By MKPE ABANG
Distinguished Senator Dino Melaye is surely a man on a very important mission. Although his political antecedents date back to his days in the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he was a student union leader and later leader of the powerful National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), his progression into the National Assembly as a member of the House of Representatives no doubt laid the foundation for his ascendancy to the Nigerian Senate in 2015; and, with it comes his current commendable contributions to nation-building.
Senator Melaye’s recent comments that the Senate would investigate MTN Nigeria for alleged illegal repatriation of over $13 billion of its revenue or profits out of Nigeria to South Africa between 2006 and 2016, the facts of which remain contentious, may have come to many as a surprise. Yet, these are matters that deserve scrutiny in any country, more so in Nigeria especially at this point in time.
The invitation therefore by the Senate of a serving minister in the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, over the matter, along with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele underscores the importance and seriousness of the investigation indeed. Therefore, the investigation is not about MTN; because focusing attention on MTN only trivialises the whole issue.
Indeed, the Senate investigation should be seen within the context of Nigeria taking its leadership position in Africa on fighting any illegal movement of funds. As such, it will be a great and fresh day for the entire Africa, more so if led by Nigeria, should the Senate investigation produce a clear definition of what constitutes ‘illicit’ movement of funds from one country to another.
It is interesting that this is also happening at a time when in South Africa, a serving minister, the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, has been ordered by prosecutors to appear in court on November 2, 2016 to hear fraud charges against him.
The Nigerian Senate, in a letter signed by Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim gave others invited to include Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria; Diamond Bank; Citibank; Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic IBTC, former Chairman of Diamond Bank, Pascal Dozie, Ahmed Dasuki, Gbenga Oyebode, Babatunde Folawiyo, Mohammed Sanni Bello and Victor Odili and MTN.
The letter, titled ‘Investigative Hearing on the Unscrupulous violation of the foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act, Notice of Appearance,’ read in part:
“Pursuant to Senate Resolution S/Res/017/02/16 of September 27, 2016 on the above subject matter, the organisations and individuals listed below are invited to appear before the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions on Thursday, October 20, 2016.”
As global fight for instance, in a report in 2013, titled ‘Hemorrhage of Illicit Financial Flows in Africa’, the African Development Bank (of which a Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Adewumi Adeshina currently heads it), noted:
“For over 30 years (1980-2009), close to US $1.4 trillion were drained out of Africa. Most of those capital flights were illegal in nature and were due to corruption, kickbacks, tax evasion, criminal activities, transactions of certain contraband goods, and other illicit business activities across borders.
“The geographical distribution of the “unrecorded capital flows” or illicit capital flight was uneven, with West and Central Africa surpassing the other regions at US $494 billion (37%), followed by North Africa (US $415.6 billion or 31%) and Southern Africa (US $370 billion or 27%). The top five countries with the highest illicit financial outflows during 2000-2009 were Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Libya.”
Therefore, while the Senate investigation is commendable in taking up such a matter, it is should be pointed out that making the investigation all about MTN trivialises the whole issue; rather it should be taken in the context of the Nigerian leadership of the African continent in all its ramifications; and Africans all over the world will be keen to see Nigeria assert and take her position as the clear leader of the continent, also in clarifying issues in the financial sector.
Come to think of it, Nigeria is strategically placed geographically in the heart of Africa. And, even the child of a few years would understand and appreciate the importance of the heart in the existence of any living being.
So, from north and south, east and west, Nigeria stands at the heart of Africa, as home to all Africans; little wonder then that the country is the most populous – be it in human, language, dialect, ethnicity or diversity of its people. In Nigeria, you would find easily the entire Black race, consummately cohabiting – even if at many times roughly so.
And, that places on Nigeria the mantle of leadership that the country cannot, and will never ever shirk or shy away from.
Sometime during the President Olusegun Obasanjo government, the very same government that made popular mobile telephony in Nigeria (and during whose tenure in 2001, GSM licences were issued), a very important national campaign was launched: The Heart of Africa project; that was in 2004. Although this has since been replaced by many other projects with similar objectives though with different nomenclatures, the essence and naming of that project cannot be overlooked.
The Heart of Africa project! Nigeria, indeed, the heart of Africa; and without the heart, Africa cannot be alive!
One only needs to look back into history and Nigeria’s many battles and fights to emancipate the entire Africa come to the fore. Late General Murtala Mohammed, for instance, nationalised British Petroleum over Angola; history is also replete with Nigeria’s unwavering and frontal support for the Black cause in Africa, right up to the extermination of Apartheid in South Africa; the story is the same up to the horn of Africa, right to the Saharawi Arab Democratic, to Libya, to Kenya, Congo; there is hardly any part of Africa in need of support where Nigeria has not proved the big brother muscle on standby, and in action.
The brief background details above only go to show the critical and vital place of Nigeria in Africa, its leadership position that must be upheld at all times.
Even before the upholding of Nigeria a few years ago as the largest economy in Africa, Africans all over the world have always known Nigerian to be the largest economy – if not in financial terms, then by the sheer size of its population, by the unimaginably admiring can-do spirit of its people, by the brilliance of its academia, by the sterling qualities of its military and police at global and/or continental peace keeping efforts; the list of areas where Nigeria naturally comes in as the leader of Africa is almost endless.
