The New Super Brat Called Maikanti Baru

RING TRUE

By YEMI ADEBOWALE, yemi.adebowale@thisdaylive.com; 07013940521 (Text only)

The Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, is a clear example of our skewed system that throws up brats as public servants. Our famed anti-corruption Czar, Muhammadu Buhari is responsible for the largest number of such brats in the 57-year history of this country. Buhari has given Nigeria the likes of Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami; Women affairs Minister, Aisha Alhassan; Customs boss, Hammed Ali; EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu; Army Chief, Tukur Buratai; suspended NHIS boss, Usman Yusuf and the famed grass cutter, Babachir Lawal. These little monsters, who have no regard for due process and the rule of law, now dominate ministries, departments and agencies at all levels. They are encouraged to act recklessly by their godfather. These features of brats were evident in Baru’s response to the grave allegations against him by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu.

After Kachikwu’s memo accusing Baru of not adhering to due process in the award of contracts by the corporation and acts of insubordination, the NNPC GMD brazenly described the NNPC Board as inconsequential. For Baru, the corporation’s board chaired by the Minister of State for Petroleum is redundant because “it has no powers to regulate or approve contracts awarded by the corporation.” Baru’s response was shamelessly silent on other pertinent issues raised by Kachikwu, mainly the appointment of senior executives of NNPC without the knowledge of the Board. Baru followed up on Tuesday by alleging that Kachikwu’s memo was aimed at inciting Nigerians against him.

The NNPC GMD has simply elected what laws to obey and what laws to flout. We need to remind this little monster called Baru that the 1977 Act establishing the NNPC and the Companies and Allied Matters Act both provided for a Board for establishments of this nature and the Board must have a say and must approve vital decisions taken by the management of the corporation. The Nigeria National Petroleum 1977 Act, CAP N123, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, Section 1 (2) deals with the control of the NNPC and provides that its affairs shall be conducted by a Board of Directors. According to the Act, “the affairs of the Corporation shall, subject to Part II of this Act, be conducted by a Board of Directors of the Corporation.” This means that contracts can only be referred to the President through the Board. Unfortunately, President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have been granting approvals for NNPC contracts and JVC funding without the Board’s endorsement. This is corruption.

Power-drunk Baru, who is evidently being protected by powerful forces in the Presidency, is averse to any Board providing oversight functions to the management of NNPC. He reports to these powerful forces in the Presidency. This is why Kachikwu and his NNPC Board are not privy to the decisions taken by NNPC. Baru simply walks straight to the President. We can all now see that Baru’s shenanigan is state-sanctioned. This man has access to higher authorities and has sheepishly decided to ignore a Board that is obviously too weak to assert itself. Genuine patriots must rise and help Kachikwu fight this incongruity in the NNPC. This is a fight against impunity. Regrettably, virtually all our human rights activists have gone voiceless amid unprecedented impunity in our dear country in the last 29 months. Most of them are now government contractors and pro-government activists. The lawyers among these activists are busy running after briefs from the EFCC. We must rise in this season of anomy and tackle this impunity.

The skewed Board of the NNPC also weakened Kachikwu. The Board is slanted in favour of the cabal running Nigeria. The composition of the Board is also contrary to the Federal Character law. Just glance through the list and you will weep for mother Nigeria. Buhari, who has sworn to defend the Nigerian constitution, approved the following men as NNPC Board members: Tajuddeen Umar (North-east), Maikanti Baru (North-east), Abba Kyari (North-east), Mahmoud Isa-Dutse (North-central), Mallam Mohammed Lawal (North-west), Mallam Yusuf Lawal (North-west), Ibe Kachikwu (South-south), Thomas John (South-south), and Pius Akinyelure (South-west). This is clearly a crooked Board.

Allegations of insubordination and illegal contract award aside, for me, the biggest challenge facing Baru, which our anti-graft agency should focus on, is the alleged non-remittance of over N6 trillion revenues by Duke Oil, a subsidiary of NNPC. I am happy that our lawmakers are digging into this. The Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating revenue leakages in NNPC’s affiliates, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe said the probe would span January 2016 to 2017 and predicated on the apparent inability of DPR to enforce compliance of remittances into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. It is scandalous that this Nigerian company is registered in Panama while its head office is in the United Kingdom but does business in Nigeria. There are speculations that Duke Oil has never produced audited accounts since inception. Duke Oil has clearly been lifting Nigeria’s crude oil in a manner that is not transparent.

Aisha and Zahra Buhari’s Kinked Outbursts
First, it was the President’s daughter, Zahra who raised the alarm about the poor state of State House Clinic. She specifically called out the Permanent Secretary in the State House, Jalal Arabi to provide answers to why simple drugs like paracetamol, syringes and hand gloves were not available, leaving patients and staff to individually source for those items. “More than N3 billion budgeted for state house clinic and the workers there don’t have equipment to work with. Why? Where is the money going to?” Zahra queried.

