YENAGOA, Nigeria — The oil money has coursed through this swampy, sprawling settlement in the Niger Delta, a paper gusher that has yielded ambitious unfinished skeletons: a ghostly high-rise hotel; a luxury shopping center-in-waiting; a giant hospital that is mostly empty; housing and other projects, some completed but many not.
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Jane Hahn for The New York Times
Billions of dollars in immense oil riches have been funneled to places like Ibeno, but fishermen must still deal with environmental degradation of their water.
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Jane Hahn for The New York Times
An oil drum littered a road in Bodo. Some $22 billion in federal funds remain largely unaccounted for, analysts and good-government groups say.
Closer to the people, schools are crumbling, commerce spills from squalid shacks, soldiers operate checkpoints and militants hide in the creeks.

Billions of dollars of Nigeria’s immense oil riches have been funneled to places like this in the last year alone, yet they have not brought the country peace. The region is still plagued by huge disparities of wealth, kidnappings, sabotage and threats of more to come.

In recent months this conundrum — a flood of oil wealth yet continued unrest — has emerged again amid signs that the rebellion is not over. A deadly bombing attack claimed by southern insurgents struck at the heart of Nigerian power in Abuja, the capital, killing at least 12 people last October. Since then, gunmen have attacked an offshore oil rig and seized hostages, including two Americans. The Nigerian military has conducted raids on militants, with civilian casualties. Two weeks ago, the leading militant group threatened a new wave of attacks on the oil industry.

Making sure oil profits return to this impoverished region has long been a rallying cry of the militants, but the recent increase in money here — a great deal more money — has brought more questions than calm to the Niger Delta.

In particular, foreign diplomats, analysts and rating agencies, not to mention the residents themselves, wonder what the government has done with nearly $30 billion in supplementary oil revenues. More of this money has gone to the Niger Delta than anywhere else, under a federal formula that favors the oil-producing region, but evidence of how it has been spent is elusive.

Toward the end of 2008, about $30 billion sat in Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account, a government fund of extra revenue that exceeds what the government has budgeted from the projected price of oil. When oil prices are high, money flows into the account, and it becomes an irresistible, unaccounted-for jackpot, especially for the largely autonomous governors of Nigeria’s 36 states, according to financial analysts and good-government groups.

From $30 billion, the fund had trickled down to about $450 million by mid-2010, according to Veronica Kalema of Fitch Ratings, which late last year downgraded Nigeria’s outlook from “stable” to “negative” partly because of the vast and largely unaccounted outflow from the Excess Crude Account.

By the beginning of this year, the fund had trickled down to about $300 million, according to reports in the Nigerian media. Officials with the Finance Ministry did not respond to calls for comment this month, but about $15 billion was spent in 2010 alone, Ms. Kalema said.

Some of the vast pile of cash, perhaps $5 billion to $8 billion, has been spent on so-far unfruitful efforts to upgrade Nigeria’s feeble power output, which remains no better than that of a mid-size American city for a nation of over 150 million people, Africa’s most populous. But the rest, some $22 billion or more, remains largely unaccounted for.

“Where the hell did the remaining $22 billion-plus go?” asked a foreign-based adviser to the Nigerian government who asked to remain anonymous because of his continuing relationship with it. “Most of the remaining $22 billion was drawn down by the state governments without any particular projects to spend it on, just on the basis of, there’s money sitting in the accounts, lets draw it down.”

It is entirely possible that nobody has a clear picture of what has become of this vast sum after it was parceled out at meetings of the state governors.

“It’s basically free money,” said another financial consultant who has advised the Nigerian government. “Once you get it, there are no checks and balances on what happens to it.”

The results, or lack of them, are visible in places like this steamy state capital at Nigeria’s southern edge. Empty grandiose shells — the unfinished hotel looks like a giant waffle cone — tower over swamps, near brand-new poured-concrete government buildings alongside ramshackle corrugated-metal-roofed shacks.

Along Isaac Boro Road are sprawling mansions and hotels, some finished and some not, and “all or nearly all belong to members of the state house of assembly, which is quite disconcerting to me,” said Antoine Heuty of the Revenue Watch Institute, financed by George Soros, which runs a budget-watching project here in Bayelsa State.


