Revolution

Things that happen in Nigeria (Part 2)

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By Adeola Aderounmu

When people are employed by the Federal Government of Nigeria, their names are published in what is known as the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette. Promotions and other relevant information about civil service and civil servants are also published from time to time in the official gazette.

Unfortunately the average Nigerian workers have been reduced to slaves or sub-human beings by the way things are done in Nigeria. In Nigeria, there is something called verification and auditing exercises at the various government institutes/ministries.

In my opinion I think this is one of the several loop holes and financial leakages in Nigeria. Nigeria is among the most corrupt countries in the world because the various governments in Nigeria are very corrupt. The people who run things in Nigeria are unbelievably corrupt and impunity is almost universal in Nigeria.

What corrupt politicians and private/public servants in Nigeria have failed to understand over the years is that every act of corruption adds to the gigantic sum in figures and effects that makes Nigeria probably the most corrupt country in the world and the place where some of the poorest people live.

What is the meaning of verification /auditing exercise in Nigeria? It means that some unscrupulous individuals collude with the Central Bank or the economic departments of their various ministries and allocate millions of naira to take a tour of the various federal ministries spread across Nigeria.

In the process they send thousands of government workers especially the junior staff members into unnecessary panic. Some workers who are on annual leave (for the first time in donkey years) are forced to call off their leave/holiday even if they have travelled abroad. If they don’t report back to the office, their salaries will be stopped (and someone will be embezzling the salaries!).

Some workers who are not able to appear during the verification/auditing saga have to pay thousands of naira as bribes to their immediate bosses (or the directors as they are called in the civil service) and also to the verification officials from Abuja in order to have their salaries reactivated whenever they are back to their respective posts.

This situation is very similar to pension verification. How can somebody work for the Nigerian government for 34 or 35 years and still be made to go through physical verification? This is an issue of corruption and moral decadence across all strata in Nigeria. It is scandalous, disgraceful and shameful. It speaks volume about the mental cognitive-ness of the rulers and occupiers of Nigeria.

If the people who run the civil service in Nigeria are normal, mentally alert, upright and fit for their jobs then they will never ask a man or woman who worked in the same office/department for 35 years to be verified.

There are instances where people are brought to government offices on hospital beds with dangling nutritional drips attached. During verification, people collapse, faint and even die waiting to be attended to by the “gods” from Abuja. In extreme cases people are summoned to appear in Abuja irrespective of their ages or health statuses. This is wickedness and inhuman.

The bosses at the various federal ministries and auditing committee from Abuja are very well aware of the ghost, ex-employees and dead workers on the payroll of government but they don’t talk about that. In connivance with the various economy departments of the federal ministries, they continue to embezzle the salaries of dead and ghost workers. The spread and intensity of corruption in Nigeria is out of this world.

In a normal country, dead workers don’t receive monthly salaries. Ex-employees are removed from the pay roll. In Nigeria, dead workers, ex-employees and imaginary workers (aka ghost workers) are used by top government officials and their accomplices to embezzle funds.

The situation is made complicated by citizens of Northern Nigeria who are registered into jobs or enrolled into government payroll from birth. Invariably in places like Northern Nigeria where education is almost absent, ghost and imaginary workers are created when babies are born. Who is collecting all these monies? What type of country is Nigeria really?

These offences usually go unpunished because it is made a normal thing and the crimes are covered up by the people who know about it and who share the money from the illegalities.

In Nigeria, trust is alien. In the 21st century a gang travels around Nigeria doing verification and auditing. What happened to the official gazette as the record of government? That is a document that is available in print and most definitely in soft copy that could be used to verify government workers. The gazette is probably not reliable because of the falsification in the various federal government offices. Who is going to punish who when everybody has a criminal tendency? Do you have to travel across Nigeria to do auditing? What happened to computing, accounting and technological advancements?

The severe decadence in Nigeria is revealed in many ways. It is appalling and saddening. It is absolutely impossible to explain how widespread this madness has gone. In Nigeria, everybody knows that there are ghost workers. This means that the economy department in every government ministry is occupied by one or more criminals. This means that the bosses or directors in these ministries are criminals.

It is these criminalities and embezzlements that the auditing and verification officials want to partake in. That is why they fly around Nigeria with huge sums allocated to them. Yet they make additional money on ground through bribes and kickbacks.

These are common practices in Nigeria. The ordinary workers will not talk about these things because they will be killed or booted out of service mysteriously. Do or die is widespread in Nigeria. I wish to reiterate that in Nigeria the people who are not corrupt are becoming endangered species.

