Okigbo passes on | Nigerian Muse

Dr. Pius Nwabufo Okigbo, a redoubtable economist and administrator, last Monday succumbed to the ultimate reaper at a London hospital. He was 76.

He lived well. His footprints were sharp, bold and deep. They will definitely survive the vagaries of time. Despite his death, at a ripe age, he lives on.

And the reason is simple. He committed his life to the upliftment of his fellow men and his society. His contributions make compelling arguments for themselves and for immortality.

He stood out, head and shoulders above his contemporaries on two fronts. Through his life and works, he evidently subscribed to the school of thought that says that knowledge that is not at the service of society is a waste. His knowledge was at the service of society and therefore not a waste.

Also, he was one of the few who redeemed the field of economics with a dose of humanity. At an age when ultra capitalism and the profit margin have assumed primacy over the advancement of human beings, Dr. Okigbo was among the few who were bold enough to hang on to the core essence of economics.

At the end of the day, economics, sometimes described as the abysmal science, is not just about abstractions and ceteris paribus. It is about people, real people, with real life and blood. Dr. Okigbo embraced the humanistic brand, called development economics. And there, he stamped his imprints. He stood out with the vivid bearing of a colossus.

As an authority, he was avidly sought after. He was a consultant on development issues and African economics to so many international agencies including the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. And he never failed to preach and prescribe against the stubborn spread of poverty.

Born to Catholic mission teachers on February 6, 1924 in Ogbunike, Anambra State, he managed a handful of firsts in a generation brimming with talents. Among others, he was the first Nigerian Economic Adviser to the Eastern Nigerian Government, the first Economic Adviser to the Federal Government of Nigeria and the first Nigerian Ambassador to the European Economic Community.

He was educated in various schools in Nigeria and at the University of London, Oxford University, both in the United Kingdom and at Northwestern University in Illinois, USA, earning degrees in Law, History and Economics. He was also an academic and he wrote landmark books such as Nigerian Public Finance (1965) and Essays in Public Philosophy of Development (1986).

A fellow of the Royal Economic Society and member of the International Econometric Society, he is credited as the pioneer of empirical studies into the statistics and patterns of the Nigerian economy.

But this scholar and administrator was also a watchdog and a voice of reason. He was chairman of the 1994 Panel of Inquiry into the Central Bank of Nigeria. His panel reportedly came out with a damning report on the Ibrahim Babangida administration on the Gulf Oil windfall. The report has not seen the light of day.

We celebrate a life well spent. We also commiserate with his family and the country about the loss of an illustrious father and citizen. But we believe and maintain that the greatest honour that could be done to his memory is the publication of what could be termed his last national assignment. The Okigbo report should be a public and living document.

One of the most transparent of men in Nigeria is dead. He was a man of integrity. He was Dr. Pius Okigbo, economist, humanist, essayist, and intellectual. It is perhaps incidental that barely a day after he took his last breathe, Transparency International announced that Nigeria has become the most corrupt nation on the face of the earth.

The country moved to the top of the shameful list from the 27th position within the first year of President Olusegun Obasanjo's civilian administration. Both events are tragedies for Nigeria.

Dr. Okigbo was chairman of the panel on the reform of the CBN in 1994. His findings revealed some of the most mysterious ways by which our leaders rape this country. He put his fingers right on the button of the mismanagement that characterised the eight-year regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. Nigerians came to understand that oil revenues were stashed in dedicated foreign accounts abroad. These accounts holding the life-blood of the nation were left to impulses of a single man who happened to be Babangida.

Some 30 billion dollars was reported earned from oil during the Babangida years. There was in particular the 12 billion dollars oil windfall earned from the1991 Gulf war. Where did all these huge sums of money go? The most visible answers are some of the multi billion dollar white elephant projects around the country.

The projects were essentially drain pipes for the nation's money. According to Okigbo, the handling of the special projects accounts by the Babangida regime was a "gross abuse of public trust." The costs of some of the projects were inflated by as much as 60 percent. Worse, the projects, including the Ajaokuta steel plant and the Ikot Abasi aluminium smelter project could not fly. Put briefly, the management of public finances during the Babangida years were simply scandalous.

