posted
Zamphara's Governor on voanews straighttalk africa trying to contribute to international affairs. Poor nigeria to have this lame brain in the same forum with Andy Young and Leon Sullivans daughter.
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quote:Elendu Reports Home Interviews Politics Interview with Carl Masters Home Interviews Articles Columns Contact Us
Interview with Carl Masters Written by Sowore Omoyele Friday, 20 May 2005 Interview with Carlton Masters: the man behind Obasanjo’s multi-million-dollar Private Library by Omoyele Sowore
Nigeria is a country that is bedeviled by hunger, unemployment, decayed infrastructure and most importantly a decimated educational system. President Obasanjo continues to thrive, having built for himself a multi-billion naira farm. He is also building a University known as “Bell University” to be based in Otta, Ogun State before or soon after he leaves office. The latest of these presidential initiatives is a $50 million privately funded Presidential Library for President Obasanjo when he leaves office, the completion of which is to coincide with his 70th birthday. By the admission of the man behind the project the Presidential Library will complete by March 6, 2007.
I tried to locate Mr. Carlton Masters in Nigeria when I got wind of his activities on behalf of the Presidential Library to which he is the Co-Chairman. When I first called him he was in the midst of the fund raising ceremony, he couldn’t speak to me he said. I gave him my number to call me back after telling him that I wanted to know what all these was about, especially knowing that he works for Goodworks International, a lobby group based in Atlanta, Georgia and Washington DC involved in an annual multi-million dollar contract with the government of Nigeria since 1999.
I tried to locate Mr. Carlton Masters in Nigeria when I got wind of his activities on behalf of the Presidential Library to which he is the Co-Chairman. When I first called him he was in the midst of the fund raising ceremony, he couldn’t speak to me he said. I gave him my number to call me back after telling him that I wanted to know what all these was about, especially knowing that he works for Goodworks International, a lobby group based in Atlanta, Georgia and Washington DC involved in an annual multi-million dollar contract with the government of Nigeria since 1999.
Masters is a smooth talking individual with a Caribbean accent who said he’s an American citizen and tried to bully me when I said, I was concerned about his activities in Nigeria. When I called him on Monday to confirm a few things regarding the interview, he went off on me threatening again that he was an American citizen (He later told me that he is a naturalized American originally from Jamaica). When his bully tactics didn’t work on me, he had his lawyers call me from Chicago to “put me on notice” that they will sue me, if I publish anything “slanderous or libelous” against their client especially if I make any references to “conflict of interest”.
EXCERPTS OF THE INTERVIEW:
Q: I learnt that you are leading an effort to build a Library for President Obasanjo of Nigeria?
A: Yes, yes, I am in Nigeria for that purpose; I have been here since Thursday
Q: So, who gave the initial ‘grant’ money to start the process of building a Library, can you please tell me?
A: We did not get any grant to start with; this is purely a private effort in which everyone puts in his or her own resource to start off the process we are witnessing today. As regards those others involved in this I don’t have information complete information here on me; because I don’t want give any wrong information. But as of today I can tell you that Chief Christopher Kolade, the Nigeria Ambassador to the UK is very seriously involved.
Q: My understanding is that your company Goodworks International is paid by the Obasanjo government to lobby on behalf of the Nigerian government in the US isn’t there a conflict there?
A: Yes that is correct.
No, not at all there is no conflict, since you live in the US you should know that out-going presidents have a Library set up for them and funded by the Federal Government.
Cuts in: My concern here is that Presidential Libraries in the US are not built by outside lobby groups who work directly for the government and also in the US there is an enabling law that guides fund raising efforts for such projects?
A: Please, don’t give me that concern stuff! Yes, in Nigeria there is no law guiding the establishment of Presidential Libraries. This is actually 100% private effort; I am not getting paid to do this. I am just a member of the Board of Trustees and doing this purely because of my love for the president of Nigeria.
Q: But we know that you have been sending letters to oil companies and individuals doing business in Nigeria to donate money to this library that you claim is “Private” also we know that the state Governors pooled money together and gave as donation, isn’t that public money?
A: Yes, we sent out letters to oil companies and we hope that they will all donate generously, they better do!
The oil companies in Nigeria operating fully according to Nigerian laws and as such they will never do anything illegal.
Cuts in: What about Halliburton and its subsidiary in Nigeria and all the gigantic fraud they have been involved in Nigeria since the Liquefied Natural Gas scandal and recently the fraud at Nigeria’s equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service, the oppression and the devastation of the Niger Delta environment, how are those according to Nigerian laws?
A: I won’t make any comments about that
Q: Why not?
A: All I know is that US companies operate fully according to Nigerian laws.
