FIFA U-17 World Cup – why does everything about Nigeria have to be a scam

Nigeria never ceases to amaze me:

why does everything about Nigeria have to be a scam. Presidency-scam. Police-scam. Education-scam. Airports-scam. National assembly-scam. Political parties-scam. Asokoro-scam. Sports-scam. Infrastructure-scam, etcetera, etcetera – the average Nigerian is a scam.

Finance crisis rocks FIFA U-17 World Cup fiesta

Sport minister, chairmen bicker
By Gowon Akpodonor

THE fear of embezzlement and high level of fraudulent activities earlier expressed by many Nigerians before the kick – off of the on-going Nigeria 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, may be playing itself out, following allegations of sharp practices now rocking the organisation of the Youth football Championship.

And not ready to pay for the ’sins’ of alleged financial recklessness by Chairmen of the various Committees and Sub-Seats, the Sports Minister, Sani Ndanusa, has ordered that henceforth, no money should be released until retirement of the previous ones are effected.

But this stand by the Minister seems not to be going down well with the chairmen of the various committees and Sub-seats. They are pointing accusing fingers at the Minister (Ndanusa) as well as the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the LOC, Mainasara Illo, saying that the duo have more explanations to give to Nigerians on how the sum of N12.1 billion said to have been released by the Federal Government so far for the tournament, was spent. The FIFA U-17 World Cup is now in its semi final stage.

A top official of the LOC in Abuja told The Guardian yesterday that the disagreement, if not nipped in the bud as quickly as possible, may escalate into a full scale war between the Minister and some angry committee chairmen and sub-seats. “And this will not be good enough for the image of the country, especially now that FIFA officials are still around and attention of the entire world is focused on Nigeria,” the source stated yesterday.

In a letter from the Presidency with Ref. NSC / HMC / GEN / CON / 2009, dated November 5, 2009 and addressed to the Chairman of the LOC, made available to The Guardian yesterday by one of the angry members of the LOC in Abuja, the Minister stated point-blank that no releases of money will be made until retirement of the previous ones are effected.

The letter signed by U.T Shua for the Minister/Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC) and captioned Re: Financial Requirement of the LOC for FIFA U-17 World Cup (Nigeria 2009), reads: “I am directed to refer to your letter Ref. No. LOC/FIFA U-17 WC/Vol.1/014 dated November 4, 2009 in respect of the above subject matter and to kindly draw your attention to the attached list of releases to different committees which have not been properly accounted for by each sub-committee.

2. It is in this vein, that I am further directed to kindly inform you that no releases are to be made until retirement of the previous ones are effected.

3. Please accept the Hon. Minister/Chairman’s best sporting regards.”

It was learnt yesterday that the minister’s decision to stop further release of money for the Championship was based on the fact that some LOC members and Sub-seats Chairmen are being accused of financial recklessness in their handling of money released to them for the day- to- day running of the competition. But the LOC member, who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday, said that the Sports Minister (Ndanusa) and Mainasara Illo are allegedly holding on to more than 90 per cent of the money released by the Federal Government for the organisation of the U-17 World Cup. He alleged that so far, the sum of N12.1 billion had been released by the Federal Government, and that only N900 million had been released to the Committee Chairmen and Sub-Seats since the championship began on October 24.

Going by the breakdown of money so far given to the committees/sub seats for the Championship, as made available to The Guardian yesterday in Abuja, Logistic (LOC Board meeting and general purpose got N20 million from its updated budget of N75 million. It has a balance of N55 million. In the same way, the Marketing Committee got N78.4 million from the N140 million budget, with a balance of N61.6 million. The Ceremonies Committee has received N65 million from its N103.9 million budget and are said to be waiting for the balance of N38.9 million, just as Mobilisation Committee got N30 million for its updated budget of N40 million leaving a balance of N10 million.

The Volunteer Committee got N40 million from its N102.15 million with a balance of N62.15 million to collect. The Transport Committee has collected N97 million for its budgeted sum of N638 million, leaving a balance of N541 million. The Accreditation Committee got N40 million from its N75 million budget, waiting for a balance of N35 million, just as the Security Committee got N80 million from its N300 million budget, waiting for the balance of N220 million.

The Media Broadcast Committee got N40 million from its budget of N98 million, expecting to collect N58 million, while the Media Print Committee got N30 million from its budget of N58 million while waiting to pick a balance of N28 million.

The Medical Committee got N15 million from its budget of N24 million, waiting for a balance of N9 million, just as the Protocol Committee got N18 million from its budget of N60 million, leaving a balance of N42 million.

