USAfricaonline.com, first African-owned U.S.-based professional newspaper to be published on the internet, is listed among the world's hot sites by the international newspaper, USAToday. USAfrica has been cited by the New York Times as America's largest African-owned multimedia company. 8303 SW Freeway, Suite 100, Houston, Texas 77074. Phone: 713-270-5500. Cell direct: 832-45-CHIDO (24436)


On the Prof. Chinua Achebe project, log on to www.Achebebooks.com

CNN International interview with Nigeria's President Obasanjo and USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu on Democracy and Security Issues

Obasanjo fingered by his VP Atiku in loss of $500m Oil Money

 By Jide Ajani, Omoh Gabriel & Rotimi Ajayi in Lagos

Vice President Atiku Abubakar alleged on September 17, 2006 that over $500 million of the money realised during the 2002/2003 oil licensing bids cannot be accounted for by the authorities.

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, speaking on the VP said he (Atiku) was engaging in cheap blackmail to win public sympathy while the President of the World Bank, Mr Paul Wolfowitz, yesterday gave President Obasanjo a clean bill of health in his crusade against corruption when he said "you can go around the world, the President of Nigeria is making a strong effort to deal with corruption and taking on corrupt officials at a level that was unheard of in his country."

Meanwhile, President Obasanjo has ordered his camp to cease-fire in the face-off with the vice president.

Vice President Atiku in a statement yesterday by his chief spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu had said: "The position of the law on PTDF is that all money collected in respect of licensing rounds (bidding proceeds) of oil blocks and their licensing is to be paid into the PTDF account for the purposes of training Nigerians in specified fields.


Corruption charges and Questions trail Obasanjo's controversial shares in Transcorp
"About $700m was realised during the 2002/2003 bidding rounds but only the sum of about $145m was released to the PTDF. At this point, the pertinent question to ask is: where is the balance and who used it and under what law or which appropriation sub-head.

"The law also provides that any disbursed amount should be invested in accordance with the guidelines approved by the Accountant General of the Federation(AGF).

"The AGF approved about 14 banks to hold PTDF deposits after certifying them to be healthy and suitable. These include the Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB) and the Trans-International Bank (TIB).

"It is very important to state that the approval granted by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) was for programmes and projects to be embarked upon after the project conception, design and implementation after meeting due process requirements.

"The approval was not for the award of contracts to be implemented immediately, nor was it an approval for the investment of the funds as the kangaroo panel set up by the President tried to impute.

"This is clearly so, as the president had earlier in 2001 approved a similar programme of action, which guided the operations of the PTDF. The established operational procedure for the PTDF did not provide for FEC approval before funds are deposited with any bank.

"It was a routine exercise which was normally done by the management of PTDF under the direction of the Special Adviser on Petroleum Resources or the Vice President as the case maybe.

"Over $100m was deposited with First Bank and similar large sums with UBA at one time or the other without any such approval. Similarly, the other 12 banks or so had amounts deposited with them without the approval of FEC.

"In short, no government department or PTDF required any approval from the FEC to invest their funds. The procedure in the case of ETB and TIB were fully complied with as the banks were approved by the AG to hold PTDF funds.

"The Executive Secretary recommended them on the basis of sound business judgment which the Vice President approved and the signatories to the PTDF accounts comprising officers in the AGF's office and Ministry of Petroleum Resources released the funds to the banks as deposits on clearly defined tenor and interest rates to be paid." Vanguard (Lagos) September 18, 2006



Investigating Marc Rich and his deals with Nigeria's Oil
Through an elaborate network of carrots and sticks and a willing army of Nigeria's soldiers and some civilians, controversial global dealer and billionaire Marc Rich, literally and practically, made deals and steals; yes, laughed his way to the banks from crude oil contracts, unpaid millions in oil royalties and false declarations of quantities of crude lifted and exported from Nigeria for almost 25 years. Worse, he lifted Nigeria's oil and shipped same to then embargoed apartheid regime in South Africa. Read Chido Nwangwu's NEWS INVESTIGATION REPORT

Nelson Mandela, Tribute to the world's political superstar and Lion of Africa  


Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's burden mounts with murder charges, trials

Why Bush should focus on
dangers facing Nigeria's return to democracy and Obasanjo's slipperyslide
TRIBUTE
A KING FOR ALL TIMES: Why Martin Luther King's legacy and vision are relevant into 21st century.




DIPLOMACY Walter Carrington: African-American diplomat who put principles above self for Nigeria (USAfrica's founder Chido Nwangwu with Ambassador Carrington at the U.S. embassy, Nigeria)
DEMOCRACY'S WARRIOR
Out of Africa. The cock that crows in the morning belongs to one household but his voice is the property of the neighborhood. -- Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah. An editor carries on his crusade against public corruption and press censorship in his native Nigeria and other African countries. By John Suval.

The Economics of Elections in Nigeria
HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
How far, how deep will Nigeria's human rights commission go?
Rtd. Gen. Babangida trip as emissary for Nigeria's Obasanjo to Sudan raises curiosity, questions about what next in power play?
110 minutes with Hakeem Olajuwon
Nigerian stabbed to death in his bathroom in Houston.

