Forward Ever, Backward Never.
Samuel Akinyele Caulcrick

Ex-President Obasanjo’s handing over, by crook, crude or candour, of the leadership of Nigeria to a generation of Nigerians born at the beginning of the second half of the last century could go down in the annals of Nigeria as his greatest achievement. This generation of Nigerians – dubbed the Independence Children – that are being handed over the baton, were tempered by political crisis and exposed to various, wobbling omni directional economy policies. The torch, however, is passed and a hope of a new dawn is somewhat enticing. Obasanjos’s other achievements or no achievements, depending on whether you can afford a little bit of sympathy or not, have generated diverse reactions among Nigerians. What fascinates me is the chosen theme of the new administration, which the present leadership dubbed Forward Ever and Backward Never.

 With the above in mind, my deliberation of the past would as much as I can; be only a foray in order to perhaps delineate if need be. I, therefore, apologise for any offence. The huge population size of Nigeria could either be a burden or an asset, depending on one’s inclination of economic theory. Were the population of Nigeria to be one tenth of its present size, the achievements of the past no doubt would have sufficed. Be as it may, we can not wish away the remaining 90% that missed out on qualitative living. Would that have any bearing on the degree of success of any regime? That also depends on where your sympathy lies. Did the reforms of the last regime impact on the majority of Nigerians? Where would the Nigerian economy be today were the price of oil to remain at $29 per barrel? I do not think Nigerians contributed, productively, to the hike in the price of oil.

But of course we can argue that by fanning the ember of rage in the Niger Delta, Nigeria had a say immensely; wittingly maybe, to the over $65 average price of crude oil per barrel and by default had a robust GDP. Somebody said that if all Nigerians were giving Lexotan or Valium and were made to sleep continuously for 365 days, the country would still earn the same amount from oil, if not more, at the end of the year. Mm! that tells us that the productivity of the Nigerian labour force is almost zero to the GDP, since oil that is produced by foreign companies with their efforts still accounts for the bulk of Nigeria’s GDP. That also shows that the productivity of the Nigerian worker is overrated. Nigeria is a macrocosm particularly because of its diversity and that is not just playing politics. There are few people though who believe that the country is not as complex as it seems.

Despite the diversity, Nigerians have at least a common task and that is to put food on the table or the mat as it were. I suppose we could, therefore, put politics on the shelf for the next four years to keep it warm. The next attractive topic will, hence, be the economy. Economy as a system is a mode of wealth distribution. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, two forms of wealth distribution, capitalism and socialism, have emerged distinct. In each of these systems, as indeed the economics before them which was feudalism, labour has always been an important component. Whereas in feudalism there were no wages, capitalism brought about wages for the first time in the history of mankind; but paid little wages. Socialism was meant to address the imbalance in the capitalists’ attitudes towards the workers.

Socialism would, however, evolve into something bigger than just an umbrella for workers. It catered for everybody in that community. As socialist reforms gained grounds, workers formed themselves into unions to protect wages and ask for more from the capitalists’ profits. But, they kept on asking for more and sometimes ridiculously more to the point that it stifled the development of the business and its competitiveness. The capitalists cannot understand the thinking of the workers - even the politicians cannot either. For a start, the capitalists pay wages even if it is not much, but the feudal lords had paid nothing. From thence, a lifelong battle was drawn between the workers and their employers – the capitalists. The political class, the state, found itself in the middle. The state, nonetheless, has a responsibility to look after both the rich and the poor, but needs money to do so and the bulk of the money needed would have to come from the rich.

Anything that would reduce the cost of labour thus became the capitalists’ dreams. Should the state regulate the activities of the capitalist or not regulate. At last, the capitalists put up an argument. Surprisingly, the capitalists would use the principle of socialism for their debate: The unionised workers do not represent the majority in the community, they argued, and are only a tiny percentage of the population. The state has the responsibility to look after everybody, with fairness, irrespective of status. If the capitalists are, therefore, allowed to relocate their businesses to anywhere labour is cheap with no labour agitation, the business would be competitive. That is bound to generate huge profit to be remitted home to be taxed by the state. That is more money for the state to look after everybody including the retrenched worker. The politicians were won over by the capitalists’ argument and globalisation thus came into force.

