ACHIEVEMENTS, ACTIVITIES & EVENTS UNDER ABACHA -Restoring President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone back to power. He had said he would send the entire Nigerian Army to Sierra Leone if that was what would bring peace. With the late Pontiff. -Under Abacha, serious efforts were made to decrease the amount of the raw materials that were being imported into the country by increasing domestic production. The government, represented by the Minister of Industries encouraged the manufacturers and industrialists to make use of raw materials sourced locally. In order to ensure that this goal was achieved, a Talc Processing Company in Niger State was commissioned in1995, (a result of public-private joint venture; between the Raw Materials Research Development Council of Nigeria and business executives). The plant was supposed to take care of all the talc needs of the industrial plants in Nigeria and put an end to the revenue spent on the importation of 3,000 metric tonnes of talc every year. Abacha made the exports of Nigerian goods and commodities a priority throughout his time in power. In trying to achieve this, there was the Iwopin Pulp and Paper Project, commissioned in Ogun State by his Defence Chief, Major-General Abdulsalami Abubakar. Plans were in place to construct more Export Processing Zones (EPZ) while concerted efforts were made to complete the Calabar EPZ. 26th of March, 1997, Abacha is in Lome, Togo for a summit. Looking nice with the ring -In a bid to increase the export of made-in-Nigerian goods, Abacha also oversaw the attempt to harmonize the functions and duties of the Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM) and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEP). -Abacha established the Ministry of Solid Minerals Resources which was mandated to explore and market Nigeria’s vast natural minerals. He would later reactivate the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill but till date, that complex is one huge stinking cesspit of corruption. His government also did some dredging of the River Niger and established the Aluminum Smelting Company. -Construction of the Federal House of Representatives Complex in Abuja and introduced the National Constitutional Conference. -At a time in 1996, in order to address skyrocketing prices of food, Abacha ordered the massive importation of rice, and people like Dangote flooded the entire market with so much rice that the price crashed. -Abacha also established the Federal Character Commission (FCC) which sees to it that the allocations of appointments are fairly distributed all over the country. The FCC also was to address the imbalance and lopsided appointments in the civil service and parastatals. -Abacha also established the National Reconciliation Committee to quell disputes via diplomatic resolutions. He also saw to the establishment of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and it must be noted that his junta made funds available for the National Programme on Immunization (NPI). -Abacha also saw to the construction of an international natural gas pipeline network between Nigeria, Togo and Ghana. This ensured that Nigerian gas products could be sold to these nations. Work on the pipeline network started in September 1995. -On the 2 nd of April, 1996, Abacha commissioned the Nigeria Police Academy, Kano with the hope that the institution will be affiliated to a degree-awarding university. He also saw to the establishment of the National War College and embarked on renovation of barracks. -In order to address the problem arising from foreign exchange, he introduced the Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (AFEM) policy while also keeping the Official Exchange Rate which was N22.05 to $1 in 1993 but had done high jump and somersaults to N85 in 1998. Thanks to 14 years of democracy, it is now double that amount and the naira keeps falling like Humpty Dumpty even though we are making more from oil exports than ever. Professor Sam Aluko and Chief Ani were the brains behind Abachanomics (Abacha’s economic policies) . Abacha did not collect a penny of foreign loans, and that’s quite impressive. In January 1994, he dumped IBB’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and embarked on his own populist economic policies. He also established the Economic Intelligence Commission (EIC). -The Chairman of ECOWAS from 27th July 1996 until he died, he gave a solid backing to regional plans and fully supported innovations like the ECOWAS Traveller’s Cheque. The cheques were released in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 West African Unit of Account (WAUA) and were to serve as legal tender in the subregion. They had indigenous designs such as the ECOWAS logo and the flags of the Member Nations. Security features included the water mark, security thread and beautiful intaglio designs. The WAUA was equivalent to 1.36 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), which is the unit of account of the International Monetary Fund. The WAUA was convertible to any of the currencies in the ECOWAS subregion. Abacha with Yasser Arafat, Palestine Liberation Organization Leader (PLO). Hours after seeing off Arafat, Abacha, who looked very healthy here, was stone-dead. Arafat too is dead and both men are suspected to have died from poisoning. Arafat’s wife has called for Yasser’s body to be exhumed and checked for plutonium poisoning. - Abacha saw to the creation of six new states: Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Zamfara, Gombe and Ekiti, and a total of 182 new Local Government Areas (LGAs). He was also the one who introduced the concept of the six geopolitical zones we have today and the rotational framework on October 1, 1995 when he announced a transition to civilian rule in three years. The new package also provided for a President, Prime Minister, Vice President and a Deputy Prime Minister. -Ostensibly responding to increasing calls for democratic changes, he had the ambitious plan of succeeding himself in power, forming five political parties (Democratic Party of Nigeria, DPN, United Nigerian Congress Party, UNCP, Congress for National Consensus, CNC, Grassroots Democratic Movement, GDM and the National Center Party of Nigeria, NCPN with opposition parties carefully excluded) after setting up the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON), which Bola Ige referred to as the ” five fingers of a leprous hand.’ -One funny thing happened: even before Abacha declared his intention to run for the Presidency (death never gave him the opportunity), all the five political parties adopted him as their flag bearer and presidential aspirant on the 20 th of April, 1998. with Abacha positioned as a sole candidate, most retraced their steps and only Tunji Braithwaite and Alhaji MD Yusufu, a former police chief, were bold enough to also declare their interest in running for the Nigerian presidency. The five parties were shunned by most Nigerians and the participation rate was embarrassingly low, less than 5% in some places. He had planned a handover date of October 1998 and even had a draft constitution kept in secret but later revealed by Abdulsalami. Does that remind you of Mbasogo, Mobutu, Mugabe and other African leaders who always win with 80-90%? LOL! Or even Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and the late Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan who tend to get almost 100% in every election? -Alongside the redesigning and completion of Abuja Phase II, Abacha saw to the construction of Gwarimpa Housing Estate, Abuja, the largest of its type in Africa and also established the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF) and there was reasonable trickle-down effect of the benefits of the removal of fuel subsidy in addition to stabilizing fuel pump prices at about N25 per liter. Overall, he was also able to reduce Nigeria’s external debt profile. Foreign reserves stood at about $10 billion but fell rapidly months after his death to $4billion during the Abdulsalami regime. PTF proceeds went to the building of schools, barracks, roads and bridges across the nation and also funded the Drug Revolving Scheme and the construction of the International Trade Fair Complex in Kaduna (I can remember that one very well, my Dad was there as an English-French translator/ interpreter during one of the fairs in 1997 or so). There was also the establishment of Nigeria’s first natural gas superfacility, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) which commercialized Nigeria’s vast natural gas reserves and reduced flaring. In addition to this, there was the exploration of crude oil in other places like Gombe, Borno and Bauchi states. -Abacha also embarked upon the rehabilitation and modernization of the railway system. Abacha also launched the Federal Urban Mass Assisted Bus Service all over the country at subsidized rates. As a student, I benefitted from the buses, which we simply called ‘urban’. As for the seaports, there was a facelift for the facilities while new ships were procured, like the one from Poland in 1994.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 05:50:38 +0000
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