NIGERIA IS ON AUTO-PILOT, says Dr Frederick Fasehun, OPC President/Founder

Dr. Frederick Fasehun, the Founder and President of the Oodua People's Congress spoke with selected members of the media at his Century Hotel, Okota, Lagos at the weekend. Topics he ventured into ranged from the governance of the country at the Federal level to the recent controversial pipeline security contract given to his New Age Global Security & Surveillance Company, the OPC factionalisation and the federal legislators demand for wardrobe allowances.

Level of governance

In my own view, President Muhammed Buhari has constituted the only government in town, the legislature is not on, they are on holiday. They didn’t start schooling and they went on holiday. 

For almost two months now, we have had a government that has not been governing except the auto pilot. 

Ours is a presidential system and there is what is called division of labour. The presidency can’t perform the functions of legislature according to the constitution. 

What the Senate is doing can’t be performed by the House of Representatives. As a result of all these, we have been disobeying our constitution at every level. 

What we have now is Buhari doing everything; no Federal Executive Council. Of course, Buhari wants to run his government, he goes on without the ministers because the National Assembly is not on seat.

There is so much impunity, dishonesty and others and we continue as if nothing is going on.

They promised us change, but nothing has changed; electricity, road, water, and security are not better and security I seven worse. It’s as if government is not serious in confronting insecurity in the country.

Corruption in the system

Any government that wants to tackle corruption must execute certain programmes and unemployment is one of such programmes. 

Every nation has its own levels of corruption and types of corruption, but in our own country, every level of corruption is available; bribery, kidnapping, stealing, armed robbery and others. 

It is the responsibility of the government to reduce corruption to the barest minimum, but government in our own part does not seem to be tackling corruption. 

No country can wipe away corruption in its entirety. We have legislators that have turned themselves to pugilists and wanted to go with the mace of the House of Reps, which is a sign of authority. Yet, the government is not sanctioning them or doing anything about it.

The change mantra

We expected true change, but unfortunately, the change that Nigerians were expecting has not manifested. The current government has spent two months in power and we’ve not noticed any change except change in personnel.

We were not expecting this level of change in personnel. You require personnel to execute your programmes. Government is continuum. 

There is no way you can wipe off the influence of a past government from that of a successor government and we were talking about corruption, and our legislators have turned the legislature into a boxing ring and asking for several allowances; furniture, wardrobe, car and newspapers allowances.

The legislators that are demanding for wardrobe allowances have not been naked. 

The government should not approve of such allowances. Rather than approving their wardrobe allowances, the government should send fashion designers to them and sew T-SHIRT for those who don’t have the babanrigas. Must we cloth them? N600,000 for wardrobe allowances each. That is corruption!

Part-time legislature

I agree with those calling for this. How many days do they spend there? They spend maximum three days per week and they are gone. What they are doing is part time job and they should be given part time pay.

Corruption in the system

Any government that wants to tackle corruption must execute certain programmes and unemployment is one of such programmes. 

Every nation has its own levels of corruption and types of corruption, but in our own country, every level of corruption is available; bribery, kidnapping, stealing, armed robbery and others. 

It is the responsibility of the government to reduce corruption to the barest minimum, but government in our own part does not seem to be tackling corruption. 

No country can wipe away corruption in its entirety. We have legislators that have turned themselves to pugilists and wanted to go with the mace of the House of Reps, which is a sign of authority. Yet, the government is not sanctioning them or doing anything about it.

Non-payment of contract sum by NNPC

When oil pipelines were being vandalised and disrupted, we felt concerned that the economic lifeline of the country was being threatened and we applied with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), to provide security along the oil pipelines that was in 2011. 

There was no response from the authority until about a year ago when they summoned me for a meeting and I had a meeting with the authorities of the NNPC in Abuja and they were highly impressed with the outcome of the meeting, but for six months or thereabout, there was no response from them again.

So, when they eventually responded, they said there was no way the government would do business with an unregistered organisation, which is the O’odua Peoles Congress, OPC, and advised us to register the organisation, which we said no because there is no way you will register an organisation like OPC with the government, they would not accept your application and once your application is turned down at the CAC, that’s the end of your organisation. So, I didn’t do that.

So, I requested for the application of the contract with another company that I have, which is already registered and they said there was no problem. 