The above philosophy is predicated on “the end justifying the means.” The man with the means to produce wealth, the capitalist, thus had a stronger argument that countered the argument of the labour unions and even looks fairer than the narrow interest labour unions. The labour union thus lost its voice. In recent years, the West had concentrated on the Reaganite’s capitalism theory of wealth distribution, called trickledown economy. Put simply, the rich man makes the wealth and the system allows the wealth to trickledown to the masses unregulated. One thing is for sure, trickledown or no trickledown; the sum total of all the individuals’ and government’s wealth is the wealth of a nation. The aggregate wealth generated must, therefore, be contained within the confines of a nation in order for it to count. That, the capitalists promised.

The capitalists, China and probably India , have realised that the cost of labour is the difference between profit and huge profit. Surprisingly, the cost of labour is usually less than 20% of the cost of running any enterprise, but it is somewhat important component but the most susceptible. The first action taken to improve profit in any business is to axe labour. If you look around you, all you hear from any ailing organisation is the retrenchment of the labour force. As protectionism became deemphasised all over the world, China opened up without first dismantling his political communist system. Politicians in the West had to choose between the huge profits from its capitalists who had relocated there and the rhetoric of politics of human rights.

The communist government, however, is a huge labour union. China understands that the capitalist satiability is low wages. That would be maintained in order to remain the destination for investments from the feudal-capitalist that would rather not pay for labour at all. Communism had provided the Chinese workforce with discipline and thus there is less agitation from the workers. China , therefore, becomes the heaven the capitalist had always dreamt of. What do the workers need higher salaries for in any case? Mostly, it is to fund food, shelter and clothing, and to educate their children with the hope that the children would fair better than them. The Chinese government would provide those to its people as long as the people are ready to work cheap and allow foreign money to flood in.

What lessons are there for Nigeria ? President Yar’adua has been invited as an observer to the G8 summit in Rostock , Germany . I hope he will open his eyes and ears and not behave like his predecessor, the olowu leti of Owuland (cotton wool stuffed ears). It is glaringly clear that oil receipt alone cannot sustain Nigeria ’s huge population in a progressive world and therefore, Nigeria needs injection of money through foreign investments. Yar’adua’s predecessor woefully failed in that regard in spite of logging thousands of miles with cap in hand. Why didn’t any genuine investor come back with Obasanjo? With so many celebrated economists milling around the Rock in Abuja , why are the investors shying away? Yar’adua may need to fire all the economists from the past including maybe the celebrated Soludo.

With due respect, all the celebrated economists have failed to come up with policies that would attract foreign investors, which Nigeria urgently needs in order to cater for its teeming population. Nigeria presently is not attractive to foreign investors and the reasons to me are not farfetched. I have often heard people say that Nigeria is a huge market – huge market of what? Probably, Nigeria is a huge market of counterfeit and used goods, and those do not lure genuine investments. Counterfeiters cannot come out in the open to invest in Nigeria , even if they want to. The unrestricted influxes of second hand goods also discourage genuine investors. Revenue from the sale of a second hand good does not go to the original producer. Not even maintenance spare parts for the used goods benefit the treasury of the original producer because most are fake products in any case.

Let us take Mercedes Benz of Stuggart , Germany , for example. Mercedes Benz exports less than 4000 units to Nigeria yearly from its authorised factories, yet more than 150,000 Mercedes Benz used vehicles enter Nigeria in a year, most of whom had been earmarked to be crushed for recycling before being brought to Nigeria . How do we expect Mercedes Benz to classify Nigeria as a huge market then? The revenue derived from the sale of used Mercedes vehicles does not go to Daimler Benz. The story is the same for all other genuine investors that could have come to Nigeria . At the onset of the Nigeria ’s oil boom in the early seventies, investors came knocking at Nigeria ’s doors. Gowon did not have to travel the world to entice foreign investors but they came on their own. The investors had reasoned that the wealth being derived from oil would be in the hands of the Nigerian people and it was. The exchange rate was 68 kobo to one American dollar and thus higher buying power for Nigerians.

Nigeria subsequently became a market economy that enticed investors. The plan in the agreement was to upgrade, with time, into a producer economy using the oil revenue as a bargain. People always forget that there was a shift in that policy after Gowon was ousted and everything thereafter fell to pieces. Presently, Nigeria is far from being a market economy except a delusion that confuses the limited needs of genuine goods by a few Nigerians as a huge market for investors. The rich are the only ones that can afford the products of genuine investors but they are few. Two things tickle an investor – where to produce cheaper goods and where to sell them. Since Nigeria is off the list of market for genuine goods, the only other option left for Nigeria is to attract investors as a place for cheap manufacturing.