Some $200 million from the Excess Crude Account alone was pouring into Bayelsa State each month during parts of 2008. But local watchdogs contend that after money was approved for projects, it was never spent and remains unaccounted for. They cite about $2 million planned for the renovation of a hospital at Igbogene (except that there was no hospital there in need of renovation, they said), $2.6 million approved for an AIDS facility that state Health Ministry officials were unaware of, and $3.3 million for hospital construction in Bayelsa that the Health Ministry also knew nothing about.

The New York Times
The lack of results is visible in places like Yenagoa, a state capital.
“We have these situations occurring over and over, and we find it is just very difficult to have a clear picture of how money is spent,” said Philip Slaboh of the Bayelsa NGO Forum, a good-government group.

Yet Bayelsa State has become, in theory, one of the more transparent in Nigeria, putting its annual budget on the Internet and moving toward paying salaries electronically, not in the cash that is otherwise omnipresent in Nigeria, aiding corruption. Earlier in the decade, a former Bayelsa governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, siphoned millions in oil money into private accounts before fleeing Britain disguised as a woman in an attempt to escape prosecution. He was convicted of fraud in 2007 and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.

But the new transparency is limited. “I agree that nobody knows how much money coming into the state is allocated to agriculture, education” and other areas, said Dimieari von Kemedi, a top official in Bayelsa’s state government.

An audit of three state ministries under way late last year “is not going to make those ministries look good, so we don’t want to do it for the whole government,” Mr. Kemedi said. “You don’t want to collapse government.”

He defended the unfinished hotel tower and mall: “Those who think government should not be building hotels have limited ambitions,” Mr. Kemedi said.

Nearby, a light bulb hung in a classroom at the Okaka Community Primary School, and giant chunks of plaster were missing from a covered walkway to protect the students during frequent rains. Not a single school in Yenagoa has been renovated, said Wisdom Wilson of the Relief Initiative for Good Governance and Sustainable Development.

“Since the return of democracy, people have not seen any physical dividend,” said Alagoa Morris, of the Environmental Rights Action group, in Yenagoa. Mr. Morris travels the region, and though skeptical about the continued existence of militant camps, notes: “It would be wrong for us to say all the arms have been dropped.”

He added, “It’s so sad that the federal government has not addressed the underlying problems of the militancy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/world/africa/09nigeria.html?pagewanted=1&ref=africa

why cant this nation get her acts right ?

MR ODE, if u dont have any vision and ideas to check these rampant corruption, please spare us as a nation the torment of another 4 years in this system.
i cant even get mysef to think abt it- ANOTHER FOUR YEAR TO BE WASTED!. GHANA AND KENYA are mending their tracks, speeding up development for their people.

DAMN!!!

ODECHUKWU is the real Koko in epileptic governance

its a shame that not many nigerian journalists carry out deep investigations to give reports like this. Loved the piece, it indicates the need for a sharp and immediate change in our governance so Jonathan or in fact all supporters of corruption must be cast out for us to achieve our true potential.

Yes Ghana and Kenya are making great strides despite their small size and we can't even match them because a few are parasites to the majority. We must get rid of all parasites.

Toward the end of 2008, about $30 billion sat in Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account, a government fund of extra revenue that exceeds what the government has budgeted from the projected price of oil. When oil prices are high, money flows into the account, and it becomes an irresistible, unaccounted-for jackpot, especially for the largely autonomous governors of Nigeria’s 36 states, according to financial analysts and good-government groups.

From $30 billion, the fund had trickled down to about $450 million by mid-2010, according to Veronica Kalema of Fitch Ratings, which late last year downgraded Nigeria’s outlook from “stable” to “negative” partly because of the vast and largely unaccounted outflow from the Excess Crude Account.

By the beginning of this year, the fund had trickled down to about $300 million, according to reports in the Nigerian media. Officials with the Finance Ministry did not respond to calls for comment this month, but about $15 billion was spent in 2010 alone, Ms. Kalema said.

