the oil of the South and East. Please don't be naive.
___________________ The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves... Posts: 663 | Registered: Nov 2004
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One point worth noting, about this debt forgivenes story is that other African and Carribean countries are involved. This diminishes the supposed diplomatic accumen of your President. Secondly it is not forgiveness, but a relief loaded with conditions. The Paris Club, the IMF, and World Bank lenders are not doing this from the goodness of their heart, the powers they represent are merely re-aligning themselves in response to the shifting global economic landscape. Africa which has been deliberately locked out of this global economic chess game, cannot over night become a player. The West wants to retain Africa as the next region to be used in unbridled Money-making. China and India will lead the rest of Asia out of the West's undue influence for decades. So my friend Ayodele quit celebrating, the worst is not yet over. I like suprises, let Nigeria for once truely suprise us.
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I think it is safe to say, reading the above exhortation, that you are a patriot, and that the president of Nigeria has your confidence and loyalty; without question, admiral qualities for a citizens to bestow. I think, however, that your leader and commander-in-chief may not be entirely worthy of your devotion. Is this not the same president who in 1999 was threatened with impeachment as a result of total incompetence in leading the nation. Did not the same introduce bribery on a scale heretofore unknown in Nigeria to avoid impeachment. And what of the town of Odi? Was the whole town guilty of some great crime that it had to be utterly destroyed? And this act from one who declares himself a born-again Christian. What Obasanjo did to Odi town reminds me more of Herod the Great and his slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem, rather than of Christ. As a matter of fact I think both Hitler and Herod would have been proud of Obasanjo for what he did to those people.
Also, is this not the same Obasanjo who has frequently violated Nigeria's constitution as the need suits him, and the same Obasanjo who has kept company with armed robbers and criminals(Chris Ubah and company)and supported them in their criminal deeds? And what of the Obasanjo before becoming president, a man of modest means; but now even his children are become millionaires. Is this not Obasanjo the Oil Minister, who is yet to give an accurate accounting of the proceeds from oil sales, and manages the oil sector like a private business. Is this not the same Obasanjo, who when visiting the families of slain Lagos workers, insulted them all in their grief. I could go on and on...
Ayodele, have you forgotten these things? or don't they matter to you? Would you have us praise such a Philistine? Apparently you would. And for what? because some Brit said that debt relief was possible? You're joking, right? If not, I'm still laughing.
___________________ The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves... Posts: 663 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
It really is unfortunate that the title of this essay did not come about. It was written in 2002 but it has relevance today. People who want us to praise Obasanjo seem to be wearing blinders. Those who think Obansanjo is some kind of hero should wake up and smell the coffee. those who know what kind of man he is will thoroughly enjoy the following:
Mr. President Sir, Your Time is Up
By
Sam Nda-Isaiah
He is an international statesman, hard worker and a good father - as testified to by his eldest daughter, Dr. Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello recently, but among the president's numerous talents, one would have to leave out responsive leadership and the sincere ability to fight corruption. The president has proved beyond every doubt, reasonable and unreasonable, that he is incapable of lifting the nation beyond its present morass. What is worse, he even lacks the aptitude to appreciate the nation's problems. He simply does not know what purposeful leadership is about. He is too obtuse, and starkly so for the Nigeria of today. There is no kinder or more respectful way of putting it. It now seems quite clear that the Olusegun Obasanjo of 1976-1979 is not the same one we have inadvertently foisted on ourselves as a result of which we are now dearly paying for that mis-step.
In April 1999 after he was declared the president-elect, Obasanjo boarded the nearest aircraft with the excitement of a schoolboy on his maiden overseas trip. He travelled to the United States and across several countries of Europe. When at a point Chief Sunday Awoniyi, one of the nation's greatest men, who the president-elect had contracted to fashion out a blueprint on aspects of running the incoming democratic government especially as it pertains the civil service, noticed this misplacement of priority, he called Obasanjo aside and admonished him against such undue excitement and advised him to sit at home to plan the onerous task ahead of him. That was before he was sworn in on May 29th 1999. The newly elected president allayed the fears of this first-rate administrator and told him that he intended to do all his travels before being sworn in so that he would face the obviously difficult work of re-engineering the nation, which even at that time could be likened, among other misfortunes, to a huge economic tree hollowed out by termites. Now, three years later and just six months to the next election, the president has travelled out of the country (since May 29th 1999), 100 times for a total of 350 days and still counting. The governments of the United States and Great Britain no longer accord him the honour and respect lavished on visiting presidents. Since he got sworn in as president, he has travelled to the United States nine times - that is if one discounts his visits to the country between his election in February and swearing in on May 29th 1999. He has travelled to Europe over 20 times in search of investments and the only thing he can show for it is the marriage of his daughter to a British clergyman recently in a profligately celebrated wedding ceremony complete with several owambe parties in London. What kind of president is this? As a newspaper recently said, by the Yoruba custom, that wedding should have properly and appropriately taken place in the bride's house, which in this case should be at Abeokuta or even Aso Rock in Abuja since the Nigerian people have not evicted him from the Villa yet (he has nine more months to go hopefully). If that had happened, it would have been an opportunity to showcase our nation's rich culture for what it is worth.
