Danjuma’s $500m largesse

The recent confession by former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General T. Y. Danjuma, of how he made a whopping $500million profit from an oil bloc the former Military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, awarded to him, has, among others, revealed how the nation’s commonwealth is being shared by a few privileged Nigerians, most of who do not know what to do with their share of the largesse.

Danjuma brought the matter to public knowledge when, at a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) consultative meeting with the theme: “Contributing to Philanthropy in Nigeria,” he explained his resolve to donate $100million out of his huge profit to float a foundation he named T. Y Danjuma Foundation, through which he intends to help the needy in the Nigerian society.

He said the grants from the foundation, which would be channeled to agencies and governments at all levels through NGOs across the country, would be deployed to help in at least three critical sectors of the nation’s economy, which he identified as “festering inadequate healthcare facilities, low quality education and extreme poverty.”

He explained that he decided to set up the foundation and to reach out to the needy because he realized he has become so rich and did not know what to do with the $500million.

Besides, he also realized that his fabulous wealth may cause quarrels among his children and family members when he dies. As he reportedly puts it: “At my age, I am 72 years now, what will I be doing with such money, $500million? … If I put it in the bank, these people will steal it and I don’t want my children to start fighting over money when I die, so I decided to commit 100 million dollars of the money to philanthropic activities that will help lift Nigerian society.”    

Noble as his action appears, there is no doubting the fact that the story of how he got the oil bloc on a platter of gold, how he sold it off to   organizations that have the competence to exploit it and how in the process, he pocketed a mind-boggling profit,  is at the very root of the problems of Nigeria.

What qualified  General Danjuma, who, as a soldier, had lived off Nigeria most of his life, for being specially awarded oil blocs, apparently at little or no cost to him,  by the then Head of State? Is it not one of the clear examples of the evils of military rule in Nigeria, an unfair system, where one man, in the guise of exercising power as Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, arrogates to himself the right to share off the commonwealth of over 150 million people to his personal friends and cronies?

This, of course, is how a few individuals close to the corridors of power, suddenly emerge multi-billionaires at the expense of the state and the common citizens, most of who do not know where the next meal would come from.

We roundly condemn the practice of giving away the people’s commonwealth to a handful of individuals for little or nothing and maintain that when this is done, both the state and the people become ultimate losers. Take the case of Danjuma, for example, while he may be rejoicing that he made $500million personal profit from the oil bloc deal, apparently because he got it for next to nothing, experts are of the view that he grossly under valued the bloc and so, sold it at the give away price of $1 billion. This means that in that oil bloc deal between Abacha and Danjuma, and between Danjuma and the ultimate buyers, the nation and her people have been grossly ripped off.  

This kind of official impunity, generally exhibited by past military leaders was transferred to the last civilian government in the form of import waivers. We condemn totally all these forms of abuse of power and suggest that thorough investigations should be carried out to unearth the details of such unwholesome and unfair diversion of the commonwealth to private pockets.

We believe that if the right thing had been done at the onset, the current proceeds from the oil bloc would have been of greater benefit to much more Nigerians, including the suffering people of the Niger Delta region and other parts of the country than what Danjuma is willing to give out as philanthropy to those impoverished by deals such as that which netted him $500 million.

This is why not many people seem to be impressed by the $100million philanthropic gesture because, in the first instance, the money should actually belong to the same common Nigerians, who are now being presented as beneficiaries who should dance and sing songs of appreciation. Also, given that this particular oil bloc deal is just one of the several juicy deals Danjuma and other bigwigs like him may have benefited from in such manner, he is expected to do much more than he is presently doing in order to level up with the exploited masses of Nigeria, most of who still lack basics like food and shelter.

This is however not to detract from the inherent nobility of Danjuma’s decision to confess and return a little of the people’s wealth unfairly put in his pocket by various past leaders.

Also, taking cognizance of the fact that Danjuma is certainly not the only citizen who has been so favored by various governments, we call on these individuals to please come out and also return part of the commonwealth in their possession for the benefit of the masses and by extension, for their own benefit, because it is the widespread poverty engendered by such situations that lead to increase in the crime rate, which affects both the rich and the poor alike.