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SATURDAY ESSAYBY MOBOLAJI E. ALUKO, PH.D. That One Billion Naira Public Declaration of Assets by Umar Musa Yar'Adua
Burtonsville , MD, USA
June 30, 2007
Although one continues to be troubled about the fact that a 56-year-old man in Nigeria – not an oil baron, not a major farmer, not a known industrialist or banker, etc. , but rather a quiet chemistry teacher for a few years in a Nigerian polytechnic, and then a state governor in poor Katsina State for the past eight years, his family connections notwithstanding – is worth a BILLION NAIRA or more, it is still a remarkable event that Umar Musa Yar'Adua has now publicly declared his assets and liabilities. See Table 1 below. The theatrical flourish with which his new imagemaker Olusegun Adeniyi (formerly Edtior of This Day) did it on TV was also pure "Nollywood."
The declaration was in fulfillment of Yar'Adua's pledge while campaigning for the Nigerian Presidency, a pledge redeemed in spite of the fact that we are still waiting for the Election Petition Tribunals to confirm his Presidency following the most tainted (April 2007) elections in Nigeria's history, in which Yar'Adua himself has admitted serious flaws and pledged electoral reforms.
His move is simply brilliant and exemplary. This man might still win much of our respect – he is still being watched closely, and he should be encouraged along those lines, for the sake of our dear country.
However, the declaration opens up several Pandora's boxes, both for himself – see the question marks in the table below, which should readily be filled should he also fully disclose what he filed with the Code of Conduct Bureau on May 29, 1999 and May 29, 2003 - and for those other functionaries, elected and un-elected, who will work with him during his putative administration. For those who he will appoint, while it is not REQUIRED by law for them to publicly declare assets, but since it is NOT against the law to do so, Yar'Adua might simply DEMAND such a public declaration of them, or ASK for an explanation in writing WHY they do not wish to make it public. The other device he might adopt – and which might be written into future public disclosure law – is what is done in the United States: file the ACCURATE figures with the Code of Conduct Bureau as demanded by law, but make public only the RANGE of figures within a pre-defined UPPER and LOWER ratio, but encompassing the correct figure.
So if, for example, Yar'Adua did not wish to publicly reveal his N132 million cash in hand, he might simply state it as "between N150 and N90 million" ( 1.67 upper/lower ratio) and leave the information like that.
The other Pandora's box that the declaration opens up is a speculation going on inside many Nigerian heads as to what ALL THOSE OTHER more well-known Nigerian "richmen" and politicians must have in their ASSETS portfolio, when a quiet, reserved, relatively "poor" Umar Musa Yar'Adua has a billion naira in his. I shall not name names – but the names that come to your mind are mine too! J
Or are they all just plain noisemakers – just "shakara oloje"? Might some of them be shamed – or merely hiss at Yar'Adua being worth ONLY about $8 million?
Final Pandora's box: can we not somehow ultimately trace all of this money to oil money? Could this not be why Dokubo and MEND are hopping mad? Or is that too "militant" a question to ask?
Whatever be the case, this is exemplary transparency is a good start for President Umar Musa Yar'Adua – assuming the Presidential Election Tribunals uphold him. Nigerian citizens and especially members of the organized Civil society should seize the moment to take a bold step towards curbing corruption in our country by DEMANDING the same from various elected officials and other functionaries all around the country – and ensure that they comply, otherwise we should not let them "rest."
I rest my case for now though.
For the full essay (with a revised table that you might wish to reproduce on your website), please Read
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