Thursday, 25 October 2012

Nigeria: 'Oil-gas sector mismanagement costs billions'. From BBC

25 October 2012 Last updated at 13:54

Children in a boat pass an oil pipeline head near their home in Rivers state April 2011
Despite Nigeria's oil wealth, 90% of its citizens live on less than $2 per day

Nigeria's Deadly Delta

A leaked report into Nigeria's oil and gas industry has revealed the extent of mismanagement and corruption that is costing billions of dollars each year.
The report, seen by the BBC, was commissioned by the oil minister in the wake of this year's fuel protests to probe the financial side of the sector.
It says $29bn (£18bn) was lost in the last decade in an apparent price-fixing scam involving the sale of natural gas.
It also calculated the treasury loses $6bn a year because of oil theft.
Nigeria is one of the world's biggest oil producers but most of its people remain mired in poverty.
The Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force report is one of several commissioned by the government - and follows an outcry after a parliamentary investigation uncovered a massive multi-billion fuel subsidy scam.
That had been set up after angry nationwide protests in January when the government tried to remove a fuel subsidy.
Earlier this week, a campaign was launched to clean up Nigeria's oil sector.
It was led by Patrick Dele Cole, a politician from the oil-rich Niger Delta region, who said that 90% of the stolen oil was refined in eastern Europe and Singapore.
'Staggering'
The BBC's Will Ross in Lagos says this leaked report exposes the extent of the rot in Nigeria's oil and gas industry - all the way from the awarding of contracts to the sale of refined products.

Missing billions revealed this year

  • $400bn - estimated amount of Nigeria's oil revenue stolen or misspent since independence in 1960 - World Bank's ex-vice-president for Africa, Oby Ezekwesili said in August
  • $6.8bn - the amount a fuel subsidy scam has cost Nigeria over the last two years - a parliamentary report said in April
  • $29bn - the amount lost by the treasury in the last decade in an apparent gas price-fixing scam -leaked Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force report in Octoberr
  • $6bn - the amount the treasury loses a year because of oil theft - leaked Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force report in October
It is staggering just how much money the people of Nigeria appear to be missing out on, he says.
Nigeria's Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke declined to comment on the specifics of the probe but said a report compiled from several committees set up earlier in the year to investigate the oil and gas sector was in its final stages and would be presented to the president soon.
The Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, headed by former anti-corruption chief Nuhu Ribadu, revealed in its report that losses of revenue to the treasury over apparent gas price-fixing involved dealings between Total, Eni and Shell and government officials.
The report does not suggest the companies broke the law but called for measures to be put in place to ensure all transactions are more transparent.
It said that oil and gas companies owe the treasury more than $3bn in royalties.
For the period 2005 to 2011, it said $566m was owed in signature bonuses - the fees a company is supposed to pay up front for the right to exploit an oil block.
The report looked at the issue of discretionary licences which companies do not have to bid for.
Between 2008 and 2011 it found the Nigerian government had handed out seven discretionary licences, from which $183m in signature bonuses had not been paid.
A Shell spokesman said the company would not comment as it had not yet seen the report.
'Total overhaul'
Our correspondent says it is well known that oil theft is a major problem in Nigeria, but the report says it may be reaching emergency levels as 250,000 barrels of crude oil could be being stolen every day - 10% of annual production.
The leaked report said that small-scale "pilfering" had been "endemic since at least the late 1990s", but it also said it had heard allegations about thefts from crude export terminals, tank farms, refinery storage tanks, jetties and ports.
"Submissions to the Task Force alleged that officials and private actors disguise theft through manipulation of meters and shipping documents," the report said.
"Yet there is also evidence that members of the security forces condone and, in some cases, profit from theft. The void in effective security likewise appears to increasingly hand over control of coastal and inland waterways to undesirable elements."
The investigation showed that 40% of refined products - either refined in Nigeria or imported - currently being channelled through state-owned pipelines are lost to theft and sabotage.
Mr Ribadu's investigation calls for a total overhaul of the industry with an oil sector transparency law requiring all companies to report all payments and publish all contracts and licences.
The Task Force also wants a special financial crimes unit to be established specifically for the oil and gas sector.