Q: Don’t you think that any company asked to donate and refuses to do so might fear reprisals from this very powerful President, I mean, isn’t this a form of extortion on behalf of the President?
A: I don’t think so; they are going to be making the donations out of their own free will.
Q: But you also know that the Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Kupolokun is also using his offices to ask oil companies to make donations
A: Well, I don’t know
Q: Did you know that President Obasanjo on assumption of office did take over similar foundations by General Abacha and that of his wife because he claimed that they established such foundation through corrupt means and abused their offices, isn’t it ironic that he’s doing the same thing now?
A: I don’t know what kind of Nigerian you are; all the press people are here at the launching today, why are they not raising such questions. The President has come a long way and we are doing this to give him something befitting.
Q: Can’t he wait till he is out of office before building a library of this size, it is apparent that the fund raising process is unfair, most people or companies doing this are either seeking favors or too afraid to decline making donations?
A: We are not building this Library till the President is out of office. (But then he says) the Library will be completed by March 6, 2007 and handed over to the President as his 70th Birthday gift, we hope that by then the election of a new president would have taken place. You also know that raising fund for this type of project when he is out of office will be difficult. I like to refer you to certain publications in Nigeria who have all raised those type of concern
Question: Can you tell me how much you guys raised today?
Answer: I don’t know how much we raised exactly, but I can tell you that I am really proud of Nigerians, they came out in large numbers and made contributions to the project. You should be proud as a Nigerian today.
Question: Apart from yourself, Mr. Carlton, who else is on the Board of Trustees?
Chief Kolade is the Co-Chairman; Mr. Obasanjo’s daughter is also on the boardd as well as Mr. Richard Branson….
Q: See, that is part of the problem I am talking about, why would the owner of Virgin Atlantic be on the Board of the Presidential Library and you tell me that there is no conflict, this guy is trying to start an airline in Nigeria?
A: Listen up, let me explain to you. I am really very sensitive about this conflict of interest issue, and I need to remind you that I am an American citizen and I will act strongly against you if you publish anything negative about me.
Q: Sir, let me be clear that any kind of threat will not resolve this issue really, it will serve the reading public better if we go to the main issue and abandon this abrasive style, this will be the second time that you will use these type of language of threat on me. It simply doesn’t fly with me. You should know better than that by now.
A: I am not threatening you, I just need to be clear to you that there is no conflict here, we are building a Library for the President of Nigeria and this project is the first in Africa. I might have come off a little… but I might have come off that way because I am a passionate person. I want to apologize if you feel that way…
Q: So, is Goodworks International making any contributions to the Presidential Library?
A: Yes, we will.
Q: How much are you contributing?
A: I don’t know yet, we haven’t decided but we will.
Q: Finally, Mr. Carlton, can you please tell the reading public how much your company, Goodworks International gets paid by the Nigerian government for your lobbying activities?
Q: I cannot discuss that with you here, it is public information, and you can always go and find out for yourself.
Sowore Omoyele, a former Nigerian student leader is a columnist and special correspondent for ELENDUREPORTS.COM. Email: sowore@hotmail.com.This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it Last Updated ( Monday, 23 May 2005 )
___________________ Feel me? Ofu onye ana asi unu abia go. - Ednut Igbo-American . www.airamericaradio.com visit her. Posts: 2447 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Mar 2001
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quote:Sullivan Summit: African Citizenship for the Black diaspora
User Rating: / 2 PoorBest Written by Dulue Mbachu, Associated Press Friday, 21 July 2006 Africans mull citizenship for slave kin By DULUE MBACHU, Associated Press WriterThu Jul 20, 6:20 PM ET
African and black American leaders meeting this week debated an unusual proposal to spur investment and interest in the continent — securing African citizenship for American descendants of Africans taken away as slaves.
The idea came out of a summit bringing African governments and the U.S. private sector together in search of partnerships to end Africa's poverty. Presidents from 12 African countries attended the four-day conference, along with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.
"Just as the people of different races in America have a place they call home, I believe we should have a place we call our ancestral home," said Hope Masters, daughter of the U.S. civil rights campaigner for whom the Leon Sullivan Summit is named.
Anthony Archer, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based lawyer, is heading a committee to consider how citizenship could be awarded.
"Dual citizenship will start the process of mutual and spiritual reconciliation of differences between the two continents that came as a result of slavery," he said. "If we can feel like we really belong, we'll feel more joyful about participating."
Key challenges include determining the ancestral homelands of black Americans, Masters said. The upheaval of the slave trade left many without knowledge of their place of origin.
Nigerian dancers perform at the Leon Sullivan Summit in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, July 19, 2006.
One possibility is granting continent-wide citizenship to slave descendants through the African Union, Archer said. Another is to work for citizenship of blocs of countries through regional organizations. It was unclear what rights would be granted under those scenarios.
