Femgate vs Farougate

Since the bribery scandal that trailed the submission of the report of the House of Representatives oil subsidy committee broke out, a lot has been said about the infractions apparently committed by Hon. Farouk Lawan.
There appears a unanimity of opinion that the Representative has let down his admirers and probably detracted from the esteem in which the current 7th session of the House is held.
Seen as one of the pillars of the House and a key player in the emergence of Hon. Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker, many commentators have justifiably descended on Lawan, and the House has suffered collateral damage, especially as the scandal broke out soon after the Hembe-Oteh episode.
But, very few of us have looked intently into the Otedola side of the equation. While there is no doubt that Lawan cannot be exculpated, in the face of evidence and confession that he paid a visit to Otedola’s home and collected anunearned $620,000, it pays to realise that there are two sides to every equation.
Otedola lured Lawan to his Abuja home and enticed him to collect the dollars, marked or not. He claims that he was merely helping the law to catch up with an extortionist. The businessman insists that he did everything in collaboration with the Department of State Security and could therefore not be regarded as a crook.
Perhaps. However, there are so many things that do not add up in the Otedola story.
Apart from interacting with Lawan and the secretary of the committee, a civil servant, did the Chief Executive of Zenon Oil attempt to report the incident to the leadership of the House? Why did it take him a whole 40 days toblow open the deal? Lawan curiously succeeded in getting Otedola’s name removed from the list of oil subsidy beneficiaries who had done everything to bleed the economy. Yet, he got nailed by his friend and comrade.
My concern is that the episode has exposed the pretence of the private sector to probity and efficiency. The scams involving pension fund and oil subsidy have shown that the private sector is as rotten as the public sector, if not more so. The failed banks saga was another proof that the executives in the private sector are even more rapacious, mindless and corrupt as their contemporaries manning public corporations and agencies.
In fact, it would be difficult for those running affairs of the nation to defraud the country without the instigation and collaboration of those in industry and the financial system. This has been so since the days when portfolio-carrying men ran around ministries to procure import licences ostensibly to buy rice but ended up bringing in saw dust.
We wait to see what the aviation fund inquest would throw up. It is not too long ago that Madam Cecilia Ibru, in an ingenious manner, demonstrated that women could take as muchas men.
As much as 190 billion Naira belonging to a private bank was traced to her accounts and estate all over the world. Alongside others like her, she nearly collapsed the banking system.
Why then do we have to ascribe the collapse of the rail corporation, Nigeria Airways, Nigerian National Shipping Line, the Coal Corporation and other public concerns to the inability of government to run businesses?
Our problem is that the system tends to promote men and women who live by circumventing rules and regulations. Leeches and parasites run up the ladder to the top while those who mind the means are rooted atthe lower rungs.
Leaders of the private and public sectors thrive by exploring and exploiting loopholes inthe laws. There are very few exceptions.
Mr. Otedola started by denying that Zenon Oil was ever involved in importing PMS. He said the company had always limited itself to trading in diesel and kerosene. Later, in a paidadvertisement, he debunked the claim.
The facts published showed that he got paid for importing Premium Motor Spirit. He has been involved in ruthless competition with other business moguls in ways that could suggest that he detests any form of rivalry, even if healthy.
Meanwhile, not much is being said about the committees and task forces set up by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, the highly connected Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke in the wake of the frightening January oil subsidy protest in major cities.
The Peat Marwick audit report into the NNPC has also not seen the light of the day. It seemsonly the legislature is throwing some feeble jabs at corruption, what is our President and his executive council doing? All we hear from the executive chamber are announcement of new contracts. All motion, little movement. Wehave been told about investments in rail, but we see very little.
In Lagos where the tracks have been repaired and old coaches deployed to give the impression that something is in the offing, we appear condemned to using the same tracks that the colonial lords laid more than a century back. All other countries have since moved on, but our government is importing and adopting a discarded technology.
In all this, I know the Jonathan administration is unlikely to do much. If allowed, the government will keep snoring until 2015. A lot depends on we the people to force the officials on track. Otherwise, we are condemned to repeating the past.