Import Waivers Fraud : Nigeria Customs Service Reveals How Okonjo-Iweala Massively Abused Import Waivers-PREMIUM TIMES

 

Minister for Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala


By Ini Ekott and Bassey udo


The Customs says under the waiver regime supervised by Okonjo-Iweala, more than 65 percent of incentives on export were for questionable goods.
In the last three years, Nigeria lost a staggering N1.4 trillion on import waivers – not N171 billion as claimed by finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala — and lost hundreds of billions of naira more as authorities recklessly grant import/export incentives on unapproved goods from rice to fish to kolanuts, with no significant bearing on the economy, the Nigeria Customs Service has said in a new document seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

Comparing the government’s export grant to the well-abused fuel subsidy, the Customs said more than 65 percent of beneficiaries received the grant for goods not approved by the government, which ordinarily should be limited to raw materials, machinery and spare parts.
Recipients of the export grant hold an instrument called Negotiable Duty Credit Certificate, NDCC, which they use in the payment of import and excise duties.

A new memo signed by the Minister of State of Finance, Yerima Ngama, and dated December 11, 2013, now says the federal government has expanded the scope of the NDCC to cover “other goods,” a decision, Mr. Ngama said was reached by the Federal Executive Council, FEC.
Warning of possible further abuse than already recorded, the Customs service spoke of being “apprehensive” about the purported directive and said it was yet to see the original approval by FEC.

“If the ‘other goods’ are those that can contribute to the growth of the economy, the Service will have no quarrel. But when ‘other goods’ are in most cases those that will not contribute to the economy, the Service becomes apprehensive,” the Customs said in the document that highlights abuse in the administration of waivers.

It cited such questionable goods intended to be covered by the new rule as “automobiles (bullet-proof), rice, fish, etc. “Over 65 % of NDCC accepted by the Service are found to have been used for such goods,” it argued.
The details of government losses to waiver provided by the Customs Service, first published by news website Saharareporters, show how the total cost on the federal government differs significantly from the figure declared by finance minister, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala.

But importantly, they provide a rare glimpse into how government’s policy of quashing import and export charges on select sectors, to help stimulate the nation’s economy, has been massively abused by corrupt officials and their cronies, with the attendant loss of funds to government.

In her response to the 50 questions on the economy posed by the House of Representatives, and a follow-up statement on Friday, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said Nigeria’s equivalent cost on waivers between January 2011 and September 2013, amounted to N171 billion.
Still, the minister insisted the figure was not a “loss” to the nation as the lawmakers had suggested, as the national economy benefited directly from the waivers granted.

Abused policy
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala however admitted there were abuses in the past, which allowed waivers to be awarded to private individuals, but said reforms has since been put in place under her leadership, which ensures greater scrutiny of applications.

But the Customs papers show that abuses have continued even after such effort. Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala herself admitted to such violations, the most apparent being the illegitimate waiver granted controversial car dealer, Coscharis Limited, for the importation of armoured cars for the Aviation minister, Stella Oduah, under the pretext that the cars were meant for the Lagos state government.

In her first open rebuke of that fraud, the finance minister described Coscharis’ behaviour as “reprehensible.”
Yet, even with such clear incidences of abuse, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, contradicting herself, insisted the nation had incurred no losses to waivers, in a response to the news story published by Saharareporters.

“Saharareporters arrived at the conclusion that the country has lost $9 billion because it considers every waiver granted by government to critical sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, power, gas etc as fraudulent and as a loss to the nation,” the minister’s spokesperson, Paul Nwabuiko, said in a statement.

“…We do not share that view and there is no question of loss to the country when it is government policy. The policy choice is between customs revenue and incentive revenues for industries. The government chose the latter because we believe the country stands to gain more from the incentives.”

But the Customs papers countered that claim, and showed how waivers to illegal beneficiaries have, like the fuel subsidy, bludgeoned over the years, with attendant monumental losses to the nation.

The Customs specifically wondered why state governments and government agencies that were not meant to be covered for waivers, now receive such approvals for nearly all of their importations.

