African Leaders Before Putin.

Introduction!

I must thank every one of you for having the time to read and drop a comment. As a matter of fact, my purpose in sharing the photograph was not to discuss President Putin or his emerging larger down life image in the Middle East and in Africa. The fact that you guys didn't see anything missing in that picture is a sad episode in the digest and analysis of the Nigerian foreign policy and overall standing or reputation before the global community. Why is our President not at the front row in the group photograph? CNN did caption it African Leaders; therefore, given the presence of our President at the summit, one would have expected that he stands shoulder to shoulder before his colleagues, not just at the front row, but closest to President Putin as being the giant of Africa. Anyway, since you guys decided to make it one of a Super Power (Russia and China vs America) unending global rivalry, I want to quickly touch on some specific developments to set the record straight between Nigeria, America, China, and Russia, when it comes to international investments and fair dealings.

African Economic Renaissance: Why China and Russia are Winning.

America has a law called "The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" of 1977. It is a law that Uncle Sam unfailingly and stridently deploys at home and abroad, mostly abroad, to monitor, discipline, and punish its citizens who collude with corrupt foreign governments, organizations, or individuals to secure a contractual advantage through the back door. In summary, Americans and American companies are prohibited from giving bribes or parting with anything of value to foreigners to secure favor or contractual advantage.

A few years ago, Halliburton was reported to have bribed some government officials in Nigeria to secure a lucrative petrochemical deal. When the story came to light, the fingered officials were dully prosecuted by the US Government and those found guilty were sent to jail, even after paying heavy fines. The former US Vice President was mentioned as well as the Defense Secretary under President George Bush Jr. All of them paid a heavy fine. You cannot do that in China or in Russia.

There is a similar law in Great Britain and China. While America and Great Britain diligently and unfailingly apply the laws at home and abroad to secure discipline and good business practices by their citizens, the Chinese Government applies its version only in China. Russia is free for all - no regulatory mechanism on record to checkmate frauds at the prompting of its citizens or businesses overseas.

Nigeria, on the other hand, has its own version - the section 419 of the old Criminal Code that deals with Undue Influence. In Nigeria, the law is only applicable at home and does not cover business-related crimes committed by Nigerians abroad. And it does not cover business-related crimes committed by government officials at home involving foreigners. Otherwise, those who were involved in the Haliburton saga mentioned previously would have been prosecuted under section 419 of the old criminal code.

Undue Influence is the same thing as giving and accepting bribes. While Nigerian Law Enforcement Agents are all over the place chasing after Yahoo Yahoo Boys for prosecution under section 419, Nigerian government officials who are collaborating with corrupt foreign business representatives to secure undue favor are never prosecuted. So, my friends, China or Russia are not dominating the foreign investment scene in Africa out of the blue. To secure that advantage, they are doing what American companies or individuals wouldn't do in Nigeria, in Africa or in the Caribean Islands.

Now, let cite another example. Ajaokuta Steel Mill or Steel Plant has been in the work since when I was a baby. I first learned of Ajaokuta Steel Plant in detail from a Nigerian Briton in 1982. I worked under him on my first job out of Grammar School as Articled Clerk at a firm of Auditors and Chartered Accountants. As I was skimming through pages of the newspaper on my desk, he drew my attention to a story on Ajaokuta Steel Plant and stated offhandedly that Ajaokuta Steel Plant was set up to share Nigerian money in the Northern region of Nigeria. I didn't get the gist at the time.

Many years after, Ajaokuta Steel Plant remains what the late Gover Ambrose Ali of Bendel State called "gigantic project of spurious values." After Billions of our oil funds have been invested and stolen, nothing of value has come out of it. Ms. Akpotti, who is presently a candidate in the coming Kogi State Gubernatorial race, did a documentary on the squandering of Nigerian wealth over the Ajoakuta Steel Mill a few years ago. Watching the documentary, you will weep for Nigeria. And who were the contractors involved? Russians.

What happened to the Ajaokuta Steel Plant under Russian Companies and untouchable Nigerian political leaders and influential civil servants would not have happened under American companies and contractors. All of them would have been in jail by now in the US.

Most often, we are shown pictures of modern rail lines built and commissioned by Chinese companies in East and North Africa. While those being built in Nigerians are similar to what obtains in the 60s and 70s, those of Kenya, Ethiopia, and Morocco, etc, etc, are similar to what obtains in advanced countries.

