Bello’s Past Scandals

Bello’s entire step while in office was dogged with various scandals, one of which was a N14 billion fertilizer scam that the then Editor, New Nigerian newspapers, Mr Mahmoud Jega, described as “smell of another national scandal”.

Barely four months after his assumption of office he led Nigeria into deciding to import a few million tons of beans from Burkina Faso. This led to government facing scathing criticisms. Information Minister Jerry Gana had announced that President Olusegun Obasanjo had ordered a massive importation of beans from Burkina Faso to flood the local market and force down rising price. Gana, who spoke to journalists jointly with Agriculture Minister Adamu Bello, said the high cost of foodstuffs in the country dominated their Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja.

But at a hearing by the Senate, Nigeria’s upper legislative Chamber which condemned the planned import, the Agriculture Minister backed Gana’s statement that the directive came directly from the President. Bello said, however, that the issue was never discussed at the Council of Ministers’ weekly meeting, presided over by Obasanjo, indicating that it was a unilateral decision by the President.

Amid the claims and counter-claims, those opposed to the planned importation lampooned the government for ever contemplating such a move, at a time the country was struggling to revive its agricultural sector, the mainstay of the country’s economy before the discovery of oil.

•Adamu Bello: Tried to paint Adesina black

Saying to buy beans from Burkina Faso meant giving money to that country’s farmers, former Lagos Governor Lateef Jakande asked: “Why can’t we buy from Nigeria and in the process empower our own farmers?” He charged that the Presidential directive was a clear manifestation of a government that lacked “clear-cut idea. Another politician, Lam Adesina, a former Oyo State governor, described the proposed importation as “an insult to Nigerians”. “Rather than embark on the importation of foodstuffs, Adesina asked the Federal Government to quickly come up with a policy that will help agriculture in the country. “This kind of policy should not be detrimental to the people at State and local government levels,” he said. Oyo State House of Assembly also denounced the planned importation.

The incumbent Special Assistant (Media) to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Reuben Abati, then in his column in The Guardian added a comic angle to the debate. “The truth is that Nigeria has become a large dumping ground for all kinds of imports. We were having a group lunch the other day, the fruit juice before us was from Malaysia, the rice was imported from Thailand, we sat on imported furniture from Italy, in a building that looked like a piece of post-card architecture from Europe. Mark my words, by 2003, this government will import toothpick from Ghana, fish from Gabon, vegetable from Republic of Benin, and stockfish from Madagascar,” Abati satirised.

Bello’s Fertilizer Scam

In the N14 Billion fertilizer scandal, the then Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Bode Olowoporoku, alleged that the minister connived with foreigners to dupe the country in a N3.4 Billion scandal over fertilizer imports. A bag of fertilizer was said to cost N1,500 in Ukraine, the main import country and was said to be sold by the ministry for N2,800 with a margin which disappears! Bello explained to the Federal Cabinet the reasons for the disparity to include transport and duties cost of the process of moving fertilizer from the Ukraine to Nigeria.

Senator Olowoporoku still continued with his proceedings against the minister even walking out the Minister of State for Agriculture, Chief Bamidele Dada, from the Senate chambers when he came to explain. Mallam Bello opined that Olowoporoku must have a vendetta against him over not being awarded fertilizer contracts during the process that may have earned him N200 million. The senator denied this saying: “I have never requested contracts from the Ministry in my position as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. Evidence was presented of his two letter-headed requests with his signature. He dismissed the evidence as his attempt to help some associates of his. The Corporate Affairs Commission however disclosed that he registered both companies and his wife was listed as the CEO and Managing Director. This exposed the vendetta. The Senate relieved Chief Olowoporoku of his position as the Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture. He was also excluded from membership in all committees. This was subsequent to his eventual dismissal from the ruling political party, the Peoples Democratic Party. (See TheNEWS publication on the subject, of the 13 September 2004 edition)

When he was minister, Adamu Bello was not sincere about fertiliser sector reforms. In other words, despite the much talk about empowering the private sector to be involved in fertiliser production, and despite the hype about ending importation of fertilser, during Bello’s tenure as minister, none of these two happened. Fertiliser importation continued unabated, direct subsidy regime prevailed and the Nigerian companies (as shown in The Punch editorial of Friday 13 May 2005) which are capable of producing fertiliser did not get the federal government’s support, and so could not take off all through Bello’s time.

As contained in the editorial: “For long, government’s involvement in fertiliser importation has become a veritable source of self-enrichment for public officials. This has led to the crippling of the Federal Superphosphate Fertiliser Company (FSFC) established in 1976, and the National Fertiliser Company of Nigeria (NAFCON), which started production in July 1988, both with installed capacities of 100,000 metric tons and 1 million tons respectively. The result is that over 20 bulk blending fertiliser plants located in different parts of the country, with a total combined capacity of about 1.5 million metric tons per annum, now lie fallow.”