Some of the vast pile of cash, perhaps $5 billion to $8 billion, has been spent on so-far unfruitful efforts to upgrade Nigeria’s feeble power output, which remains no better than that of a mid-size American city for a nation of over 150 million people, Africa’s most populous. But the rest, some $22 billion or more, remains largely unaccounted for.

“Where the hell did the remaining $22 billion-plus go?” asked a foreign-based adviser to the Nigerian government who asked to remain anonymous because of his continuing relationship with it. “Most of the remaining $22 billion was drawn down by the state governments without any particular projects to spend it on, just on the basis of, there’s money sitting in the accounts, lets draw it down.”

ibb's 12 billion oil windfall is looking small now. seems whatever ibb can do wrong, gej can do worse. and the man, as his blind advocates love to remind us, has only spent 9 months in office. dangerous prcedents from odeolechukwu

[size=15pt]“Where the hell did the remaining $22 billion-plus go?” asked a foreign-based adviser to the Nigerian government who asked to remain anonymous because of his continuing relationship with it. “Most of the remaining $22 billion was drawn down by the state governments without any particular projects to spend it on, just on the basis of, there’s money sitting in the accounts, lets draw it down.”[/size]

Maybe we should ask GEJ where that 22 billion went to.

Some $200 million from the Excess Crude Account alone was pouring into Bayelsa State each month during parts of 2008. But local watchdogs contend that after money was approved for projects, it was never spent and remains unaccounted for. They cite about $2 million planned for the renovation of a hospital at Igbogene (except that there was no hospital there in need of renovation, they said), $2.6 million approved for an AIDS facility that state Health Ministry officials were unaware of, and $3.3 million for hospital construction in Bayelsa that the Health Ministry also knew nothing about.

This is simply disgusting. $200 million/month is enough to turn Bayelsa into heaven on earth. WTF?

I thoroughly encourage you all to read the entire article.

Pretty shameful what these governors of Bayelsa have done. They should all be rotting in jail cells.

You want to know where the money went?

Check GEJ's asset, He runs a joint account with the Bayerlsa State govt

Haterz! Typical of them to twist it to their convinience.

This is getting serious. no damn accountability. the fool is busy appointing VCs for university still on paper. arrrrghhhhhh

I heard d Gov of Bayelsa is a personal friend Roman Abromovich, he is a staunch Chelsea supporter, he has an executive box seat in Stanford Bridge, & he badly miss home matches no wonder Bayelsa has gone to d dogs. This State should be d number spot in Naija.

As Timaya says, "Bayelsa na my state"

the next thing u'd hear is dem saying this is a propaganda against GEJ.
what a shame.

smh

I want to laff, but shortchanging your own people is not funny.

We want to attain G10 status but these people keep wasting the funds that might help a kid born in Otueke(GEJ's town)Bayelsa compete with a kid born in Boston USA. . .

SMH

KnowAll:

I heard d Gov of Bayelsa is a personal friend Roman Abromovich, he is a staunch Chelsea supporter, he has an executive box seat in Stanford Bridge, & he badly miss home matches no wonder Bayelsa has gone to d dogs. This State should be d number spot in Naija.

I am not suprised - $200 Million a month.

Rent seeking baste rds - who, their family, generations to come are forever cursed.

Kilode?!:

I want to laff, but shortchanging your own people is not funny.

We want to attain G10 status but these people keep wasting the funds that might help a kid born in Otueke(GEJ's town)Bayelsa compete with a kid born in Boston USA. . .

SMH

You actually think a kid born today in Otueke can actually compete with a kid born in Boston?

Let that kid compete with a kid born in Accra first.

who are we kidding?

No wonder the budget for yr 2011 by odeolechukwu is tagged BUDGET OF CONSUMPTION and we are to borrow half of the money to finance the budget despite the fact that there is a boom in the oil market. Phd na paper ooo no be comon sense niether is it wisdom but a tag in Nigeria's context. All i can at dis point is MAY GOD'S WILL BE DONE IN NIGERIA, its like there is a contest among pdp members on who is d most corrupt among them and odeolechukwu is dng everything possible to win the prize and those bat breast sucking clowns in dis forum will come on to spew trash in his defence. PATHETIC INDEED.

