Zainab
Suleiman Okino explains why a tax crime that shook the world and led to
the downfall of some world leaders is a non-issue in Nigeria. Last year when the secret accounts in tax havens and money
laundering by a number of world leaders, politicians and institutions
came into the open, it left in its trail casualties, many of them
politicians who had to lose their positions, because of their country’s
intolerance for corruption and businesses without full disclosure. Those
are countries, where the rule of law is observed. However, in Nigeria,
where the law is truly an arse, and does not protect the weak against
the rich and powerful, those mentioned in the Mossack Fonseca secret
vaults, known as Panama Papers are sitting pretty, growing from strength
to strength and seeking to break new grounds in business and politics.
This happens only in Nigeria.
Based on investigations from the Panama-based offshore papers
provided by the German newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and over 100 other
media partners, including PREMIUM TIMES, many Nigerians were also
mentioned in the leak. Although offshore banking is allowed in law, it
must be done within a country’s legal framework and one must remit taxes
in respect of such transactions. Offshore banking is also said to be
“the preferred method of banking for criminals, drug cartels, sketchy
oligarchs, sanction dodgers and tax evaders”. Prominent among those
mentioned in the elaborate investigative work were Senate President
Bukola Saraki and his wife, Senator David Mark, James Ibori, General
Theophilus Danjuma, Aliko Dangote, Obi Asika, Olufela Ibidapo and Sayyu
Dantata. When protesters called on him to resign over the infractions,
Saraki said the asset belonged to the estate of his wife’s rich and
famous family and the law did not require him to declare such asset,
even though findings showed that the wife, Toyin holds the stupendous
offshore asset in trust for him.
There were protests all over the world, and the then British prime
minister, David Cameron showed remorse when he admitted and said he
should have handled the scrutiny of his family tax arrangement better,
even after releasing his own tax returns. After the Panama Papers came
the Paradise Papers, and Nigeria’s list of ignominy was updated. The
joke of our nation continued as the chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia
and CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele were named among tax evaders. The duo
were said to have acquired a Gulfstream for $33 million, imported it to a
tax haven in the Isle of Man, leased it to another company, Oviation
Ltd., before it was subsequently leased to Zenith Bank. Mercifully, Mr.
Ovia did not deny it. Instead, he said Zenith Bank might have been the
end user, but the bank’s fund was not used to acquire the aircraft. He
also offered to pay back the tax he allegedly avoided to ‘illustrate his
good faith’.
Beyond the symbolic gesture of refund by only one man in Nigeria,
the politicians in the pack could not be bothered. As a matter of fact,
Senate President Bukola denied culpability in his asset declaration.
Elsewhere in the world, Panama Papers did consume politicians and ended
their political careers. For the fact that his family sheltered money
offshore, as revealed through the Panama Papers, Iceland Prime Minister
Sigmundur Davio Gunnlaugsson had to step aside. Ditto, the resignation
of Spain’s industry minister, who was scandalised by the disclosure that
came with the tax haven account.
A struggling country like Pakistan has proven to be light years
ahead of Nigeria when it comes to fighting corruption, with the
country’s Supreme Court banning Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from public
office over internal tax related issues engendered by the Panama Papers.
So, from France, where Societe Generale used the firm to set up 979
offshore accounts, to Salvador, Azerbaijan, China’s red aristocrats,
Zimbabwe, Iran, Austria Russia to Argentina, FIFA and Transparency
International officials, Panama Papers’ revelations have ended the
careers of many public officials, except in Nigeria, where they are
rather pampered and propped up for further political appointments.
After a half-hearted protest in Abuja and the EFCC’s promise to
investigate all those mentioned, Nigerians moved on with their lives;
the EFCC never investigated anything or anybody and those mentioned in
the show of shame have continued with business as usual. Today, there
could be many more of Nigeria’s high and mighty hiding illicit asset in
several tax havens around us. Nigeria is the only country in the world
where the poor are taxed more to nourish the profligate lifestyles and
political activities of the rich, and not even an international
embarrassment from the Panama Papers could change that.
The epidemic of corruption and cycle of paying lip-service to
fighting it have left the country in tatters. Kidnapping is now
competing with unemployment as the greatest vices of our time.
Kidnappers simply rule the roost, while the rest of the country live in
fear in addition to the old and established crimes around us. With all
these, you would expect Nigerians to take up arms against whoever is
‘caught red-handed’ as it were. Sadly, people do not see it as cogent a
reason to sack their elected officials, including leaders like Bukola
Saraki. Ignorance, they say, is bliss. A lot of people do not know what
the fuss about Mossack Fonseca is about, and those who know do not care
because all these have no direct impact on those we elect as leaders
next time around: they simply buy their way to the top anyway. No
wonder, a tax crime that shook the world and led to the downfall of some
world leaders is a non-issue in Nigeria.
***
zainabsule@yahoo.com, www.zainabokino.blogspot.com
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