It is easy for these criminal activities to be perpetrated because it is generally assumed that everybody is corrupt in Nigeria. When the rulers of Nigeria, their families and friends can use Nigeria’s monies for whatever they want without being prosecuted when in office and after leaving office, then people down the ladder also have their own ways of getting away with crimes and other atrocities.

In top government positions, especially political placements-it is assumed that you get fired or prosecuted when you are out of favour. If you are in any vocal opposition groups, you will be dealt with to send a signal to others like you. The EFCC and the ICPC are willing agents to these anomalies. In an ideal world, it would not matter your position or ideology, you will suffer for your crimes as immunity does not cover your evil, mental status and criminal tendencies.

In Nigeria, people are promoted based on how much they steal or how much they bring back to their bosses. It is in Nigeria that criminals experience elevation especially in political offices. Nigerian politicians are known as common looters of the treasury. Nigeria under a unitary form of government is not working. All indices show us that Nigeria will not work under this useless form of governance because there is no limit to how corrupt people can become.

I don’t mind to stand alone to state without fear that Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world. In my eyes criminals rule in Nigeria right from Aso rock to the lowest level of office somewhere in Maiduguri, Igbogila, Abakaliki or Badagry.

In Nigeria, people walk away with contract funds without doing any work. People kill and go! The judicial system in Nigeria is ridicule to the international law system. What kind of law is practised in Nigeria that makes criminals the freest, loudest and most visible people?

For the Federal Civil Service and by extension the various civil service commissions at the state levels, there is an urgent need to clean up the system. The questions are many though.

Who will punish the cartel stealing through the use of ghost workers and dead employees? When these ghost workers are discovered and reported, who is responsible for their retention or re-emergence on the payrolls? Who will stop the registration of babies as government workers in Northern Nigerian?

In a system where everybody is assumed to be corrupt, who is going to ensure that verification and auditing exercises are done remotely from Abuja? How can criminals be detected without sending out verification officers who turn out to be bribe takers?

Who will ensure that a Nigerian worker on level 12 is paid his/her salary as a level 12 officer and not as a level 9 officer? Who is stealing the balance of the salary shortage? It is pure madness and wickedness to keep paying workers incorrect salaries while politicians and top officials embezzle money freely and get huge wages on top of their lootings. When will all these anomalies end? Who will save Nigeria?

One question or suggestion will lead to thousands of questions and other suggestions because Nigeria is running a worthless system of government that creates a million loop holes. The beneficiaries and custodians of this useless system don’t want a change and everybody thinks that their turn to “chop” will come. This is the absurd mentality which when added to other aberrations makes Nigeria one of the worst places to live on earth.

Some government workers boast of how much cash they share in their offices. This is common in Abuja. All the monies that should be used wisely after budget allocations end up in people’s pocket and they start to boast of how much they share in their respective offices weekly/monthly to top their salaries. Abuja is promoting massive corruption and a lifestyle built on lies, deceits and looting.

Many of the things that happen in Nigeria are abnormal. Many people don’t know these things are abnormal. Many people also think it is alright because that is all they have seen or known all their lives-a nonsensical system where the law is almost useless. The laws of Nigeria, the Police in Nigeria and the courts in Nigeria are made for the further oppression of the oppressed and downtrodden.

A few people in government and in private establishment travel abroad regularly and return to Nigeria with the same slogan-“Nigeria is better than abroad”. They say these things to continue to keep their fellow citizens in bondage and everlasting physical darkness.

There is no magical dose that will solve Nigeria’s problems. If the right things are done today, Nigeria may need another 50 to 100 years to become a normal country. Remarkable things can happen in a decade though. Still and sadly the politicians are not willing to start the recovery plan because of their immediate gains, stupidities and their perception of Nigeria as an investment to be plunged and drained for their selfish interest and their children’s future. Who about the rest of us?

Only the ordinary people of Nigeria can save themselves from the vultures in Aso rock and across Nigeria. The unitary system of government brought this mess that continues to enrich a few and enslave the rest. People must demand for a change and the means to achieve that change must be pursued.

Rather than politics as usual, ordinary Nigerians need to be awaken to the benefits of true federalism or regional governments. There will be no magic dose to the problems of Nigeria but the way things are now, even with the emergence of a new mega political party (old wine in new skin), a violent collapse of Nigeria predicted to happen in 2015 will be a worse option.

(To be continued)

aderounmu@gmail.com

Things That Happen In Nigeria (Part 1)

/ Adeola / 2 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

I remember that sometime in the late 1990s I filled and submitted the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) form for employment in Nigeria. This is 2013 and no sane person in the Human Resources Department of the Federal Civil Service Commission of Nigeria has contacted me to inform me about the status of my application.

