Contrary to the belief in official circles, the 12-year old Steve Oronsaye Report will not substantialy reduce the enormous costs of governance in the country as it does not reflect the current situation in the public service. No doubt, the implementation of some of the recommendations of the Panel will take appreciable time as the merger of certain bodies require constitutional amendments or repeal of a number of statutes.

The 800-page report of the Steve Oronsaye Panel recommended the reduction of statutory agencies from 263 to 161, scrapping 38 agencies, merging 52, and reverting 14 to departments in different ministries, 

Since the Goodluck Jonathan administration produced a White Paper on the Steve Oronsaye Report in 2014, the Federal Government has created more ministries, departments and agencies. Whereas the Report recommended the reduction of 263 agencies to 151, the number of ministries, departments and agencies has increased to 1316. Even the current administration has increased the number of ministries and created new agencies. To that extent, the Steve Oronsaye Report is completely outdated.

However, in implementing the Oronsaye Report the Federal Government should ensure that the crisis of insecurity is not compounded through the retrenchment of hundreds of thousands of workers. Instead of downsizing the public service the Federal Government should ensure that the two houses of the National Assembly are merged while the number of Ministers, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants is significantly reduced. 

Femi Falana SAN 

(Solidarity speech at the NLC Rally

 held in Lagos on February 27, 2024)

Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress has called out President Bola Tinubu.

According to Punch, he rejected what he described as the excuses and blame game dished out by the presidency as the cause of the deepening economic woes.

Eze says President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his team seem entrapped in a quagmire as hope is nowhere in sight to get the country out of the pickle.

The APC chieftain claims that the Nigerian economy has progressively continued in a free fall while the value of the Naira to other convertible currencies is steadily on a downward trend and is nearing a state of worthlessness in the international money market.

He noted that the effect of the uninterrupted journey of the Naira to its place of final rest is the hike in the price of food and other basic commodities.

Eze noted that the attendant reality is the hunger and starvation that is feasible on the faces of angry Nigerians, who, according to him, are unsure of a square meal for each passing day and most of whom go to bed each night hungry.

Despite the overwhelming challenges of the time which has sealed Nigeria’s place as the poverty capital of the world, Eze wondered why some analysts still hold the view that Tinubu is right in his policies.

Countering the assertions of pro-Tinubu commentators, Chief Eze said: “Assuming the policies were good, with very little or no thought towards the complex chains of reciprocal interactions and variables required in the translation of policies into actions, there is bound to be a widening gap between intentions and results as is the case in the present.”

In a statement made available to the media, the politician expressed shock over a recent comment credited to Vice President Kashim Shittima, who had inferred that politicians who lost in the 2023 general election were orchestrating a plot to destabilize Nigeria.

Describing Shetima’s claims as inconsequential, Eze said Tinubu was never prepared to make any meaningful impact in Nigeria, adding that his only concern was to be President and nothing more.

“The pernicious effects of perpetual poverty have become real under his administration and these are his chief legacies,” he said

“There seems to be no efforts by the present administration in tackling the economic concerns of the country and if there are, he said, it means such efforts are not good enough and shifting blame to patriots who are in their private capacities thinking out ways to help the country is to say the least myopic.

“I laugh at the reasons expounded by some of our leaders and Scholars as the factors behind our present food Crisis. They failed to highlight insecurity as the main bane of the present economic woes facing Nigeria.

“Where do we get the food to eat when most of the farmers both in the North and Southern sections of this country particularly those in the North Central are now in the IDP Camps leaving their farms in the hands of herders?

“And we are busy fooling ourselves that we don’t have enough food to feed the populace. What part of Nigeria is safe or secure for normal farming activities to take place?

“This is the reality. Our problem is human-induced yet we are expecting God to send us manna from Heaven as he did to the people of Israel who had no means of farming at the period God sent manna to them."

Eze highlighted that apart from insecurity another major cause of Nigeria’s present woes was the inability of the President who in 2012 highlighted the consequences of the removal of subsidy but was carried away by his election victory and announced without a proper study and provision to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians, the removal of oil subsidy.

Most Superior Evangelist Olagbaju Moris Gbade Fadehan, the Shepherd In-Charge of CCC Grace of Comfort Parish, Obaloran Quarters, in Ile-Ife Osun state, was reportedly killed in the church premises on Monday evening, February 26, by his serving assistant, Evangelist Olalekan Ogundipe.

According to reports, Fadehan had a conflict with the suspect and this degenerated into a fight after the close of their service on Monday evening.