For Nigeria , the most populous black nation, to become the China of Africa with cheap labour? That seems too condescending to a people of great pride. Besides, the government would need to battle the powerful labour unions and eventually might need to suspend labour unionism for a period for it to materialise. Would that even be enough to prise the investors away from the Far East to relocate to Nigeria , which is closer to the European market? President Yar’adua could do the unthinkable. He could use the over 42 billion dollars external reserve of excess crude oil, for a start, as a bargaining chip for the first 5 years of any genuine investor that relocates to Nigeria. The external reserve as it were would then fund the wages of Nigerian workers working for the new businesses. Considering the propensity of the capitalist to avoid paying wages or little if possible, it is a crazy idea that could entice them.

This is a global competitive economy; you use what you have to achieve what you want and in Nigeria ’s case, it is to alleviate poverty and sustain growth. What is in it for Nigeria ? Plenty, I would say. The country would generate huge revenue from the sale of power to the incoming industries; huge revenue from land rentals for their factories; huge revenue from the ports for exports; sale of water to the factories; massive employment for the millions of unemployed graduates and many more that I will mention later. The first thing a reader that is familiar with the chaotic situation in Nigeria would ask is where is the infrastructure to back this dream? China had nothing when the investors went in. The investors would come in and fix those. The only problem to me is how to get Nigerians to work because this dream requires hard work. I mean real hard work.

A friend who has just relocated back to Nigeria from the U.S.A said, ‘You’ll make the people work by enslavement. You will enslave them with good life… Nobody wants to work, but the prospect of a good life makes us to wake up at 5.00 am everyday to go to work.’ That makes sense. A worker, who is made to live a good life outside of work, on credit, would work his “ass” off to sustain it. That will surely enslave him and by default build the nation, but he needs guarantee that that lifestyle would be sustained outside of the compass of his control. That, my friend said would be provided by the insurance industry. Nigerian economists are either lazy or are armchair economists with PhD in economics and that is all. You do not need rocket science to know that the biggest financial institutions ought to be the Insurance Industry and not the Banking Industry.

All over the world, it is the Insurance Industry that owns the banks and not the other way around. The philosophy is simple. The state encourages you or sometimes compels you to insure all aspects of your life. It is usually a very small percentage of the principals to be insured with a guarantee that in case of eventualities, your good life is not so much disrupted. It may appear as a small drop of water, but that is what makes a mighty ocean. With a low probability of attrition due to claims, it is the insurance industry that funds development, housing; industry; roads; rails; aviation, and even backs the confidence the banks need to give out loans. However, all these are predicated on the assumption that the wealth the country generates stays within the confines of its border.

When I asked my friend how to discourage the flight of capital to foreign lands, he said it is simple. ‘You will need to convert your wealth, the moment you earn it, into cement concrete (cement and steel) for posterity… That way, you’ve planted your wealth and barring natural disaster or war, it is there for a long time on your land; generating profit.’ That would explain why presently, China consumes half of the world’s production of cement and steel. The Chinese are busy converting the profit of all the made in China goods into cement concrete. Shanghai alone has over 6000 skyscrapers – the highest number of tall buildings at any place in the world. All roads are being changed from asphalt into cement concrete in China . Nigeria needs to learn from the Chinese experience or did they learn from us? I remember in the early 70s, Gowon massively imported cement into Nigeria to convert the earning from the oil boom into cement concrete. My friend said, ‘We did not understand it then and queried the Cement Armada. …Thank God he stuck to his guns. They are the only reminder today that we once had oil.’

 Samuel Akinyele Caulcrick, the author of The Devil Must Be Laughing.

ISBN 1-4241-2196-5

Robot  # 1 | 05.06.2007 21:44

...Read the full article.

