The strategy was obvious: hurl enough mud on the processes leading to the compilation of the report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force led by a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
That way, the report would be thrown into the dustbin like many before
it. A similar but cleverer attempt was made on Mr. Farouk Lawan of the
House of Representatives over the oil subsidy probe. And that attempt
succeeded.
So Mr. Steve Oronsaye, deputy chairman of that special task force,
waited for an opportune time when all the cameras and tape recorders
would be rolling so that the nation would hear him loud and clear and in
great number. Once Ribadu had finished submitting the report and
delivering his speech, Oronsaye came shooting from the hilt like a true
Texan.
According to Oronsaye, a former head of the civil service, the committee did not do a thorough job and was stampeded into submitting an incomplete report by the President. His words: “I want to say to you, Mr. President, that the process that has been followed is flawed and the report that has just been submitted to the minister is the immediate reaction of the President’s directive that the report be submitted…. No matter the efforts that have been put into this exercise, as long as the process is flawed, that report is one that cannot be implemented … I don’t know what the report contains. Therefore, in my view, I do not think the report should be accepted at this time. I challenge members of this committee to take me up.”
Even though another member of the committee, Mr. Bernard Otti, supported the position of Oronsaye, two other members, Messrs Sumuila Zubair and Ignatius Adegunle, disagreed with Oronsaye, saying that he and Otti did not participate in the work of the committee.
But both Oronsaye and Otti were not dealing with a man who could be easily cowed and thrown off-balance. They were dealing with a Ribadu who can be a hawk and a dove, depending on the situation. Ribadu did not wait till “tomorrow” to reply them. And he responded robustly by using a similar but better strategy than they had employed.
According to Oronsaye, a former head of the civil service, the committee did not do a thorough job and was stampeded into submitting an incomplete report by the President. His words: “I want to say to you, Mr. President, that the process that has been followed is flawed and the report that has just been submitted to the minister is the immediate reaction of the President’s directive that the report be submitted…. No matter the efforts that have been put into this exercise, as long as the process is flawed, that report is one that cannot be implemented … I don’t know what the report contains. Therefore, in my view, I do not think the report should be accepted at this time. I challenge members of this committee to take me up.”
Even though another member of the committee, Mr. Bernard Otti, supported the position of Oronsaye, two other members, Messrs Sumuila Zubair and Ignatius Adegunle, disagreed with Oronsaye, saying that he and Otti did not participate in the work of the committee.
But both Oronsaye and Otti were not dealing with a man who could be easily cowed and thrown off-balance. They were dealing with a Ribadu who can be a hawk and a dove, depending on the situation. Ribadu did not wait till “tomorrow” to reply them. And he responded robustly by using a similar but better strategy than they had employed.
First, Ribadu noted that both Oronsaye and Otti had been given
appointments by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation after they
were made members of the task force, and had therefore compromised their
positions as members of the task force, and ought to have resigned from
the task force to avoid a conflict of interests. Second, he noted that
Oronsaye, despite being the deputy chairman of the committee, never
attended even a single meeting of the task force and only flew into the
country the morning of the report submission ceremony.
Ribadu’s tone and words sought to portray his opponents as making frivolous and baseless claims. These are some of his words: “This task force was set up in February and we started work almost immediately. Most of our members you are seeing here abandoned everything they were doing and gave everything to it. We worked almost every day for about three months. Steve Oronsaye never participated even one day in the deliberation of this committee. Not even for a single day. He never. The first time we saw Steve was at the end of work when we were asking about recovery from companies – that was when he jumped in. All the members are here – they can bear witness to all I’m saying.”
It was an embarrassing moment, watching adults who were sent on a critical national assignment stand before the President and disagree on the quality of the report prepared. Even President Goodluck Jonathan knew the weight of the embarrassment and promptly noted that it would be celebrated with pomp and circumstance in the media the next day.
But Ribadu was not done yet. After the ceremony of submitting the report to the President, he was interviewed by the media. When asked if there was a difference between the report he submitted and the one that was published by the media which was leaked to the media some days earlier, he said emphatically that there was no difference between the two reports. That way, he made it clear that contrary to what Oronsaye said, the report had been completed.
Even though he said he did not know which member of his committee leaked the report to the media, I would give him a no-guilty verdict if it is confirmed that it was Ribadu himself who leaked the report to the media.