By the president's own confession made more out of frustration than a mea culpa penitence, he told the Financial Times of London in April this year that, "in three years, I went round the world and I didn't get anything. From April 1999, I went round the world and I didn't get anything. From April 1999, I went round the countries of Europe, twice over. I went to Japan, to America, to Canada and got good words but no action at all." My president doesn't get the drift that he has become a nuisance and a laughing stock. He does not know that the only way to attract investment is to stay at home and make his country investment friendly. Nobody will come with money to Nigeria if it continues to remain a country famous only for its insecurity of lives and property and if its NITEL, NEPA, ports and all other infrastructures remain in a shambles. The Americans are withholding their investments and goodwill till after 2003 because they reason that this democracy is a one-man show. That is not their idea of democracy.
Some time ago during a luncheon organised for him by some government officials in London, a cocky master of ceremonies in making a few comments on the president remarked that, "last week the president of Nigeria had breakfast with us, today he is here for lunch, maybe next week we will be lucky to have him for dinner." Everybody including the president applauded. Obviously the sarcasm was lost on him. These days, Mr. Tony Blair, the British prime minister refuses to see him and has left him to the mercy of under-secretaries and for the United States, even the Secretary of State, Colin Powell refuses to meet him at airports or even meet him at his hotel. The last time the president of Africa's largest country was in the United States, he had to drive to the State Department himself and queue up to see Colin Powell as a contractor would in Nigeria when soliciting contracts. Obasanjo has turned our country into a beggar nation and brought our name to disrepute. But he has also turned himself into a thing of pity and cheapened the high office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He will need to apologise to us.
Last week, the president jetted out of Nigeria again on yet another junket at taxpayers' expense and in cold disregard of public opinion even on the eve of an election year. One of the countries he visited is so strategically unimportant to our interests that we did not even deem it fit to appoint an ambassador there. He went to Jamaica, Barbados and Senegal. But this time, he went with Joshua Dariye, the governor of embattled Plateau State whose Langtang South local government has been engaged in a civil war of sort. If it was a show of unwisdom and crass insensitivity for the president to have included the governor on his team, it was clear irresponsibility for the governor to accept what was glaringly an offer to feast and picnic. Barbados is renowned only for its resorts and Jamaica for its reggae music. Well, nobody should be surprised about Dariye. He has been consistent.
If our president is not junketing and marrying off his daughters to foreigners, he is passing-off Gbenga, his eldest son around world capitals as a top businessman. I am still not certain whom between Gbenga Obasanjo, the current First Son and Mohammed Abacha, a former, has benefited more from government contracts. The only difference is that while Mohammed Abacha is currently in jail as a result of the undue advantage he had as his father's son, Gbenga Obasanjo would have to serve his own after 2003. I don't need to be a Pastor Bakare to know this. It is just common sense and about the inexorable law of retributive justice. That law never fails. Gbenga is involved in the multi-billion dollar continuous fuel importation business. He is involved in the National Identity Card project in conjunction with a son of Pieter Botha, the apartheid president of South Africa. He is also poised, in collaboration with the son of President Arap Moi of Kenya to pick up the nation's Mint, through De La Rue Ltd in which the Kenyan family owns a substantial interest. I am not sure Mohammed Abacha was this brazen.
When Obasanjo took over power in 1999, the economy was by far a better managed one than what he has currently mismanaged it to. Then at least we had a working budget. General Sani Abacha whom he now reproaches was by a long stretch, a better manager of the economy. Abacha's naira was far stronger than what we now have. Abacha's exchange rate was maintained throughout his tenure at $1 - N80.00. Under Obasanjo, it has plummeted to half that value. And one reason Obasanjo cannot maintain the value of the local currency at respectable levels is the unprecedented and unexampled corruption that has come to define his government. Nigeria is now technically bankrupt because Obasanjo's men have stolen the nation dry. There is no money to run the nation. There is no budget but we are already operating a budget deficit - that has never made sense to me though. The Senate has also told us that N11.7 billion of the N40.7 billion recovered from the Abacha family has been stolen, which only goes to prove the anxiety expressed by some of us that the government's torment of the Abacha family is actually a fight among thieves. Also it has been reported by the Senate committee on public accounts that the GSM licence auction proceeds of N144 billion are not reflected in the Federation Account more than one year after payments have been effected by the licencees. This is an outrage!