ocnus  # 2 | 06.06.2007 04:28

This is a very interesting article. However, at the moment there are many large and newly-formed private equity funds eager to invest in Nigeria's stock and bond markets and in its private companies (especially Nigeria's world-class banks) They have been waiting for the election to pas and the emergence of a stable Federal Governnent. These are not just US funds, but European funds and large Russian funds like Renaisance Capital. They have seen the splendid performance of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and are interested in participating. If Yar'Adua can show that he can run a stable government, and that this is not a repeat of the 1983 scenario, Nigeria will be the recipient of large sums of money buying up Nigerian equity. Having said that it is difficult to project from this a major improvement of the lot of poor Nigerians. Services which are desperately needed (water, power, education, health care) are provided by Federal and State governments which have so many 'leakages' and misapplications that the necessary infrastructure is never completed. If money supply were the problem Nigerians would be living in relative luxury. The problem is finding the will to take the increasing government revenues accruing from the private sector and turning that into social programs. This is something that only Nigerians can solve; there are no magic formulae which can promote a desire for national social justice among competing and jealous regions, sub-regions and any other distinction that can be 'zoned'. I enjoyed the reference to the Cement Armada. Most Nigerians don't really know what that was all about. This was not an effort to build anything. It was about changing Naira into hard currency. At the time the black market rate for the Naira to the dollar was about 8.5 to 9 to 1 (Naira to the dollar). The offical rate was roughly 1 to 1. Someone noticed a loophole in Nigeria's currency laws which said that demurrage (the extra time needed for a vessel to discharge its cargo which must be paid for above the cost of the normal freight) could be paid for at the official rate. That is, a Nigerian importer could buy dollars at 1 to 1 to pay for demurrage instead of buying hard currency at 9 to 1 on the black market. The idea ws born. All the major traders decided to take advantage of the huge demand for cement and ordered cement from all over the world. The Nigerian ports were full of cement ships. At one time there were 420 vessels and about 2,300 sailors in Nigerian ports waiting to discharge. This caused massive amounts of delay and demurrage. I had two ships there myself. The importer would agree to import the cement. We arranged the normal terms for demurrage (then about $0.40 per bill of lading ton per day) with the importer. The contract specified a payment to us of $1.60 per bill of lading ton per day. The balance of $1.20 per ton we returned to the importer overseas. So, as a result the importer was able to change a net $1.20 per ton per day at 1 to 1 for every ton of cement delayed in demurrage. This was as the official rate of 1 to 1 so, on a 12,000 ton vessel sitting for three, four or five months in the port, the Nigerian currency was being drained overseas. Actually it was more complex. Our vessels arrived in Nigerian ports and checked in with the port aithorities. We waited a few days and then took the cement to Togo or Benin and delivered it there for the Nigerian importer. We then returned in ballast (with empty holds) to Nigeria and waited on demurrage for months. Later we brought down empty vessels or sailed away, changed the name of the vessel in the Canary Islands, and returned empty. One day the Nigerian authorities examined a ship waiting to discharge and found it empty. The Government declared that they would not allow demurrages to be paid. They took the shipowner and the importer to court (the Tradex Case). Everyone with a vessel (about 400 ships) sailed away. Peope worried about all that cement creating a 'cement mountain' when, actually, there was practically no cement at all. In fact there was a cement shortage in Nigeria for about five months until it was sorted. The Nigerian importers defended themselves, saying it was their own money that they were taking out. Not one kobo of Government money was spent on the great Cement Flotilla; they were following the law and changing their own money. It was much cheaper to pay us the demurrage at $0.40 and to get $1.20 back at 1 to 1 than to buy Naira at the black market rates. Finally, Nigeria changed to currency rules to block this loophole. It was an interesting period in Nigerian industry and the start of many fortunes.

