Why Haste to Sale Mint?
By
Abubakar Jika
The Obasanjo regime has three traits that people
easily recall. Every regime does have its traits or
characteristics. First trait of this resume is making
promises it could not redeem. Example, President
Olusegun Obasanjo promised us that from December last
year electricity would stabilize in Nigeria. Seven
months after the date line expired he is no where near
redeeming this historic promise. Failed promises are
one trait
The second trait is this president is the most
traveled in modern history. Yes, it does appear
Obasanjo has beaten the Guinness Book of Records as
the most traveled president or Prime Minister in
recent times. He had exceeded the magical number of
three scores and ten
Many have lost count of his foreign travels. It is
more of news if he spent one week without travelling.
Saminu Turaki of hapless Jigawa State is his only
rival in this dispensation. We voted for them to sit
in Nigeria and solve our problems. They prefer to
travel out
The third trait is the haste with which this
government sale our assets is confounding.
Privatization is neither a new idea in Nigeria nor is
in novel globally. This regime finds it perhaps
easier to sale what it met on ground than make them
work
It acts as if companies, which are owned by government
never, worked before in Nigeria. As if all of us where
born after 1999. I had consistently argued in
Newspapers that the way government sold NITEL or
attempted to sale NITEL and the lack of transparency
in the process could lead to the sale being review
after this regime vacated the scene. I advised buyers
to be aware because the Nigerian Federal House of
Representatives are probing the sale. Moreover, the
Nigerian people appear to doubt the transparency of
the process.
After the publication of these articles, the Director
- General Bureau for Public Enterprises Mallam Nasir
El - Rufai granted a landmark interview to Weekly
Trust Newspapers. In the no hold barred interview he
put up a strong case for privatization, which led my
friend Aliyu Tilde to conclude that he may be genuine
but misguided.
I also had the privilege of interviewing many of the
Bureau's top management at an interactive session. In
attendance were the lady consultant on media affairs,
the leader of the Energy sector, the leader of the
Telecommunications sector, one of the Directors who
was acting Director General when El-Rufai was away and
their legal Head. It was an Interesting discussion.
I left with the distinct impression that the Bureau
composed of many young men and women is good
intentioned but overzealous. They were also
self-righteous and perhaps see themselves as the only
intelligent chaps around as some of their postures
were condescending. I was not surprised they were
having running battles with the House of
Representatives. They however convinced me that they
were genuine and were not selling our assets to some
top government officials. I could not of course
re-verity these claims, but I did raise these fears in
our discussions.
But their apparent haste to sale the Security Printing
and Minting Company left me shocked. I cannot marry
this apparent haste to sale the factory that mints
part of our money and their claims on transparency. If
nothing is shoving them to sale the Mints Company, why
can't they solve NEPA and even NITEL problems?
NEPA is one monster we will all be glad to get rid
off. The energy sector leader took me through a
lengthy rigmarole on first reforming NEPA before
selling it. Fine I agree, but why not take that
problem? Why did they suddenly wake up to the
imperatives of selling the mint by October 21st? Why
can't they give themselves a public dateline on NEPA?
There were rumors of the son of Moi and some top shots
wanting to corner the Mint. I have no proofs. But such
haste makes Nigerians wonder what is shoving the
Bureau. My friend El Rufai may not know, but our
primary problem is not selling the factory that print
part of our money. Our problems are electricity and
food supplies. If food supplies is beyond their
briefs, NEPA is certainly one of them which even their
"Boss" failed us on two occasions in the past three
years.
I doubt if Nigerians care whether we transact our
trade through money or barter so long as the system
works. And so far nobody has complaint about our money
but the quality of our products and services.
The House of Representatives has already passed a
resolution to place a caveat emptor "Buyers beware" on
the Mint sale following the insistence by El Rufai to
sale it by October 21st. The House will place this
caveat emptor in national and international media.
This has serious moral implications.
The Bureau insists it listen to only its bosses in the
Executive arm. This may be procedurally right but is
legally and morally wrong. The House is made up of
Representatives of the Nigerian people which
constitution vested with the powers to check the
executive. Infact the constitution empowers the
National Assembly to sack Obasanjo if he violates the
constitution. And if his Vice, Atiku violates the
constitution to sack him too. Both are bosses of
El-Rufai and his Bureau
In simple English, even if I am not your direct boss,
but the boss of your boss, I am therefore your super
boss. Beyond these semantics, I think it is wrong for
Obasanjo to insist on selling the Mint even if Ghali
and his colleagues advise otherwise. If they carry
their threat and place caveat emptor on the sale of
the Mint, it meant the Nigerian people have so
decided. If any one, either in Nigeria or outside buy
the Mint in that circumstance he stand the chance of
tying his funds in a controversy that would extend
beyond this regime. Investors are no fools
Jika Wrote this from Kano.