Okigbo put the situation succinctly when he declared that the oil revenues were spent on "what could neither be adjudged genuine high priority projects nor truly regenerative investments," and that "neither the president (Babangida) nor the governor of the CBN answer to anyone for the massive extra budgetry expenditures." It was an eye opener. But what has been done since then to stem the over flowing tide of executive racketeering?

Babangida pooh-poohed the report in an interview with TELL magazine. The late General Sani Abacha who set up the Okigbo panel ignored its report. Then went on to execute a mind-boggling pillaging of the public till. He did not even bother about setting up white elephants, he raided the dedicated accounts directly. After he dropped dead, the General Abdulsalami Abubakar regime cancelled dedicated accounts. But the plundering continued. The Abubakar regime returned to the Babangida financial management style. His government embarked on a bazaar of huge extra- budgetary expenditure amounting to over N100 billion on "democracy" projects.

Now, under the democratic government of Obasanjo, the Okigbo report remains locked up in the musty secret vaults of government where many other such reports have found their graves. That Okigbo report holds the key to what, how and who looted directly or through inflated multi billion dollar project contracts, many of which were not executed. In spite of the much vaulted anti corruption stance of the Obasanjo government, nothing has been heard about the Okigbo report.

If anything, this government has embarked on its own jamboree. A N36 billion contract for the building of a sports stadium and complex in Abuja is on. The deal did not even have the decency of passing through the national assembly. The contract got the anticipatory approval of the president. This is in a country where the abysmal level of poverty is being "addressed" with a mere N10 billion, poverty alleviation programme. Even the N10 billion has been captured by party hacks in the states. They are awarding contracts to themselves in the name of the poverty-stricken. It is horrible.

Ministers and other principal officers of this government have reportedly being defrauding the system by collecting up fronts and other interest payments on illegal placements of public funds for unduly long periods in banks. The projects for which the funds are meant suffer. Sordid reports of inflation of contracts by ministries, parastatals and other government agencies as well as the inflation of the cost of houses for ministers is making the rounds. What is being done about these reports? There are so many probe panels around but pray tell me how many of the culprits of corruption are today facing the law?

The national assembly that has the power of oversight on the executive is totally soiled with the dirty grease of corruption. It lacks the moral backbone to pursue a serious anti corruption drive. The senate nailed itself with the Kuta probe report. The House of Representatives led by its indefatigable speaker, Alhaji Na'Abba is thumbing its nose at the public's call for a self probe on allegations of financial improprieties against its principal officers. Na'Abba has successfully intimidated the executive arm of government into an unholy silence with his commando style threats of probes of the executive. In fact, Obasanjo not only played soccer with the speaker, he released capital votes to the assembly. The vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has gone further to hail the sterling leadership qualities of Na'Abba. This is saying so much for the anti-corruption policy of government.

Nothing has changed. As Benjamin the donkey cynically observed in George Orwell's Animal Farm, whether under Mr. Jones or Napoleon, life will continue as it has always done and that is badly. But that is the anthem of the born loser. Nigeria certainly cannot continue this way. People are getting increasingly disenchanted about this government. The economy is not getting any better. The Executive and House of Representatives are busy playing cover up. But it is so glaringly clear that corruption is ravaging the nation.

The Obasanjo government is fast losing credibility. It is a shame that the much trumpeted anti - corruption campaign of this administration as a deceitful ruse. It is a smokescreen deliberately designed for political manipulation and victimisation than for clearing corruption from our system. The report of Transparency International that he was chairman of, should be a clear warning that all is not well. If he cannot fight the anti corruption war, he should be man enough to say so. As the saying goes, if the kitchen gets too hot for you, then get out of it.

The late Dr. Okigbo gave us a working document on where to start the cleaning of the Aegean Stable. The best we can do in the memory of the decent gentleman is to make that report public and to bring to book the robber barons that robbed this nation blind. You can also please stand up and pray with me for the repose of his soul.