aiksmart  # 3 | 06.06.2007 21:32

=ocnus;181442>This is a very interesting article. However, at the moment there are many large and newly-formed private equity funds eager to invest in Nigeria's stock and bond markets and in its private companies (especially Nigeria's world-class banks) ...I enjoyed the reference to the Cement Armada. Most Nigerians don't really know what that was all about. This was not an effort to build anything. It was about changing Naira into hard currency. At the time the black market rate for the Naira to the dollar was about 8.5 to 9 to 1 (Naira to the dollar). The offical rate was roughly 1 to 1. Someone noticed a loophole in Nigeria's currency laws which said that demurrage (the extra time needed for a vessel to discharge its cargo which must be paid for above the cost of the normal freight) could be paid for at the official rate. That is, a Nigerian importer could buy dollars at 1 to 1 to pay for demurrage instead of buying hard currency at 9 to 1 on the black market. The idea ws born. All the major traders decided to take advantage of the huge demand for cement and ordered cement from all over the world. The Nigerian ports were full of cement ships. At one time there were 420 vessels and about 2,300 sailors in Nigerian ports waiting to discharge. This caused massive amounts of delay and demurrage. I had two ships there myself. The importer would agree to import the cement. We arranged the normal terms for demurrage (then about $0.40 per bill of lading ton per day) with the importer. The contract specified a payment to us of $1.60 per bill of lading ton per day. The balance of $1.20 per ton we returned to the importer overseas. So, as a result the importer was able to change a net $1.20 per ton per day at 1 to 1 for every ton of cement delayed in demurrage. This was as the official rate of 1 to 1 so, on a 12,000 ton vessel sitting for three, four or five months in the port, the Nigerian currency was being drained overseas. Actually it was more complex. Our vessels arrived in Nigerian ports and checked in with the port aithorities. We waited a few days and then took the cement to Togo or Benin and delivered it there for the Nigerian importer. We then returned in ballast (with empty holds) to Nigeria and waited on demurrage for months. Later we brought down empty vessels or sailed away, changed the name of the vessel in the Canary Islands, and returned empty. One day the Nigerian authorities examined a ship waiting to discharge and found it empty. The Government declared that they would not allow demurrages to be paid. They took the shipowner and the importer to court (the Tradex Case). Everyone with a vessel (about 400 ships) sailed away. Peope worried about all that cement creating a 'cement mountain' when, actually, there was practically no cement at all. In fact there was a cement shortage in Nigeria for about five months until it was sorted. The Nigerian importers defended themselves, saying it was their own money that they were taking out. Not one kobo of Government money was spent on the great Cement Flotilla; they were following the law and changing their own money. It was much cheaper to pay us the demurrage at $0.40 and to get $1.20 back at 1 to 1 than to buy Naira at the black market rates. Finally, Nigeria changed to currency rules to block this loophole. It was an interesting period in Nigerian industry and the start of many fortunes. FRIENDS, IS THIS CHAP LAUGHING AT US OR WHAT...

DeepThought  # 4 | 06.06.2007 22:23

Don't we deserve to be laughed at? Ain't we mocking ourselves?

EezeeBee  # 5 | 07.06.2007 03:15

= ocnus>This is a very interesting article. However, at the moment there are many large and newly-formed private equity funds eager to invest in Nigeria's stock and bond markets and in its private companies (especially Nigeria's world-class banks) They have been waiting for the election to pas and the emergence of a stable Federal Governnent. These are not just US funds, but European funds and large Russian funds like Renaisance Capital. They have seen the splendid performance of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and are interested in participating. If Yar'Adua can show that he can run a stable government, and that this is not a repeat of the 1983 scenario, Nigeria will be the recipient of large sums of money buying up Nigerian equity. Having said that it is difficult to project from this a major improvement of the lot of poor Nigerians. Services which are desperately needed (water, power, education, health care) are provided by Federal and State governments which have so many 'leakages' and misapplications that the necessary infrastructure is never completed. If money supply were the problem Nigerians would be living in relative luxury. The problem is finding the will to take the increasing government revenues accruing from the private sector and turning that into social programs. This is something that only Nigerians can solve; there are no magic formulae which can promote a desire for national social justice among competing and jealous regions, sub-regions and any other distinction