A third proposal would have countries grant citizenship independently to those who seek it.
Masters said the proposal will be further developed before the next summit in 2008. She said African leaders support the concept, noting that Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged black Americans "to see Africa as your home."
Among the Americans attending the Sullivan meeting in Abuja were executives from companies including Chevron Corp., Coca-Cola Co., General Motors Corp., and DaimlerChrysler AG.
___________________ Feel me? Ofu onye ana asi unu abia go. - Ednut Igbo-American . www.airamericaradio.com visit her. Posts: 2447 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Mar 2001
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quote: Written by Omoyele Sowore Saturday, 29 July 2006
By Omoyele Sowore
There is no doubt that when the African-American, Reverend Leon H. Sullivan dreamt up the idea of African Summits, he did so with the noblest of intentions. Having fought apartheid all his life, he wasn’t content on just the idea of political freedom for the continent. He thought it was a great idea to get international political and business leaders together to dialogue about Africa and its various needs and to act on the consensus reached at these Summits. There have been six Summits so far. These were in Abidjan (1991), Libreville (1993), Dakar (1995), Harare (1997), Accra (1999) and Abuja (2003). Curiously, the seventh Summit has already kicked off in Abuja again and is scheduled to last till July 21, 2006. But Reverend Sullivan has been dead for five years now and today, there is increasing doubt as to whether his heirs are actually pursuing his principles, even though they claim to be doing so in his name. Indeed, when one assesses the activities and associations of the key personnel of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, you can’t help but see vestiges of family aggrandizement and crony capitalism.
Hope Masters (nee Sullivan) is the President and CEO of the Foundation. In an elaborate ceremony sponsored by President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abuja, Nigeria, this daughter of Rev Sullivan married Carl Masters, Co-Founding Partner (with Andrew Young) of the Atlanta-based Goodworks International, a firm of lobbyists permanently retained by President Obasanjo (on a $60,000 monthly fee) to supposedly do public relations job for Nigeria in the US, even though the country operates an embassy and two consulates there. Mrs. Hope Masters with Andrew Young are the only members of the “Leadership” of the Foundation, while there is the ceremonial list of board members of big names, one of whom is former President Bill Clinton. In every function organized by the Foundation, Mr Carl Masters, even though not formally listed on the website as a member of the Leadership actually is the Secretary to the board. The relationship between President Obasanjo and his Goodworks International friends seems to overshadow whatever it is the Foundation is supposed to be doing. In fact, one wonders why Obasanjo has to host another Summit consecutively when there are literally scores of African venues outside Nigeria to do this.
Obviously, the leaders of the Foundation today are only paying lip-service to the principles of self-help, social responsibility, economic empowerment and human rights – principles Rev Sullivan himself espoused. Today, the reverend’s heirs are more interested in feathering their own nests in cahoots with tainted political operators in Africa. Rather than championing corporate responsibility in Africa, they’re actually exploiting its absence. For instance, they feel no scruples receiving millions of dollars in donations from Shell, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Chrome Petroleum, Sea Petroleum and the like, while the Niger-Delta burns and their environment destroyed by callous oil exploitation. They take the money but feel no responsibility for Obasanjo and the oil companies’ unwillingness to truly show transparency with regard to proceeds from the oil revenues.
One of the most blatant abuses of their position was perpetrated by Carl Masters last year when he presided over one of the worst cases of abuse of office by Obasanjo as the chief organizer and fundraiser for the latter’s library project. It wasn’t just that a sitting president found it morally justifiable to set up a library in his name that rankles, but the fact that he did this by more or less coercing public and state officials to donate towards this project. We are talking of a country notorious for the corruption of its public officials and its President used his incumbent position to collect supposed donations from well-known pilferers of public funds, both serving and retired, to serve his private ends. They raised a whooping $50 million and Carl Masters, a Jamaican-American, was not ashamed to preside over this, even as Gani Fawehinmi, the irrepressible advocate of public propriety is in court challenging the affair. In fact, the largest single donor to the project, Mr Mike Adenuga, a local business magnate with extensive political connections, was recently arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He’d since been released, but up till now the reason for his arrest remains a mystery, as neither him nor the government are saying anything.
