Transnational Corporation, the fraud of a company started by Aso Rock as part of its “private sector led growth” initiative seems to be facing a terrible scenario, even before take off. The transcorp public offer which began December 28, 2006 and should have ended January 31, 2007 has been extended by two weeks. Nothing, but low patronage and the cold shoulders of the public made the champions of transcorp to extend the duration of the public offer. Nigerians are much wiser than the transcorp clowns who just go about boot-licking Aso Rock think. Transcorp, a newfangled contraption of Aso Rock has been given preferential treatment by a government that fraudulently and dubiously claims to be promoting due process, but does everything in the contrary. In a classic case of tit-for-tat that best describes the transcorp dilemma, Nigerians are angry and have shunned investing in transcorp.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the regulator of the capital market in Nigeria bent and broke every regulation and laid-down procedure to allow Transcorp hit the public offer in less than two years of “operations”. In fact, transcorp’s shares were listed in the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) even without any certificate of incorporation from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the registrar of companies in Nigeria. All these illegalities were possible because the powerful Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, the mountain-woman who rules the stock exchange as Director-General (D-G) made sure her stooge, Musa Al-Faki was appointed as the D-G of SEC. Thus far, the two year tenure of Al-Faki in SEC has turned up the most bizarre situation in which the NSE, which is supposed to be regulated by SEC, is riding roughshod over its supposed regulator (SEC).

Al-Faki’s predecessor, the brave and courageous Suleyman Ndanusa sought to make SEC play its regulatory role. He insisted on deregulating the capital market by allowing multiple stock exchanges in Nigeria. Ndanusa asked the monopolistic NSE to change its name to Lagos Stock Exchange. He put the Nigeria Stock Exchange under fire by insisting that other stock exchanges could also be set up across Nigeria, once they met the criteria listed in the Capital and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) the Act that set up SEC. Ndanusa (who was a young stock broker under NSE) shocked capital market watchers when he invoked the law to suspend Okereke-Onyiuke from her position as D-G of the NSE. Poor boy Ndanusa did not know that in Nigeria, rules are inferior to vested interests. A queer directive from the Federal Executive Council was issued to make the NSE a monopoly in Nigeria. The mountain woman then ensured she played her politics in Aso Rock, which got her stooge appointed as Ndanusa’s replacement.

Indeed, I personally mounted an individual campaign to discourage fellow compatriots from even attempting to contemplate, or contemplating to attempt wasting their hard earned money on transcorp shares. The truth is that all, ALL the people (not less than fifty) I asked the question, “would you buy transcorp shares?” responded in the negative. Transcorp is in trouble. Since they bought NITEL under a questionable deal, they are yet to pay the remaining 25% to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). They greedy investors, who have been cornering our commonwealth through a corrupt privatization project, are heavily indebted. This is the real reason for the “jumbo” public offer. Aside the Abuja Transcorp Hilton, the company is engaging in little (if any) productive activity that brings revenue into its coffers. They were given one of the refineries in Port Harcourt to kill, because most of the transcorp key players are the people who are patronized by Aso Rock to import finished petroleum products.

These are people who, working with the support of the rulers in Aso Rock, have subordinated the national interest to self interests. After eight years, they have effectively killed local refining and ensured 100% importation of petroleum products! Yet the government often talks of “stability” and “national security” without a single working oil refinery! Forget the upwards of a dozen licenses given private investors to build private refineries, with all these licensees, none has started or is even talking of staring anything. There must be a lot of disincentives that discourage all these licensees. One prominent disincentive is the monopoly enjoyed by NNPC and the money that Aso rock’s cartel of “economic drivers” makes from huge proceeds of importing oil products. It is the same cartel that owns transcorp. They are nothing but a bunch of commission agents.

Capital market watchers fear that the transcorp public offer is facing trouble because in spite of the huge adverts in the media and road shows across cities that have gulped millions of naira, they have not been able to meet targets. It is feared that the corporation seen by many as a fraudulent contraption, will hardly make up to 25% of the projected 8 Billion shares, which would mean that the public offer will be effectively cancelled (going by SEC regulations) and all monies would be returned to those that paid for transcorp shares. If this happens, then the infamous firm would be plunged into deeper trouble. Millions of oppressed and angry Nigerians like me would be happy to witness this case of dead-on-arrival (DOD).

Robot  # 1 | 06.02.2007 23:06

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