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Nigeria's Deadly Delta

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Monday, 22 October 2012

Laughing on his private jet -


--the £93m pastor accused of exploiting British worshippers 


A church run by a controversial multi-millionaire African preacher has been accused of ‘cynical exploitation’ after its British branch received £16.7 million in donations from followers who were told that God would give them riches in return.
Followers are ferried in double-decker shuttle buses to the church, handed slips inviting them to make debit card payments, and are even told obeying the ministry’s teachings will make them immune from illness.
Today’s Mail on Sunday revelations about the Winners’ Chapel movement have prompted the Charity Commission to review the charitable status  of the church – one of the fastest-growing in the UK.
Winners’ Chapel is part of a worldwide empire of evangelical ministries run by Nigeria’s wealthiest preacher David Oyedepo, who has an estimated £93 million fortune, a fleet of private jets and a Rolls-Royce Phantom. 
revelations about the Winners¿ Chapel movement have prompted the Charity Commission to review the charitable status of the church ¿ one of the fastest-growing in the UK.
Plenty to smile about; Preacher David Oyedepo of the Winners Chapel movement aboard one of his private jets. He also owns a Rolls Royce Phantom
Dubbed ‘The Pastorpreneur’, he was accused earlier this year of slapping the face of a young woman he said was a witch. The assault case was struck out but is being appealed.
Branches of the church have sprung up in major UK cities in a huge recruitment drive centred on Mr Oyedepo’s ‘prosperity gospel’. This claims that congregants who make regular donations and pay tithes – a ten per cent levy on their income – will be rewarded financially by God.
Followers are urged to target vulnerable people such as the lonely, the sick, the homeless and the suicidal as potential candidates for conversion.
Last night, Labour MP Paul Flynn said Winners’ Chapel was cynically exploiting supporters. ‘They [Winners’ Chapel] are making clearly spurious claims and it seems to be a cynical exploitation of the gullible,’ he said.
Referring to the slapping incident, Mr Flynn added: ‘What is also alarming is the reported violence and the lack of respect for the status of women. It’s taking us back to a previous age of ignorance and prejudice that we all thought the church had escaped.’ 
Caught on camera: Video of Mr Oyedepo striking a young 'witch' across the face in front of a congregation
Caught on camera: Video of Mr Oyedepo striking a young 'witch' across the face in front of a congregation
This newspaper’s investigation can further disclose:
  • Congregants are handed a payment slip requesting payments using cheque, cash or debit card when they enter London’s Winners’ Chapel.
  • Donations to the ministry in England almost doubled from £2.21 million to £4.37 million between 2006 and 2010.
  • Mr Oyedepo’s superchurch in Nigeria received £794,000 or 73 per cent of the charitable donations paid out by the British Winners’ Chapel between 2007 and 2010. This was despite claims in Africa that he is enriching himself at the expense of his devotees.
  • The registered charity has spent £6.81 million on evangelism and ‘praise, worship and fellowship’.
  • The church’s ‘Joseph Squad’ preaches in British prisons and has a weekly broadcast named ‘Liberation Hour’ on satellite and cable TV here.
In the past three years, Winners’ Chapel churches have been established in Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Bradford, adding to those in London, Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow.
An undercover Mail on Sunday reporter attended Sunday services  at Winners’ Chapel’s ‘London HQ’  in Dartford, Kent, which attracts 1,000 congregants – chiefly African and Caribbean immigrants. It is run like ‘a business conference’ by Mr Oyedepo’s son, David Oyedepo Jnr. Packed buses deliver singing worshippers from South-East London, Essex and Kent to the huge auditorium.
