Ngozi’s economic model destroyed PDP; GMB needs a different one

In a nutshell, Jonathan relied on an economic model which excluded the vast majority, especially from the sections that subsequently saw an opportunity to vote him out last month. Yes, it is true that he, his wife and his two main magicians (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Finance and Deziani Alison-Maduekwe in Petroleum Resources) were churning out […]

In a nutshell, Jonathan relied on an economic model which excluded the vast majority, especially from the sections that subsequently saw an opportunity to vote him out last month. Yes, it is true that he, his wife and his two main magicians (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Finance and Deziani Alison-Maduekwe in Petroleum Resources) were churning out billionaires on a daily basis, but millions were being pauperised at an even faster rate. Security and corruption played a part, but poverty and unemployment were major factors.
Apparently, GEJ believed the lies of Ifeanyi Uba and company, who promised him 12 million votes. Banking on the fact that he could get all the registered voters in the East and South-South (since nobody votes there anyway) he must have been rudely awaken. He is still unable to figure out how Uba, Doyin Okupe, Jerry Gana, Ayo Oritsejafor, Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clark and the PDP governors could have gotten it all wrong. Well, let us start with Uba and his Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN). As a major beneficiary of Jonathan-Deziani-Ngozi fuel subsidy scam, the chap had to convince himself that the lucre will keep flowing. He made tens of billions from claiming subsidies on kerosene that was never imported, nor sold to the public at the officially recommended price. Uba’s company, Capital Oil and Gas, was found by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede panel to culpable of fraudulently obtaining N42.3 billion from the Federal Government by falsely pretending that it imported and sold 538.7 million litres of petroleum in 26 transactions. This was for fiscal year 2011 alone. Along with some 20 other companies, this chap was part of a 3 trillion naira racket that oiled the PDP corruption machine, with massive kickbacks, some scholarships here and there, and charitable donations to so-called widows and orphans (and the First Widow herself) on which PDP based its support. Little wonder that this indicted wheeler-dealer charmed his way back to the Presidency and pumped billions into Jonathan’s re-election to escape justice. He was the only one to cry, at least openly, when Jonathan started packing out.
However, even though the oil subsidy scammers obviously shared their loot with top government officials and politicians, that is still not the biggest racket. That honour must go to the mainstream oil regulators, technocrats in NNPC, PPPRA and those inside and around the president. When the then Governor of the Central Bank raised the alarm regarding the non-remittance of some US $20 billion by the NNPC to the Federation Account and other misdeeds, the government initially dismissed it, only to turn around, under pressure, to appoint PricewaterHouse Coopers to carry out a “forensic audit” which it refused to publish for over a year. When President-elect GMB announced his intention to look into the matter as soon as he takes over, Jonathan quickly released an edited version, announcing that only US S1.4 billion was “missing”. The firm has since distanced itself from its own report, saying its officials only relied on hearsay; the Minister of Finance has disowned it, saying she had no hand in ordering the audit, and the Auditor-General of the Federation is now saying that the president has an “interest” in the matter. In any case, some US $18.53 was spent without appropriation, so we are back to the US$20 billion we started with, which still has to be accounted for. This, and other illegalities and crude looting and sales of oil assets to friends and cronies would explain the fear of GMB by this group, and why Jonathan believed they have a stake in making sure he wins.
Then there is the N3 trillion per annum to be made by those cornering 30 percent of “local content” contracts in the oil industry. These are mainly firms like OANDO, Seplat, NESTOIL, Televeras, Seven Energy, AITEO, Midwestern Oil and Gas, which took over from the Saipems, the Slumbergers, the Halliburtons, the Vitols, and the Trafiguras that were previously favoured by the oil majors. Many of them carried out legal businesses but had few employees, paid insignificant tax, and had little impact on the real economy.
Another group that benefited tremendously are the import tax dodgers, who went through big men and women (that were close to power) to get billions they should have paid to government waived for them, by making bigger contributions to the purse of the ruling party, and the pockets of its leaders and public office holders. Ngozi, Akinwumi Adesina and some 25 rice importers are now the subjects of a House of Representative N21 billion “scam” inquiry on why they evaded tax after receiving hefty subsidies. They are not the only ones. You have maritime protection, pipeline monitoring, oil bunkering, security procurement and many other scams going on.
Even the banks are part of the mess. They take cheap government deposits, use these to make stupendous wealth in treasury and other dealings, lend at prohibitive rates and help launder everybody’s dirty loot.
The point is that the whole economic model was about enriching a few with inflated contracts, subsidy payments, illegal waivers and juicy sales of government assets, while they created little employment, paid no taxes and actually weakened the real economy. It is true that they offered some chaps scholarships and gave handouts to some thousands, but it was destroying the vast majority. Charity has its limits. The main beneficiaries are less than half of one percent, and these were the ones that were supposed to convince us to bring back Jonathan!!
GMB has to find a more inclusive and more legitimising economic model. He must have new model that can create jobs and hopes for the less privileged. Meanwhile, I fully support Vice President-elect Professor Yemi Osinbajo and his call for thorough investigation of huge, suspicious wealth. This system needs to be fixed, and quickly too. Even for those who made huge fortunes from criminal or shady activities, there is still some hope. They can legitimise it by giving back some of the loot, pay taxes on the rest and then go into more sustainable businesses.
By the way, I have just one simple quiz for Jonathan; how many votes would he have scored if there had been real elections in the East and the South-South? Let me give him a clue: Take the voter turn-out in Katsina (they love GMB as much as Bayelsans love Jonathan) and then multiply the percentage by the PVC holders in those states. His fake votes would run into millions.