As well, apart from the revelation by the British government that 55 percent of the corruption in Nigeria is perpetrated in the presidency; the official financial recklessness in the president's office in the face of the choking poverty in the land is simply cold-blooded. A ready example here is that though the 2001 budget approves only N6.2 billion for the president's office, the presidency last year managed to guzzle a whopping N31 billion in a year that medicines were not supplied to government hospitals and aged pensioners who had served their nation in their youth were dying of hunger.
Malam Nasiru el-Rufai, the prodigious director-general of the BPE recently informed us, and we should be thankful to him, that over $2 billion has been spent on NEPA in the last three years of this government. And, clearly, most of this amount should have been spent by Liyel Imoke's technical committee on NEPA, which reported directly to the president. Though government officials lied to us as is their wont that by December 2001, the nation was generating 4,000 mw as promised by the president, the truth is that the nation actually generates less than 2,100 mw of power. This is just about where we were before the squandering of the $2 billion. So it would be in order to ask the president where this stupendous amount went.
Since the president assumed power in 1999, there have been about 30 probes of corrupt practices between the Senate and the House of Representatives on the activities of the Obasanjo government. Nigerians are still waiting for the outcome of these probes. Nigerians are interested, for instance, in knowing the outcome of the investigation by the Senate of the N2.3 billion NEPA fund; the probe of the sale of MV Trainer, Nigeria's only surviving trainer vessel; the probe of the House of Representatives of the inflated purchase of 61 houses for ministers by Obasanjo's one-time Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Ibrahim Bunu and on which the Minister of State for Finance, Martins Kuye lied to the nation. Imagine your Minister of Finance lying and still sitting pretty in his office two years later. Does that not tell of the character of the president himself? The government spent N2.98 billion in that scam. There is also the probe by the National Assembly of the expenditure of N397 million by the executive in the hosting of the former American president, Bill Clinton; the probe of the illegal payment of N12 billion by the presidency to Julius Berger. Nigerians also want to know the outcome of the investigation on the N10 million, which was said to be a contribution of NAFCON towards the electoral expenses of Obasanjo.
Is the president aware of the revelations investigators made at the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) recently, where his points man at the South West PDP, Commodore Bode George (rtd) holds sway? For those who don't know, Commodore George is the apparatchik that the president has entrusted with the uphill task of winning the South West for him next year. And because of that, he operates the NPA as a personal fiefdom even though he is just a titular chairman. Even the supervising ministry of transport cannot question Olabode George once he has taken a decision. The investigators reveal that billions of dollars, which NPA realised between 1999 and 2001, could not be accounted for. They include $567,301,934,772.66 revenue by London and Lagos offices of NPA; the foreign exchange amounting to $376,054,200 sold by NPA to various banks between June 1999 and December 2001, and $41.8 million procured by NPA from CBN which was meant to fund projects approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) from the seven percent port development surcharge paid by all port users.
Still on corruption which has now become the signature insignia of the Obasanjo administration, where is the Education Tax Fund stolen money? Mr. Kayode Naiyeju, the current Accountant-General of the Federation was the chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) when the money was said to have been missing. Why was he promoted to the loftier office of Accountant-General instead of punishment and regurgitation like Mohammed Abacha?What about the corruption relating to the extension of the National Assembly complex and Ambassador Yusuf Mamman's seemingly incontrovertible indictment of the management of FRCN of massive corruption and theft? What about the money stolen by Obasanjo's men who took over from the Buhari-led management at the PTF? Who does Otunba Johnson Fasawe, who now corners all the fat contracts in the country, work for? But most importantly, what is the source of the approximately N40 billion that has been set aside for the president's re-election. The president's spin-doctors and palace intellectuals insist that the president is not a thief. They say he is only unfortunate to be surrounded by thieves. Quite ingenious!! What name does the Nigerian statute call a clean man who receives stolen goods? Please keep the answers to yourselves.