According to the document, Lagos Sub-Seat was paid N40 million from the N80 million budgeted, waiting to collect a balance of N40 million, just as Ijebu-Ode was paid N21 million from its N45 million budget, leaving a balance of N24 million. Enugu got N40 million from N60 million budgeted, waiting to collect N20 million, while Calabar got N44 million from the N60 million budgeted, waiting for a balance of N16 million. The Bauchi sub-Seat got N16 million from the N45 million budgeted, waiting to pick N29 million, while the Kaduna sub-seat got N44 million from the budget of N60 million, leaving a balance of N16 million.

The Kano Sub-seat got N40 million from the budget of N60 million, waiting to collect a balance of N20 million, while the Abuja Sub-seat got N40 million from the budget of N60 million, waiting for a balance of N20 million. A budget of N5 million was put in place for Warri Sub-seat, but has not been paid. The Warri Stadium was rejected by FIFA from participation in the Championship.

Before the commencement of the Nigeria 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, many Nigerians had expressed doubt that the organisation of the Championship would end up the in the same way of COJA 2003 All Africa Games, in which the country invested so much money but with no profit or gains to show at the end. Instead, the country ended up enduring a colossal debt. When most Nigerians expected anti-graft agencies to investigate the monumental waste and fraud of COJA 2003, everything died down to Nigerians’ dismay

Apart from the Coja 2003 Games, other big championships hosted by Nigeria, like the Nigeria 99 World Youth Championship and the co-hosting of the Ghana/Nigeria 2000 Africa Cup of Nations had ended the same way.

Feeling sad about the alleged fraudulent activities of past and present officials in charge of hosting World and inter-continental competitions, who have always betrayed Nigerians’ trust by diverting tax-payers’ money for their private need, an elderly citizen, who has followed World sporting events since 1958 World Cup in Switzerland, told The Guardian yesterday,

“As far back as the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Peter Ueberoth, the Chief Executive Officer of the Games, succeeded for the first time in showing the world that organisers of a world sporting spectacle can make huge profits for the hosting country. Since then, hosts of the Olympic Games, World Cup (football), World Athletics Championships, World Swimming Championships and the Commonwealth Games have consistently reported big monetary profit and significant improvement of their economy.”

“What do we have in Nigeria?” he asked. ” It is the complete opposite. I don’t know why we are so corrupt in this country.” There is even talk about town that one top member of the LOC of Nigeria 2009 has just imported three brand new cars from the United States for himself, as well as buying a house in Dubai. Believe me, some people don’t fear God. There is corruption everywhere you turn,” the elder citizen concluded.

The two semi final matches of the FIFA U-17 World Cup will hold in Lagos later this week and there is fear that the cold war between the Sports Minister and members of the LOC might play a spoiler role, if the Presidency fails to act early.

source: click here

hope you took notice of the highlighted portions above. For example:  “the Ceremonies Committee has received N65 million from its N103.9 million budget and are said to be waiting for the balance of N38.9 million”

I’m wondering which ceremony/ies the Ceremonies Committee managed / are planning to manage which needed an expended sum of N65million Naira…..

and yet this same government is talking about deregulation in the fuel sector

Tags: FIFA, U-17

A soldier has shot and killed Friday Ojeh, a bureau de change operator at Ikeja

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is life in Nigeria, and we say we are Living in a democracy.

Nigeria is the only country where Officers in Police / Army uniforms point their weapons at just about anybody, shoot anybody and get away with their actions.

Soldier Blows Off Head Of Money Changer
October 28, 2009 15:48, 2,222 views
 
By Dedeigbo Ayodeji & Ekene Obidike

A soldier has shot and killed Friday Ojeh, a bureau de change operator at Ikeja.

Ojeh was shot in the forehead at about 3.40p.m yesterday by one of the two soldiers who stormed the premises of Jabita Hotel, where Ojeh and others operate.

P.M. News gathered that Ojeh, who hailed from Kwale Local Government Area of Delta State, died instantly, with brain splattered on the floor.

The victim’s brother, Harrison, said: “I was not at the scene of the incident.  It was the sound of gun blast that drew my attention and others to the scene, only to discover that my own brother had been shot dead.”

He also stated that Ojeh moved about two months ago to his newly completed house in Agbado crossing area, a boundary community between Lagos and Ogun states.

He narrated further: “There was a crisis here on Friday when a lady who came to patronise a bureau de change operator here said she was short-changed.  But that had been resolved.  It was not even my brother who short-changed the lady.

“Two soldiers with a lady came this evening (yesterday).  Eyewitnesses told me that soldiers asked for his own share of the deal that took place on Friday. My brother explained to him that he was not involved and that there was nothing left for him.

“As my brother tried to explain to them, the soldier who shot him did not listen. He pushed him back and shot him on the forehead. After that, the soldiers strolled down to Alade market where they were posted.”