The suspect allegedly stabbed Fadehan, causing him to die on the spot. The suspect thereafter allegedly set the deceased ablaze with his sutana on him.

The suspect was immediately apprehended and handed over to the police.

The spokesperson of the command said investigation into the incident has commenced.

Former World Boxing Federation Cruiserweight Champion, Bashiru Lawrence Ali, aka Bash Ali, took to social media on Tuesday to reflect on his commitment to fighting corruption as he celebrates his 68th birthday.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Ali recounted the sacrifices he endured over 17 years in his quest to host his Guinness World Record Boxing Championship Fight in Nigeria, emphasizing his refusal to succumb to corrupt practices.

The former World Boxing Federation Champion revealed that his principled stand had cost him dearly, resulting in a decline in his financial fortunes from being a millionaire in dollars to having virtually nothing in Naira.

“For 17 years I struggled in vain to host in my country, Nigeria my Guinness World Record Boxing Championship Fight because I was bold to say no to corruption in sport in particular and in Nigeria in general.

“In 17 years, I went from being a millionaire in dollars to a zeronaire in naira.

“In 17 years, I was beaten and injured that I had to be admitted twice and treated at the National Hospital in Abuja.

“In 17 years, I was detained eight times at various police stations in Abuja. In 17 years, I was once detained at Kuje Prison for 43 days.

“I went through hell in my country not because I am a criminal but because I say no to corruption. Despite juicy offers to fight outside of Nigeria, I never gave up on my dream to fight in Nigeria and I never gave up on Nigeria.

“Today, our dream is finally becoming a reality and because I am an extraordinary human being, I am going to fight until I am 70 years old, retire young and healthy with a lot of money and then go on to be the President of Nigeria. This is my ultimate goal so mark my words.

“Thank u very much for always being by my side. I appreciate you, always. Happy birthday The Great Bash Ali.”

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has condemned the policies taken by President Bola Tinubu.

In an interview with TheCable, Lawal said President Tinubu was insensitive and arrogant in his decisions when he took over power.

According to the former SGF, Tinubu announced the removal of the fuel subsidy without due consultation.

Speaking on the situation in the country, he said, “I have a different view of what is happening today, and I did say on quite a few occasions that Bola Ahmed Tinubu exhibited an unimaginable degree of insensitivity and arrogance, first in the face of the Muslim-Muslim ticket and in some of the earlier decisions he took.

“My view is that fuel subsidy removal was driven by a sense of arrogance. You are now sworn in, and you believe that since you are now in charge, you can boss everybody around. You just announced the removal of the fuel subsidy without due consultation.

“My experience in life is that when you are going to take a monumental decision, especially one that affects the lives of over 200 million people, you need to have wide consultations.

“Taking such a spur-of-the-moment decision on that very important issue is very insensitive, and probably he (Tinubu) was ignorant of the challenges he was going to face.

“That was why everything came crashing down immediately after he was sworn in because of the removal of the fuel subsidy. He ought to have waited, formed a cabinet, got every relevant person in place, and held discussions among his advisers and the cabinet. By so doing, they will get alternative solutions to the removal of subsidy, whether or not it should be done.

“If they agree that subsidy must go, what are the actions that will be put in place to mitigate the negative outcomes? If the outcomes are positive, they will also consider how to maximise them. They will also list their options. If this happens, then we fall back on this.

“He has enough examples from the past to rely on. When (Sani) Abacha removed subsidy, he created the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) to channel the additional income into social development, and everybody today knows the various projects undertaken by the PTF, such as hospitals, schools, social services, and so on.

“When (Olusegun) Obasanjo removed the subsidy, he created SURE-P to renovate roads and carry out social services. I don’t understand how my friend Tinubu got this arrogance that he could do things radically different from others who were before him and get results.

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“So, he is only reaping the benefits of his hasty decision, and we are also reaping the benefits of putting in power somebody who works in a cavalier manner.”

Let us begin with the profound words of Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, a Nigerian nationalist and statesman who played a key role in Nigeria’s independence movement (1957–1960). Awolowo, in his book, “Voice of Courage” Awo, remarked as follows: Africa’s Dependence on Former Colonial Masters “Today, Africa is a continent of COMPETING BEGGAR-NATIONs.

“We vie with one another for favors from our former colonial masters; and we deliberately fall over one another to invite neo- colonialists to come over to our different territories to preside over our economic fortunes…Unless a beggar resolutely shakes off and irrevocably turns his back on, his begging habit, he will forever remain a beggar. For, the more he begs, the more he develops the beggar characteristics of lack of initiative, courage, drive and self-reliance.”