The reporter saw a payment slip being given to every person entering the church encouraging them to donate money by cheque or cash or to fill in a form with their debit card details. The slip said tithes should be paid separately using a ‘Kingdom Investment Booklet’ and the reporter was informed that payments could also be made by phone. A pastor told the worshippers: ‘You shall be financially promoted after this service in Jesus’s name if you are ready to honour the Lord therefore with all your givings, your tithes, your offerings, your Kingdom investment, your sacrifices.’
Congregants were told to fill in their slips and hold them above their heads while the donations were blessed.
Caught on camera: Video of Mr Oyedepo striking a young 'witch' across the face in front of a congregation
One of the fleet: A jet belonging to Mr Oyedepo - he has at least two that he bought with his huge fortune
The service was interspersed with testimonies. ‘I received a bill from  the bank that I didn’t understand, so I prayed,’ said one congregant. ‘A few days later, the bank wrote to apologise for their mistake – Hallelujah!’ ‘Hallelujah,’ the audience shouted back.
Congregants were told they could gain favour by persuading others to follow Mr Oyedepo’s teachings. His son said: ‘Look around you. Someone is sick and already wishing he or she were dead, that is a fruit ripe to harvest. Someone is confounded and considering suicide as an option, that is another fruit that is ripe to harvest.
‘Someone else is lonely and wondering if there is any future for him, that is another fruit ripe to harvest.
‘Also there are many men and women, young and old that are homeless, these are fruits ripe to harvest.’
The reporter was taken, with 20 other new recruits, to a room where preachers gave sermons claiming acceptance of the Lord would prevent them ever being ill or suffering misfortune.
The Mail on Sunday has seen video footage of Mr Oyedepo striking a woman across the face and condemning her to hell after she said she was a ‘witch for Jesus’. He attacked her in a Winners’ Chapel superchurch, believed to be in Nigeria, in front of worshippers. A separate video shows him saying: ‘I slapped a witch here last year!’
In May, he was sued for £800,000 over the alleged assault. The case was struck out – a decision which is now reported to have been appealed.
The Winners’ Chapel movement, also known as the Living Faith Church, has hundreds of churches in Nigeria and across Africa, the Middle East, the UK and the US.
Mr Oyedepo has received fierce criticism in Africa. One Nigerian journalist accused him of ‘leading a growing list of pastorpreneurs – church founders exploiting the passion and emotion that Christianity commands to feather their nests’.
Caught on camera: Video of Mr Oyedepo striking a young 'witch' across the face in front of a congregation
Marriage: Seen here with his wife Faith, Mr Oyedepo has a son who runs services at the chapel's London headquarters
Catholic Cardinal Anthony Okogie criticised such preachers for placing materialism above Jesus’s message. He reportedly said: ‘They have been skinning the flock, taking out of the milk of the flock.’
Among Mr Oyedepo’s fleet of aircraft are said to be a Gulfstream 1 and Gulfstream 4 private jets. It is also claimed he and his wife, Faith, travel in expensive Jeeps flanked by convoys of siren-blaring vehicles. He is the senior pastor of Faith Tabernacle, a 50,000-seat auditorium in Lagos reputed to be the largest church in the world, and runs a publishing company that distributes books carrying his message across the world.
His other business interests span manufacturing, petrol stations,  bakeries, water purification factories, recruitment, a university, restaurants, supermarkets and real estate. The latest addition is a commercial airline named Dominion Airlines.
A Charity Commission spokesman said: ‘The Charity Commission is  currently assessing what, if any,  regulatory role there is to play with regard to the complaints made against the World Mission Agency. It is important to clarify that this does not constitute an investigation at this stage.’
Winners’ Chapel administrator Tunde Disu declined to comment.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220833/Laughing-private-jet--93m-pastor-accused-exploiting-British-worshippers.html#ixzz2A2EJNt9U
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AFOLABI OGUNDE: WHERE UK’S DAILY MAIL GOOFED ON BISHOP DAVID OYEDEPO AND WINNERS MINISTRIES, Written by Via Business News on 21 October 2012