Now human rights. Early this year, the Human Rights Watch condemned the human rights record of the president. The NGO cited the Odi and Tiv mass killings of innocent people most of whom were women and children. So many Nigerians are being detained without trial and even those like Mohammed Abacha who have been freed by the courts through due process are still being held by government. On a visit to Dakar, Senegal, immediately after this indictment, the president dismissed the report of the Human Rights Watch as a sham. But I think we would have to leave that judgment to posterity.
Last week, Professor Wole Soyinka declared that the Abacha regime was more humane than this one. Before the president had the opportunity to pass the judgment of senility on him as he did Prof. Sam Aluko, Senator Ike Nwachukwu, a PDP Senator and one who has not been known to have openly criticised the president, called for his (the president's) resignation on account of non-performance. I don't know why it took him this long to realise that Obasanjo does not understand the job description of a president. Earlier, Senator Idris Kuta had declared in his characteristic forthrightness that if Obasanjo becomes the flag bearer of PDP, the party would lose the presidential elections. And before that, the irrepressible Speaker of the House of Representatives had even declared that he would decamp from the PDP if Obasanjo wins the PDP nomination. In spite of what Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano and Alhaji Sule Lamido tell the president about his popularity in Kano, the president assessed his rating first hand when he visited the city a few days ago. In recent history, nobody has won the presidency without Kano. Not with its sheer population and number of delegates. I think the president should take the last Kano debacle as a referendum on him in the Northern states. With the resentment against his person, it would have been worse in a state like Benue. He will also not win any election in the East even with the planned rigging. The people are just simply tired of his rudderless and anti-people style of governance. He has lost his sheen and has added his quota to the already dirty business of politics.
A few days ago, the American government passed what looked like a no-confidence message on the 2003 election that has not even taken place. If the president needed confirmation that his time is up, that was it!!
August 2002
I could never praise or have any confidence in a person with these many question marks in his personal history.
quote:THOMAS IMONIKHE, Acting News Editor, MUHAMMED KABIR, Kano with agency reports
ABIA State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu yesterday in Lagos commended President Olusegun Obasanjo for the $18 billion debt relief for the country from the Paris Club of creditors.
But legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi said the average Nigerian is not excited by the gesture because it would not translate into improved living condition.
Similarly, immediate past chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Hon. Farouk Lawan threatened in Kano that the National Assembly would henceforth subject future attempts by the Federal Government to secure foreign loan to scrutiny.
The Paris Club of creditors had on June 30 cancelled over $18 billion out of the $30 billion debt owed it by Nigeria, a gesture that has continued to elicit mixed reactions.
Speaking on the development, Gov. Kalu said: "I commend President Obasanjo, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Mr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the CBN governor, Prof. Charles Soludo for achieving the debt relief. It is a great achieve," he told airport correspondents in Lagos at the weekend.
President Olusegun Obasanjo had been an advocate of debt cancellation and launched the campaign in 1999 shortly after he won his election.
But Kalu urged the government to "hasten up and pay what is left of the country’s debt" to justify the relief. The governor, who expressed his aversion to total debt forgiveness for the country, said: "It will affect our credit rating among other nations."
"I don’t even want the government to buyback any debt. They shgould pay the $10 billion to free us from the debt," Kalu said.
On the controversy trailing the 25 per cent derivation fund being demanded by the South-South, Kalu noted that the disagreement was a "healthy one".
"It is no problem. The disagreement is healthy for politics. People do not always agree, but disagree to agree," he said.
"I support everything that we can do to address the issue of the Niger-Delta and whatever can make all Nigerians to live in harmony," he said.
Kalu canvassed greater support and attention to the geo-political zone to facilitate its development.
You Biafranauts have got to learn to give credit where credit is due.
Posts: 65 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:You Biafranauts have got to learn to give credit where credit is due. --Ayodele
Ayodele,
I don't think Biafrans have a problem with giving credit where credit is due, but emphatically believe that those who have shown by corruption, neglect, poor governance, and callous disregard for the welfare of the general public, deserve no credit.
Are we to be proud of a leader who for years begs western nations to forgive a debt when Nigeria is blessed with the talent and resources that could have propelled it to the zenith of economic prosperity if only that leader had possessed even a modicum of integrity and vision. This 18 billion begged for and received could easily have been paid by the losses incurred due to graft, theft and incredibly ridiculous expenditures so famous under your man Obasanjo. His many trips out of the country could probably have paid for a billion or so of that debt. And so now this great feat of a shameful debt cancellation is reason to hail Obasanjo. I can't abide that reasoning.