“All state governments and other government agencies not listed under or covered by schedule two of the Common External Tariff for import duty exemptions should be mandated to pay for all importations made by them as this also contribute greatly to revenue shortfall,” the Service said.

As a matter of principle, the waiver and exemption policy was adopted to support the government’s objective to enhance the capacity of the beneficiaries to produce their goods domestically to make the country more self-reliant and reduce dependence on imports.
The categories of exemptions approved by government include the provisions of Schedule 2 of the Customs and Excise Tariff (Consolidation) Act: 1995 – 2001, Common External Tariff: 2008-2012 (as extended); the Customs and Excise Tariff etc. Act No. 16, 1997; and the Finance Miscellaneous Act 39 of 1990.

Sectors of the economy that the law expects should benefit from the policy include agriculture, aviation, health, mines and steel, water resources, gas, power, as well as donations to states, education and related ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs.
But the list of beneficiaries, made available by a source in the Nigeria Customs Service, include private individuals and businesses whose imports appear not valuable to the economy.
Questionable waivers

For instance, a total of N91.506billion was given as government concessions to 290 beneficiaries between January 1 and December 31, 2011.
In the 52-page list, which had Sopon Nigeria Limited as biggest beneficiary, with N32.774billion, there was no indication about the line of business for which it was given the incentive.

Other beneficiaries included the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, Ikot Abasi (N47.789million) and (N13.715million), despite not producing since 2007.

Equally, about N389.15billion was granted to 149 beneficiaries in 2011 through concessions to fuels, lubricants and allied products businesses.
On the list includes Oando PLC, which received N82.767billion; Capital Oil & Gas Industries Limited (N49.688billion); Integrated Oil & Gas Limited (N20.262billion); Folawiyo Energy Limited (N17.517billion); Sahara Energy Resources Limited (N13.962billion), and Master Energy Oil & Gas Company (N11.503billion).

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, received about N77.979billion; Netcodutsmann Maintaining Energy got N42.079billion; Asora Nigeria Limited (N12.26billion), and McSally Investments Limited (N10.337billion.
For 2012, a total of N191.545billion was granted to 416 beneficiaries, including individuals like Chibuzor Onyema (N1.87million); Oduola Anugbau Henry (N20.75million); Jude Ogbini (N3.389million); Oduneye Adeniyi (N4.357million), and Moghalu Maduakonam Madubugwu (N142.679million).
Also included were such private businesses as Newsstand Agencies Limited (N1.138billion) and Mikano International Limited (N2.945million).
About 287 beneficiaries got a total of N83.260billion in concessions and waivers for imports between January 1 and September 30, 2013, with Dangote Group alone getting about N26.77billion.

During the year, Asora Nigeria Limited was granted N8.588billion concession for importing kola nuts, while Ndianaefo Ifeanyi Emmanuel was granted N5.643million to import table, kitchen and household articles of cast iron.
Similarly, Ayotunde Adereju got N2.035million for importing iron/steel wool, pot scourers and polishing pads and gloves, while Asimiyu Mohammed Salawudeed was paid N4.148million for importing tables and kitchen household articles.


Coscharis Motors Limited, linked with the controversial aviation Ministry armoured car scandal, was granted N698.177million for importing fully built four wheel drive motor vehicles, motorized tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles.
Between 2010 and 2013, records showed that Coscharis Motors received about N2.46billion concession from the government for importation of vehicles valued at about N7.932billion.

Muhammad Ali's advice to his daughters: A lesson to all young Ladies

Muhammad Ali's advice to his daughters...Powerful! An incident transpired when Muhammad Ali’s daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were quite revealing. Here is the story as told by one of his daughters: “When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father’s suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day. My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them.” He looked at me with serious eyes. “Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.” From the book: More Than A Hero: Muhammad Ali's Life Lessons Through His Daughter's Eyes.

