The Paris Club scandal that won’t away is also largely because some governors had deals with the socalled consultants. There was no reconciliation in the matter that their accountantgenerals could not solve

other off-balance sheet items) have hit $100 billion – about thrice what we had when we were officially in a debt crisis in the 80s through to the early 2000s. It is also important to note that most of the loans in question were fraudulent – most of them contracted by our second republic governors. I remember some of the states having collected loans for underground trains and other projects that never materialised. Many of the projects never went beyond being a signpost inside some ‘evil’ forests. And we had at most 19 states in that era. The entire process by which the refund was arrived at, and the sharing formula to 36 states, was shrouded in secrecy. The loans and refunds should be the concern of every Nigerian in my view. And if I am asked, I will say no state is entitled to any refund. The governors should go and rue what their predecessors did rather than mount a high horse demanding for non-existent refunds. More callous was the fact that the usage of the so-called refund – which was basically inflationary money conjured up by the federal government to appease powerful state governors who had become incensed with him – was arbitrary. It was not about the people. We learnt that one of the governors – who said meningitis descended on his people because of their fornication – used the state’s share to build a nice 5-star hotel in

Lagos; a heathen land.

That is my understanding of this Paris Club thing that won’t go away. And today, our Attorney General seems to be the chief advocate and solicitor for the group of blaggers who insist on shaking down this poor country whose every economic index is showing crimson red (inflation, unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, and so on). Who cares? $418 million has been worked out and must be paid. Nobody cares if the country must be ruined afterwards. I often wonder at how the minds of many people who are in and around Nigerian government work. They often become inure to humanity. Our psychologists have not lived up to their certificates. This madness that descends on us when we see public money has ruined us.

The Paris Club scandal that won’t away is also largely because some governors had deals with the so-called consultants. There was no reconciliation in the matter that their accountant- generals could not solve. Some of the consultant – according to the deals struck – were to retain almost 50 per cent of refunds that were due to the entire citizens of the state (even if the refunds were legit). There is nothing we will not see and hear in this country. Meanwhile, Malami, our Attorney General, recently celebrated that he reduced the payment to one of those Ajaokuta concessionaires who was sacked by President Yaradua. They sued Nigeria for $5 billion, our legal team – as usual and trueto-type and for monetary gains – bungled the affairs. Now, we have had to pay this company about $500 million (about the same amount we were forced to pay the American government for useless Tucano helicopters). Chances are that there are Nigerians advising the Indian company on how to go about milking their country. A good friend who worked at then Bureau for Public Enterprises in that era swears that is all a scam, that Yaradua was right to revoke that contract because the Indian company was only stripping assets and not adding value as per the contract under President Obasanjo.

Whichever leader will make a dent in our affairs will need a lot of gumption and luck. It will not be a cake walk at all to move this country forward. Too many forces are stacked against us – from within and without. Too many of our own people – whom Nigeria has not wronged – are Nigeria’s worst enemies. As for those pseudo-Nigerians whose only interest is to continue to plunder this country, they can be sure that they will never enjoy peace of mind. And their generations hence, will remain troubled.