So, on the 15th of March this year, that contract was awarded to that company, New Age, Global and Business Nigeria Limited. 

We needed to put many hands on deck to execute the contract and I turned towards the OPC members to come and be the foot soldiers. In all, 4, 020 OPC members were put in the pipelines after signing a contract with the NNPC.

The contract was signed and printed by the NNPC, given to us to read through and signed, which we did. Then immediately, on the 16th of March, we started deploying our youths to the pipelines. 

The contract signed was for three months and exactly three months, they said they won’t renew the contract, but when we signed the contract, I expected them to mobilise us with vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, touch lights, generators and these things in hundreds because of the number of people we were putting on the pipelines from Mosimi in Ogun State to Oyo state and for three months. We did that work with utmost integrity and righteousness and as a matter of fact, people were commending us that since we took over, there was peaceful interval.

It was on the 15th June that the contract came to an end, I expected them to pay us as it was in the contract, but up till now, they have refused to pay us as agreed in the contract despite all our efforts to make this a reality, they have turned deaf ears to everything we did. 

After the contract, the young men thought I have collected the money, which I’m yet to do.     

While the contract was on, there was a change of government, but I personally believe that government is continuum and any contract signed on behalf of the government should be honoured by the successor government, which has not been so.

We are anxious that the government may be playing pranks with us because while the contract was on, the government ought to have mobilised us and give us some money to start with, but they never did and we never complained.

Do they expect 4,020 youths to spend three months in the jungle without payment? We don’t want to go legal yet and I thought these 4,020 youths were part of those government was complaining that there was unemployment in the society. 

If you now engage that high numbers, must you not pay them after three months? 

If you don’t want to pay them, it is shear cruelty. It shows that the cry of the government to provide employment is an insincere cry and those youths have now been returned to the unemployment market.

The contract was used to placate you and others

OPC is not a political platform. We saw that the country needed our service, which we responded to. I am the National Chairman of the UPN, and not PDP person. I didn’t take the politicians to handle the contract, but OPC.

When I applied for the contract some few years ago (2011), there was an outcry by a political platform that I have been given a contract to the tune of N2.8bn and that I have been paid, but this is the contract now and it has been executed and yet, not one kobo has been paid. It shows that the outcry was a lie.

The contract detail/sum

Each worker was to be paid N1,500 daily and that was the figure suggested by the NNPC and we were very anxious to engage people and let them feed their families despite the fact Okada and Keke Marwa riders make more than that daily.

The total money of N1,500 daily should be divided into 4,020 workers daily and this was for three months. Each person was to get N45,000 monthly, which means at the end of the three months period, they were to get N135,000 each.

If after sometimes,  the government refuses to listen to us, the only arbiter available to us is the court, because we have held our peace for over a month and they have not said one thing for or against our payment. 

I’m not preparing to cause crisis in the country and if we go to court, we would be able to ask for other things, which include damages and special damages.

Approach with anybody in government

I’ve not met anybody in government for the payment, we didn’t sign it with the Federal Government, but NNPC. So, that’s why I’m going to the NNPC for payment.

How much was saved the nation

NNPC was losing about N7 billion daily from pipeline vandalism and all they owe us is about N1.9bn for the 4, 020 workers for three months.

 

What they owe us for three months is less than what they were losing daily. So we have contributed our quota to the economic upliftment of Nigeria. 

The amount we are talking about is just for the areas that we secured and about 20,000 youths were put on the pipelines all together for the New Age contract, the Gani Adams faction, Shoot at Sight and Tompolo. 

In all, there were about five groups and I’m only talking of a group that was responsible for the surveillance and security of the pipelines from Mosimi in Sagamu to Ibadan in Oyo State that falls within my purview.

Are the pipelines save now?

While we were there, it was very safe. You have police, soldiers, etc manning the place before we came and yet, NNPC felt it was going to die with the high volumes of vandalism daily and when we came onboard, the NNPC confirmed that we helped them to reduce vandalism to the barest minimum as all other strategies had failed in the past. 

Security and Boko-Haram, spread to the south west

Boko-Haram could have come to the south west for about four years now, but they didn’t attempt it. 

It wasn’t their wish not to attempt it, but they knew that there was an outfit that can confront them adequately.