Dr. Pius Nwabufo Okigbo was the incredibly brave Nigerian who told it as it is.

It is a quality Obasanjo can borrow a leaf from

When he breathed his last on Tuesay, Pius Okigbo surely took with him memories of some unfulfilled desires. On of these is the refusal of the Nigerian state to act on the reports of the landmark Probe Panel he presided over in 1994. By Shaka Momodu

Nigerians woke up on Wednesday morning to read in the newspapers that renowned septuagerian economist Dr. Pius Nwaboto Charles Okigbo had passed on. A loss many have described as "a benumbing tragedy," coming on the heels of the death of another intellectual, Professor Ola Rotimi.

Dr. Okigbo was a diligent and articulate scholar, a respected professional consultant and administrator. He worked hard to carve a niche for himself in Nigeria's socio-political and economic scene by his erudite and brilliant diagnosis of Nigeria's development problems and his remedial thesis. But by far Okigbo became a fixture of sort in Nigeria's everyday discourse after he presided over the Panel of Inquiry into the Central Bank of Nigeria, set up in 1994 by the late General Sanni Abacha to look into how the Gulf oil windfall that accrued to the country during the Allied forces/Iraq war was spent. His panel came out with a scathing indictment of the government of General Ibrahim Babangida. The kernel of that report was that the sum of 12.8billion US dollars was mismanaged, misappropriated or unaccounted for. He criticized IBB heavily for his penchant to embark on wasteful spending on projects that had little or no economic value. It was the first official indictment of the Babangida administration.

While the Gulf war between the Allied Forces led by United States and Iraq lasted, oil prices shot up to a record high while the oil- producing nations were the better for it. But in the case of Nigeria nobody knew how this money was spent.

And Babangida in reaction merely described Okigbo as "a card carrying member of NADECO " and therefore was out for vengeance over the annulment of June 12 election. But the message of Okigbo's report reverberated all over the country as it easily became a reference point for agitation by human right groups, critics, non -governmental organization etc to call for Babangida to be put on trial for the country's economic woes.

Since the "Okigbo Panel" submitted its report six years ago, successive governments have shy from it. The Abacha government which set it up, refused to act on its contents, while the Abdulsalami Abubakar's government stayed too short a time to do anything with it either.

But Obasanjo pledged to wage a relentless crusade against corruption which he identified as the bane of our economic development. Obasanjo against the backdrop of serious criticism reiterated his determination to recover all stolen public money irrespective of who is involved. And as if in direct response to accusations of "insincerity" for treating IBB as a sacred cow, he said "if you find IBB's money anywhere, come and tell me and I give you my word, that within twenty four hours we would have all the accounts frozen, otherwise no be Obasanjo born me."

President Obasanjo made the famous declaration at a breakfast meeting he held with media executives and top government officials recently, sign-posting his government determination to recover all stolen public funds, in the face of growing calls to probe Babangida's tenure which critics have described as the years of the locusts. But curiously however he threw the challenge to the media and the people of Nigeria to come up with facts before government could take necessary action. And as if in quick response, Babangida spoke in Germany a few days ago, in an interview with the Hausa Service of Radio Deutche welle (Muryar Jamars). He was quoted as saying: "I'm not afraid of probe, I'm ready. That is why I told my ministers 10 years ago that they should compile a record of their performances, including accounts of their stewardship because the civilians may want to probe them". He promised to make all the records available on demand.

