Patrimonial Prebendalism and the Nigeria’s scourge of Corrupt Billionaire
“But please, don’t tell me that Nigeria as it stands is non-negotiable. For me, this is a fallacy. The nation has got to be negotiated. Negotiation includes ensuring that there is no marginalisation. Negotiation has to do with control of resources; it has to do with restructuring the nation in a way in which its components, its constituents are not feeding a bloated centre to the detriment of their own development.”- Wole Soyinka (2017)
The recent donation of $14 million by Nigerian billionaire, Mohammed Indimi, to a little known American University located in Florida has been a subject of intense debates among Nigerians on social media. The Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) reacted angrily to the donation and called it an irresponsible and colossal waste of Niger Delta resources. Is it? Others, have argued that this donation is precisely the reason why we need a dialogue on the viability and survivability of the Nigerian federation.
Many Nigerian hardly know Mohammed Indimi. The Borno born billionaire made his billions from a no-bid oil wells gifted to him by his friend, Gen Ibrahim Babangida. Indimi is the father-in-law of Mohammed Babangida, the former military dictator first son, who is currently the Chairman/CEO of Oriental Oil & Gas. Oriental was founded in 1990 under Babangida by Indimi. He owns the rich Ebok Field (OML 67), Okwok Field (OML 67) and OML 115, amongst others. Indimi is reportedly the 10th richest billionaire in Nigeria. He started out as a merchant trader buying and selling clothes, flour etc. But no one in his right sense would believe that he came about his current stupendous wealth through petty trading. He got his wealth from oil, albeit the crude oil that has now completely devastated the Niger Delta and riverine communities in Nigeria.
In 2002, Rotimi Suberu wrote about the three fundamental values or pillars that has kept the endangered foundations of Nigeria together as a nation state despite the apparent ethnic, regional, religious and political turbulence that has assailed the country.
First, is the continued application and adaptation of federalism as a mechanism for securing and advancing self-rule, shared rule and limited rule in a multi-ethnic society such as ours. That pillar was called into question by June 12 annulment and it took a massive course correction by the Abdusalaam administration to get us back to sanity. It is also the reason why Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was asked to abide by its commitments to serve only one term. It is the reason why serious northern politicians are committed to transfer of power to the south after 8 years of Presidential Muhammadu Buhari. The idea of federal character in participatory representation of sub-units at the national level is crucial for the unity and cohesiveness of the nation. One can only hope that politicians of both parties keep this unwritten commitment. For those who says zoning is not in the constitution, let me echo, the wise words of Richard Simeon who argued that issues of constitutional change are typically highly symbolic, conflictual and intractable “harmony in divided federations may be better achieved through ‘constitutional silences’, leaving some matters unresolved, rather than by trying to spell out all issues of identity and power in precise constitutional language”.
The second is the representative democracy, without which federalism becomes deeply vulnerable and questionable. The brazenly sectarian behavior of the ethno-military regime that ruled the country from 1984 to 1999 headed and dominated by Muslims from the North has been variously accused of provoking ethnic insecurity, anxiety, militancy and instability that created the current polarization and instability in the Nigerian federation. Sadly, the chief orchestrator of that military putsch is the current president who again is been accused of nepotism, favoritism and lopsided appointment in favor of his kith and kin.
The third and final value involves the competent, transparent and equitable management of the economy. The labors of our heroes past in the civil service in the 1960s and 1970s is now a footnote of history. No thanks to the pervasive scourge of corruption or prebendalism in the public sector. Prebendalism refers to political systems in which elected officials and government workers feel they have a right to a share of government revenues, and they use them to benefit supporters, co-religionists and members of their ethnic group. An efficient management of the commonwealth of Nigeria would enhance the material welfare of broad sections of the Nigerian population and not just a few sycophants and leeches. As Jeffrey Herbst noted in 1996 “unless the rot of the economy is halted, there will be no prospect for democracy in [Nigeria] and the integrity of the nation-state itself will be threatened.”
On this third prong we can say that the Nigerian chicken has come home to roost. The potential economic advantages of a federated Nigerian union have been largely negated by the mismanagement of the nation’s oil wealth and the attendant immiseration of the country’s population. The wealth gained has largely been frittered away by a rapacious “militricians” –military dictators assisted by civilians. The transition to democracy in 1992 has been a mere window dressing, as retired military rulers, their wives and family members simply threw off their khaki uniform for civilian “agbada”. No wonder then that the military penchant for rent seeking simply continued unabated under civilian rule. Retired military generals have been in charge of the Nigerian central government far more than civilians.
The mismanagement and attendant evaporation of the country’s economic promise should be laid at the feet of these military generals. Their maladministration is the source of despair and disaffection in the Nigerian federal union. There is no doubt, that the hundreds of billions of dollars that Nigeria … has earned from petroleum export since the end of the Biafran war in 1970 would have made our country an economic giants but for the profligacy of our rulers. Instead, as aptly stated by Jacqueline Coolidge and Susan Rose-Ackerman, “owing to the vicissitudes of the global oil market as well as inefficient and corrupt domestic economic management, Nigeria declined from a middle-income country with an annual per capita income of about $1000 in 1980 to an impoverished nation with a per capita income of only $130 in 1999. Indeed by 1984, after ten years of the oil boom, the income of the average Nigerian was no higher than in 1974. During the 1980s the economy declined at the rate of 0.4 percent annually, and in 1990 Nigeria was the seventeenth poorest country in the world. On top of that, according to World Bank, Nigeria has the lowest life expectancy (54.5) in West Africa!