that can be 'zoned'. I enjoyed the reference to the Cement Armada. Most Nigerians don't really know what that was all about. This was not an effort to build anything. It was about changing Naira into hard currency. At the time the black market rate for the Naira to the dollar was about 8.5 to 9 to 1 (Naira to the dollar). The offical rate was roughly 1 to 1. Someone noticed a loophole in Nigeria's currency laws which said that demurrage (the extra time needed for a vessel to discharge its cargo which must be paid for above the cost of the normal freight) could be paid for at the official rate. That is, a Nigerian importer could buy dollars at 1 to 1 to pay for demurrage instead of buying hard currency at 9 to 1 on the black market. The idea ws born. All the major traders decided to take advantage of the huge demand for cement and ordered cement from all over the world. The Nigerian ports were full of cement ships. At one time there were 420 vessels and about 2,300 sailors in Nigerian ports waiting to discharge. This caused massive amounts of delay and demurrage. I had two ships there myself. The importer would agree to import the cement. We arranged the normal terms for demurrage (then about $0.40 per bill of lading ton per day) with the importer. The contract specified a payment to us of $1.60 per bill of lading ton per day. The balance of $1.20 per ton we returned to the importer overseas. So, as a result the importer was able to change a net $1.20 per ton per day at 1 to 1 for every ton of cement delayed in demurrage. This was as the official rate of 1 to 1 so, on a 12,000 ton vessel sitting for three, four or five months in the port, the Nigerian currency was being drained overseas. Actually it was more complex. Our vessels arrived in Nigerian ports and checked in with the port aithorities. We waited a few days and then took the cement to Togo or Benin and delivered it there for the Nigerian importer. We then returned in ballast (with empty holds) to Nigeria and waited on demurrage for months. Later we brought down empty vessels or sailed away, changed the name of the vessel in the Canary Islands, and returned empty. One day the Nigerian authorities examined a ship waiting to discharge and found it empty. The Government declared that they would not allow demurrages to be paid. They took the shipowner and the importer to court (the Tradex Case). Everyone with a vessel (about 400 ships) sailed away. Peope worried about all that cement creating a 'cement mountain' when, actually, there was practically no cement at all. In fact there was a cement shortage in Nigeria for about five months until it was sorted. The Nigerian importers defended themselves, saying it was their own money that they were taking out. Not one kobo of Government money was spent on the great Cement Flotilla; they were following the law and changing their own money. It was much cheaper to pay us the demurrage at $0.40 and to get $1.20 back at 1 to 1 than to buy Naira at the black market rates. Finally, Nigeria changed to currency rules to block this loophole. It was an interesting period in Nigerian industry and the start of many fortunes. Ocnus, thank you for confirming what I had earlier accused you of: Being a longstanding part of the problem, not of the solution. Thank you too for recognizing what I have long asserted: Nigeria's problems will be sorted out by Nigerians and by NOBODY else. You have once again admitted to a premeditated malevolence that characterize your actions towards the Nigerian people and Nigerian state and I hope you stay on these threads with us for a long time. I also hope that since you are a 'foreigner', some 'colomentally' challenged people on these boards and beyond will recognize how you display the mentality of many of your ilk: determined to destroy another persons nation in the pursuit of your capitalist concerns. You exhibit and encapsulate the mentality of many of the leaders/owners of the Shells, Chevrons, Bechtels, Phizers etc. of this world. Deepthought, methinks you are blaming the victim(s). Aiksmart, who cares if he 'laughs'? People have been known to laugh till they choke on their own bile. The important thing is he is recognized for who he is: the representative of a widespread school of thought in the West that Africa and African's don't matter in their scheme of things. To all those who will rise in strident defense of Ocnus 'right to say what he wants' (which by the way I COMPLETELY SUPPORT), look in the mirror and wonder what damage he and his type have wrought in your individual life and in the life of your nation. Reflect on where you are, and where members of your immediate and extended family are as a result of Ocnus worldview. Yes, perhaps you are 'enjoying' in obodo-oyinbo'. Dem curse your country? Why you no fit CHOOSE to enjoy for Naija? Everyone has the RIGHT to decide exactly where they want to spend their life's energies. No one should have the right to CHOOSE denied them, which is exactly what people with Ocnus' mindset did/continue to do. I, for one, will continue to expose them from under the holes that they crawl into.