Massive Corruption Under President Jonathan : UK-Based Nigerian Challenges Okonjo-Iweala To Demonstrate Integrity And Speak Out Before It Is Too Late

By SaharaReporters, New York

Dotun Oloko, a Nigerian based in the United Kingdom, has sent an open letter to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance, urging her, in the wake of the dispute between former and current Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, to make public certain information she previously expressed privately and indicated she would go public with.

In the letter, “Before It Is Too Late,” dated January 4, Mr. Oloko said, “As you are undoubtedly aware former President Olusegun Obasanjo has levelled some grievous allegations against our current President Goodluck Jonathan. You have answered the call of duty and served under President Obasanjo. You answered the call of duty again and are currently serving as the Finance Minister to President Jonathan.”

Mr. Oloko recalled that it was on account of Okonjo-Iweala’s current position that he wrote to her in conjunction with some international non-governmental organisations on the matter of the sale of the OPL 245 oil concession.

“You subsequently forwarded our letter to the Attorney-General and it is a matter of record that in responding to our letter, the Attorney-General on 20th May 2013 falsely stated that, ‘the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had instituted a probe into the transaction and at the end, they were satisfied that there was no infraction of the Constitution or any other Nigerian law.’”

Recalling the exchange of correspondence between himself and the Minister “on a matter related to our beloved country,” Oloko noted that was because of Okonjo-Iweala’s international reputation and position as Finance Minister.

“I am now writing this open letter to you because of a related matter concerning our dear country,” he told the Minister. “In the course of our exchange of correspondence you expressed some views and opinions which I believe you should now make public in the wake of the dispute between Obasanjo and Jonathan. I must therefore call on you to do your duty to God and our country and act on those views and opinions, before it is too late.”

We Are in Jonathan's Sniper List — Buhari, Akande, Other

Former military Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi; a former Osun State Governor and Interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Bisi Akande; and a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, have accused President Goodluck Jonathan of being after their lives.

According to Sunday Punch, in separate interviews they accused the President of having their names on a sniper list.

El-Rufai had on Thursday named the top politicians as some of the persons on President Jonathan's watch list. When our correspondents sought their reactions, on Saturday, they agreed with the FCT minister, saying they were targets for being in the opposition to the ruling government.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had in an 18-page letter to Jonathan, dated December 2, 2013, accused the President of training snipers and putting 1,000 people on a watch list. He also accused Jonathan of having a killer-squad.

But Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, reacted on behalf of the Presidency dismissed the allegation, swiftly. In an interview he insisted on Saturday that President Goodluck Jonathan had no watch or hit list as being speculated by certain persons.

El-Rufai, on his Twitter account on Thursday, identified the top politicians as Buhari, Tinubu, Amaechi, Akande and himself as some of those on the watch list. The ex-minister stressed that he was number seven on the list.

"I am number seven on the GEJ (Goodluck Ebele Jonathan) sniper list, so I will only worry when GMB (General Muhammadu Buhari), Asiwaju (Tinubu), Amaechi, Akande, etc, are killed," he tweeted.

The following day, he added, "They plot and plan, and God too plans; but the best of planners is God. - Qur'an 8:30 … God protects us."

In his response, Akande told the correspondents that his life was in the hands of God, noting that the mysteries surrounding previous killings with political undertone had yet to be unravelled by security agencies.

Akande's media aide, Lani Baderinwa, on Saturday said it won't be out of place if the APC Chairman was placed on the watch list, being the leader of the opposition in the country today.

"You and I know that Nigeria is a country where anything goes and illegal actions are the order of the day. What else can he do than to be hoping that the wish of the enemies will not come to pass in his life," he asked.

He said the watch list allegation became more substantive as it came from an insider who knew the workings of the government.

"It was not Chief Akande who actually made the allegation (of a watch list); it was the former President (Olusegun Obasanjo) who has access to everything that the incumbent has, you cannot deny that fact. Therefore, it is difficult to say it is not true. The life of a man is in the hands of God, to be or not to be. Chief Akande remains unshaken." he noted.

Akande's aide said telling people to hold the government responsible was a wasted effort, considering that "all the murders in the last 15 years have not been unravelled."