 

 
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Bishop David Oyedepo
When the British begun to colonize Africa just few centuries ago, they saw nothing wrong with using the Gospel of Christ to bamboozle our ancestors into surrendering their lands and resources over to Her Majesty’s government; now fast-forward to modern times where African pastors are some of the most influential persons on Earth, it seems the detractors have arrived in busloads.
The Daily Mail, one of the United Kingdom’s most widely read publications is the detractor of the day. Perhaps somebody needs to hand them a copy of the King James version of the Bible, or maybe a contemporary version of the material would suffice.
Prosperity ministries like Living Faith, popularly known as Winners, will continue to generate a lot of confusion-based controversy in places like the United Kingdom where the people increasingly are distanced from the doctrine of the gospel (the Word of God).
Many ex-Christians and Christianity bashers always cite the fact that Jesus Christ was humble and didn’t fly in private jets or ride in luxury cars; they always remember how Jesus rode on an ass. Well the gospel also informs us that he made himself poor so that we could become rich. 2nd Corinthians 8:9 says “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich”.
Church attendance in British churches are at an all time low, and many of the British church buildings are now tourist centers and not places where men go to fellowship with God. The Africans who were first taught Christianity by British missionaries in the 19th century have now mastered the gospel in a way that certifies the Great Commission given to men by Christ. I can imagine how the Archbishop of Canterbury would be ticked off about this, or the Bishops of Reading, Newcastle, Coventry and Birmingham, just to name a few.
Truth is African Pentecostalism is the most successful and fastest growing branch of the Church of Christ world-wide, and the scandal prone churches of the West are uneasy considering the trend.
Statistics show, “regular church attendance in the United Kingdom stands at 6% of the population with the average age of the attendee being 51. This shows a decline in church attendance since 1980 when regular attendance stood at 11% with an average age of 37. It is predicted that by 2020, attendance will be around 4% with an average age of 56.This decline in church attendance has forced many churches to close down across the United Kingdom with the Church of England alone being forced to close 1,500 churches between 1969 and 2002. Their fates include dereliction, demolition and residential conversion.”
The statistics paint a picture whereby funds are being generated by African churches where attendance is on the increase, and diminishing in British churches where attendance is on the decline.  It’s easy to see how the Charities Commission can get sidetracked and misinformed. However it would be a violation of several international and divine laws for Her Majesty’s regulatory bodies to revoke the status of a faith based institution.
The Roman Catholic Church is arguably one of the richest institutions on the face of the planet. Africa’s prosperity ministries/churches are rapidly amassing the wealth that took centuries for some religious organizations to acquire. There is bound to be a conflict of interest as there are many open and hidden interests that would not want to see this scale of empowerment for the African man.
Living Faith ministries owns at last count, three universities in Nigeria. In less than a decade some of the graduates are already working for globally recognized institutions like the World Bank, Goldman Sachs, KPMG, Deloitte, Mobil, Total, Chevron and a long list of other Fortune 500 companies. It is understandable why some anti-progress machineries are in motion, what is befuddling is how one of Britain’s most widely read newspapers goes about misinforming its readers about a progressive faith-based spiritual organization that is ordained by God.
The Daily Mail has been sued severally for libel in the past and has had to cough up millions of pound sterling in damages to the victims of its occasionally leaky mouth. One would think that the publication would have done legitimately not to publish the junk it did on Sunday. Including in the article was this, “Followers (of Living Faith) are urged to target vulnerable people such as the lonely, the sick, the homeless and the suicidal as potential candidates for conversion.”
To the undiscerning eye, Winners will be made to look more like Exploiters, whereas the truth remains that the writers are obviously not of the Christian faith and are just looking for a story controversial enough to sell their newspapers. Christ did tell his servants to minister unto the down-trodden and the bed-ridden and the poor. A quick fact check of the New Testament would have saved the Mail this ignorance that is sure to cost them.
The obvious remains yet to be stated and it’s as simple as this, before the journalists at the Mail rush to the press again, they should patiently pick up a copy of their bibles, dust it thoroughly open, and read some of the pages. After all, every man is entitled to have freedom in his religion, and in the way he thinks about God and HIS prophets. There should not be an abuse of this right by anybody, not even the Fourth Estate.
The only intelligent portion of the article was after it, in the comments section. A commentator from  Grove Park South East London said, “Are any members of his congregation complaining about the money they pay this man and his family? Has any member of his congregation complained that they did not receive the ‘blessings’ they prayed for or that the devil was not knocked out off that woman when she received that blow to the face? Has any members of his congregation been convicted of any criminal activity? If the answer to those questions is “no” then really what harm is this so-called Man of God causing?”

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Saturday, 6 October 2012

Nigeria anti-fraud EFCC agents jailed for taking bribes

5 October 2012 Last updated at 12:01

Nigeria anti-fraud EFCC agents jailed for taking bribes

Douglas William (L) and Abba Ishaku (R)The two EFCC agents were arrested two years ago after accepting money from a politician

Nigeria - Troubled Giant

Two anti-corruption agents in Nigeria have been given five-year prison terms for accepting bribes.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said its officers had been found guilty of asking for about $630 (£390) from a politician to stop a supposed investigation.
He informed the EFCC which organised a sting operation to catch the agents.
The EFCC has faced criticism in its attempts to tackle what some see as entrenched high-level fraud in Nigeria.
Rights groups say the commission, set up in 2002 - three years after military rule, has often been under the influence of politicians.
In a statement, the EFCC said Douglas William and Abba Ishaku were arrested in October 2010 after trying to bribe Kullima Kachalla, the chairman of a local government administration in Borno state.
The agents had told the politician they would destroy documentation to launch an alleged investigation into his mismanagement of public funds.
During the sting operation, the court heard how Mr Kachalla brought the money to the EFCC's office in the capital, Abuja.
"It was in the course of the receipt of the money that the two staff were arrested and subsequently arraigned," the EFCC statement said.
"In his ruling, Justice [Abubakar] Umar said because the convicts have suffered enough humiliation, their sentence should start from the date of their arraignment," the commission said.
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says that, to many Nigerians this is yet another case to prove that when it comes to corruption, only relatively minor cases are ever dealt with.
After all what is $630 compared to the billions of dollars that are believed to have been stolen in a fuel subsidy scam, he says.
Several fuel traders are due in court in connection with the scam but once again they are small players, our correspondent notes.
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African viewpoint: Scramble for Nigeria's $15m 'bribe', By African Viewpoint