I would not be wrong to conclude that no one cares about my application since employment opportunities in Nigeria has been totally reduced to man-know-man and other unspeakable conditions. Unspeakable in the sense that nowadays you can be even employed in certain public and private institutions just like the same way people do “black jobs” in other climes. It is wickedness of the highest order if 30-70% of my income goes to a certain beneficiary because he/she helped me to secure a job.

On the homepage of the FCSC there are no available jobs and that would probably make your online application a ghost search. This is where the paper form becomes a gold search and your personal connection with top government officials a clear advantage.

This year (2013) you will need about N25 000 to collect the civil service application form for employment. This fee may not be an official requirement but since we are talking about Nigeria many idiotic things are deniable yet applicable. I can only imagine how many Nigerians have applied for employment into the Federal Ministries over the years.

In Nigeria unemployment is at a world record level. Around 90-100 million Nigerians are unemployed-that is ten times the total population of Sweden! More than 30 million of these people can be categorised as youth under 40 years of age. This is a large market for fraud (and other atrocities that have invaded Nigeria over the years) if you ask me. Just like in the cursed oil business in Nigeria, there is a likelihood of a cartel presiding over the direct embezzlement of the applications fees for the jobs that do not exist. Nigeria is a failed country I have no doubts.

One of the problems with Nigeria is that you don’t even know who is doing what. Nigeria has excessive administrative jargons which promote inefficiency and aid massive corruption and ineptitude. There is a man called Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji who is the head of the Civil Service of the Federation and there is a woman called Deaconess Joanna Ayo who is the chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission.

They can now start to look at my application and let me know where I stand regarding my application submitted several years ago. In fact the Director Generals in the various Federal Ministries in Nigeria who are given 4-5 allocations of the application forms need to bury their heads in shame too. Not a single job is advertised today on the FCSC homepage!

But wait. Who talks about shame or crooks in Nigeria? Nonsense! Almost every civil servant and private employee in Nigeria will do whatever it takes to earn substantially above his/her income because of the unrealistic and useless wages approved by the corrupt federal and state governments in Nigeria. I mean who can live on N18 000 monthly in Nigeria? Is there any family in Nigeria that can live on N50 000 monthly? The latter would be still almost impossible if all the children are deprived of any form of education. Those who earn bigger still try to live above their incomes.

The systemic nepotism and corruption that has overtaken virtually everything and anything Nigerian has become an almost incurable spiral network that span from Aso Rock in Abuja to Igbogila where my grandfather lived and died several years ago. If you are not corrupt in Nigeria you are an endangered species.

Aso Rock in Nigeria is where all the monies from the four corners of Nigeria are supposed to be gathered before being re-distributed to every Dick, Tom and Harry that govern one way or the other in Nigeria. This type of government that creates a million loop holes is the most useless form of governance that I have seen in my life.

It must take nonentities to start and sustain such a system of governance. Posterity will neither forget nor forgive those who destroyed the Nigerian Federation and substituted it for the destructive unitary system. It must also take a great deal of indifference and careless followership to allow the reign of a useless and worthless system. My anger knows no bound.

A systemic destruction of the moral and social system in Nigeria and a parallel replacement with the business of trust in God and Allah rather than the entrustment of societal and ancestral values in capable hands have derailed and submerged Nigeria/Nigerians in what looks like an everlasting doldrums.

I’m never going to be able to calculate the amount of money that has been stolen from innocent and desperate applicants in the name of Civil Service Employment opportunities. The affected departments in Abuja should stop this exploitation and looting.

Once upon a time in Nigeria merit took the forefront when people were given jobs and responsibilities. We know how times have changed very badly for Nigeria. Today in Nigeria any useless or insane person and even a criminal can occupy any position in public service as long as the person is connected. Gone are the days when things were done correctly in Nigeria.

Federal character destroyed partly the merit system in Nigeria. An inexplicable affinity for sudden wealth and insatiable greed aggravated the situation. Tribalism and nepotism completed the destruction. In Nigeria today public trust is zero. The governments are not working. People do what they like and live recklessly. Life is not appreciated in Nigeria. In extreme situation, the people and the government bend the constitution/law to perpetrate their evils, in broad day light!

How can you change for better a system where everybody is looking suspiciously at the next person and over their shoulders? How can you change a system where people believed that their neighbours can be responsible for their misfortunes and bad luck? How can you change people who in these entire dilemma run between mosques, churches and fetish shrines while perpetrating all sorts of evils in offices, environs and homes?

Personally my mind has continued to jump between hope and hopelessness for Nigeria. I feel hopeful for the great minds that are produced in Nigeria. I feel hopeless because in public and private enterprises everybody becomes a vulture ravaging what is left of the national cake in the name of self-preservation. Nigeria is not working.

