SHOCKER: Mallam Sanusi Dragged To Court For “Stealing”

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN is being sued by a US based Nigerian lecturer for alleged plagiarism. Prof. Victor Dike, of the School of Engineering and Technology, National University of Sacramento, California, in a suit filed in an Abuja High Court on his behalf by Mr. E. U. Chinedum, accused Sanusi of making use of his work without properly referencing and crediting him.

 The pieces of work in question are titled: ‘Review of the challenges facing the Nigerian economy: (Is national development possible without technological capability?)’, published in the Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa (Volume 12), an article titled ‘Nigeria: Reform efforts and the unresolved socio-economic problems’, adapted from chapter nine of the book ‘Democracy and political life in Nigeria (2nd edition), another article- ‘Nigeria’s bad governance and weak institutions: 

Is the 2020 project achievable?’ and one published by the NESG Economic Indicators, Vol. 8, No. 1, January-March 2002 titled ‘The state of education in Nigeria and the health of the nation.’ The plaintiff alleges that Sanusi used the articles in various public lectures including one delivered at the 8th Convocation Ceremony of Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, on 26 November, 2010, titled; ‘Growth prospects for the Nigerian economy’ and another at the Convocation Square, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, on December 10, 2010, titled ‘Global financial meltdown and the reforms in the Nigerian banking sector’. 

 Dike is seeking compensation to the tune of N10 million, as well as N5 million for legal fees, cost of transportation to Nigeria, as well as other logistics. The judge who heard the case on Monday, Justice Adamu Bello granted an order for substituted service of the process on the CBN governor, and adjourned it till the 31st of May. The CBN governor Dr Lamido Sanusi responded to the allegations, dismissing them as a “distraction”. 

 "We are here at the World Bank meeting in Washington DC with the governor and somebody called me on this,” said his spokesperson Mr. Ugochukwu Okoroafor, “but I haven’t heard anything like that. I have asked my people to find out because there is a whole lot of distraction going on.” “However, just think about it; what will he (Sanusi) gain from plagiarizing? They are trying to distract the man from his work.” Source: www.ynaija.com

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Says Sanusi : Nigeria Loses N100bn Daily

The nationwide strike against government's removal of fuel subsidy is costing the economy about N100 billion ($617million) daily, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said.

Also, Sanusi called for an agreement between the Federal Government and labour that would bring about gradual removal of the subsidy.

Sanusi who disclosed this to Reuters, also said he expected inflation to rise to about 14 to15 per cent by the middle of this year, up from its current position of 10.5 percent, due to the impact of subsidy removal.

“Clearly inflation was always going to go up with the removal of subsidy. I think what we've seen is the immediate shock impact of a sudden removal and things will settle down. It took us one and half to two years from 2009 to come down to single-digit from 15.6 percent. I think a realistic target if we actually hit 15 percent, I think we will be looking at end of 2013 before we come back to single-digits,” the CBN Governor explained.

President Goodluck Jonathan was meeting with workers' unions to try and reach a compromise after a four day stalemate at the time of this report.

“I think it's time to make a deal, any kind of compromise should have a final deadline for removal of subsidy,” even as he suggested the option of keeping fuel price at N100 per litre and phasing out subsidies. But he insisted that the details should be left to the government and labour to decide.

Meanwhile, Sanusi while advocating for an agreement between the Federal Government and labour which would bring about gradual removal of the subsidy, said: “Look, the Federal Government can continue paying subsidy at N65 per litre for a while. I am not saying that it is not economically possible for that to be done, but speaking as a Nigerian, I will like to see a win-win situation.”

Sanusi, who disclosed this in a programme monitored on Channels television, also indicated that a short-term reversal to N65 per litre that labour and civil society groups had been agitating for, would not hurt the economy.

According to him, “I will like to see a situation in which the government shifts a little and breaks this policy into one or two instalment and I will also like a situation in which Nigerians also shift a little and understand that we cannot continue to have a Father Christmas kind of situation. If we continue doing this today, our children are going to pay for it.

“I think the discussion between the government and labour should move to how do we do this? Certainly, when I say a phased approach, I am not in any way speaking for the government, I have made it clear that I am speaking as a Nigerian, who is interested in seeing that the system is not over-heated, who is concerned about people dying unnecessarily,” Sanusi said.