The soldiers and the woman who claimed to have been short changed were later arrested and later taken to Area ‘F’ Police Command Ikeja.

Another bureau de change operator, Babatunde Balogun, said the soldiers who were posted to Alade market came to Jabita Hotel to claim ‘title’, which means bribe.

He urged Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, to save operators from the lawless soldiers who usually abandon their duty posts to harass operators at the hotel.

Friday’s sister, Mrs. Patricia Nmaloko, who wept profusely after she was informed about Ojeh’s death, described him as a peaceful man.

She regretted that Ojeh’s life could be cut short too soon.

Nmaloko said when Ojeh’s father died, he was just three years old and he became an orphan a few years later, when his mother also died.

She said that was the reason the late Ojeh, the 36-year old father of three, Ruth, 4, Benjamin,3 and 2-month old Shadrack,   married very early.

Policemen from Area F, Ikeja, removed the body of the victim to the mortuary for autopsy. They said investigation into the incident was ongoing.

source: click here

with two sides to the same story, the common ground is that an innocent man was killed by an officer who primary duty is to ‘protect’, to ‘defend’ Nigeria.

question: has God forsaken Africa? midnight rants

11:59, Oct 6, 2009

If only someone had asked me how was your night anytime in the past two days, I sure would have had a long story to tell. The problem is, its usually when one has a sound sleep, no hassles thus an ‘uneventful night’ – in this environment, that the piss off question is thrown in ‘my face’. Talk about being unable to sleep beyond midnight – waking up exactly 11:59 – for three days in a row without any reason at all. I’ve utilized the opportunity though to read a few things, think about life and here, to keep on blogging it.

It’s a silent night, lowly night……so to say: NEPA arrived, PHCN is in town tonight. My street is sane and quiet, generators from left and right  are powered off, I’m sure if there is a pin-drop, I would hear it loud and clear – even from a distance. This is what civilization looks like, unfortunately and most times, this environment is far from civilized. My ears have become accustomed to the National Generator Agenda,  which even Presido Yardy hasn’t found an answer for, such that a quiet night like this becomes very uncomfortable, ghostly, the reverse of the ideal.

I am presently reading Obama’s book, Dreams from My Father. Its another ‘pirated copy, like The Audacity of Hope, which I read earlier. A warm thank you to the Pirate Association of Nigeria (PAN), if not, we won’t be enlightened. And I just finished reading chapter-7, where Obama talks about his passion for a job that had to do with Community Organization.

Its my first time of hearing such a job title: Community Organizer, leaving me wondering if there are any community organizers in Africa, in Nigeria to be specific (lets start from home).

We have Medical doctors, Nurses and Abortionists; we have PhDs in every field of endeavor, Professors and Lecturers in the University; we have Engineers, Lawyers, Business men, and those that sit at the top of the wall are called Consultants; there are actors and actresses; we have athletes; we have Politicians, Congressmen, Senators; we have Civil servants; we have officers in unform: Policemen, Army officers, Navy, Airforce; we have transporters: cross-country, molue / bus drivers, okada, danfo-ders, shippers, air-liners, legedez-benzers; we have spiritual leaders: Christian Pastors, Muslim Imams, Miracle workers, traditional doctors, believers and unbelievers; we have armed robbers, hired killers, kidnappers – but we don’t have Community Organizers. Like the lyrics of a Nigerian artists song, in Nigeria, everyone has his own hand-work.

And if I’m to assume the actual job description of Community Organization is as literal as it sounds, I would say this is why Nigeria, and the African Continent in general is years away far from Sanity: there are no Community Organizers on this continent. Or perhaps community organizers could mean ‘social workers’…talking of Volunteers, Non-Governmental-Organizations(NGOs) – as they parade themselves in Africa. Please note that NGOs in Nigeria are a business venture, where the owners are more for profit rather than service. A friend of mine once told me that if he has money, he would either start an NGO or a Church. I asked him what he wanted to do with an NGO. According to him, an NGO will give him the opportunity to apply for International Aid….so when the aid arrives, what next? my guy says ‘buy a plot of land, build a house’, establish and retire.

Wow, what a vision. I didn’t ask him why he would start a Church.

And why are there no people in Africa as community-organizer-passionate as Obama who left ‘a good life behind’ to make a career-choice that would benefit his community. Sorry sir, what do you mean by community? is there even a community in the first place? Commute ko, command ni.