4 September 2012 Last updated at 13:58

African viewpoint: Scramble for Nigeria's $15m 'bribe'

COMMENTS (28)
James Ibori (in white, second on the right)James Ibori (in white, second on the right) used to be a very powerful governor

African Viewpoint

In our series of viewpoints from African journalists, Sola Odunfa in Lagos wonders about the fate of $15m (£12m) deposited in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2007.
Somewhere in the vaults of the CBN a bag containing $15m has lain untouched for the past five years. It was taken there by an altruistic 47-year-old public servant who said he had been given the money as a bribe.
At the time of the deposit the story was incredible: The amount in Nigerian currency was far beyond the imagination of a majority of Nigeria's 150 million people; who was the Nigerian so mindlessly rich to dash away such money or who would reject it under any circumstance?

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Who was the Nigerian so mindlessly rich to dash away such money or who would reject it under any circumstance?”
The depositor was indeed a Nigerian - and a Nigerian police officer to boot. He was Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, then head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
When he took the cash to the CBN in 2007, he said that it was a bribe given to him by James Ibori, then governor of the oil-rich Delta state, to stop the investigation of allegations of monumental corruption against him. Of course, Ibori denied it.
Mr Ribadu was undaunted. At the end of investigations he slammed a charge of 170 counts of corruption at the Federal High Court on Ibori, who was now out of his gubernatorial chair. The charge included the alleged attempted bribery.
Ibori was not only a state governor when he committed the alleged crimes, he was also a powerful member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) and a financier of the presidential campaign of President Shehu Yar'Adua, now late. Which court in Nigeria would touch him?
The charge was struck out wholesale. Ibori walked tall from the court, cheered on by hundreds of party supporters and officials of the state government.
Dog fight
They danced too soon. Mr Ribadu had filed complaints with the Metropolitan Police in Britain and they were stalking Ibori.
Efforts were made by the Nigerian government to stop the investigations abroad, but in vain. Mr Ribadu had given London all the evidence needed to prosecute the case.
James IboriFive months ago Ibori was convicted in the UK and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Coincidentally Mr Ribadu fell out of favour with the government at about the same time, and he was dismissed from office. Now, remember that the $15m alleged bribe remained in the CBN. Ibori could not retrieve it because he had denied giving it.
The Metropolitan Police eventually caught up with him in Dubai, had him extradited to the UK and charged him with fraud and money laundering. Five months ago Ibori was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Now, a dog fight has started in Nigeria to claim the $15m. The Nigerian government which shielded Ibori wants it. Delta State which said Ibori did not steal while serving as governor has staked a claim.
A faceless politician and a former adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo have joined in with a claim that they gave the money to Mr Ribadu for a different purpose.
Have they all no shame? Hail, Mallam Ribadu, wherever you may be now!
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Nigeria's President Jonathan 'must act over fuel scam'

29 May 2012 Last updated at 00:19

Nigeria's President Jonathan 'must act over fuel scam'

US dollars being countedNigerians are outraged by the fuel subsidy scandal

Related Stories

Pressure is growing on President Goodluck Jonathan to take decisive action over a report revealing millions of dollars have been scammed out of Nigeria's fuel subsidy, as the BBC's Nigeria correspondent, Will Ross, reports.
President Goodluck Jonathan has a dilemma.
Wield the axe and sacrifice some allies linked to a huge fuel subsidy scam that cost the country $6.8bn (£4bn).
Or do nothing and risk the wrath of Nigerians who are fed up with high-level fraud.
The second option could lead to street protests - or even a strike similar to the one that brought the country to a standstill in January after the government tried to withdraw the fuel subsidy.
For decades Nigeria's fuel industry has been conveniently cloaked in secrecy.
Now the lid has been lifted to reveal theft on a scale that is shocking even by Nigerian standards.
'Death threats'
Feathers have been well and truly ruffled.
Farouk Lawan is the chair of the House of Representatives Committee, which last month released its report into Nigeria's fuel subsidy.
"We were threatened several times in so many ways," Mr Lawan told the BBC.