They have been to other places even outside the north, but we keep telling our people that they should not panic, give us information and once such information is given, we act on them. 

Strangers are regularly being monitored especially those from the South Western parts of Africa. They threatened to blow up the 3rd mainland bridge, but by the grace of God, they couldn’t carry out their threats.

Factions in OPC

The disparity in OPC is blown out of proportion in the media. Gani Adams and I still meet regularly and even after this cancellation of the contract, we have met about twice to discuss the issue and the method to be adopted to pursue the case. 

I said earlier that, I applied for the NNPC contract and when it was awarded, NNPC felt they wanted to divide it and I conceded. The contract we are talking about was executed between my group and that of Gani Adams.

NEW GROUP EMERGES TO SOLVE CRISIS ON LEADERSHIP OF CCC

Posted by Lateef Lawal

A new outfit aimed at solving the crisis that had bedevilled the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) over the choice of Pastor/Leader of the fold has emerged.

Called Celestial Church of Christ Global Unification & Reforms Group (CCCGURG) being led by Wolida Johnson Shodipe.

According to Shodipe, who is the chairman of the group, efforts were being intensified to bring about the much desired unification of all the 'warring' factions through pleadings and persuasions with all those that were proclaimed 'Pastor' by the various factions, to sheathe their swords and allow peaceful settlement of the impasse.

The group in a press statement noted that it had earlier set out the necessary steps that could be taken to restore the Church back to its period of grace.

The Group further approached the High Court in Lagos that the tendency for the self appointed or arrangee Pastors would no doubt continue within the church, unless and until the judgement of Supreme Court in an earlier case is legally enforced against the 'Pastors' in order to ensure that there is compliance with the judgement by all and sundry within the church-this case is still pending in the High Court of Lagos State.

Relying on the above case still pending in court, Wolide Shodipe said it was important to note that any purported attempt to register any of the self-appointed and or arrangee pastors as a trustee of the Church with any government authority under whatever guise or pursuit of any purported amendment of the Church's Constitution ' is void, null and of no legal effect and as such effort would be akin to clapping with one hand'.

He added' Further still, an Ilaro High Court on 26th March, 2015, handed down a judgement in Suit No.HCL/07/2006 also relying on the Supreme Court judgement and held that " no one amongst those parading themselves as 'pastors' has been validly appointed as Head of the Celestial Church of Christ, thus their appointments were accordingly declared null and void".

He said this meant that no one could be appointed as Pastor or Head of CCC at the moment until the church re-write her Constitution and such constitution was validly made by all stakeholders, approved by the General Assembly of CCC members worldwide and registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

Wolida Shodipe observed that:"It is on the premise of the above that our Group finds it disgusting to hear that someone called Senior Evangelist Olatoso Oshoffa could come up to proclaim himself as the 'Leader of the Church and the leader of the the Unification Group'.

He asserted:" We therefore want to make it abundantly clear that Senior Evangelist Olatoso is not part of our Group-CCC Unification & Reforms Group; and that our Group is neither a party to, or having any involvement

in or in agreement with Olatoso's self declaration as either the 'Leader' of the Church or the 'Leader' of our Group.

NEW CONSTITUTION FOR CELESTIAL CHURCH OF CHRIST SOON

DISOWNS EVANGELIST TOSHO OSHOFFA AS LEADER !

By Lateef Lawal 
The crisis of leadership rocking the Celestial Church Christ [CCC] worldwide will soon be resolved, the Board of Trustees and Pastor-in-Council has assured its teeming members.

To this end. a committee set up to review the constitution of the church will soon submit its draft for the consideration of all stakeholders of the church and after the approval, it will thereafter be duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission [CAC] in Abuja.

This assurance was given by Superior Evangelist Samson Banjo in a press release issued today on behalf of the Board of Trustees, who noted that the Board and Pastor-in-Council are making appropriate arrangements for the smooth, proper and peaceful running of the affairs of the church at all its Parishes worldwide.

Setting up of a committee to draft a new constitution for the church, he explained was in deference to a Court decision which advised on the need for the Church to rewrite its constitution as a way of finding lasting solution to its problems, especially the Pastorship of the church.
Superior Evangelist Banjo noted that until the emergence and approval of a new constitution as ordered by the court, " Any assertion,representation, claims and pretentious by any person or persons including the ill-advised and baseless self declaration of Senior Evangelist Tosho Oshoffa to the pastoral seat or leadership of the Church is fake, ingenuity and a figment of imagination and an exercise in futility which carries a grave risk of contempt of court".