But not many are impresed yet by IBB's posturing. One of them is Mr. Azuka Enujeke, Director of Planning and Mobilization, Development Initiatives a non-governmental organization committed to leadership Development. His words "Please let us not be deceived, Nigerians are not fooled by the rhetoric coming from the government. There is no iota of sincerity in the position adopted by government. It is sad and unfortunate that government should push this responsibility to the people. The president's statement effectively underscores the fact that there are sacred cows. The untouchables. Come to think of it, it is the government that has all the records. How did they get Abacha's records, Ani's, Gwarzo's records, Ogwuma's records etc?. Who is fooling who? Let us throw a challenge to the government, they should allow credible Nigerians to X- ray IBB's tenure from August 1985 to August 1993. and I can assure you that it will open a can of worms. It was 1BB that laid the foundation for the destruction of the values of the nation. You remember The "settlement" culture - egunje or official bribery? It was during his time that, that became part of our culture and way of life. It was during his time that a lot of bloated contracts were awarded. Official corruption became rife. So government position is unacceptable to us. It is simply a laughable position. How do we explain IBB's vast wealth? what was his salary all his years in the military to be able to put up a mansion of that magnitude estimated to be worth over N500 Million as at seven years ago? These are some of the posers government must find answers to. What about the Pius Okigbo panel report of the missing 12.8 billion dollars?"

In similar vein Mr. Romeo Moneke, a sculptor with Romero Art Consultancy limited expressed dismay and anger over the non- implementation of the recommendations of Okigbo report: "It is very annoying to hear that the president made that statement. Everybody in this country including Obasanjo himself knows that it was IBB that put us in the deep pit that we are still struggling to get out from. They should ask IBB about how he spent the Gulf War windfall. It is not just that he looted the treasury, he entrenched corruption in our society. What about all the money spent in buying cars to settle military and police officers and even traditional rulers?"

To most Nigerians, IBB's tenure sign-posted the beginning of the decline of the Nigerian state and the impoverishment of its people. Many are yet to come to terms with the collateral damage that his evil ingenuity wrought on the country. That damage could only be matched by the ferocity of a lion. Today, many Nigerians yearn to have Babangida in the dock to give full account of his stewardship. They want to take a look at the records, apportion blame appropriately and take measures to prevent a re-currance. Whatever Obasanjo eventually does with Okigbo's report, Okigbo will no longer be around to know. He played his part in the service of the fatherland to unearth corruption. He spoke when he felt things were wrong. Said he in 1998 following the death of General Sani Abacha: "What Nigerians are waiting for now is for the military to hand over to a democratically elected civilian government at the end of the transition programme. I have underlined this principle because it is so clearly and obviously superior to the idea of a hand-picked head of government of national unity." Born on February 6, 1924 to James and Ann Okigbo of Ojoto in Anambra state considered as a child of privilege: his grand-father Okoloafor Okigbo, was one of the earliest warrant chief in Igbo land. His father, James Okoyeolu Okigbo, was one of the early Igbo to acquire education and rose to become headmaster in the catholic mission system.

He was endowed with intellectual energy and articulate mind. Which he used effectively to outshine his peers. He was member, Board of Trustees, Nigerian International Biographical Centre since 1997, member, Committee for Technical Cooperation for Africa South of the Sahara (1960-65), Chairman, United Nations Committee of Fiscal Commission 1962, Member, United Nations Panel of Experts on the possibility of an African Development Bank in 1961.

He was a member Kenya Fiscal Commission in 1962 and the United Nations Committee of Experts on Development Planning, Projection and Policies between 1963-66.

The late Okigbo was also a member of United Nations Panel of Experts on the Institute of Economic Development for Africa in 1962, Member, External Advisory Board, OECD Development Centre, Paris (1963-66) and Chairman, Committee on Commodities, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 1964-66, and a member, South Commission (1987-90).

Okigbo was also chairman, United Nations Panel of Experts on Reform of the Tax System in the Third World in 1989, Member Advisory Board, South Centre, Geneva, since 1995 and Vice Chairman, governing Council, Africa Institute for Policy Analysis, Cape town, South Africa.

He was chairman, Council of Africa Advisers, African Development Bank, Abidjan, Cote d'lvoire, as well as Royal Economic Society, America Economic Asso-ciation, Economic Society and International Institute of public Finance.

He was Fellow, Nigerian Economic Society, Past President and Founding Member, International Asso-ciation for Comparative Economic Studies and Member, International Association for the Mathematical Modelling and American Registrar of the Mathematical Sciences as well as Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Management.