Similarly, George Pratt Shultz, an American politician, economist, statesman, and businessman. He served as the United States Secretary of Labor from 1969 to 1970, as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1972 to 1974, and as the U.S. Secretary of State from 1982 to 1989. Shultz remarkable posited: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and a willingness to act in its defense.” In my humble opinion, eternal vigilance is not only the price of liberty; eternal vigilance is the price of human decency.

To be honest, our Constitution and Monetary policies have become a doubtful experiment, and at the end of over half a century, we find that it has not been able to preserve the liberties of the people, secure the rights of property, and that our country has not improved and is yet flourishing beyond any former example in the history of nations. In our domestic concerns, there is everything to discourage us, and if we are true to ourselves there are so many impediments on our march to the highest point of national prosperity.

Furthermore, the current crisis of deregulation in Nigeria is generated by the pervasive impact of yesterday’s Recklessness and Profligacy. For example, the sums of $43.4m, 27,700 British pounds ($36,000), and 23.2 million naira ($74,000) were found by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at a private residence in Lagos. Sadly, like many others, it may have been swept under the carpet as they say in the local parlance.

Let me, therefore, continue with the position canvased, some three decades ago by no less a personality than Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO), the President whose mandate was truncated by reactionary forces. MKO profoundly posited: “…every effort have been made in the past to shave people’s heads in their absence; the commutative wisdom of all the bankers would have seen us out of the trouble.

Some people came from the IMF and World Bank; what do they know about Nigeria? You see…the most brilliant doctor in Norway may not have seen MALARIA before. Therefore, imposing such will be tantamount to sending our people to their early graves. You see…we will rely on Nigerians to keep things running, not those who will be imposed on us by foreign authorities. We are an independent entity under God, ain’t we”?

Richard, g’day. “This is a good article. I would like to add that ours is not a country with leaders – instead, we have RUINERS of various generations. They are made up in the form of a hydra with five legs: political, religious, Civil (evil) servants, 99% of so-called businessmen/women, and judicial imposters (law careerists of all categories).”

“I do not like comparing Nigeria with America or any other industrialized countries on earth as it amounts to false and erroneous pursuits. You can only give relief to your people if you have the funds to do so. Welfarism requires money to implement and where your country is in the “valley of death” money-wise, you have no way out or the capacity to provide hand-outs to any masses.”

“This is why I produced a simple economic model that is based on the Malaysian Mahattir Mohammed’s model. You cannot use the established Western economic models – our past and current governments have continued our enslavement using the IMF/WB models, and the approach would not work. Please, look at my model again as I am convinced that it is this model or its tactful variation that could pull us out of the current mess! My regards.”

These are the profound word, eruditely posited by Prof Kunle Oloyede, the first African professor of medical Engineering.

Likewise Steve Biko’s Black Theology of Liberation from the Perspective of Ubuntu – “If one is free at heart, no man-made chains can bind one to servitude”.

Conclusively, I should note, at this point, that Nigerians were treated to a comical show of ignominy when it came to light that some criminals inside Emefiele’s CBN forged the signature of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari to steal $ 6.3 Million. It was more comical when “Big Masquerade” Boss Mustapha, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), said the recipient of the $6,230,000 from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not a staff of the SGF office. What a country, what a system! Who does that? Where would you forge the signature of Vladimir Putin in Russia and still be walking on Mother Earth?

Characteristically, in the pitfalls of unbridled self-promotions; Godwin Emefiele and Zainab Ahmed, former finance minister, had jointly signed a statement advising the then President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the Ways and Means of N23.71 trillion “a different figure presented to the National Assembly on the same date”. On the contrary, Buhari presented N22.7 trillion to the National Assembly in December 2022. This shows conflicting figures within the same system. Hence, this is part of the Ways and Means of fraud in the banking sector under a government that prides itself on “Anti CORRUPTION”.

Donald Trump’s first trial may well be the 34-count felony case brought by the New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, in an indictment voted by a New York State grand jury on March 20, 2023. This case has been widely disparaged, even by some liberals, as only about “money to hide an affair” and a weak case involving an alleged federal crime with weak facts tried in a state court.

On the other hand, most observers seem to regard the pending case brought by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith as more important since it accuses the former president of conspiring to obstruct a constitutionally elected new president – and depriving Americans of votes counting in the 2020 election.

What is being overlooked is what Justice Department prosecutors – when Trump was president – publicly documented as the seriousness of the case. It can be found in the December 7, 2018, “Sentencing Memorandum” publicly filed by DOJ’s prosecutors in the prestigious Southern District of New York (called the “SDNY”). I was one of the attorneys advising the defendant at the time, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s longtime attorney and fixer. (I am no longer representing Cohen for the trial – he has experienced New York counsel.)