I think people should have a right to take to the streets, but I don’t think they have the right to burn or to kill. But i also think that they have a right to be protected and not to be harmed. But if we can get to a point in this country where we can express our different views and debate this issue without bloodshed, then it is very much easier.

“But given what is happening, i think it is extremely important that in the next 24 to 48 hours that we find some sort of solution. Let us reach a discussion that will say, this is where we will be today and this is where we will be by December 2012 and the deliverables on both sides.”

Sanusi however doused the insinuation that the Federal Government took the decision because the country was broke.

“The country is not broke, but a responsible government does not wait for the country to be broke before it can act and that is the point. The signals are all over there and you cannot continue borrowing just to pay for fuel subsidy. Do we wait until we are actually broke before we take the right decision? Look you’ve seen Greece, Spain, the Asian financial crisis, the Latin American crisis and we are clearly heading towards that if we continue borrowing, and such borrowings are not going into the development of infrastructure,” he explained.

Responding to question on why among other government officials, he has been in the forefront of the debate for subsidy removal, Sanusi said: “It is about simply being honest. The fact that some of us have been speaking about this, does not mean we are in the forefront. But having said that, there are times in the life of a government where you have to take some decisions that are unpopular.

“Ideologically, I am a very strong supporter of subsidy, but those subsidies should be subsidies for production, for it to go to the poor and not middlemen. If we have a subsidy that supports the construction of refineries, I will support it, because the refineries will reduce our dependence on fuel, create jobs and probably enhance our export earnings. Subsidies for agriculture, by providing cheap feeds, cheap fertilisers to the farmers, training at low cost, I will support.”

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Nigeria’s political structure wasteful

Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi yesterday said that the present political structures of Nigeria are too cumbersome and economically wasteful to guarantee rapid development of the country.

Sanusi who spoke as the Guest Speaker on the occasion of the presentation of professor Adamu Baike’s book, “Against All Odds” at Arewa House, Kaduna noted that the present 36 States are spending 96 percent of their revenues to pay salaries of their respective civil servants in an economy that is to develop on a long term basis, and posed a rhetorical question, “do we need 36 States, do we need the number of ministries that we have”?

He also pointed out that the Federal government is spending 70 percent of its total revenue to pay workers’ salaries as well as taking care of the overhead cost, maintaining that it has denied the growth of some vital sectors of the socio-economy of the nation, leaving only 30 percent for 150 million Nigerians.
The CBN boss whose paper presentation was entitled, “Re-Invigorating Education In Nigeria”, lamented that there are 71, 000 Nigerian students in Ghana who are paying not less than 155 billion naira as tuition annually, compared with the annual budget of 121 billion naira for the entire federal university education in Nigeria.

According to him, “ltimately we will have to be confronted with the task of taking very difficult steps in looking at the political structures that we have, do we need 36 States, do we need the number of ministries that we have, it is an economy in which States spend 96 percent of their revenues to pay their civil servants, an economy that is likely to be developed in the long term.?
“These are difficult questions that we need to ask, we have created States and local governments and ministries structures that are economically unviable, and the result is that we do not have funding for infrastructures, we do not have funding for education, we do not have funding for health.

“I don’t know how many people know that 70 percent of the total revenue of the Federal government is spent paying salaries and over head, and leaving the remaining 30 percent for 150 million Nigerians.
“For example, according to a newspaper account, and quoting the chairman, committee of governing councils of Nigerian Federal Universities: “there are 71, 000 Nigerian students in Ghana who pay not less than 155 billion naira as tuition annually, compared with the annual budget of 121 billion naira for the entire federal university education in Nigeria. Findings placed Nigeria third on the list of countries with the highest number of students studying overseas.

“The poor state of education is also manifested in dearth of functional libraries, poor state of learning infrastructure, limited access to recent advances in various spheres of knowledge, and longer time required to complete a programme. Others include modality of teaching with instructional materials and facilities, lack of space for admission and irregularity in academics calendars of tertiary institutions arising from incessant strike actions embarked upon by both academic and non-academic staff union.

“In emerging economy like Nigeria, a well designed education policy should be an integral part of its development strategy; the present economic strategy should include measure to invest in human capital that facilitates in upgrading of industries, and ginger the economy to attain utmost resources utilization.

“It is not enough to simply lament the tragedy, let alone treat it with kid gloves, we completely agree with the House of Representatives that a state of emergency should be declared in our education sector now. Further procrastination on this very matter will inflate impracticable and irreversible damage to the nation.”

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