Nigeria should be a great nation by all accounts based on its people and resources. Its people should be enjoying all manner of comforts and economic excellence. It is a mark of shame that the president of Nigeria has sought to get in the same welfare line as truly poor nations. Nigeria's poverty is due to the thieving tyrants that have ruled her, of which Obansanjo is the worst. I won't waste my time trying to convince you of this since it is common knowledge everywhere in the world. Only in minds like yours Ayodele is Obasanjo absolved of all his crimes, his misappropriation of Nigeria'a wealth, and his lack of concern for the common citizen. You apparently are willing to turn a blind eye to his crude excesses over the years and take a single(but questionable) incident and use it to glorify him. Quite honestly, I don't understand how you can do that in good conscience. In America, such a man would be in prison.
You OneNigerians have to learn when to call a spade a spade, and leave off with the blind syncophancy. You must require your leaders to truly merit your praise. It will improve everyone's lot in Nigeria.
posted
Debt relief does not translate into jobs or better health care. Obasanjo has not created any manufacturing or industrial jobs since 1999.Life expectancy for average Nigerian is 40 years. And most die of [depression]hunger. The best government policy is not to transform Abuja into New York over night but rural investment is the key to successful government.The common man must be uplifted.The common man in Nigeria and Africa must be empowered and given the right to control his own destiny. Debt relief is cosmetic, I mean more like a band aide. If credit is to be given, it is not Obasanjo but Mrs. Iweala for using her influence as former employee of the world bank to secure the reduction. Thanks or no thanks to her because Nigeria's problem is not about debt relief, it is about corruption and resources control.60 percent is knocked out of the 30 billions Now what?
Hail Biafra
[ July 05, 2005, 09:03 PM: Message edited by: Waypoint1Biafra ]
Posts: 1678 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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Na real eah for u o. Which one usef dey as u come knock Uncle Sege comot come say na dat ugly smesme woman na im do all de jabrata wey come make Paris Club dey talk say de nyafunyafu money wey dem agbero Babangida andi im ojoro gofment steal, na di woman wey dey nak efry man for Abuja na im we go dey throway salute? Dat tin wey u dey drink, abi na di tin wey u dey smoke make u no dey do am bifor u begin carry ur kalabule dey come enter for here. U hear me so? Na my talk be dat oh!
Abo mi re o!
___________________ NA MY PAPA BORN ME Posts: 389 | From: Eugene, Oregon | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Ayodele: It was only a few weeks ago that some unpatriotic people here were celebrating that Nigeria did not get debt relief in the Bush-Blair talks leading to the G-8 summit. Now, all that has changed.
Did you mean that Obasanjo complained to his masters, saying "if there is no debt forgiveness for Nigeria, then the citizens would discover that I am working for you?" Then the Paris clud decied to react?
We do not need a begging bowl. We need somebody capable of reasoning and making use of what we have. BiafraNigeria does not need any debt forgiveness.
___________________ 1) Everything you can imagine is real->Picasso
2) They taught you the praises of their God, and these hosannas, when tuned into your sorrows, gave you the hope of a better world to come-->Patrice Lumumba Posts: 379 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Debt relief sounds so good in font page news what do paris club get back in return, thats what i and you don't know. It may be setting or pumping our oil for the next 50 yrs. I refer you to read a book called economic hit man by John perkins
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posted
Let them not continue to fool us with their so called debt relief, because we are not owing them anything. How can they relieve our debt when we are not owing them? What are the figure on this so called debt? Some Figures on Nigeria's Foreign Debt
quote: Atiku Abubakar charged the international banking system with unfair lending practices, declaring, "In the late seventies Nigeria borrowed only $2 billion from the international community. Today it has paid about $28 billion US dollars, and yet still has an outstanding debt of nearly $30 billion US dollars, indicating that something urgent needs to be done because something is wrong somewhere.
How can we borrow 2 billion and we have paid back fourteen times that amount and still they say we are owing fiveteen times that amount. Is it not crazy? Even shylock was not that mad. And now they are giving us percentages on the endless debt and calling it debt relief. I am urging all African leaders to tell them to go to Hell with their debt. We are not owing them anything. We have paid the initial loan many times over and cannot continue to service endless debt no matter how they colour the new conditions while the people are starving.