ocnus  # 6 | 07.06.2007 04:46

With respect, you are missing the point. These schemes and projects in which I freely admit I participated were created, driven supervised and monitored by Nigerians. No one but a Nigerian businessman could benefiit from the Cement Armada money-changing scheme. The empty boreholes, the failure to install electric power lines, etc. were not the result of some oyinbo plot to rape and pillage poor defenceless Nigerians. These were the creatures of a particular Nigerian business mindset, aided by your elected or appointed officials. No one corrupted innocent Nigerians. It was the already corrupted Nigerians who solicited assistance in their projects from all over the world. It may make you feel better to think of yourselves as victims; but you are not the victims of foreigners. You are the victims of Nigerians and you let them get away with it; you praise them; you seek favours from them; and if you get a chance, you vote for them. That is why I said that only Nigerians can solve this set of problems; no one else. When it comes to setting blame I suggest you buy a mirror and look hard at who is looking back at you.

EezeeBee  # 7 | 07.06.2007 08:09

= Ocnus>With respect, you are missing the point. These schemes and projects in which I freely admit I participated were created, driven supervised and monitored by Nigerians. No one but a Nigerian businessman could benefiit from the Cement Armada money-changing scheme. The empty boreholes, the failure to install electric power lines, etc. were not the result of some oyinbo plot to rape and pillage poor defenceless Nigerians. These were the creatures of a particular Nigerian business mindset, aided by your elected or appointed officials. No one corrupted innocent Nigerians. It was the already corrupted Nigerians who solicited assistance in their projects from all over the world. It may make you feel better to think of yourselves as victims; but you are not the victims of foreigners. You are the victims of Nigerians and you let them get away with it; you praise them; you seek favours from them; and if you get a chance, you vote for them. That is why I said that only Nigerians can solve this set of problems; no one else. When it comes to setting blame I suggest you buy a mirror and look hard at who is looking back at you. With equivalent respect, Ocnus, sir, permit me to address your post above. I have consistently pointed out that as far as I am concerned, the people who have to sleep with one eye open while looking out for me are the NIGERIANS who collaborate with people like you. You say no one but a Nigerian businessman could benefit from the Cement Armada; why were you there then? Surely you don't expect me to believe you traveled around the globe with two ship merely for kicks and frolics? You speak of elected and appointed officials as though you are unfamiliar with the intrigues of representatives of your (UK) government, right from Nigerian independence, that elevated the incompetents and subverted the efforts of those who would more directly confront them and uphold the interests of Nigerians. Yes, I agree, Nigerians are not innocent. No more OR LESS than any other people the world over. What Nigerians have labored under is the malevolence and sabotage of people like you ALONG WITH the QUISLINGS amongst us. You can point at the saboteurs amongst us all you like; it doesn't absolve YOU of responsibility for YOUR ill-will and back room dealings. Nigerians are not now and in my opinion have never been victims. As you and your ilk will soon come to find, the information asymmetry that sustained and supported your fortune building is at an all time low. There are simply more sources or more information about people like you (including your humble self) that will aid the discerning in deciding what to believe. You refer repeatedly to the corrupt Nigerians as though it is not BAE Systems with the backin... I don't see any Nigerians in charge at BAE Systems. Naturally your Prime Minister, Tony Blair halted the investigation for spurious reasons, saying it was against 'national interests'. Of course BAE Systems maintains that it acted 'lawfully at all times'! I humbly posit that it is you, sir, who is missing the point, in imagining that I have any interest in establishing blame. Blame is useless; recognizing responsibility and role much more useful. I acknowledge the role and responsibility of NIGERIANS in a lot of the wrong currently on display in Nigeria. Can you correspondingly acknowledge the responsibility of FOREIGNERS in said situations? Especially foreigners and their governments who would consistently purport to accuse Nigeria and Nigerians of congenital corruption? I look in the mirror every day and happily I see someone determined to improve the lives of Nigerians. I also see the images of many, many other ordinary Nigerians who, like me, recognize the actions and misdeeds of you, your ilk and your NIGERIAN accomplices and remain determined to rid ourselves of your collective incubus.

ocnus  # 8 | 07.06.2007 09:33

Thank you for pointing out that there are, indeed, foreigners who exploit Nigeria. They send down outdated drugs, unfit foodstuffs, etc. However, when I was trading cement to Nigeria it was not with illl will or underhanded dealings. I sold cement to many countries, in Africa, Asia and North America. I sold this fairly at the market price in all the countries, including Nigeria. What the actual importer paid me was no different than I received anywhere else. The additions he made to my price; the extras he added to demurrage, the currency exchanges had nothing to do with me nor did I make anything extra because of it. He kept it all. You might recall when this happened; 1975-1976. Jack Gowon was in charge and these cement orders came from the Ministry of Defence. The people who were making these heavy profits were generals, colonels and their business colleagues. In the inquest afterwards several generals were censured as was the Ambassador in London. If memory serves, these generals were not installed by the British. They got there by themselves. They may have gone on to degrees at Warwick Unversity but their military careers were their own. So it is too facile to accuse us of abusing the Nigerian market. We sold to Nigeria as we would sell to anyone and took our directions from the people with whom we had a contract. We filled our side of the agreement. If you feel that no one should sell things or supply services to Nigeria because the Nigerian clients are corrupt then you will have no commerce at all. If you want to build a better, fairer Nigeria then God bless you. You will have our support and admiration. You will get there by standing up to the villains among you and insisting on the rule of law. There is little mileage to be gained by accusing us of being corrupt because we deal with corrupt customers.

