allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Siemens Allegations - Litmus Test for Yar'adua's Anti-Corruption Drive? (Page 1 of 2)

Nigeria: Siemens Allegations - Litmus Test for Yar'adua's Anti-Corruption Drive?

The new bribery scandal involving some former and still serving top government functionaries has elicited President Yar'Adua's anti-corruption war. Will this succeed? asks Nathaniel Jonah

Nigeria's polity has been terse in the last few months with intriguing developments, especially issues that border on corruption and graft practices among the political class.

The melodramatic thearetrics which climaxed into the "drama of the absurd" at the House of Representatives has been described by Nigerians as most unfortunate for a nation struggling with the realities of democratic values after so many years of military interregnum in the body polity.

The word "corruption" is almost an household name in Nigeria. At the just concluded sixth national seminar on economic crimes in Abuja, United Nations (UN) undersecretary-general, Dr. Antonio Maria Costa, who is also the executive director of the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime was quoted as saying that Nigerian leaders stole more than $400 billion from the Nigerian treasury between 1960 and 1999. The series of kleptomania leaders which had governed Nigeria since independent is viewed as being responsible for the poor state of infrastructural development of Nigeria and the consistently dwindling quality of life among the citizenry.

The latest of Nigeria's corrupt profile is the report that the United Kingdom's anti-corruption authorities have embarked on a probe of Chevron Texaco and Royal Dutch Shell in respect of some payments the companies made in Nigeria.Financial Times of London also alleged in a recent report that British investigators are probing payments to a company said to be owned by a Nigerian politician who is a former governor in the Niger Delta State. This report is coming on the heels of allegations by the American oil-servicing company, Willbros Inc. that it paid top Nigerian government officials million of dollars in bribes to secure contracts in Nigeria.

Also, last week, reports were rife that prominent Nigerian politicians and government officials were alleged to have demanded and collected bribes amounting to 10 million Euros from German company, Siemens, in order to influence lucrative contracts in Nigeria. The Financial Times of London was quoted as saying "it saw a UK court affidavit which says there is a reasonable cause to believe that a former governor bought assets including a $406,000 (about N70 million) armour plated Mercedes Benz from a Mayfair dealership."

In a similar development, a Munich court was reported to have named four former Nigerian ministers of communications, Cornelius Adebayo, the late Haruna Elewi, Tajudeen Olanrewaju and Bello Muhammad as well as other officials and chairman of the senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Professor Jubril Aminu, as having received bribes of about 10 million Euros from the company. But in a swift reaction to the allegation, the opposition Action Congress (AC) called the development a national disgrace "coming so soon after full disclosures from the Wilbros bribery scandal also involving Nigerian officials yet to be made accountable." The party also went further by calling on the Yar'Adua's administration to probe the Obasanjo administration which according to them, "has been spewing out these scandals like lava from a volcanic Eruption."

President Yar'Adua, while reacting to the scandal allegation through his Special Adviser on Communications, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, claimed that relevant security agencies had been directed to "thoroughly investigate the allegations and take appropriate action." One of the former ministers of communications accused of complicity in the 10 million euro bribe scandal, Dr. Muhammad Bello, in a reaction through his media adviser, Mr. Emeka Kanu, denied knowledge of the alleged bribe of public officers by Siemens claiming that "the allegation was not only strange and bewildering but malicious, libelous and wicked evil designed by his political opponents." But whether the allegations of conspiracy and evil plot by his political distractors are true or not, remains contentious.

Also, in a wave of indictment of Nigerian public office holders over corrupt acts, the London Metropolitan police has allegedly claimed that the immediate past Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, used British banks to stash 20 million pounds of public funds to finance his flamboyant lifestyle. "This allegation of financial impropriety and recklessness underscores the fact that the development of the Niger Delta region is widely attributed to the diversion of funds meant for its development by the leaders," Mr. Ifeanyi Okoli, environmental consultant spoke with our correspondent.

Apart from the presidential reaction to the Siemens allegation scandals, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has reportedly invited the accused for questioning over their indictment in the affair. According to ICPC officials, those invited would help it unravel their involvement or otherwise in the allegation.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Micheal Aondoakaa, had earlier said he would summon the German ambassador to Nigeria Joachim Schmillen, to explain the scandal. According to him, "we are going to look at the case. As the Attorney-General of the Federation, I can tell you that it is not a matter that government will treat with levity."

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