Obama narrates how he got a job offer from Marty Kaufman to be a community organizer. Marty needed someone to pull black folks, farmers, etc., together for a common plan to save manufacturing jobs in Chicago. I’m wondering what Mr. Marty had to gain from hiring Community Organizers. Or perhaps he had his own political ambitions, or was fronting for a politician. Leaving the Marty talk alone, and back to Obama: Obama fit the bill since he was ‘black’, so they met together to talk things over. Long story cut short, the chapter ends with Obama saying he was offered a starting salary of $10,000(ten thousand dollars) for the first year, with a $2,000(two thousand dollars) travel allowance to buy a car, and the possibility of a salary increase if things go well. This one stung me. At this point, Mr. Obama was a young man of 22-years old.

With reference to Presiden’t Obama’s information on Wikipedia, his August 4th, 1961 birthdate would mean it was in1983 he got his $10,000(ten thousand dollar) community organizer job. 

I was like….wow.

A couple of paragraphs after reading the above, the chapter ended. So I got thinking: wondering where Nigeria was in 1983, where the Nigerian economy was in 1983, where Nigerian politics and politicos were in 1983, and how poor or wealthy the average Nigerian was in 1983.

Was it was possible for a Nigerian University graduate in 1983, living and working in Nigeria to earn an annual $10,000(Ten Thousand Dollars) salary, legally – without robbing a bank, or mismanaging funds in the Ministry of Finance? – considering the dollar to Naira exchange rate then? A fast-forward to 2009: the greater part of African countries living below the poverty line, on less that $1 per day, Nigeria inclusive – while its leaders are the biggest depositors of their stolen wealth in banks scattered in every hook and corner of the world.

Taking Civil Servants in Nigeria for example, the truth is a fresh entry Civil Servant, even with a first-first-first-class degree, working for the Nigerian Government in 2009 cannot boast of $10,000 annual income. Lets do some mathematics: $10,000 per year is an average of $800 per month. This equals NGN104,000.00(one hundred and four thousand Naira) per month at a current exchange rate of $1 to NGN130(one hundred and thirty Naira).

The Federal Government of Nigeria wastes the first year after graduation of every university graduate in a failed program called the National Youth Service Corps. With an insultive FGN salary of NGN7,500(seven thousand and five hundred Naira), the University graduate is thrown to the wind after 12-months of service with nothing accomplished, nothing to do or look forward to. It would be polite to assume that after all fingers are economically equal (a miracle indeed – maybe in the world to come), it might be a senior Civil servant’(10+ years in service) salary that would be hovering around the vicinity(plus and minus) of NGN104,000.00 / month?

If Mr. Obama started out at $10,000 annual pay in 1983, I would like to estimate what his annual package some 26–years later would be if he had continued the same line. Coming back home, I would like to inform Mr. Obama that the financial muscle he had in 1983 as a ‘low salaried’ 22-year old community organizer (with all its sacrifices and discomforts), was and is stll stronger than whatever an educated Civil Servant in 2009 has, working for my father-land: this Nigerian Corrupt Government. In fact, if an average Nigerian Civil servant can boast of a monthly salary of NGN100,000.00(one hundred thousand Naira) per month in 2009, they would be thanking more than their stars and giving testimonies in Church every Sunday. If fresh graduates are so low-salaried to the point of getting NGN100,000 per month, we won’t be talking of poverty in this country, would we.

A failed state, failed banks, corrupt leaders, if these shameless officers of the law , beggars could boast of a low-annual package of $10,000, would they be on the streets? and in 2009, won’t they get their acts together? If a secondary school graduate with no University education could earn in 2009 what Mr. Obama earned in 1983, Nigeria won’t be part of the ‘poverty line’. All the above mean that Mr. Obama was better financially in 1983 than the average Nigerian in 2009. The average Nigerian today hasn’t reached where Mr. Obama was in 1983. What a shame. Can we ever catch up?

No wonder Nigerians would go to hell and back  just for the sake of American dollars. I’m puzzled in the middle of night, and as religious as the average Nigerian would get after looking up and down, the only thing that crosses my mind after Chapter-7 is the question: ‘Has God forsaken Africa’? And then another thought crossed the first thought that crossed my mind: that YES is the seeming / obvious answer of my question, and that even if the positions of the words of the question are interchanged, the resulting statement (God Has Forsaken Africa, Africa Has Forsaken God), or the question (Has Africa forsaken God) still gives a seeming YES answer – considering all the obvious and present alternatives. Its good to believe in Miracles, but most times, we can only wonder can it happen!

On another note: If God has forsaken Africa, whose fault is it! Can I hear God saying ‘I am not partial, search your hearts, you know the answer’. Can I hear God saying ‘you elected your own leaders, I didn’t’.

I rest my case!

What do you have to say!

Tags: Barrack+Obama, Dreams+of+my+father, The+Audacity+of+hope