Baderinwa added, "Most of these unravelled murders had the tones and tendencies of state-sponsored assassination. How then can we make noise that they (government) should be held responsible? As far as we are concerned, the life of Chief Bisi Akande is in the hands of God.

"And we know that despite his age, he has more to contribute to Nigeria than most of these people who are planning to assassinate other people for no just cause other than they are opposition."

Speaking for Buhari, the erstwhile spokesman for the Congress for Progressive Change (now merged with APC), Rotimi Fashakin, said Buhari's camp was not surprised that the General's name was on the list.

Fashakin stated that Buhari got 12 million votes on the platform of CPC, a 10-month-old party at that time, and had since remained a nightmare to the President.

He said, "Everybody knows that the name of Gen. Buhari conjures fear in the heart of the President. That is why they would rather wish that he is no longer in the equation. El-Rufai cannot be far from the truth when he asserted the VIPs that are in the wanted list. He is totally correct.

"Jonathan's presidency should tell us why (former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Hamza) al-Mustapha is being kept in the Army. One of the things that will be giving the presidency sleepless nights will be how to rig. They used some incumbent governors to reduce the vote of the CPC."

Fashakin said Obasanjo's letter to Jonathan did the nation a great service, adding that the President's response did not clear any doubt.

He expressed his suspicion over the reinstatement of al-Mustapha into the army after 15 years in detention. He said it might not be unconnected with the watch list.

"Knowing al-Mustapha's antecedent as one who superintended over Abacha's killer squad, why shouldn't we be apprehensive that this government is trying to play with fire," Fashakin said.

He also said it was the duty of the Nigerian state to protect Buhari, as a former Head of State.

Fashakin added, "It will be a shame to the Nigerian state, if the amiable General is allowed to be taken out just like that. It is not for him to protect himself; it is for the Nigerian state to ensure that the dastardly plot does not succeed because he has served Nigeria meritoriously. It's a good thing that Nigerians have been put on notice. So, if anything happens to Buhari, we know that direction we should be looking at."

Amaechi also said that although his life was at risk, based on the inclusion of his name on Jonathan's alleged watch list, he was not afraid of death.

The governor, who spoke through the Chief of Staff of the Government House, Port Harcourt, Tony Okocha, said el-Rufai's findings were real. He, however, said God was his ultimate protector.

Amaechi said the signs that he was on the sniper list were open to everybody. He identified the alleged use of the Nigeria Police to embarrass his office as one of the indicators that he was on the list.

"We don't own the police or any of the security outfits in the country. They are all controlled by the Federal Government. So, we solely rely on God to protect us. The governor is a hero and he will be a martyr if he dies based on what he believes.

"We do not have any security measure and we believe that God is the ultimate protector of man. When a governor is being hunted with the police and when a police commissioner confronts a governor of a state at will, these are signs of threat to the governor's life," Amaechi added.

But while saying Jonathan had personally explained that he had no watch list, the presidential spokesman said any person who felt he had seen such list should feel free to approach security agents.

Abati said, "The President has already addressed that matter that there is no watch or hit list anywhere but if by any chance, el-Rufa'i or any other person feels he has seen any list, why has he not reported t security agencies?

"If he has the list, let him produce it, otherwise it appears he is just talking nonsense. It is sheer irresponsible talk. There is no watch or hit list anywhere.

"People should stop speculating about any list, they should stop making themselves appear to be important when they are actually not important at all."

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, had forwarded a memo to the National Human Rights Commission, directing it to investigate allegations of rights abuse contained in Obasanjo's letter.

The memo, with reference number HAGF/NHRC2013/Vol2/5, was dated December 23, 2013, was addressed to the Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Ben Angwe.

Slouching Into 2014, The Eve Of Nigeria’s Destruction! By Ogaga Ifowodo

From the same poem that gave Chinua Achebe the title of the work that immortalised him, Things Fall Apart, comes this more foreboding sentence: “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” The end of a year is traditionally a period of reflection and projection. We look back in hindsight at the errors and failings of the dying year and promise to do better; to banish all missteps from the coming year. Like the proverbial Owl of Athena/Minerva of Greek mythology, we are supremely wise only in retrospect—by the pitiless backward glance. As I participate in this ritual—after all, the capacity for retrospection and to learn from experience, is probably what best distinguishes humans from animals—my mind, unbidden, fixates on W.B. Yeats’s great poem, “The Second Coming.”

