Rumour’s Argument on Nigeria’s Stolen and Wasted Resources By Okachikwu Dibia
By way of definition, Rumour is a Nigerian who knows what is happening or can correctly intuit the happenings in the country but does not have any official means of informing Nigerians. So he/she simply spreads the information through the markets, football watching arenas, in the public transport vehicles, social media, churches and mosques, community and club meetings, fellow staff in the office and at political and other social rallies. One critical point here is that Rumour knows a lot about Nigeria. On the abuse of Nigerian resources, Rumour classifies it into two broad parts: stolen and wasted resources. Stolen resources are missing resources. Wasted resources are those lost due to mismanagement by the government of Nigeria.
As a young boy
growing up in Nigeria in the early 1980s, Rumour told me that $2.8
billion got missing during the military government of General
Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ-rtd) which lasted between 1976-1979. But no
one has challenged him in the court of law over the matter; and
Rumour insists that even the government was aware of it and did
nothing. In Naira terms today, this amounts to
Rumour also had it
that during the reign of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB-rtd)
which lasted between 1985-1993, $12 billion was discovered missing
from the crude oil windfall of 1991. This was even confirmed by late
Dr. Pius Okigbo’s Commission’s Report at that time. No one
challenged IBB and government did nothing to prosecute the matter to
a successful conclusion. In Naira terms today, this amounts to
Late General Sani
Abacha’s loots between 1993-1998, according to Rumour, ran into
billions of dollars: $4 billion was recovered by OBJ and Umaru Musa
Ya’Adua, $500 million recovered by President Mohammadu Buhari (PMB)
and now missing and another $322 million recovered by PMB earmarked
for the rehabilitation of the Northeast is not well managed. Rumour
further informed Nigerians that Chief Femi Falana (SAN) is not happy
about the unknown state of affairs of the $4 billion earlier
recovered. In Naira terms today, all amounts to
Rumour further
informed Nigerians that $16 billion meant for building power plants
across Nigeria went missing under OBJ as civilian president
(1999-2007). Like the others, no one has successfully challenged him
in court over the matter, and the government has done nothing about
it. In Naira terms today, this amounts to
Col. Dasuki, a
former NSA Chief under the immediate past regime of Dr Goodluck
Jonathan is being prosecuted for sharing out $2.1 billion security
funds to prominent Nigerians who were billed to help the PDP win the
2015 elections. Rumour said that even Dr Reuben Abati, then a media
chief to President Jonathan got
Rumour insists
that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the
government’s organization responsible for the management of the
country’s oil and gas industry, is a strong member of Nigeria’s club
of looters. Rumour recounts that the EFCC has accused the NNPC of a
missing $20 billion during the last administration. Yet nothing
concrete has happened to all those who led and are leading the
corporation to give account of the money. In Naira terms today, this
amounts to
Rumour, who is the
timber and caliber of the rumour industry in Nigeria said that the
immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani
Alison-Madueke, made away with some small money:
So in summary,
Rumour added up these large-scale missing or stolen of public funds
to be
On wastages, according to Rumour, Nigeria has been wasting its resources whenever it imports things she ought not import. Rumour considers Nigeria’s importation of steel, petrol and foreign education as wasteful.
Nigeria is abundantly blessed with iron ore, the raw material resource with which steel is produced. Yet The Guardian newspaper, according to Rumour, reports that the country spends about $3.3 billion annually for the importation of steel (see The Guardian, Friday, November 30th, 2018, page 21). It means that for the past 40 years, Nigeria may have spent $132 billion importing steel. Yet Nigeria has Ajaokuta Steel, Katsina Steel, Jos Steel and Delta Steel companies.
Rumour has it that
Nigeria is the 6th largest producer of crude oil in the
World. Petrol is produced from crude oil and Nigeria has two
refinery companies in Port Harcourt, one in Warri and another in
Kaduna.. Yet Nigeria imports petrol daily from abroad. Rumour says
that he does not have any iota of idea about exactly how much
Nigeria spends on petrol importation and that this figure is not
known to any human being on earth except NNPC who makes sure that
figure remains topmost secret forever. But to have an idea how much
Nigeria wastes on oil, Rumour has it that Nigeria loses about
150,000 barrels of crude oil daily to crude bunkering. The NNPC
which manages Nigeria’s oil has no solution to this. So at an
average current rate of $50 per barrel of crude oil, Nigeria loses
$7.5 million daily, $2.7 billion yearly, $109.5 billion in 40 years
and a total of
On education,
Rumour argues that a painful lot is wasted by Nigerians when we
consider how much they spend in sending their children abroad for
education. The Guardian of 28th August 2017, on page 4,
stated that “Nigerians spent $1.5 trillion on foreign education in
2016, says a Canadian university teacher”. It went further to state
that the money was spent mainly in universities located in the
United Kingdom, USA and Canada. This amounts to
Rumour’s argument
is that stolen resources, like wasted resources, always yield no
ultimate positive fruit. This is based on the principle that you
cannot gain anything useful from a foul resource. Nigeria’s last 40
years of existence (1976-2016) has been stolen and wasted to the
overall value of |