Since 1958, Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" set a standard of artistic excellence, and more. By Douglas Killam
DEBATE: How Black intellectuals let Africa down, and western stereoptypes complicate the rest. By Cedrick Ngalande at the USC, Los Angeles

Why Chinua Achebe, the Eagle on the Iroko, is Africa's writer of the century. By Chido Nwangwu(First written on March 1, 2002, for USAfrica, updated for Prof. Achebe's 74th Birthday tribute on November 16, 2004, and published in CLASS magazine same month): Africa's most acclaimed and fluent writer of the English Language, the most translated writer of Black heritage in the world, broadcaster extraordinaire, social conscience of millions, cultural custodian and elevator, chronicler and essayist, goodwill ambassador and man of progressive rock-ribbed principles, the Eagle on the Iroko, Ugo n'abo Professor Chinua Achebe, has recently been selected by a distinguished jury of scholars and critics (from 13 countries of African life and literature) as the writer of the Best book (Things Fall Apart, 1958) written in the twentieth century regarding Africa. Reasonably, Achebe's message has been neither dimmed nor dulled by time and clime. He's our pathfinder, the intellectual godfather of millions of Africans and lovers of the fine art of good writing. Achebe's cultural contexts are, at once, pan-African, globalist and local; hence, his literary contextualizations soar beyond the confines of Umuofia and any Igbo or Nigerian setting of his creative imagination or historical recall.

His globalist underpinnings and outlook are truly reflective of the true essence of his Igbo world-view, his Igbo upbringing and disposition. Igbos and Jews share (with a few other other cultures) this pan-global disposition to issues of art, life, commerce, juridical pursuits, and quest to be republicanist in terms of the vitality of the individual/self. In Achebe's works, the centrality of Chi (God) attains an additional clarity in the Igbo cosmology... it is a world which prefers a quasi-capitalistic business attitude while taking due cognizance of the usefulness of the whole, the community. I've studied, lived and tried to better understand, essentially, the rigor and towering moral certainties which Achebe have employed in most of his works and his world. I know, among other reasons, because I share the same ancestry with him. Permit me to attempt a brief sentence, with that Achebean simplicty and clarity. Here, folks, what the world has known since 1958: Achebe is good! Eagle on the Iroko, may your Lineage endure! There has never been one like you!
Ugo n'abo, chukwu gozie gi oo!
. Chido Nwangwu, recipient of the Journalism Excellence award (1997), is Founder and Publisher of USAfricaonline.com (first African-owned U.S.-based professional newspaper to be published on the internet), USAfrica The Newspaper, CLASS magazine and The Black Business Journal. He has served as an adviser to the Mayor of Houston on international business (Africa) and appears as an analyst on CNN, VOA, NPR, CBS News, NBC and ABC news affiliates.


This USAfricaonline.com commentary is copyrighted. Archiving on any other web site or newspaper is unauthorized except with a Written Approval by USAfricaonline.com Founder.


Africa suffers the scourge of the virus. This life and pain of Kgomotso Mahlangu, a five-month-old AIDS patient (above) in a hospital in the Kalafong township near Pretoria, South Africa, on October 26, 1999, brings a certain, frightening reality to the sweeping and devastating destruction of human beings who form the core of any definition of a country's future, its national security, actual and potential economic development and internal markets.
22 million Africans HIV-infected, ill with AIDS while African leaders ignore disaster-in-waiting

In a special report a few hours after the history-making nomination,
USAfricaonline.com Founder and Publisher Chido Nwangwu places Powell within the trajectory of history and into his unfolding clout and relevance in an essay titled 'Why Colin Powell brings gravitas, credibility and star power to Bush presidency.'

Powell named Secretary State by G.W. Bush; bipartisan commendations follow.

AFRICA AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS
Beyond U.S. electoral shenanigans, rewards and dynamics of a democratic republic hold lessons for African politics.
CONTINENTAL AGENDA
Bush's position on Africa is "ill-advised." The position stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of Texas, George Bush where he said that "Africa will not be an area of priority" in his presidency has been questioned by USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu. He added that Bush's "pre-election position was neither validated by the economic exchanges nor geo-strategic interests of our two continents."

These views were stated during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and senior analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on Saturday November 18, 2000 during a special edition of 'Inside Politics 2000.'
Nwangwu, adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35 million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for Governor Bush's ill-advised position which removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be elected president.
By Al Johnson


Johnnie Cochran will soon learn that defending Abacha's loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's case. By Chido Nwangwu
Should Africa debates begin and end at The New York Times and The Washington Post? No

Cheryl Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors' game 
It's wrong to stereotype Nigerians as Drug Dealers

Private initiative, free market forces, and more democratization are Keys to prosperity in Africa


Apple announces Titanium, "killer apps" and other ground-breaking products for 2001. iTunes makes a record 500,000 downloads.
Steve Jobs extends
digital magic
CLASS is the social events, heritage excellence and style magazine for Africans in north America, described by The New York Times as the magazine for affluent Africans in America. It is published by professional journalists and leading mulitmedia leaders and pioneers.