___________________ Biafra is inevitable.Illegitimis nil carborundum. Posts: 760 | From: europe | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
And by the way what about the debts they are owing us? They are being conveniently forgoten by the G8 because we have not relieved them of those debt. Let them return the Ivory FESTAC MASK and other priceless treasures looted from the palace of Oba of Bini by them, priceless treasures from Igbo- Ukwu, Ife, Nok, Calabar, etc on display in various G8 museums. Let them calculate how much they are owing us for the loss of these treasures plus the income frome their view and display over the years, plus the intrest at the same rate they lent money to us and then tell tell us how much they are owing us. Please G8 service these much older debts before you come again with your debt relief. Most importantly let them return these priceless artifacts to the owners please because what they are doing by holding on to them is pure stealing.
___________________ Biafra is inevitable.Illegitimis nil carborundum. Posts: 760 | From: europe | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
ngborogwu: This is what Paris Club is getting.
Is This What They Call Debt Relief? Simon Kolawole Live, 07.11.2005
Poor me. While everybody is popping champagne and shouting halleluyah over the reported intention of the Paris Club to generously cancel 60% of our debts, here I am asking questions. Initially, I too joined the frenzy – to be honest – because when I calculated 60% of the $30 billion we owe the Paris Club, it came to an amazing $18 billion. I was drunk, not with champagne, but with joy. My first reaction was that, at last, all the monthly deductions from federal allocations would cease and then we can begin to think of more money for more developmental projects. Suddenly, my jubilation began to weaken. Why would our creditors write off $18 billion just like that? Are they Father Christmas? Is it that they have now fallen in love with us? Is it that they are afraid we might one day repudiate the debts, as we have been threatening since January, so they quickly decided to pull a stunt on us? Is it that they have come to realise that we may never finish paying the debts, so they are trying to salvage as much as possible as soon as possible? Reading the papers the following day, I got the answers to most of my questions. The highly cerebral and hardworking minister of finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, told journalists in Abuja that under the debt forgiveness terms, Nigeria would immediately pay $6 billion in debt service arrears and another $6 billion through debt buy-back at a date to be agreed upon later in the year. This means, essentially, that we would part with $12 billion to get a relief of $18 billion. Dear Nigerians, this is the rip-off of the century. Nigerians are generally regarded as 419 experts all over the world, but the Paris Club has just given us a sound beating in our own game. And instead of shedding tears that we have just been mugged, we are busy rolling out the drums. Everybody is dancing on the streets. The creditors must be having a good laugh. Before I am butchered, let me explain myself. Under the current circumstances, we normally service our debts with about $1 billion (or N130 billion) yearly. When President Olusegun Obasanjo presented the Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly this year, the legislators were very furious. “How can we be paying $1 billion a year to service our debts?” they screamed. “Let’s repudiate the debts!” But what are we about to do? We will soon part with $12 billion, not even $1 billion. It would have taken the Paris Club, under the current arrangement, at least 10 years to get $12 billion from us. Now they will get it in less than one year. Indeed, the creditors should be very grateful to Okonjo-Iweala, formerly of the World Bank, for her commendable and tireless role in their debt recovery efforts. They could not have wished for a better bargain. What businessman in the world will not write off an $18 billion debt when he is sure he will collect $12 billion in six months, having already made a cool profit of about $20 billion on the original loan of $19 billion? What businessman will not collect $12 billion and run when he knows that the debtor may never finish paying $30 billion in the next 100 years at the slow rate he is servicing the debts? Let’s take another look at the unfolding scenario. According to government statistics, the principal amount we owe is $19 billion. Over the years, we have paid $42 billion, mostly interests and penalties, and despite that, we are still owing about $35 billion – with the Paris Club alone accounting for $30 billion. Shouldn’t we be glad, then, that we’ll pay only $12 billion and get $18 billion written off forever and ever? I’m sorry to say this: I am not glad. By simple arithmetic, our creditors have used a $19 billion loan to make $23 billion “profit” from us so far (that is $42 billion minus $19 billion). If we still owe $35 billion then, it means they would be making a “cool profit” of $58 billion on the $19 billion principal. We have re-paid the original loan over and over again. They have already recovered the debts and it is just interests we are dealing with now, as far as I am concerned. This, to my mind, is the mindset with which we must approach the debt issue. To the economists, my argument is ridiculous and simplistic. To the financial experts, my argument is stupid and outrageous. I should know that when you take a loan, you must pay the principal and the interest, and when you default, you must pay penalties. How the money was utilised is not your creditors’ business. It is so simple! I should also know that the creditors did not beg us to take those loans. We willingly walked into the debt trap and we must pay for it, literally. This is capitalism and you must play by the rules, hmm? Can anything be simpler than this? But as THISDAY’s respected columnist, Kayode Komolafe, has argued over and over again, the foreign debt issue is beyond mere book keeping. It is not as simple as you took a loan and you must pay. When Tsunami occurred last December, the debts of the affected countries were cancelled instantly. Dear economists and financial experts, what became of book keeping and international financial order? What happened to capitalism and creditworthiness? By the way, who said the lenders didn’t beg us to take loans? That is a lie. They were openly peddling loans in the 70s when we started making money from oil. They even accused