Since it appears that only a handful of people are genuinely interested in saving Nigeria, I have for the moment aligned my mind along the possibilities of the changes that may come with self-determination, national conferences, referendum or outright political re-structuring that will bring back regional governments. I will continue to argue that there will not be a magic formula for Nigeria (if she is to recover say in the next 50-100 years) but not even getting started along that recovery road remains a lingering sad situation.

3 Lebanese, 1 Briton, 1 British, 1 Greek, 1 Philippino and 1 Italian murdered in Terrorist- Occupied Northern Nigeria

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi Biladis Sudan, otherwise known as JAMBS has claimed that it killed 7 foreigners kidnapped in Bauchi State Nigeria.

If the world was sleeping before now, maybe it is now awake.

If anyone was in doubt that Northern Nigeria is in the hands of terrorists, maybe that doubt has now been cleared.

You can tell that the system of government in Nigeria is a complete fraudulent system where money comes in from the oil region and is paid directly to the state governments. In some northern states, these monies have been used to sponsor terrorism: that was why Jonathan said that Boko Haram was in his government.

Now Boko Haram has a breakaway group even more deadly than Boko Haram.

Since the system of government and the nature of Nigerian politics are all about fraud and been irresponsible to the citizenry, it has been relatively easy for terrorists to establish themselves in northern Nigeria.

Nigeria is not working and those still clamoring for the continuity of Nigeria are either selfish or shallow minded. For example, I will not be able to associate myself with the terrorist-occupied Northern Nigeria. How then can I say that those terrorist and myself are from the same country? I forbid that.

I am a yorubaman and not a fellow citizen with the fools killing foreigners. They do not represent me and they are not close to my line of thoughts and way of life.

More importantly we now have a wake up call to their resolve Nigeria’s problems through the constitution and referendum or keep with the terror from the north and maladministration from the center. The 2 latter receipts are sure bets for violent disintegration of the British invention of 1914 called Nigeria.

So, Goodluck Jonathan’s visit shuts down Maiduguri!

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Adeola Aderounmu

Nigeria’s ruler is visiting Borno State on Friday the 8th of March 2013 and it appears the state has shut down already.

Reports have it that the “entire” Nigerian security has been deplored to Borno State with high and tight security in place ahead of the president’s visit.

Residents are in panic and have piled up food and provision as it seems that there will be movement in Borno State on Friday.

In my opinion this is a very sad development from several perspectives.

This visit will not allow the ruler of Nigeria to see firsthand how the people of the states have lived under normal circumstances being murdered and decimated daily by terrorists (aka Boko Haram) and through government recklessness/maladministration.

Goodluck Jonathan may be visiting Borno State as a ghost town. Little wonder he said he can’t grant amnesty to ghosts. Of course he won’t see any terrorist during his visit because the state if shut down for his visit. If he is unlucky Boko Haram may disguise and blend in with his security men and do a great harm. A ghost town sometimes is more dangerous than the town of the living.

But trust the deceit of governments in Nigeria. They can rent a crowd at any time, t, and moment m. they can even bring the government-owned crowd from Abuja.

Does anyone remember the mad women and other people who demonstrated against Wole Soyinka recently? Some people in Nigeria are inexplicable useless and worthless, like the ones who organized and participated in the “rent a crowd” against Wole Soyinka after he took Patience Jonathan to the cleaners.

In any case, as per the matter at hand, would it have been out of place if Goodluck Jonathan paid an unannounced, unscheduled visit to Maiduguri?

That would have given him the opportunity to see a real life situation of life in Borno State.

This is a state that collects money from the Niger Delta oil revenue every month and yet provides no form of security for the people living in the state. Borno State doesn’t appear to be under the control of the Nigerian government. All types of terrorism network are fully established in Borno State. They come from far and near and settle in Borno. They are above the law and above the government of Borno. They have network across northern Nigeria.

In the past 2 years it is hard to know if a governor representing the Nigerian government exists in Borno State.

Suddenly the governor is giving a Friday-holiday. Why? What for?

The streets are already drying up of human and commercial activities. The holiday further makes it official that no one is expected to be on the streets when the ruler of Nigeria comes visiting.

How would Jonathan be able to access the real situation on ground after creating an artificial environment for his visit? I think, before his arrival, the purpose of the visit is defeated. For me a visit to a ghost town is useless. Why not visit the grave year instead?

Patience and Goodluck Jonathan, Stop Telling Lies..!