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A record that can hardly be rivalled in the history of a warped budget management of any nation anywhere in the world ”
Conclusion of Nigeria's fuel subsidy report
"We were told that we were not going to live long [enough] to even finish the exercise. They were death threats, very clearly death threats. Fortunately we are still around."
Nigeria is a major oil producer but imports the vast majority of its fuel because for many years governments have failed to invest in local refineries.
The government subsidises the cost of fuel and had said this cost the country $8bn in 2011.
The report revealed that the nation had been deceived. The true cost was more than $17bn.
"A record that can hardly be rivalled in the history of a warped budget management of any nation anywhere in the world," the fuels subsidy report concluded.
Rampant false claims
A key finding of the probe is that while the government has been paying the subsidy for 59m litres of fuel a day, Nigeria only consumes about 35m litres.
This was an effort to hide a scam in which companies were paid hundreds of million of dollars to import fuel - but they never delivered a drop.
"False claims were rampant. The scheme became an avenue for all forms of patronage," said the report, which described the fuel subsidy as being a "limitless drain on the economy".
We also now know that in 2006 there were just six fuel importers. By 2011 the number had inexplicably soared to 140.
Nigerians in Lagos queue to buy fuelIn oil-rich Nigeria, people regularly have to queue for hours to buy fuel
Companies were invited to appear before the House of Representatives committee. Some 45 companies failed to appear or submit any documents.
President Jonathan has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate.
But Nigeria's anti-corruption agencies have a very poor record at successfully prosecuting high-level fraud.
It seems few Nigerians expect decisive action.
"I would really like to see people in court. But the way things happen in Nigeria, the case may be pushed under the carpet," one man said.
"The institution that can prosecute corruption is so weak that people can easily loot Nigeria's treasury and go free," another man said.
"You see people carrying placards defending those caught over corruption outside the courts. It is because of the poverty level. People are hungry and so anything you offer them will make them carry the placard to defend you. It's appalling."
At a state-owned fuel station in the capital Abuja, hundreds of people, including several policemen, queued in the heat to buy kerosene for cooking - just one sign of how inefficiently the industry is run in Nigeria.
In the line, there was palpable fury that well-connected people had become fabulously rich from the fuel subsidy scam while poorer Nigerians were struggling to even afford cooking fuel.

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Nigerian musician eLDee
We can communicate easier today than we were able to 10 years ago so the consciousness of the people is being awakened”
eLDeeNigerian musician
"Our senators should bring a law that would mean if you have stolen say one million from the government fund, you should be killed or your hand or leg should be cut off," one man said.
"It would set an example - but if that law is not passed in Nigeria we will continue suffering, suffering, suffering," he added.
'Thief, thief'
For decades, Nigeria's musicians have been at the forefront of the public denouncement of unpunished fraud.
The late Fela Kuti pulled no punches with tracks like International Thief Thief and Authority Stealing, which described the politicians as worse than armed robbers.
More than 30 years later, musicians like eLDee have continued the theme - in One Day he laments the same unresolved issues with his "still the same breed, still the same greed".
Nevertheless, he remains optimistic.
"I believe things can change. We can communicate easier today than we were able to 10 years ago so the consciousness of the people is being awakened," he told the BBC.
"A lot of the music and the messages we are putting across are getting to the people. People are starting to pay attention to detail now."
Right now, President Jonathan has the opportunity to break the mould and take decisive action.
But, seeing as some of his allies are suspected of involvement in the looting, it seems unlikely that punishments will go beyond low or middle-ranking officials.

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Farouk Lawan
We just cannot continue with that kind of massive corruption ”
Farouk LawanChair of the House of Representatives Committee
"If nothing is done about it, this is going to consume the leadership of this country. The game is up. The current parasitic system cannot survive," financial analyst Bismarck Rewane says.
"There may be an attempt to slap wrists but people may protest against this," he said, suggesting that people want more decisive action.
The man who is being lauded by many Nigerians for helping expose the fraud is hopeful that the committee's recommendation - that the suspects be investigated and prosecuted - will be taken up.
"I think Goodluck Jonathan didn't become president to protect his friends. He became president to act in the best interests of the Nigerian people," Mr Lawan says.
"And if in the end the best interest of the Nigerian people is for him to do certain things that would make sure that there is sanity in that regime, then I am confident he would act."
"I believe that we just cannot continue with that kind of massive corruption - especially in a sector that is very important to the stability of this economy," he warned.
The promise of a thorough investigation into the fraud helped to end January's protests.
The subsequent 205-page report has revealed far more rot than the government would have wished - and unless there is decisive action it may also be the trigger that gets people back on the streets.
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