The church had sometime ago instituted a court action against one Godwin Bolanle Shonekan to prevent him from parading himself as the pastor of the church.

On March 26, this year, the trial judge, Hon. Justice A.O.Asenuga, ruled that the self proclamation of Mr Shonekan as Pastor was illegal, unconstitutional null and void. He further ruled that the appointment of a Pastor in the church needed re-articulation in a  news constitution.

The trial Judge therefore set aside all claims to the position of the Pastor of the Church and the Board of Trustees as one of the defendants has already appealed against the ruling.

The summary of this decision  is that subject to the outcome of the appeals, the Church does not have a lawful and duly accredited Pastor for the time being.

BUHARI SACKS SERVICE CHIEFS; APPOINTS NEW ONES

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked his army, navy, air force and defence chiefs, a widely anticipated move as the former general has made crushing Boko Haram his top priority.

"The President has relieved the service chiefs, including the heads of the army, air force and navy of their appointments," Femi Adesina told AFP news agency on Monday.

The outgoing officials are: Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh; the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Kenneth Minimah; the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Adesola Amosu, the spokesman said.

Buhari has appointed new defence chiefs after sacking the heads of the army, navy and air force.

The sackings were expected as the president has repeatedly criticised the military's inability to defeat Islamist group Boko Haram.

The Islamists have recently launched a series of deadly guerrilla attacks, killing more than 250 people.

Boko Haram is thought to be responsible for more than 10,000 deaths since 2009.

Both the new head of the army, Maj Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, and the National Security Adviser, Maj Gen Babagana Monguno, are from Borno State which is at the heart of the conflict.

Since his inauguration in May, Buhari has moved Nigeria's defence command centre to Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram, and is setting up the headquarters for a multi-national joint taskforce in Chad's capital N'Djamena.

In June, Amnesty International accused Nigeria's military of systemic human rights abuses and the deaths of 8,000 prisoners and called for an investigation into many top military officials including the army and air force chiefs.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan was heavily criticised for his inability to deal with the six-year Boko Haram violence in the northeast of Africa's biggest oil producer which has killed thousands and displaced 1.5 mn people.

Army morale hit an all time low under Jonathan and it was not until the start of 2015 that the group's fighters were finally pushed out of most areas with the help of foreign mercenaries, troops from neighbouring countries and new equipment.

At least a dozen civilians and a Chadian soldier were killed in two suicide attacks by suspected Boko Haram fighters in the northern Cameroon town of Fotokol late on Sunday, a senior Cameroonian military officer said.

The first explosion went off inside a bar near a Cameroon special forces (BIR) camp just after sundown, the officer said, asking not to be named.

"The second explosion followed as soldiers approached the bar," he said.

A Nigeria Without Chiefs Make Top Paying Bonds Less Attractive

By Paul Wallace

Nigeria has attractive bond yields and a fast growing economy with a young population. For investors, it’s missing a key ingredient: a functioning government.

More than a month since taking charge of Africa’s largest economy, President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to choose ministers; an announcement the 72-year-old former military ruler said he may postpone until September. That’s left the continent’s biggest oil producer and most populous nation without a finance chief to steer a Treasury he said is “virtually empty” amid calls for a currency devaluation.

Investors actions in the capital markets are an answer to that political void. An index of naira bonds declined 2.6 percent in dollar terms over the past month. That compares with average losses of 0.2 percent across 31 emerging markets. And while Nigerian rates of 14.9 percent are the highest among those nations, foreigners are staying clear until they know Buhari’s plans for the exchange rate and budget, according to Barclays Plc and Rand Merchant Bank.

“You can’t ignore the yields on offer in Nigeria, except for when there’s a lack of clarity on policy,” Ridle Markus, an analyst at Barclays, said by phone from Johannesburg on July 2. “It creates further uncertainty as to what the cabinet will look like, what decisions the finance minister will take.”

Oil Damage

Nigerian stocks dropped 8.9 percent since Buhari’s April 2 win over Goodluck Jonathan in a March presidential election, the third-worst performers globally among 93 primary indexes tracked by Bloomberg. He was sworn in on May 29 following a campaign in which he promised to crush Boko Haram’sinsurgency in the north east and clamp down on corruption.