Go and ask a market woman about govt spending and she'll tell u. Are this 'journalist' afraid to go to aganga, sanusi or gej himself for accountability? Con news for con men!

Why am I not surprised that GEJ's name wasn't mentioned in the article?
Poor haters will burst a vein one day!

What a sad way to live.

$30bln wasted with no accountability.

And some fools want us to vote for this despicable abhorrent Ali Baba and his 40 thieves who sits in Aso Rock and fritters away the nations wealth like he did in Bayelsa.

Ibime:

$30bln wasted with no accountability.

And some fools want us to vote for this despicable abhorrent Ali Baba and his 40 thieves who sits in Aso Rock and fritters away the nations wealth like he did in Bayelsa.

Was GEJ governor in any of the years mentioned in the article? No.
You guys aught to be really ashamed.

fstranger3:


You actually think a kid born today in Otueke can actually compete with a kid born in Boston?

Let that kid compete with a kid born in Accra first.

who are we kidding?

At least one kid born in Otueke is about to become president. (luck or no luck)

The least they can do is ensure that we don't kill the luck of other Otueke children with short sighted corruption.

But alas, at the rate these politicians are embezzling money, even lubumbashi kids will laugh and point at us.

Beaf:

Was GEJ governor in any of the years mentioned in the article? No.
You guys aught to be really ashamed.

@Beaf, how far? it's been a while.

Bros go still do this True Federalism thing? I'm worried o.

@Kilode?!
I full ground remain! How your end? I didn't log on for a few days, cos I was bogged down with work.

As for true federalism, I hope so; but, we are best waiting for detailed manifesto's, which in turn will depend on the security situation in the country. True federalism is still anathema to some sections.

^ I dey here, I dey try chop remain for awon boyz.

Make bros shine eye o, all these new Universities with federal power dey confuse awon boyz o!

hmmm, see magic. $22bn . When some people cannot feed their families. Are these people going to die and be buried with this money? That money needs to resurface and it needs to be put back. EFCC needs to go after Jonathan, and so does the senate. This is an impeachable offense. Even if he doesnt win this election, he must still pay the money back. Am sure he shared it for PDP to get party nomination and rig this elections. He better restrict that rigging to Bayelsa state because 2011, will be too hot for Jonathan.

^
Here comes another rumour mongering dunce that forgot to learn to read.
GEJ is not mentioned even once in the article, neither is any year he was gov mentioned. Why una like lie?

Kilode?!:

^ I dey here, I dey try chop remain for awon boyz.

Make bros shine eye o, all these new Universities with federal power dey confuse awon boyz o!

Abeg, chop remain for we o!
The new uni thing is very good developmentally, they will all be specialist schools.

No wahala, I now dey chop clean mouth comot

Beaf:

@Kilode?!
I full ground remain! How your end? I didn't log on for a few days, cos I was bogged down with work.

As for true federalism, I hope so; but, we are best waiting for detailed manifesto's, which in turn will depend on the security situation in the country. True federalism is still anathema to some sections.

Ok then, You know I won't vote for him because of the people sorrounding him, it's a matter of principle, and frankly he does not need my vote if he's with the owners of Nigeria in PDP.

But if he can work with the right people, be strategic and get what You've been explaining about True Federalism done, I will forgive him. seriously

Make we dey watch sha. . .

Beaf:

^
Here comes another rumour mongering dunce that forgot to learn to read.
GEJ is not mentioned even once in the article, neither is any year he was gov mentioned. Why una like lie?

Abeg, chop remain for we o!
The new uni thing is very good developmentally, they will all be specialist schools.

I didnt even see your response. GEJ is not responsible? You are really crazy ooh. Who is the CEO of this country? He is responsible for every kobo that leaves the nation's coffer's. I know you are paid to spew some daft shit, but Beaf, you are the dumb idiot for that statement. Your oga needs to return the money. Awon Ole. See rascal. Una don do magic with money and dem don use am oil your mouth small that na why your mouth dey slip these days. idiot,