Grandiose Parlor

The Nigerian state appears gray and stuporous at the moment. Check this out:

Corruption continues

In the last 8 weeks, some big wigs have been docked over financial misappropriation - two former aviation ministers (Babalola Borishade and Femi Fani-Kayode) and an ex-governor (Michael Botmang). There are also fraud allegations against the sitting governor of Oyo state.

In addition, the Osun State election tribunal got entangled in a web of controversies over some telephone conversations between the tribunal Justice and the lawyer to the defendant (the state governor). The tribunal has since passed its verdict in favor of the defendant.

While on elections, it is strange that since the Edo state PDP governor lost the tribunal verdict on the governorship election on March 19 2008, four months ago, the Appeal Court has yet to seat on the case. As long as the appeal stands pending in court, the incumbent remains the substantive governor, even if the tribunal has ruled otherwise. Interesting!

Teachers on strike

All public primary and secondary schools in Nigeria have been on forced holidays following the industrial action of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), a labor organization for primary and secondary schools’ teachers.

The strike is now in week 4, and news media reports indicate there’s no resolution in sight. The Minister of Education, quoted by the media, insists the Federal government has no business dealing with the teachers!

While the NUT impasse ensures, Nigerian governors and public administrators wasted some 30 million naira congratulating the president on his birthday on the pages of Nigerian newspapers…on the wrong day!

NNPC buys protection

Yesterday, this blog reported that the NNPC, Nigerian-richest public corporation has been paying monthly ‘protection fees’ to the Niger-delta militias.

Probe panel under probe

Today, the Nigerian Tribune drops another bombshell: “Power probe panel under probe - Over N100m bribe allegations.”

The “power probe panel” is the same House of Representatives panel investigating how the administration of former president Obasanjo handled the electricity projects between 1999- 2007. It has been more than two months since the panel finished work, but yet to formally publish its recommendations as expected. Some of its discoveries have been discussed on this blog.

Power generation has dropped even below 2004-levels at the moment, even as the nation waits patiently to hear from its president on his ‘emergency power plan’… It’s been more than 12 months since the announcement, can you believe that?