The new government suffered the deadliest week since taking office last week after attacks in the Borno state claimed at least 150 lives.

So far he has articulated few ideas on how to revive an economy ravaged by an almost 45 percent drop in Brent crude prices over the past year, Angus Downie, head of economic research at Ecobank Transnational Inc., said by phone from London on July 2. Nigeria’s government relies on oil for roughly two-thirds of its revenue.

Growth will decelerate to 4.8 percent in 2015, about half the average of the past decade, according to the International Monetary Fund. That’s still faster than the global average of 3.5 percent and 4.3 percent for developing nations.

Some Nominations

The naira fell 21 percent between the end of June 2014 and Feb. 12, when it dropped to a record low of 206.32 against the dollar. That prompted the central bank to extend foreign-exchange trading curbs to prop up the currency. While those have steadied the naira at an average of 199.03 since March, they have left it overvalued, according to investors, including Investec Asset Management and BlackRock Inc.

Still, Nigeria’s population, where 44 percent of its 177 million are under the age of 15, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, augurs well for long-term growth. In the euro region, less than 16 percent of people are under 15, while in the U.S. the figure is 20 percent.

A delay in naming a finance minister means it may take longer for investors to find out whether currency restrictions will be removed, according to Joseph Rohm, a money manager at Investec Asset Management, which oversees about $110 billion.

Currency Devaluation

“We need a devaluation and strong appointees in the government for the market to go up,” Rohm said by phone from Cape Town last month.

Bonds and equities surged after Jonathan conceded defeat to Buhari, easing investors’ concerns about a disputed result in a country that had never seen a peaceful change of power from one party to another. Yet, as well as plans for the currency, investors now want to know whether the government will remove gasoline subsidies and how it will diversify the economy from oil.

“We’re still sitting in the dark,” Zoran Milojevic, a trader at New York-based brokerage Auerbach Grayson & Co., said by phone. “The only positive thing is that Nigeria didn’t spiral into a civil war. That’s not enough to push the market.”

Average bond yields have climbed almost 100 basis points from 13.91 percent since May 14.

There probably won’t be a rally until Buhari outlines how he will improve Nigeria’s economy, says Ronak Gopaldas, an analyst at Rand Merchant Bank, a unit of FirstRand Ltd., Africa’s biggest bank by market value.

“People thought by now they’d have some kind of clarity,” Johannesburg-based Gopaldas said by phone on July 1. “They’re looking for a decisive message about what Buhari’s going to do to arrest the economic decline. It’s something that needs to be done sooner rather than later.”

source: Bloomberg Business

Nigeria total debt at 12.1 trln naira by end March: DMO

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's total debt rose to 12.1 trillion naira ($60.8 billion) as of March 2015, up from 11.2 trillion naira at the end of December 2014, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said.

The DMO said on its website that foreign debt stood at $9.46 billion at the end of March, equivalent to about 15 percent of total debt and down from $9.71 billion at the end of 2014.

Nigeria said in 2013 it wanted to increase the amount it borrowed overseas to 40 percent of all debt over a three-to-five year period to tap into loose monetary policy in advanced economies.

But as oil prices plunged last year, government revenues slumped, leaving Abuja struggling to pay bills including state salaries. The currency has also come under intense pressure.

Nigeria's states are now in debt to the tune of 658 billion naira, the governor of Zamfara state said last week.

Investors are worried domestic debt has risen sharply since the end of March, and concerns about government finances, as well as the slide in the naira, are hitting markets.

The yield on the 5-year bond, the most liquid issue, rose to 14.95 percent on Tuesday, up from 14.71 percent a week ago.

Nigeria's former finance minister said at the start of May that the government had already used half the borrowing allowance it had budgeted for as lower oil prices reduced revenues.

Abuja's funding problems and the naira's weakness on the black market are fuelling market concerns that more domestic bonds may have to be sold, raising the cost of borrowing.

Nigeria rebased its gross domestic product statistics last April, almost doubling the size of its economy to more than $500 billion, Africa's biggest. However tax collection as a percentage of revenue is a paltry 6 percent.

($1 = 198.8500 naira)