May 8, 2008
His Excellency, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua The President and Commander-in-Chief Federal Republic of Nigeria Presidential Villa Aso Rock Abuja
Your Excellency,
DEMAND FOR A JUDICIAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY TO TACKLE CORRUPTION
The National Executive Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) sends its warmest greetings to you and your administration. We are compelled by the need to check the festering cancer of corruption to hold a procession in the heart of our country and to demand of your administration to take decisive steps to check this.
Congress commends your government for the courageous steps it has taken to reverse some of the compromised sales of public owned companies. The reversal of the sale of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries and the Steel Companies in Ajaokuta, Itakpe and Aladja are commendable actions which gave a clear signal that corruption will not be tolerated under this dispensation.
Also, the National Assembly has gone steps further by instituting public hearings on sectors like power, agriculture and the Federal Capital Territory. These investigations we urge your administration to back for the good of the Nigerian people.
Your Excellency, most Nigerians are shell shocked by the revelations coming from these public hearings. For instance the fact that the past administration expended $16Billion on the power sector yet by last weekend the entire power generation and distribution to the national grid had come down to 860 megawatts from the pre-1999 3,600 megawatts! Many industries have shut down due to power problems and with them went many jobs. Our economy is almost at a standstill yet we are supposed to compete with a sister African Country like South Africa which generates over 40,000 megawatts and which recently declared an emergency in the power sector and is executing new power projects to meet increased national demand.
If we take road transportation, only 15 per cent of our roads are in good motorable condition despite the former government’s expenditure of billions of Naira on roads. This has led to needless road accidents and deaths, loss of manpower and lots of money spent on vehicle repairs.
Nigerians can only imagine how many schools, hospitals, houses and factories could have been built with the money so mindlessly stolen. Yet Your Excellency, the steps taken by your administration in reversing some sales and inquiring into others like NITEL, and the efforts by the National Assembly have been tips of the iceberg. The main body of massive wastage and mismanagement in the last nine years lay buried deep in the ocean of corruption in other sectors such as petroleum and gas, education, FCT, the infamous third term project, among others.
The nation therefore needs to go beyond the administrative steps taken by your administration and the investigation by the National Assembly. What is required and that which we demand is the establishment of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry. Such a commission can much more comprehensively inquire into the corrupt practices, recover mismanaged or embezzled funds, bring culprits to book and generally restore peoples’ confidence in government and governance.
We know you appreciate the urgency of this demand. We pray the Almighty to guide us all aright. Nigerian workers and majority of our poverty-striken citizens believe that unless your administration takes every step necessary to end the plunder of our nation, endemic povery and instability will continue to plague our country for years and decades to come! Mr. President it is time for you to act to save the nation!. The NLC will mobilize the entire civil society to stand by your administration on this noble cause against corruption and national decline.
Please accept the assurances of our highest regards.
For and on behalf of the National Executive Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress:
Abdulwahed Ibrahim Omar John E. Odah
NLC President General Secretary NLC
Cc: Inspector General of Police
Chairman, EFCC
Chairman, ICPC
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LETTER TO SENATE PRESIDENT
May 8, 2008
The President Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria National Assembly Abuja
Your Excellency,
Demand for a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to tackle Corruption.
We bring you fraternal greetings from the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
We Forward herewith a copy of an open letter to his Excellency President Umaru Yar’Adua on the scale of corruption in the country and what the present administration must do to halt the merciless plunder of our country.
While commending the two chambers of the National Assembly for organizing the ongoing public hearings into the power sector and the FCT, and the proposed one on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), it is our belief that far reaching measures need to be taken to ensure that all embezzled funds are recovered and the criminals brought to book. This is why we are demanding for a judicial commission of inquiry to undertake a comprehensive probe into the activities of the last administration.
As we have indicated in our May Day address and other speeches, Nigerian workers and indeed the entire citizenry will mobilize in your support in this crusade against the scourge of corruption in our country. We have talked and preached for too long. We must now act decisively against corruption and plunder of our nation by criminals at all levels of public administration in the country.
Please accept the renewed assurances of our highest esteem and solidarity in this noble and patriotic cause.
For and on behalf of the Nigeria Labour Congress:
Abdulwahed I Omar John E. Odah
President NLC General Secretary NLC
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LETTER TO HONOURABLE SPEAKER HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 8, 2008
The Honourable Speaker House of Representatives National Assembly Abuja
Your Excellency,
DEMAND FOR A JUDICIAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY TO TACKLE CORRUPTION
We bring you fraternal greetings from the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
We forward herewith a copy of an open letter to his Excellency President Umaru Yar’Adua on the scale of corruption in the country and what the present administration must do to halt the merciless plunder of our country.
While commending the two chambers of the National Assembly for organizing the ongoing public hearings into the power sector and the FCT, and the proposed one on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), it is our belief that far reaching measures need to be taken to ensure that all embezzled funds are recovered and the criminals brought to book. This is why we are demanding for a judicial commission of inquiry to undertake a comprehensive probe into the activities of the last administration.
As we have indicated in our May Day address and other speeches, Nigerian workers and indeed the entire citizenry will mobilize in your support in this crusade against the scourge of corruption in our country. We have talked and preached for too long. We must now act decisively against corruption and plunder of our nation by criminals at all levels of public administration in the country.
We at the NLC wish to convey our cautions optimism to you and your esteemed colleagues over your willingness to stand up to the twin monsters of corruption and bad governance. We hope this will not be a mere flash in the pan. We also hope your leadership and the integrity Movement in the House will continue to stand up to the evils of corruption which continue to plague and weaken our country.
The NLC and the entire civil society in our country are ready to march side by side with the National Assembly in the struggle against corruption and plunder, and against bad governance which hinder the advance of our country toward its destiny as a great nation which can and should reshape the stark prospects of Africans and people of African descent all over the world. Our generation must resolve to bring the long and sad African story to an end! We must face the past and reshape today for a better and brighter tomorrow for our country.
Please accept the renewed assurances of our highest esteem and solidarity in this noble and patriotic cause.
For and on behalf of the Nigeria Labour Congress:
Abdulwahed I Omar John E. Odah
President NLC General Secretary NLC
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