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By Adeola Aderounmu

A few weeks ago, that should be in January 2013 Nigeria’s ruler Mr. Goodluck Jonathan went on air on CNN to tell the world that electricity has improved in Nigeria.

Specifically he mentioned Lagos and Abuja as places were things have gone better.

In a follow up report Amanpour was able to prove that Goodluck Jonathan lied. Lagosians were interviewed and they completely denied the report that power supply has improved in Lagos.

I’d been listening more to Nigerian Radio in recent weeks and one of the daily programs on many radio stations is that callers are allowed to report traffic and power supply in their area.

Usually you hear very tragic reports about the poor traffic and almost complete absence of electricity.

Nigerians are living in almost complete darkness. It is possible that Nigerians have the worst power supply system in the world. Syria is at war and probably approaching similar situation in some areas of the country.

I wrote a blog sometimes ago describing NEPA as the worst government institution in Africa. I stand by that report. What is more damaging in this situation is that Nigeria’s ruler has become a very serious liar.

In a country where there is no shame that is not unexpected. With all the lies and looting that Goodluck Jonathan has perpetrated, you will be amazed what kind of country Nigeria is. You will be more shocked how Nigerians think really!

In a slightly normal society, even if all of Jonathan’s previous atrocities are covered, the ones that he has openly committed in recent times are enough to chase him out of power by force or by constitutional means. But Nigeria is a very abnormal country where evil reigns and stupidity rules. You’ll hardly find a thing that is normal about the government-its formation and operations.

I remembered when he was on his campaign trail and saying times without number that Nigerians should give him only one term and he would change things around for them. Under Jonathan, corruption got a new high. He gave power and position to the people from his region and they continue the usual process of milking Nigeria, the same atrocities that have crippled a potentially great nation.

It is difficult to comprehend the madness of Nigerian political class. It is even more unbelievable the disconnection that the people are sufferng from, thereby making the country a complicated rat race. Nigerians don’t care about the government and consequently Nigeria was rated as one of the worse places to live in the world. Because of the disconnection mentioned above, the political class and the wealthy see something different from the over 100 million people living in absolute poverty.

Jonathan and his spokespersons can deny anything and everything that Jonathan said on his campaign trails. It will be abnormal if Okupe and Abati do not tell lies. Nigerians may die of shock if the politicians and their handlers become truthful.

Around August 2012 when Patience Jonathan was terrible sick and had to be flown out of the country, the useless Nigerian presidency as usual lied and said that Mrs. Jonathan was on holiday, resting.

But in February 2013, she reportedly wasted N500 million of tax-payers money during a thanksgiving ceremony where she said that she was “dead” for 7 days and that she did 9 surgeries to correct her “unknown ilment”. She did not say exactly what happened to her but she was under the knife 9 times. At the same time, Joanthan, Abati and Mrs. Jonathan’s spokesman (whatever his useless name is) all came out and said that Mrs. Jonathan was resting because she has been tired from her activities. Who send her message?

Anyway, like I mentioned earlier all of these lies and atrocities are enough to pursue Mr. Jonathan out of Aso Rock. But he is there, he reigns over the Kingdom of lies. And some Nigerian think Amanpour went too far? Really? Ask yourself, “how am I thinking”? It’s not that CNN is a saintly organisation but did Jonathan speak the truth?

Nigeria is a fraud manufactured by the British 100 years ago. This country will not make it as a unit. The unitary form of government is a disaster. The overall intelligence of the people called Nigerians is at test. It has always been at test. How can they allow a system that doesn’t work? Nigerians pretend that they love one another whereas the real purpose of their political agenda is self-enrichment.

Nigerians should stop, think and look for the truth. The truth is that the different tribes don’t like one another. Jonathan will continue to lie until his time and days are over. The persons who came before him lied and the ones that are coming after Jonathan will also lie and vanish. The system does not work and will remain rotten.

The people will live hopelessly, believing lies.

Under a regional system of government a man like Obasanjo quite evidently would never have emerged from western Nigeria. He has never won elections in his constituency and the surroundings. But he was Nigeria’s ruler (thrice!) because of the rotten political and military system.

Unitary system has ensured that fools, thugs, idiots, robbers, nonentities and pretenders rule in Nigeria under military and pseudo-democratic dispensations.

The time is now to stop this political nonsense, lies and hypocrisies. The greatest challenge is how to sensitize Nigerians and get them connected to the system. For as long as they remain disconnected as they are now, the lies will continue, the corruption rate will rise, the poverty and absolute failure of the system will become more visible. Nigeria will continue to benefit only the few-the rich and the connected.

With Somalis returning home from around the world, if something drastic is not done, Nigeria will go from one of the worst places to be born on earth to actually becoming the worst place to be born and live.