Here are the four public assertions made by these prosecutors in this public document that undermine the conventional wisdom that this case is only about sex and that the factual basis to convict Donald Trump is weak:

(1) The case involves issues that undermine “core” values of our democracy.

The SDNY prosecutors wrote that Trump’s complicity in paying money to block disclosure of his extra-marital affairs on the eve of the 2016 presidential election struck “a blow at a core value essential to democracy: transparency.” Allowing such crimes would show that “the political process belongs to the rich and powerful.” (Sentencing Memo, p. 23).

(2) DOJ prosecutors in effect state that Mr. Trump was criminally responsible.

The federal prosecutors wrote that Trump “directed” Michael Cohen to make the hush money payments a few days before the election for political reasons, which, these prosecutors found, made Cohen complicit in a crime – knowingly violating federal campaign finance laws.

(Sentencing Memo, p. 11.) They noted that Cohen “admitted” to their factual finding. (Many reporters mis-state that Cohen “said” this. No, the prosecutors said it – and they state that Cohen “admitted” it.) Thus, it should be beyond dispute that if Cohen was guilty of a crime in this scheme to conceal relevant information from American voters before a crucial presidential election, then certainly Trump is just as guilty since he “directed” him to do it according to Trump’s own prosecutors – if not more because the payoff was committed for his benefit and not Cohen’s.

There is no doubt these Trump DOJ prosecutors found there was a political motivation to making these hush money payments – making it an illegal campaign donation. The prosecutors wrote that the money was paid on the “eve” of the 2016 election and several times described the payments as politically motivated to prevent voters from learning about the alleged affairs.

(3) Bragg’s case does not depend solely on Michael Cohen’s testimony.

First, Cohen has been found to be a credible witness – most recently, explicitly by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engeron in his February 15, 2024, written decision, finding Mr. Trump guilty of financial fraud. Second, the Trump DOJ prosecutors pointed out that Trump was complicit in a scheme to pay hush money to two women. In other words, we know from these federal prosecutors that there were at least two witnesses other than Michael Cohen who could have testified in the federal case as to Trump’s knowledge and involvement in the illegal hush money scheme to prevent voters knowing about the two alleged affairs just before the 2016 election. One was the chairman and CEO of a national tabloid magazine, whom the federal prosecutors stated Trump himself met with to discuss the scheme to kill negative stories about Trump to avoid disclosure before the election, including the threat of a former Playboy Playmate of the Month to go public just before the election about her alleged affair. The second witness is said by the prosecutors to be the magazine’s editor-in-chief, whom these prosecutors aver was aware of and involved in the scheme. (Sentencing Memo, p.12.)

(4) Trump’s checks of $35,000 per month written from his personal checking account were not “legal fees” as he claimed. They were “reimbursements” for hush money.

The prosecutors found that the Trump Organization “falsely” booked these Trump payments. During Michael Cohen’s February 27, 2019, public testimony before the House Oversight Committee, two of these Trump personal checks from his personal checking account written and signed by Trump while a sitting president were put on live television in the United States and around the world. (See photos of them here.) It was Justice Department lawyers working under Trump-appointed Attorney General William Barr, not locally elected Democratic prosecutors, who characterized them as illegal “reimbursements.” Republicans barely mentioned them, and these hush money checks by a sitting president concerning an illegal scheme before he was president flew under the radar of most of the national media. But there it is, on page 14 of the December 7, 2019, sentencing memo – hidden in plain sight – that these checks were “falsely” recorded as business expenses on the books of the Trump Organization.

Lest there be any doubt that Trump himself recognized the potential legal danger of this SDNY sentencing memo as reflecting on his potential criminal guilt: We learned in 2020 from a New York Times exclusive, and in 2022 from the book published by then-U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, that Trump tried to expunge or “scrub” these incriminating words written by his own DOJ prosecutors. Attorney General Barr and others at DOJ reportedly pressured the SDNY prosecutors to delete these words and to “reverse” Michael Cohen’s guilty plea – this after Cohen served his time. Obviously, these efforts were not because Trump or Barr sympathized with Cohen’s plight.