But anyone who’s followed young and co and their careers wouldn’t be surprised at what they’re doing in Africa, which is to cash in on Reverend Sullivan and Mr. Young’s statuses. As an ‘icon’ of the civil rights movement, a former mayor, ambassador and recognized elder in the African-American community, Mr. Young leads his acolytes on a mission to convert this status to cash by betraying his people’s trust to the highest bidder. Anyone who doubts this mission only needs to note the job that first catapulted Goodworks International into the big time in 1997. At a time when the world was waking up to the appalling atrocities being committed by Nike in its Asian shoe factories, Young and Masters took the Nike commission to burnish their image. Young produced a seventy-five page full colour report on Nike’s Asian operation. He concluded that there was “no evidence or pattern of widespread or systematic abuse or mistreatment of workers” in the twelve operations he examined, filling up the pages with doctored pictures of smiling, ostensibly happy workers. But a few weeks after, the accounting firm, Ernst & Young visited some of the same places Mr. Young claimed to have visited and put a lie to his report by detailing the unsafe, terrible and subhuman conditions under which these people work. But to Messrs Young and Masters, the principle is why let the truth get in the way of a big fat cheque? Goodworks International is on the map and they are now “international business consultants”, so what the heck!
In February this year, true to type, Goodworks International continued its betrayal with the announcement that Mr. Young is now chair the Working Families for Wal-Mart. The world’s largest retailers, with a stinking reputation amongst women and minorities now have as their spokesperson an African-American civil rights icon – just for a few dollars! In fact, Wal-Mart proudly announced they were funding Young and Goodworks International, because they belong to a group of people “who understand and appreciate Wal-Mart’s positive impact on working families in America”. Of course, it matters not that Wal-Mart discriminates against minorities and women, pay poverty-level wages and are pushing competitors out of business.
As this Summit opens and close once again in Abuja with highfalutin jives and no action, Nigerians, nay Africans must be weary of these so-called do-gooders. Andrew Young and Carl Masters can use their friendship with Obasanjo and other notorious Africans to feather their own nest at the expense of the ordinary people of Nigeria and the continent while Rev Sullivan turns in his grave, but we mustn’t allow them to sell their snake oil as some kind of solution to African problems. Evidently, they do not care about democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law, because if they do, they wouldn’t have supported Obasanjo’s attempt to subvert the Nigerian constitution towards his third term agenda. If they care, they wouldn’t be gallivanting in Abuja, laughing into their wines as their friend and benefactor, Olusegun Obasanjo presides over a repressive fascist and neo-military regime that cares very little about the welfare and economic well-being of Nigerians or the African people. African-Americans must also begin to take people like Young to task for cynically cashing in his Freedom Movement chips. It is not the dream of Martin Luther King, Rev Sullivan and Black America that their icons use the same putrid principles their oppressors used against them to fleece their African brethren.
It is time for Africans, African-Americans and Blacks everywhere to take a closer look at these Summits and ask the right questions.
___________________ Feel me? Ofu onye ana asi unu abia go. - Ednut Igbo-American . www.airamericaradio.com visit her. Posts: 2447 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Mullings wants int'l audit of Jamaica-Nigeria oil transactions
quote: By balford henry Sunday Observer writer Monday, July 31, 2006
Clive Mullings, the Opposition spokesman on mining, energy and telecommunications, wants the government to retain an international oil consultant to audit all Jamaica-Nigeria oil trading transactions since 1999 when the services of US firm GoodWorks International was acquired.
"The country must know what role does GoodWorks plays in these transactions and what it has cost to date," Mullings insisted, as he made his sectoral debate presentation at Gordon House on Wednesday night.
GoodWorks International is an Atlanta, Georgia-based consulting firm which has retained the services of former Prime Minister PJ Patterson since his retirement.
An allegation by the leader of the opposition, Bruce Golding, that it was involved in the sale of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to Mirant has been denied by GoodWorks. Mirant bought a 90 per cent stake in JPS during Patterson's tenure as prime minister.
Mullings told the House that prior to 1999, the oil arrangement between Jamaica and Nigeria was handled by a joint venture between the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) and international oil trading company Vitol SA Inc.
"This joint venture partnership allowed PCJ to share 50/50 in the profits," Mullings said. "PCJ was indemnified against losses and the partnership was audited frequently by an international oil consultant.
"We are advised in a letter to Mr Audley Shaw (the Opposition spokesman on finance and the public service), under the signature of the permanent secretary, that 'The absence of a Jamaican high commissioner in Abuja, Nigeria during 1999 was one of the reasons that led PCJ to acquire the services of GoodWorks International, an Atlanta-based firm, to assist in the process of acquiring new liftings of Nigerian oil'."
Mullings said he wanted to know what qualifications GoodWorks had in the oil industry that could have prompted their involvement in the government-to-government negotiations.
He said that a three-way arrangement now exists between PCJ, GoodWorks and a new oil trader, Trafigura Limited, and questioned why those arrangements were not being audited.
Added Mullings :"One wonders whether this was the reason why the Ministry of Finance and Planning instructed the PCJ that, with effect from April 1, 2005 the net income from the Nigerian oil facility was to be paid into the consolidated fund?"
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