Few days later, her mother also spoke out against her husband’s wretched State House Clinic that had gulped billions of Naira, stating that a situation where constructions were going on in the health facility that cannot boast of a syringe was not good enough for the country. Aisha recalled that she was sick recently and was advised to travel abroad because of the poor state of the clinic. The President’s wife said she had to patronise a private hospital owned by foreigners when she was told that the x-ray machine in the State House Clinic was not working. Aisha added that the budget allocated to the clinic must be accounted for by the head of the clinic.

It is disheartening that Aisha and Zahra are only speaking out against low-quality health facilities at the State House clinic, established to take care of few people – the President, Vice-President, their families as well as staff of the Presidential Villa. These few aristocrats also have the option of access to the best private hospitals in Nigeria and abroad if the State House clinic fails to deliver. This was seen in the manner Buhari hurried abroad to take care of his ailment. For me, Aisha and Zahra should be more worried about the poor facilities in federal teaching hospitals, federal medical centres and other public hospitals patronised by millions of Nigerians instead of showboating. Those who patronise these public hospitals have no option of foreign medicals. Virtually all these federal health facilities are in comatose. Patients even provide generators for operations in some of them. X-ray and other vital medical machines have all packed up in most of these federal hospitals. Aisha and Zahra did not speak out when the Aso Rock Clinic got more capital vote than all the 16 teaching hospitals in Nigeria in the 2016 budget. These ladies are only concerned about their own Aso Rock Clinic.

It is also scandalous to hear Aisha asking the Medical Director of the Aso Rock Clinic to account for all the money so far budgeted for it by the Buhari administration. I am shocked that Aisha is unaware that the buck stops on her husband’s table. Buhari has to account for the failings of the Aso Rock Clinic. In addition, Aisha’s husband has to account for the failings of federal teaching hospitals and medical centres across the nation. Buhari has to account for the over N6 trillion 2016 budget and N7.2 trillion 2017 budget. The outbursts of Aisha and Zahra were all just about the comfort of the first family. There is nothing in it for the struggling masses of this country.

Cardinal Okogie’s Scolding of Pentecostal Churches
The unbraiding of Pentecostal Churches by the Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Cardinal Anthony Okogie, during an interview last week, was thought-provoking. Top of his conclusion was that there was no godliness in the decision by some churches in the country to have as many branches as possible. Apparently referring to multiplicity of branches of Pentecostal churches, the patriarch of the Lagos Catholics described such branches as “mere business centres”.

He declared: “The mushrooming of churches has not elicited commensurate level of godliness across the land. In order to bring us together and to get sanity back into this country, the fear of God must be number one. For example, I heard that one of my colleagues, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, said that he would love to build churches everywhere so as to make it easy for worshipers to walk to them. But for me, that is a useless statement. How can you say you will build churches everywhere? What kind of churches are you talking about? Those who are pastors are traders and a good number of them are businessmen. Such churches in most cases are more like business houses.”

Okogie simply hit the nail on the head. Pentecostal churches hardly aim to build affordable health centres or schools on every street in Nigeria. They hardly aim to build or equip public hospitals/schools or provide water for all on every street.  The majority of their members can’t afford the few schools built. They just aim to have branches on every street and make money to sustain the posh lifestyle of their founders. This is neo-slavery. Most of the churches are set up to milk their gullible followers with wild imaginary miracles. Charismatic and smooth-talking Pentecostal preachers are worshipped by mesmerised followers who cringe under them. These power-dressing pastors simply want money from their followers to sustain their posh lifestyle.

Just look around you and you will see Pentecostal pastors flying around in private jets and driving around in limousines, while the majority of their followers wallow in abject poverty. They drive the best cars and live in the best houses. These entranced members contribute money to buy posh aircraft and cars for them. I can’t forget the presentation of 2014 Rolls Royce Phantom to the General Overseer of Christ Royal Family International Church, Lagos, Bishop Tom Samson, in March 2016 during his 50th birthday celebration. Samson had set tongues wagging back in 2014 when he got a N80 million stretch hummer limousine from an undisclosed church member. So many Nigerians have fallen for Pentecostal scam. Come to think of it, if they are really doing the will of God, this country would not be in this mess.

Something is clearly wrong somewhere. Despite the multiplicity of churches, there is still so much corruption, hunger, disease, poverty, unemployment, wickedness, witchcraft and frightening man’s inhumanity to man in this country. Notwithstanding the array of churches and mosques, this country is dominated by morally-bankrupt people. Nigerians spend too much of their time praying and running to churches and mosques, instead of working and being their brother’s keeper. This is why we have remained a third-world country. Countries dominated by religious zealots hardly develop. In my dear Nigeria, churches buy premises of failed factories and convert them to churches. Can these churches create jobs and pay taxes? We can’t continue like this. We should be talking about building cottage industries, schools and health centres on every street, instead of churches and mosques. Things have just got to change.