That is why political leaders of today, like Senator Melaye, need to be applauded; but at the same time, they also need to be called to duty. For instance, while Senator Melaye’s comments only point to one company, MTN in this case, taking the battle beyond that will only help to strengthen Africa, not just Nigeria alone.
Therefore looking beyond MTN, Nigeria, hopefully buoyed by the inimitable fighting spirit of the likes of Senator Melaye, will galvanise all of Africa to look into such industries as oil and gas, construction, air and land transportation, and many others, where action needs to and must be taken to protect the continent.
The same way that oil majors like Shell will not and should not destroy the environment and get away with it if found to have actually acted contrary to laid down internationally accepted best practices, so should no company evade tax and get away with it. One needs however to understand the clear distinction between tax evasion and avoidance.
At the centre of the recent call is the issue of anti-money laundering, a global battle that Africa must be fully involved in. Nigeria must therefore look beyond any single company, as such, but instead take the battle frontally as the continent’s big brother. Therefore, Senator Melaye is indeed on a mission that will, could and should help Africa. And, Nigeria must give him a national backing. The issue is not MTN; the issue is Nigeria taking its leadership position in word and indeed, now.
And, as the battle is being waged, there are many salient questions we must begin to ask – and go further to provide answers to. Why, for instance, are Africa’s jobs disappearing while its youth population continues to rise, its graduate population continues to rise and there is no sign that these will slow down any time soon? Is Nigeria really taking its place as the leader of the African continent, of the Black Race in this respect?
When last did you make a call to an international company asking for service? Maybe you should try it today, right now. Put a call to, say, Emirates Airline, a company based in the United Arabs Emirates, Dubai, to be specific; and, the result will shock you. You are not going to get answered by the voice of an Arabian princess or prince; no. What you will get is the result of outsourcing; what many have rightly called Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).
Now, follow me to Mumbai! India has become the biggest outsourcing nation in the world. Over 85 per cent of call-centre operations today take place in India, handled by Indians. To gauge this very easily, if you place a call to Emirates Airline, although you would be calling a local number (from anywhere in the world), the agent that attends to you will most certainly be an Indian with unmistakable Indian accent; and you can bet, the call centre is seated right in India. That’s providing employment for several millions; that’s bringing to India huge resources; that’s providing for India and Indians skill, expertise and an edge above many; that’s keeping the Indian economy well-oiled and lubricated.
But somehow, sometime in the past, someone somewhere provided the ‘enabling’ environment and leadership, the motivation and the infrastructures that made it possible.
Nigeria can and should become such a call-centre hub, if not for the entire world – because the country actually has the population – at least for Africa. Especially at this time Nigeria’s reliance on oil as the only foreign exchange earner has brought her economy to its knees; and the country seriously needs an alternative source to earn revenue. Such outsourcing will empower the youth, employ tens of millions of them, reduce if not totally eliminate crime, even the increasing spate of kidnapping – which is due to in large part to unemployment and poverty – will reduce if not totally end; it will boost the morale of the polity and indeed, sprint back the country unto the global space as a leader economically and politically. That is the power of Information and Communications Technology (ICT); and it is all there waiting for us to take advantage of it.
Taking the leadership is all that matters. What are the problems that need to be tackled and that must be addressed so that running call-centre business in Nigeria need not cost an arm and a leg thereby driving away the would-be investors, be there indigenous or foreign? These are the leadership points that distinguished leaders of the Nigerian political class, such as Senator Dino Melaye, must now focus on and address.
In fact, Nigeria standing at the centre of the global Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) fight, the importance of the battle now being led or to be led by people like Senator Melaye, could not have come at a better time, especially with President Muhammadu Buhari’s unflinching focus on fighting corruption and terrorism.
Money laundering entails an underlying, primary, profit-making crime (such as corruption, drug trafficking, market manipulation, fraud, tax evasion), along with the intent to conceal the proceeds of the crime or to further the criminal enterprise. These activities generate financial flows that involve the diversion of resources away from economically- and socially-productive uses—and these diversions can have negative impacts on the financial sector and external stability of any country.
They also have a corrosive, corrupting effect on society and the economic system as a whole. Because of the negative consequences of these forms of financial abuses on any country’s economy and financial system, most nations with a progressive mind have been very active in the AML/CFT area.
Shall we say therefore that there should now be a movement to rediscover the Nigerian leadership on the African continent, to reenergise the polity, to reinvigorate the spirit that once held Nigeria in the forefront as the giant of Africa, a position that is rightly its own as placed upon the country by nature? Let Nigeria lead the African continent again, in economic matters, on the political arena, in the fight against financial crimes, in the fight against corruption, in all spheres – as the leader of the continent; that should now be the call to all and sundry; for, it was once so, why should it be different now?
Therefore, let Nigeria arise again, looking beyond any single company whether it is MTN in the ICT industry or Shell in the Oil and Gas industry or any other multinational for that matter; let Nigeria re-emerge, and open up its environments, its industries, its entire economic space, to the best scrutiny; but also to motivate its people and all of Africans; first, by ensuring that the jobs that originally belong to Africa that have since disappeared returned to Africa; and, second, that all those potentials, such as call centre outsourcing, among others, which could have been sitting right here in Nigeria not only return, but blossom to the point that the world begins to troop to Nigeria, as it should have been the case long, long ago.
Abang is Editor-in-Chief, IT & Telecom Digest magazine, published since January 2000
Twitter: @MkpeAbang