us of under-borrowing. I’m sure they’ve achieved their aim, now that we’ve been trapped. But to say they didn’t beg or encourage us to take those loans recklessly is, in fact, not true. Another immoral aspect of this debt trap is that most of the lenders knew very well that the loans they were giving us were being misapplied or embezzled. It’s very amusing that we keep our oil money with these people and they lend us out of it and we send the money back to them to develop their own economies. That was their aim in the first instance when they were persuading us to borrow. It is an instrument of neo-colonialism. Our rulers were naíve and greedy. And the creditors took full advantage of us. It is a case of the strong exploiting the weaknesses of the weak and justifying it by saying it was the weak that came for help, like a man taking advantage of his househelp and claiming the girl willingly undressed. Our creditors knew what they were doing. They capitalised on the greed of our rulers, but, today, over 100 million Nigerians are suffering the consequences of this criminal collaboration between the creditors and our rulers. The creditors had their eyes on our oil, and they kept lending us money and kept saying we had the capacity to pay back. This is a political and moral issue, beyond book keeping. And, my goodness, we are about to part with our excess crude sales as we have now agreed to pay $12 billion. They’ve got us at last! And we’re ignorantly jubilating all over the place. What does paying $12 billion to Paris Club mean to the development of Nigeria? Nothing positive. Absolutely nothing good. The government said we would soon pay $6 billion and divert the $1 billion we budgeted for debt servicing to “infrastructural development”. Hey, why don’t we spend that $6 billion to develop infrastructure and pay Paris Club the budgeted $1 billion? Why the other way round? Which is more beneficial to 135 million Nigerians? Is there any law banning us from spending excess crude oil earnings on schools, hospitals, water and general infrastructure? What exactly are we going to achieve by parting with a whopping $12 billion? What do we stand to gain by rushing to liquidate these debts? What do we stand to lose if we don’t? We’ve been told settling the "debts" would improve our creditworthiness in the international financial conclave and I laugh. When have we ever not been creditworthy? When Gen. Sani Abacha refused to service the debts, did they stop giving us more loans? When our debts were climbing from $3 billion to $6 billion to $10 billion to $20 billion, did we stop being creditworthy? Now that we’ve hit $35 billion, have we stopped being creditworthy? In fact, the World Bank is giving us another loan to retrench 75,000 federal workers. I thought our debt burden was too much to entitle us to another loan! How ridiculous. This $12 billion will make more sense to me if it is sensibly injected into the economy in the next three years. Nigeria would be a better place. We could inject it into specific areas in instalments of $4 billion yearly over the next three years. We could spend a substantial part of it on infrastructural development, since that is the major obstacle to our development. We could invest part of it in Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu’s made-in-Nigeria car. We could embark on massive housing projects. We could open up new industrial areas. These would mean a lot for this country, instead of giving $12 billion to shylock creditors who have been ripping us off for years without conscience, without a sense of social justice and without any compassion for the poverty-stricken citizens of Nigeria. I know the argument of the world-renowned experts. If you inject $12 billion into the economy between now and 2007, there will be inflation. Yet we know that Nigeria does not have the infrastructural base for sustainable economic development. That is why I like the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Professor Ode Ojowu. He is not an academic economist. He said, sometime last year, that we should not be too obsessed with this single-digit inflation thing because in a country where infrastructure is next to nil, there is no way we can keep inflation to single digit as we have to spend to lay a solid base for investment and industrialisation. We must focus on our long-term goals. To me, this is the most realistic view on inflation. The World Bank that says we should not spend money on capital projects is the same World Bank that says we have poor infrastructure. Will the infrastructure grow from the ground if we don’t embark on capital projects? I don’t know who is confused between World Bank and me. We owe local contractors in excess of one trillion naira. Instead of giving $12 billion to the shylock creditors, we could settle 40% of our internal debts. This would mean a lot for the economy. It would bring many businesses back to life, take thousands out of unemployment, improve economic productivity and make Nigeria a better place. Why on earth should we give $12 billion to the Paris Club when it would not have any significant and direct impact on our economy? What then should we do to our debts? Instead of this deceptive 60% cancellation, I think we should campaing for the cancellation of all interests and penalties. This will reduce the debts to about $15 billion, which is more realistic and manageable. We should then plead to pay $2 billion or so yearly until we liquidate everything. Even the financial order they are talking about recognises bad debts. There is nothing strange in that. We need a realistic approach to this issue. I hereby implore President Olusegun Obasanjo, the governors and other members of the National Council of State to RESIST Paris Club's attempt to extort $12 billion from us. It is NOT in our interest. Nigerians stand to benefit NOTHING from it. Let’s re-negotiate it. It is outrageous to part with $12 billion just like that. If the creditors refuse to agree, let’s continue to pay them the regular $1 billion yearly until they come to their senses and accept the reality that something has to give. Let them blacklist us from taking more loans. That will serve us better. We can utilise the $12 billion in place of their loans. For God’s sake, who needs more loans from Paris Club or London Club when we’ve got billion of dollars in excess crude sales account? Why can’t we finance our projects from this account which currently stands at $8 billion with a potential of rising to about $20 billion before the end of the year? Is somebody listening to me?