What is most stupefying is that we (Nigeria) paid more money for the substandard coaches they gave us in comparison to what the other African countries are paying for the state of the art rail system the same Chinese firms are building for them. Surprisingly, it is the same Chinese Investment Banks that financed all the projects.

When you do the valuations and ask yourself, why is Nigeria paying more and where is the difference going? Into the pockets of Nigerian government officials and politicians. And that is a debt that we have to repay one day. American companies would not have negotiated such dubious deals with you, knowing full well that Uncle Sam is watching.

The Trust Factor

For instance, when the Chibok girls were kidnapped, the British Government and the Government of the United States, sent some of their Generals to come down to Nigeria to assist in the search and rescue operation. About two weeks later, they left Nigeria unceremoniously, abandoning the rescue mission. They did not give any explanation for their actions. I told Nigerians here on my Facebook Wall that they left because they were unable to work with the Generals they met on the ground, bordering on the issue of trust. I will come to this later.

I also stated that America and its allies will not sell weapons to the Jonathan Administration over the trust questions surrounding his Generals. I added that President Barack Obama is not comfortable with the fact that weapons in the possession of our trained soldiers, as well as those in supposedly safe custody or fortified zones, which we invested handsomely to acquired, are not secured.

Most often, members of the ill-equipped Boko Haram sect, with little or no military training, would invade our military barracks, and when they do, our armed soldiers would disappear into the bush, abandoning their weapons. The truth is President Obama doesn't need your money to perpetuate your frauds and accountability deficit hamstringing the entire army establishment. That was my argument at the time.

The gentleman who debated me on the issue here on my Facebook Wall (a UK based Lawyer who was my classmate at the Nigerian Law School in Lagos) subtly labeled me unpatriotic, alluding repeatedly to American imperialism and discriminatory practices. We have not spoken since then or exchange e-mails. And that was how our friendship built over the years - throughout our days at the Law School and thereafter came to a sudden end. Maybe, I have become over-Americanized. But it was for the good of my country of birth.

The following day, the head of the African Command of the US Army at the time issued a press release or address the press on the Boko Haram scourge in Nigeria as well as the arms purchase negotiation deadlock and regurgitated my arguments of the previous day.

By the way, a few weeks ago, former British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Nigerian former President Jonathan were at war with each other over the Chibok Girls and the Generals they couldn't trust. From all indications, the deadlock and the aborted rescue mission had little or nothing to do with President Jonathan, but with the Generals he appointed and whom he couldn't fire. And Cameron's position is consistent with the views I stated here when it was happening.

Conclusion

I love America, not because of my dual citizenship status, but because they have rules and regulations, which works, which corrupt foreign nations like my Nigeria abhorred with passion. American Banks will not lend you money or finance a project and at the same time send all the technical expertise and direct labor to execute the financed project. That doesn't create new wealth in the host country. It is the sweat, the income from labor - direct or indirect - in the hands of the newly employed, and their spending power that catalyzes economic growth. It creates a chain reaction. And the local economy would gain traction in the process.

I remember a discussion I had with my little boy while we were at a Shopping Mall looking for a Bike to buy for him. As we walk around the Mall, he said, Daddy, I know about the economy. And I said, really, what do you know about the economy? And he started: when the government spends and invests, there would be jobs and people would have jobs to do, and when people are working, they get paid, and when they are paid a salary, they would be able to buy and spend again and again. I paused and stared at him, asking, did they teach you that at school? He said, no, Daddy; I watch CNN with you. And that was what President Obama did to bail out the US Economy that was cascading dangerously towards a recession a few years ago - spending and investment, via the bail-out funds.

I am a student of Obama's spending and investment school of thought. Nevertheless, no economic policy will work in Nigeria until we fix our Highways to ensure uninterrupted movement of goods and services. Adding to that, we must eliminate Police Checkpoints on our Highways and provide for uninterrupted Mobile Police Patrol (day and night, not checkpoints).

Finally, provide for security at home and on the roads. Uninterrupted supply of electricity is not negotiable, we need it. Stop stealing of public funds. Stop budgeting for the same things yearly, especially at government offices and institutions. You do those, Nigeria will experience its greatness in record time. If I may add, the public funds that Teidi Sani Shuaibu and Maina stole from the Nigerian Pension Funds are enough to rejig the economy drastically and fruitfully. Enough for today.