BY MARTIN AZUBUIKE UGBOMA

In a Nollywood production, everything is possible. Some defective character could visit the palace, feast in the Kings courtyard with his kinsmen and women; and with devious intentions, swear the very next day that he has never set foot in the palace. His fellow revelers would laugh, blame it all on excessive consumption of alcohol and move on. If more serious issues were at stake, they may leave him to the gods for judgement.

But what to do when the majority at the feast wake up the next day and demand answers for the waste food and empty bottles being cleaned out from the palace?

Mass amnesia occurs where a group of people suddenly forget important information or events. While this remains a fascinating concept, real life examples are rare and often anecdotal (The Mandela effect; The lost city of Shambhala; The Philadelphia experiment; The Taos hum & The disappearance of the Sodder children).

Science tells us its causes include:

•  Collective trauma
• Neurological disorders
•  Social influence.

Undoubtedly, all three have played a role in the way Nigerians ask, “How did we get here?”. 

How did we get here? How dare you!!!

We all know how we got here!!! Like the proverbial frog, we have felt comfortable in the water, adjusting our tolerance as it got warmer. We have become advocates for those whose corrupt practices have impoverished our country. Is he the first to do this? How come its only Nwobodo that is in jail while others have been granted bail? Nothing dey happen!! If you see his house in the village, it’s a palace. And I have been invited for the housewarming next weekend.

The late singer Bob Marley pleaded that we tell the children the truth!! In this instance, the truth will not set us free as we live the impoverished lives our tolerance for mind blowing corruption and impunity have created. As we claim mass amnesia, let us be reminded of some interesting cases that brough us all here.

• THE CEMENT ARMADA SCANDAL: The Gowon government faced a crisis after the civil war as the Nigerian army had grown from 8,000 personnel to about 200,000. Cement was urgently required to construct barracks to house soldiers. While the international price for cement was $55 per metric ton, we issued our letters of credits at about $60/ton. We required 6 million tons but placed orders for 16.23 million valued at almost $1 billion. We increased demurrage from the standard $3,500/ship/day to $4,100. No one considered the capacity of our ports to handle this cargo.

We had congestion of over 400 ships waiting to offload cement. Some ships came carrying nothing, some did not come near our ports, and some never existed. Yet, all claimed demurrage and Nigeria paid $240 million in this regard. Our fathers and uncles and in-laws were at this heart of this plot to defraud the then cash rich nation.

LESSON LEARNT: we can all do stupid things and make huge amounts of money if we can spend government funds to pay for it all. And if a whole lot of us are in it, who will insist on accountability?

• RICE IMPORT LICENSE: Under President Shehu Shagari (1979-1983), the country could not meet up with the demand for rice, which tripled within the last six months of 1980. It was calculated in the early life of Shagari’s administration that about one million metric tonnes of rice was needed annually while the domestic production stood at 700,000 metric tonnes. The Shagari-led federal government had to introduce a controlled import licensing system to fill the supply gap of 300,000 metric tonnes and also protect domestic farmers from external unfair competition. 

Under a United States agreement to provide technical assistance to Nigerian agriculture, American rice-growing and milling companies would invest in new mills and farm projects here, increasing Nigerian rice production, in exchange for guaranteed imports of 250,000 metric tonnes of American rice.

Dikko was appointed the Minister of Transport, and in trying to justify the assignment of the task force on rice importation, he was quoted as saying, “As long as we are in government, we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that there is sufficient food in Nigeria and nobody will eat from dustbin.”

Party chieftains who benefited from the import license were accused of contriving artificial scarcity, which logically brought about price increases. At the end, the programme was trailed by scandals. Millions of dollars was allegedly squandered by Dikko when the exchange rate of dollar to naira was less than one naira (N1).  

LESSON LEARNT: Political office is an oppurtunity for gluitonius and shameless self enrichment.

• THE 53 SUITCASES: The 53 suitcases saga arose in 1984 during the currency change exercise ordered by the Buhari junta when it ordered that every case arriving the country should be inspected irrespective of the status of the person behind such. The 53 suitcases were, however, ferried through Murtala Mohammed airport without a customs check by soldiers allegedly at the behest of Major Mustapha Jokolo, the then aide-de-camp to Gen. Buhari. Atiku was at that time the Area Comptroller of Customs in charge of the Murtala Muhammed Airport. The suitcases were said to be personal effects of the Emir of Daura, Buhari s hometown.

LESSON LEARNT: All animals are not equal.

• THE FUEL SUBSIDY FRAUD: During the 1973 – 1974 Arab Israeli war, the Arab nations placed an embargo on crude oil supplies to the United States of America. Consequently, oil prices jumped from $2.90/barrel to $11.65/barrel in January 1974. To help citizens cope with the higher prices, Nigeria introduced price controls over some items, including petrol. This policy became law in 1977 with the promulgation of the Price Control Act. As the country’s population grew and oil prices continued to rise, the amount required to subsidize petroleum products kept increasing. Our politicians and oil marketers saw an opportunity.

What started out as a noble cause became a massive fraud as importers were paid subsidies for a daily consumption figure of 59m liters while the country only consumed 35m. the House of Representatives set up a committee to probe subsidy payments between 2009 – 2011. Its findings were shocking. While the official subsidy payment released to the public was N1.3 trillion, the office of the Accountant Generals figure was N1.6 trillion, the CBN N1.7 trillion and the actual payment figure was N2.5 trillion, more than 900% over the appropriated sum of N245 billion!! Suffice is to mention that Nigeria did not have the physical port facilities to handle 30% of the floated 53m liter daily consumption of petrol. It is generally accepted that Nigeria lost $6.8 billion to the subsidy scam. As a befitting tribute, Farouk Lawan, the leader of the investigating House committee was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 5 years in jail for receiving a $500k bribe from businessman Femi Otedola!!

13 years after, some of the obvious cases where the purported supply vessels were non-existent are still in court.

LESSON LEARNT: Corruption is possible in Billions of Naira, and with billions in the bank, justice is a tool to be manipulated.

• CRUDE OIL THEFT & THE SANUSI LETTER: A survey conducted by Global Financial Integrity Group for the Central Bank of Nigeria confirmed that the country lost 100,000 barrels of crude/day in 2013. The survey identified the locations of bunkering vessels clusters and illegal refineries in the Niger delta. The CBN blamed top government officials, security agencies and international oil companies (IOCs); and estimated annual losses at between $6.5 billion to $12 billion. Recall that the Malaysian government built the Petronas towers from daily crude oil production of about 250,000 barrels/day!!

That was just a tip of the iceberg. The Governor of the Central Bank officially wrote to the President confirming the non-repatriation to the Federation account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation of $49.8 billion representing 76% of official crude liftings in 2012 and 2013.

LESSON LEARNT: Nothing is sacrosanct or impossible when it comes to stealing government funds.

Every village has its own village drunk who is privy to tiny secrets and spills them at will. He has reminded us of our actual consumption in the Kings palace last night. How come so much trash is being cleaned out from the Kings courtyard? How dare you!!

MARTIN AZUBUIKE UGBOMA wrote in via [email protected]