No matter what grouse people may have about Ribadu, you cannot deny that he has integrity. He is outspoken. He is committed to building a new Nigeria which will not be known for corruption and crime, a Nigeria whose citizens will hold their heads high wherever they are.
It is clear to all that Nigeria will never develop if its wealth is continuously and massively stolen by a few individuals who are never punished legally. It is embarrassing that an oil-rich country will have 70 per cent of its citizens living below the one-dollar-per-day poverty line. It is inexplicable that for the past three decades, an oil-rich nation does not have motorable roads, stable electricity, functional hospitals, clean water, good schools or a well-equipped police force. But most wicked is that an oil-rich nation like Nigeria will be importing refined petroleum products.
Optimism is great; hope is fantastic; faith can be miraculous, but given the depth of decay in our nation and the speed at which the rot continues, it will be foolhardy for anyone to hope that this nation will get better, if things continue the way they are without a hard fight against corruption. We may wake up one day to discover that the entire nation has been stolen and that we have become a nationless people. God forbid!
It is said that when one fights corruption, corruption fights back. So those who benefit from this corruption in our oil industry will do everything to destroy this report from Ribadu and his team. But if corruption doles out 50-pound punches, we must dole out 100-pound sucker punches in return, if we want to achieve any victory against the monster.
Any effort geared towards stopping this rot in our system is welcome and should be encouraged. Nigeria should adopt a name-and-shame policy as its new national policy. President Jonathan must not let the Ribadu report be thrown into the dustbin like many before it. Our nation has bled for too long. Too much loss of blood leads to death.
BY AZUKA ONWUKA
Ribadu’s tone and words sought to portray his opponents as making frivolous and baseless claims. These are some of his words: “This task force was set up in February and we started work almost immediately. Most of our members you are seeing here abandoned everything they were doing and gave everything to it. We worked almost every day for about three months. Steve Oronsaye never participated even one day in the deliberation of this committee. Not even for a single day. He never. The first time we saw Steve was at the end of work when we were asking about recovery from companies – that was when he jumped in. All the members are here – they can bear witness to all I’m saying.”
It was an embarrassing moment, watching adults who were sent on a critical national assignment stand before the President and disagree on the quality of the report prepared. Even President Goodluck Jonathan knew the weight of the embarrassment and promptly noted that it would be celebrated with pomp and circumstance in the media the next day.
But Ribadu was not done yet. After the ceremony of submitting the report to the President, he was interviewed by the media. When asked if there was a difference between the report he submitted and the one that was published by the media which was leaked to the media some days earlier, he said emphatically that there was no difference between the two reports. That way, he made it clear that contrary to what Oronsaye said, the report had been completed.
Even though he said he did not know which member of his committee leaked the report to the media, I would give him a no-guilty verdict if it is confirmed that it was Ribadu himself who leaked the report to the media.
No matter what grouse people may have about Ribadu, you cannot deny that he has integrity. He is outspoken. He is committed to building a new Nigeria which will not be known for corruption and crime, a Nigeria whose citizens will hold their heads high wherever they are.
It is clear to all that Nigeria will never develop if its wealth is continuously and massively stolen by a few individuals who are never punished legally. It is embarrassing that an oil-rich country will have 70 per cent of its citizens living below the one-dollar-per-day poverty line. It is inexplicable that for the past three decades, an oil-rich nation does not have motorable roads, stable electricity, functional hospitals, clean water, good schools or a well-equipped police force. But most wicked is that an oil-rich nation like Nigeria will be importing refined petroleum products.
Optimism is great; hope is fantastic; faith can be miraculous, but given the depth of decay in our nation and the speed at which the rot continues, it will be foolhardy for anyone to hope that this nation will get better, if things continue the way they are without a hard fight against corruption. We may wake up one day to discover that the entire nation has been stolen and that we have become a nationless people. God forbid!
It is said that when one fights corruption, corruption fights back. So those who benefit from this corruption in our oil industry will do everything to destroy this report from Ribadu and his team. But if corruption doles out 50-pound punches, we must dole out 100-pound sucker punches in return, if we want to achieve any victory against the monster.
Any effort geared towards stopping this rot in our system is welcome and should be encouraged. Nigeria should adopt a name-and-shame policy as its new national policy. President Jonathan must not let the Ribadu report be thrown into the dustbin like many before it. Our nation has bled for too long. Too much loss of blood leads to death.
BY AZUKA ONWUKA
