Urging Tinubu To Also Clean The Augean Stables In Nigeria’s Power, Oil, And Gas Sectors, When Done With CBN -By Isaac Asabor

With all sense of modesty, this writer, as a dyed-the-wool literature student, has never forgotten the story of the fifth Labour of Hercules. It will be recalled that King Eurystheus had already given Hercules four seemingly impossible tasks: to vanquish various dangerous and deadly monsters, including the Nemean lion, the many-headed Lernean Hydra, the Erymanthean Boar, and a herd of Centaurs, half-man, half-horse. And slew them all he did (except the wild boar, which he captured alive), and thus earned himself heroic fame.

The next task Eurystheus set Hercules to face was filthy and demeaning and definitely impossible: to cleanse the vast Augean stables in one day. It was no mean task as he was set to clean the largest herd of cattle in all of Greece, which consisted of 3,000 oxen, and in 30 years the stables were never cleaned. The cows’ faeces were mountainous, and growing. Even Hercules’ great strength and courage would be of no use; by the time he shoveled out one pile, a hundred more would have been deposited; Hercules would surely be degraded and humiliated as he spent his day of failure waist-deep in a heap of cows’ faeces.

It can be recalled at this juncture that the brawn he used to strangle the lion, and the stamina that allowed him to chase the boar round and round the mountain until it was exhausted, would be of no use here. Therefore, to solve this seemingly insurmountable task, Hercules had to take quite a different approach and think outside the box. This problem would be solved by the brain, not by brawn.
As understood from the fabled story, Hercules made holes in the front and back walls of the stables and diverted the courses of two nearby rivers through the stables. In no time, in less than a day, the water had flushed out all the muck, and the stables were fresh and clean. And Hercules never even.

Given the foregoing messy scenario, it is germane to say that while tackling certain challenges what is needed is a good dose of brain, rather than more brawn.
Without a doubt, Hercules assessed the situation and realized that all his considerable personal powers were not enough to clean up the corruption before him; he had to bring in outside forces to do the job.

Given the foregoing, there is no denying the fact that the foregoing story unarguably brings to mind the mountainous challenges which the immediate past president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has created for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Graphically put, the challenges he handed over to the newly sworn-in president can in this context be likened to the heaps of faeces that Hercules cleared.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is expedient to say that to commence the cleansing of the Augean stable that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, from office with immediate effect, as gathered from a Statement issued by the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Willie Bassey, and which states that “This is a sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.

“Mr Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate) (Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi), who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms.”

With the benefit of hindsight, the development is coming less than two weeks after President Tinubu assumed office and months after the apex bank’s widely-criticized naira swap.

In fact, with the nauseating level of corruption in Nigeria, which is so widespread and pervasive, and self-generating, it could be argued that the filthy Augean stables are an appropriate metaphor for our situation. No sector is completely free from it, not politicians or police, nor the private sector or the civil service; not even the Church.

Given the putrefying rots in terms of corruption that can be smelled in virtually all segments of Nigeria’s economy, it will be expedient for President Tinubu to extend the cleansing of the Augean stable to the Power sector, the oil and gas sector, and other sectors of the economy.

For instance, the NewsDirect newspaper in its June 9, 2023 edition reported that “The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has said that the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) withheld the sum of N8.480 trillion from the Federation Account between January last year and May 2023.

“The Commission’s chairman, Mr. Mohammed Shehu in a statement in Abuja, said that the subsidy regime was not transparent stating that the decision to end subsidy was the best for the nation as the sum remained unreconciled.

“According to Shehu, “It is saddening to note that since 1st January 2022 to date, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has not been contributing to the Federation Account due to the claimed subsidy payments.

“The total amount withheld by the NNPCL as claimed subsidies for this period amounted to N8,480,204,553,608.13 as reported by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation(OAGF) which is yet to be reconciled by the RMAFC, OAGF, and NNPCL”.

In a similar messy situation, “The Nigerian government, between 1999 and 2010, reportedly spent over N4.7 trillion on power, but the country remained in darkness. Eight years later, Jonathan and Buhari administrations invested another N1.164 trillion into the sinkhole through capital releases, yet homes and factories in Nigeria are yet to be provided with a constant electricity supply”.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is expedient to urge Tinubu to also clean the Augean stables in Nigeria’s power, oil, and gas Sectors when done with that of the CBN