The bottom line here is that that New York-based federal prosecutors made a determination that Trump and Cohen had violated federal campaign law. Trump was not charged federally with that crime, however, meaning that Alvin Bragg’s challenge is two-fold. First, he must establish that New York state laws regulating financial fraud were violated when Trump was involved in illegal federal campaign donations. And second, Bragg must show that when Trump falsely booked those hush money payments as “legal expenses” – which would normally be a misdemeanor in New York state law – he did so with the motive of concealing the other campaign finance crime under NY state law. If Bragg can do so, then the 34 entries that were “falsely” listed as “legal expenses,” instead of being 34 misdemeanors, become 34 felonies. That could be a lot of jail time if that is the jury’s verdict. And lest we forget: Trump cannot pardon himself for state crimes if he wins the presidency.

The ultimate irony is that if Trump is found guilty of the New York state crimes, it will be his own Justice Department prosecutors who provided clear factual findings establishing his guilt.

#  #  #  #  #

Lanny Davis is the founder of the Washington, D.C., law firm, Lanny J. Davis & Associates. He is one of the first to use the concept of legal crisis management to solve client problems – operating at the intersection of law, media, and politics. He is a former special counsel to President Bill Clinton in 1996-98 and served on a privacy and civil liberties panel appointed by President George W. Bush. He has been writing his “Purple Nation” column for more than 13 years.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Yemi Cardoso says over $26 billion has passed through the crypto app Binance Nigeria in the last one year.

Cardoso said this on Tuesday after the MPC meeting in Abuja.

“In the case of Binance, in the last one year, 26 billion dollars has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” he told reporters in his first MPC meeting since assuming office as the CBN governor.

The CBN also raised the country’s Monetary Policy Rate(MPR) by four hundred basis points to 22.75 percent from 18.75 percent.

The MPR has been 18.75 percent since the last MPC meeting between 24th and 25th July 2023.

With inflation at 29.90 percent, he said the new MPR is part of moves to tackle the country’s inflation.

Cardoso who chairs the MPC also said the Cash Reserve Ratio(CRR) has been raised to forty-five percent while the liquidity ratio was left unchanged at thirty percent.

CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso briefs the press after the MPC meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, February 27, 2024.

Nigeria has been battling economic woes in recent months, but Cardoso said his team is not responsible for that.

“I laugh at that question but it’s not a laughing matter and I think it is very important for Nigerians to understand that the Central Bank Governor — I and my team — are not responsible for the woes that we have today; we are part of the solution,” the former Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget said.

“We are determined to ensure that we work hard to get out of the mess that Nigeria is in. We assumed responsibility in a time of crisis of confidence; there was a crisis of confidence and you may all want to go to bed and wish that crisis of confidence was not there but it was, and we can’t turn back the clock.

“All we can do is do the difficult things to make a bad situation better and I do believe that the efforts that we are making are beginning to bring back confidence because to be frank, without confidence in your business, you are not going to get far.”

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that the ongoing protest aims to compel the Federal Government to halt obnoxious policies that have led to the economic crisis in the country.

The Congress lamented that the government’s draconian policies are killing workers and Nigerians in general.

The Kogi State Chairman of the NLC, Gabriel Amari said this on Tuesday at the national protest rally against economic hardship, hunger, poverty and insecurity in the country held in Lokoja.

Amari particularly mentioned that the protest is not a coup or threat to the Kogi State Government but a way of telling the world that Nigerians are dying.

He lamented that Nigerians have now turned to beggars because they can no longer take care of the basic needs of their families.

“We are here to tell the whole world that Nigerians are dying because of the draconian policies of the Federal Government. The adoption of IMF and World Bank policies that led to the devaluation of Nigeria’s currency has put the entire Nigeria in crisis.

“You can see that there is no food. There is hunger everywhere. People can no longer attend to their health needs or sponsor their Children to School. Nigerians have now turned to beggars because they can’t provide for their immediate family. People are losing their jobs on a daily basis.

“We can’t fold our hands in the same country we call ours for a selected few people to come up with policies that are dangerous and detrimental to the lives of Nigerians.

“That is why the leadership has come up with this protest to tell the whole world that we are hungry and the Federal Government should reverse their policies. The policies are against us” he stated.

The NLC Chairman, however, commended Kogi workers for coming out in large numbers to protest, insisting that the protest will continue tomorrow Wednesday in line with the national directive of the union.

Adding his voice, the immediate past Chairman of the NLC in Kogi State, Onuh Edoka while aligning himself with the positions of his successor, called on the Federal Government to fix the nation’s refinery, invest more in agriculture and fight corruption to the barest minimum.

According to him, “The Federal Government should know that people are dying because of the hardship in our country. We can’t pretend as if all is well with us. All is not well. Some policies of the government are anti-people, which must stop now. It is high time the Government holds the bull by the horns to fix our refineries, invest massively in agriculture and ensure that they kill corruption from our system”.

[NaijaNews]