NIGERIA'S OBASANJO SACKS MINISTER OVER ALLEGED BRIBES FROM FRENCH FIRM
ABUJA, Dec 4 (AFP) Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday sacked a cabinet minister for allegedly taking bribes from a French firm, in a bid to show his anti corruption credentials on the eve of a Commonwealth summit.
Obasanjo announced the dismissal of Labour Minister Hussaini Akwanga after Nigeria's anti graft agency named him as one of seven serving and former officials under investigation for receiving colossal sums from the firm.
It's distressing to me that this type of scandal could occur in the life of this administration in spite of all the efforts we've been making to stamp out corruption in public service, the president said in a letter to Akwanga.
On Friday, Obasanjo will host the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Abuja, and the announcement was seen as a deliberate attempt to highlight his renewed anti graft crusade.
Nigeria has a woeful reputation for public sector graft, and is anchored to the bottom rungs of global watchdog Transparency International's corruption perception index.
Obasanjo failed to make any impact on the problem during his first term in office but since his re election in April his administration has set about the task with renewed vigour, and he is keen to win international recognition.
Akwanga was permanent secretary at the interior ministry during the first term, when he is alleged to have been one of seven officials to have received kick backs on a 214 million dollar national identity card contract.
As you are a member of the cabinet in the current administration, the report constitutes a serious embarrassment to government and a dent in your image as minister, Obasanjo said, ordering Akwanga to relinquish his duties.
Mike Sowe, a spokesman for the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), said investigators had identified a French agent of the firm, SAGEM S.A., who had sent bribes to the officials through a Nigerian intermediary.
Those under investigation also include two former interior ministers Michael Afolabi and Mahmud Shata a former state governor and the current permanent secretary in the interior ministry.
An ICPC statement said that the officials are alleged to have collected colossal sums in local and foreign money.
Six of the officials live in Nigeria, and have been arrested, questioned and released pending further investigation, it said.
An eighth Nigerian, the former director of Department of National Civic Registration, Christopher Agidim, has been detained in Britain.
Efforts are being made to repatriate him to Nigeria to assist the commission in its investigations, the statement said.
SAGEM, a French electronics and communications giant, was awarded a huge 214 million dollar contract in 2001 to revive a long standing plan to issue ID cards to the 126 million inhabitants of Africa's most populous nation.
It was however discovered that SAGEM agents in Nigeria including Regional Area Manager Identification Systems Mr Jean Pierre Delarue, a Frenchman, and Mr Niyi Adelagun organised and executed a scheme through which bribes were distributed to these top government officials, Sowe's statement said.
All the arrested officials have made useful statements to the commission, while accounts of most of the suspects in United Kingdom are being investigated, it said.
Adelagun, the alleged go between, had been a business partner of SAGEM, the statement said.
On Thursday, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, who is visiting Nigeria for the Commonwealth summit, commended Nigeria's return to elected rule and urged it to move forward with plans for economic and political reform.
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