EezeeBee  # 9 | 07.06.2007 13:26

= ocnus>Thank you for pointing out that there are, indeed, foreigners who exploit Nigeria. They send down outdated drugs, unfit foodstuffs, etc. However, when I was trading cement to Nigeria it was not with illl will or underhanded dealings. I sold cement to many countries, in Africa, Asia and North America. I sold this fairly at the market price in all the countries, including Nigeria. What the actual importer paid me was no different than I received anywhere else. The additions he made to my price; the extras he added to demurrage, the currency exchanges had nothing to do with me nor did I make anything extra because of it. He kept it all. You might recall when this happened; 1975-1976. Jack Gowon was in charge and these cement orders came from the Ministry of Defence. The people who were making these heavy profits were generals, colonels and their business colleagues. In the inquest afterwards several generals were censured as was the Ambassador in London. If memory serves, these generals were not installed by the British. They got there by themselves. They may have gone on to degrees at Warwick Unversity but their military careers were their own. So it is too facile to accuse us of abusing the Nigerian market. We sold to Nigeria as we would sell to anyone and took our directions from the people with whom we had a contract. We filled our side of the agreement. If you feel that no one should sell things or supply services to Nigeria because the Nigerian clients are corrupt then you will have no commerce at all. If you want to build a better, fairer Nigeria then God bless you. You will have our support and admiration. You will get there by standing up to the villains among you and insisting on the rule of law. There is little mileage to be gained by accusing us of being corrupt because we deal with corrupt customers. Thank you, Ocnus, for taking the time to educate me. According to your account, I have no reason to believe that you engaged in any underhanded dealings in the cement scam of 1975-76. Again, my goal is not finger-pointing or accusations. Immediately above, I can quote you again as saying ... because the Nigerian clients are corrupt... and I would like to understand why you (amongst others) so off-handedly CHOOSE to identify Nigeria and Nigerians with corruption as though we are (a) unique in the world regarding corruption, or (b) alone in that regard. If I may posit, I'd suggest that we learned from the best - our colonial 'masters'. I observe (perhaps because you didn't notice) that you did not address the corruption at the highest levels of the UK government that is at the heart of today's news on the BBC. In viewing the BBCs 'Have Your Say' section on the squashed investigation into the arms sale/bribes, I observed that there were different schools of thought. Some self-identified Britons agreed with the decision to quash the investigations in the interests of National Security; others were appalled at the corruption and illegality represented and said as much. In sojourning on the Nigerian Village Square you will find similar viewpoints about Nigeria. Some people are resigned and appalled by the wrongs of the 'leaders' while others are vigilant, hopeful and optimistic. Each of these persons represents broad swathes of the majority of millions of Nigerians who are not the 'corrupt Nigerians' to whom you gleefully refer, who = Ocnus>praise them; you seek favours from them; and if you get a chance, you vote for them. In an earlier thread (one of your first in this forum) you boasted about your friends in high places in the Nigerian government but failed to respond to my subsequent query about why you didn't use your 'access' to improve the rot you saw in Nigeria. You've also waxed lyrical about your 'sway' in oil circles and failed to respond on how much you've told your government about the wrongs it does in Nigeria. That is what makes your views seem one-sided and that is what I'm calling to your attention. Thank you.

ocnus  # 10 | 07.06.2007 15:47

Nigeria is not unique in the corruption business. Corruption is endemic throughout the world. If you have ever worked in the international transport business you will know that every port or airport has its own brand of corruption. I delivered cement to the Port of New York for several years. Nigeria was as clean as the driven snow when compared to the NY docks, with the several Mafia families and a corrupt city administration I then went to work in Russia just after Yeltsin came in. There is nothing in Nigeria that would ever prepare you for the type of corruption we laboured under in the Russian Far East. Murder and mayhem was the general rule. The difference between Nigeria and the other, more established forms of corruption, is that in Europe and North America the middle classes are oblivious to the burdens of corruption. The rich know all about it as do the poor. In Nigeria it is in your face; it is public and the citizenry know about it because it impinges on their lives. In Europe and North America is is only a hidden tax on their lives that they don't have to pay in person. This is equally true in politics. In North America and Europe we don't call it corruption; it is called lobbying. It is only corruption when you get caught, like Jack Abramoff. Corruption is sufficiently institutionalised so that it is hidden behind the lace curtains of custom. I can understand why Nigerians feel that they have been wrongfully singled out as corrupt when all around them others are doing the same, or worse. I was a founding member of Transparency (along with Obasanjo) but stopped participating when they were reluctant to condemn the rampant corruption of Germany, Britain, France, the US and Russia and concentrated, instead on Africa. I pointed out that in pure dollar volumes there was more corrupt cash changing hands in the US and Europe in one week than in all of Africa in a year. So, if you think that I was concentrating on Nigerian corruption when I referred to the Cement Scam it was only because I thought the NVS readers would find it interesting. I could tell you many stories from all over the world, but this is a Nigerian website. I read the articles and comments here because they encourage me to think that there are dedicated Nigerians who wish to moderate the overt levels of corruption so that the poor and dispossessed can share in the nation's wealth. You will never get rid of corruption; it is a natural part of human life. However, you can control it and set limits so that it doesn't impede the progress of the society.

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