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Debt Relief: 60% Not Enough, Says UN Envoy From Kunle Aderinokun in Abuja, 07.14.2005
Special Adviser to the United Nations (UN) Secretary General on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Professor Jeffrey Sachs, yesterday said the recent 60 per cent debt relief granted the country by the Paris Club was not enough, considering Nigeria's need to meet the MDGs. Sachs, who called for total cancellation of the nation's debt by the club, promised to make a special case for Nigeria in the next few months to see if the club can give back part of the $12 billion. Speaking at an interaction with representatives of the civil society, including the media at the United Nations building in Abuja, Sachs said the debt reprieve was a major achievement for Nigeria, but worse than what was expected of the Paris Club given the worsening situation in the country. According to him, "this is a deal that is better than the status quo, no doubt about it. It is deal worse than the creditors should have given. I regard it as absolutely inappropriate of the creditors to be demanding so much payment. "Even if they are cancelling $18 billion of debt, they should not be demanding $12 billion in cash. They are demanding that. I know how hard the government has worked to get any debt cancellation and the government really achieved something big here. To get $18 billion cancelled and to get the debt eliminated is a real achievement. It is a victory for Nigeria. "Not because the government has not worked for it, the president has worked for six years but because the creditors are obtuse. They don't understand the reality here or they don't care. What I'm going to be asking of them is that they return some of this money for urgent need in this country. I don't know, if there whether there is going to be any success in that call. "As the special adviser to the Secretary-General on MDGs, I'm going to go the creditors now saying why are you taking so much cash. When children are dying in this country, they need to be saved, return some of this money back to Nigeria. That is what I'm going to be doing in the next few month."
Sachs chided the Paris Club for being "stingy and very nasty" for squeezing Nigeria to pay the debt in the face of mass suffering of mass suffering of her people. He called for outright cancellation of the debt. The debt cancellation, he said, has been his position for the past six years since President Olusegun Obasanjo assumed office and has been campaigning for debt relief. "The debt should be cancelled, the aids should be increased, the MDGs should be the center point. We are still trying to escape from the structural adjustment era. I think we are getting there but I didnt trust anybody because we don't see the real result on the ground, he said. The system was not working. In the face of mass suffering, the rich countries were just turning their back or worse, demanding debt payment, he noted, saying "I have been in the fight for Nigeria's debt cancellation in the last six years, since President Obasanjo came into power. When I first proposed that Nigeria's debt should be cancelled, I was laughed. The creditors said we are not canceling Nigeria's debt, we don't cancel the debt of oil-rich countries and so on and so forth. It took a while to explain some basic fact to these people because they don't know and they don't necessarily care. If they care, they know more, they know very well it takes a long time. I know that the struggle that President Obasanjo and the finance minister have gone through to get to this deal. "The debt deal is a good one although its less good than it should be not because of the government but because the creditors are so stingy, very nasty. The creditors are trying to squeeze a huge pay out of this country. I think the debt deal is definitely a step forward but I would like to see more. The creditors should give back some of what Nigeria is going to give to them because its not appropriate for these countries to be taken $12 billion cash from Nigeria. The health budget alone is only $300 to $400million for the whole country. In other words this country need that money and I'm going to be making that case," he said. Thisdayonline.
___________________ Biafra is inevitable.Illegitimis nil carborundum. Posts: 760 | From: europe | Registered: Jan 2005
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