There is no better illustration of the scourge of prebendalism on the Nigerian frail state than a cursory look at Indimi’s 3 big breakthroughs in business. According to Indimi’s biography available at Infoguideafrica.com
“ In 1973, …, there was a great shortage of flour in Maiduguri and the state government were importing and selling bags of flours to the locals at reduced rates. While Maiduguri was in lack of flour, Sokoto had excess flours to sell so Indimi saw a great business opportunity ahead. He contacted the Chief Commercial Officer of the Ministry of Commerce for Sokoto State who was in charge of the sale, bargained and bought 50,000 bags of flour which he sold at Maiduguri, making huge profits from the transactions.”
Here we see Indimi’s rent seeking business writ large, he bought flour imported for Sokoto State presumably at bargain prices from his friend, the chief commercial officer of Sokoto state and then sold the flours to Borno (North-eastern state) government as a government approved importer/contractor, pocketing the profit in dollars. In the end, the people of Borno who bore the brunt of the artificial scarcity created through this government policy suffers. Needless to say, Major Generals Muhammad Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon, at various times were military administrators during this saga.
His next big breakthrough happened during General Olusegun Obasanjo military regime. That administration gave him a no bid contract to supply industrial water pumps for the South Chad Irrigation Project.
His third and final breakthrough comes through the largesse of his in-law, General Ibrahim Babangida as we stated above.
“In 1990, Indimi got an oil prospecting license granted by the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida regime. He established an oil and gas firm named Oriental Energy Resources (OER). According to the official website, the company has expanded its portfolio and currently has three assets under development in offshore Nigeria. These include the Ebok Field (OML 67), Okwok Field (OML 67) and OML 115.”
This is a no-bid oil field allocation for which nothing in Indimi’s background prepared him for it. It is a rent-seeking enterprise where all Indimi had to do is collect percentage of profit. He had no need to invest in Niger Delta where these oil field are located.
Presumably, it is from this profit that Indimi made the largest donation to Lynn University in Florida. According to USA News & World Report, Lynn University is a private institution that was founded in 1962. Its tuition and fees are $40,900 per semester. Do you know the kids who populate this school? Rich Wall Street sons and daughters. Mostly White Caucasian upper middle class New York rich kids. They don’t need tuition and never beg for one. This is why the school was surprised that a black man from Boko Haram infested country will give such an amount. Meanwhile students from Niger Delta decimated by pollution from where he made his billions can’t afford to pay their tuitions abroad nor can they attend Unimaid.
There is evidence all over the internet about Mohammed Indimi and Yakolo Indimi Foundation for the benefits of Northeastern Nigerian displaced kids and widows but I am yet to find anything pointing to an investment in Niger Delta which partly explains the anger and animosity of IYC.
Here is another interesting tidbits from this Indimi’s story. Before his recent appointment as Chief of Staff to President Buhari, Ibrahim Agboola Gambari was a professor at Lynn. Upon completion of his appointment at Aso Rock, guess where he will retire? Yes, you guess right, LYNN! That much he admitted to in his speech at Lynn. So, if you are wondering why Gambari and Indimi are not overly concerned about bringing back Chibok girls, the answer is simple: It is not their problem. Eight of Indimi’s 20 children (some of whom are the same age as Chibok girls) never went to school in Nigeria. Even his grand kids are all studying abroad. Ameena Indimi made that much known during the dedication of the building in the name of her father:
“It is a great honor to see you invest in the future of Lynn students as well as our own children. My two precious children are coming to school here, and they will be so proud every single day as they walk to class to see your name, my name, on a building. I applaud my father for this momentous, astonishing contribution to my alma mater. We thank you, applaud you and cherish you for all time to come.”
With this donation, Indimi invested in the future of Lynn students and his own kids but not in the future of Nigerian students; be it those in his Borno state or Niger Delta where he made his wealth.
We cannot blame all of Nigeria’s failings on military rule and “militricians” alone, but they contributed a lot to the economic mismanagement of the country. Their penchant for excessive but ultimately ineffectual and counter-productive repression of ethnic conflicts or protests even whilst they engage in massive looting of the treasury is nauseating. If you want to stop Sunday Igboho, banditry, Kanu’s IPOB, Boko Haram, manage the economy for the benefits of all and not just a few close friends.
So, what can we do? We cannot but intensify the pressures for the re-negotiation and re-evaluation of the country’s federal constitutional structure, and/or for the territorial re-configuration or dissolution of the federation along ethno-regional lines. As Soyinka stated, nothing should be sacrosanct. We have sit to understand each other. After all, they say the government closest to the people govern best. The current class of corrupt ruling class cannot get us there. The devolutionist agenda of our republic should be our top priority.
Furious Frank can be reached at tioluwanimi@gmail.com. Comments here http://furiousfrank.blogspot.com/?m=1
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