The first section of the poem, laden as it is with troubling images of a world unable to contain anymore the chaos and catastrophe laid unblinkingly bare by the hitherto unprecedented barbarism and carnage of World War I, also gives us those powerful statements borne of the most acute observation: “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere / The ceremony of innocence is drowned; / The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.” I don’t know, but maybe the sanctimonious carrying-on of former military dictator and (s)elected president General Olusegun Obasanjo, and the rather tepid response by President Goodluck Jonathan (why did he trouble himself?) has something to do with my mind’s unilateral musing on this poem. I make no judgement as to who might even qualify for “the best” among the tiresome writers of epistles supposedly driven to passionate intensity by nothing but patriotism and probity.

But perhaps it is the image of a blood-dimmed tide that unconsciously led me to brooding on this poem, and after a while, inevitably on Christopher Okigbo’s equally memorable verses of despair, “Come Thunder”— in his case, a prediction of the Nigerian Civil War that would claim his life at the tender age of 35—but more on this presently. Still mourning the murder of my friend and mentor, Professor Festus Iyayi—and now that we have photo evidence that he was shot straight through the heart at close range, showing that the automobile accident was merely a cover for a high-tech assassination, we must insist on a judicial inquest and charges of murder and conspiracy to murder soon after by the Kogi State Attorney-General—I dwelled on that image of a beast, half man and half lion, slouching towards Bethlehem (Nigeria? since we surely have surpassed Bethlehem in holiness?) to be born.

Only Yeats, who dabbled in the occult, consulted Ouija boards, and had devised a personal spiritual vision of the world symbolised by two intervolving spirals or gyres whose outward and inward spinning represented the unending tension between order and anarchy, might have explained with any clarity what his poem is really about. Yet the tension produced by its lapidary diction and the puzzling obscurantism of its private spiritualism makes the poem plainly unforgettable. Proof is that it is one of the most anthologised poems of all times in the English language. And the more I recalled each image, the closer to Nigeria’s “blood-dimmed tide” I found it to be; not less that phrase “somewhere in sands of the desert,” an image sustained by later mention of “indignant desert birds.” Could it be because the unending bloodbath in the north-east of Nigeria creates bright red trails to the Sahara, where beasts of human head and human body roam menacingly?

Okigbo, who may be indebted to Yeats, given what I now see as the structural similarity of “Come Thunder” to “A Second Coming”—both poems start with gripping images of the chaotic present and move on to prophecy, all in very clear diction, ending with lines that defy easy explication (in Okigbo’s case, “A nebula immense and immeasurable, a night of deep waters” and “the secret thing in its heaving / Threatens with iron mask / The last lighted torch of the century,” for instance), not to mention the private spiritualism of both poets (Okigbo’s less intricate or pronounced)—spoke of “The smell of blood already float[ing] in the lavender-mist of the afternoon” and of “The death sentence [lying] in ambush along the corridors of power.” Somewhere in those corridors, I insist, someone pronounced a death sentence for the assassination of Iyayi, and the direct involvement of a driver in the convoy of the Kogi State governor leaves a lot, an awful lot, to be explained!

Well, it is 2014, the eve of the year Nigeria falls apart, according to America’s intelligence experts and war gamers. Clearly, the falcon (our so-called leaders) can no longer hear the falconer (the people). I do not believe that doomsday prophecy, the US government’s disclaimers notwithstanding. It seems to me that Nigeria has perfected the art of recoiling from absolute self-annihilation when it stares down into the abyss from its precarious perch on the edge of the cliff. And with President Jonathan’s national conference/dialogue, as deliberately ambiguous as it is, we have the rope, the lifeline, to pull us away from the fatal plunge. I will, therefore, raise a toast to 2014!