Dear All:
This below shows the power and vigilance of ONE PERSON - not a committee, not an organization - to make a difference. Just do your homework, be cogent, be direct - and be respectful. And no silly threats.....
Kudos to Majekodunmi Adega, B.A., CISA, LL.B, B.L, LL.M, Barrister, Solicitor & Notary, Toronto, Canada. We add on SAM - Senior Advocate of the Masses! May your tribe increase - and the governors' tribe decrease!
There you have it!
Bolaji Aluko
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HARVARD PROFESSOR ROTBERG'S RESPONSE
There is no agreement between Harvard and the Governors. And there will not be. Your press jumped the gun.
Best wishes
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MAJEKODUNMI ADEGA'S COMMUNICATION #1
From:
mad...@adegalawoffice.com
Date: 6/11/2009 10:56:22 PM
To:
nidoc...@yahoogroups.com
Cc:
nidoc...@yahoogroups.com;
ni...@yahoogroups.com
Subject:[NIDOCanada] RE: Harvard University denies agreement to train Nigerian governors
Dear All:
Following "jubilations" by excited Nigerian governors concerning the agreement reached between them and Harvard University on the training of Nigerian governors on capacity building, some of us set out to investigate why an esteemed and respected university would assist Nigerian politicians in the looting of public resources. Please find below the m
ails exchanged between myself and the Prof Rotberg of Harvard University and you decide for yourself who to believe.
Regards,
Majekodunmi Adega
B.A., CISA, LL.B, B.L, LL.M
Barrister, Solicitor & Notary
23 Westmore Drive, Suite 216
Toronto, Canada
M9V 3Y7
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MAJEKODUNMI ADEGA'S COMMUNICATION #2
Harvard University denies agreement with Nigerian governors.
Thursday, 11 June 2009 23:28 Citizen Investigations by Majek Adega
It has been reported in some of Nigeria’s newspapers and Internet portals that Harvard University recently entered into an agreement with the Governors' Forum to train Nigeria’s governors’ on capacity building. The Guardian newspaper’s editorial of June 11, 2009 also addressed the issue in very harsh language. I forwarded a copy of Guardian’s editorial to Harvard University.
At the end of their jamboree and return to Nigeria, governor Akpabio, the spokesman for the group, held a press conference in Calabar and briefed20members of the press about the reasons for the alleged agreement between the Governors Forum and Harvard University. He cited lack of understanding of the Constitution and preparedness for the job they willingly sought as the reasons behind the agreement. This is the same job that some of these governors considered “a do or die” affair and were willing to do anything to get. Pathetic will be a friendly way to describe governor Akpabio’s utterances.
Personally angered that the trip was nothing more than another avenue for the governors to engage in the squandering of scarce public resources; that history has taught Nigerians that most Nigerian politicians would not engage in any endeavor that does not provide an opportunity for looting of the treasury, even if such an endeavor is the acquisition of skills needed to improve their own on-the-job performance; that the trip to Harvard University may have cost the Nigerian taxpayers millions of dollars in airline tickets for the governors and their retinue of assistants/girlfriends, payment of bloated official allowances and hotel accommodation; that notwithstanding the egregious nature of the above-described components of the trip one’s indignation is further exacerbated by the realization that the trip may actually have been a ruse or decoy for squirreling looted funds out of Nigeria and into American bank accounts, I decided to get to the bottom of the story by contacting Harvard University.
I started my investi
gations by contacting Jake Ackman of Harvard University’s Communications Office
(1-617-495-1115). Although he acknowledged reading news reports about the purported agreement, he denied knowledge of its existence. My Ackman then referred me to the office of Prof. Robert Rotberg, head of the Office of the University’s Intrastate Conflict Program
(1-617-496-2258). Prof. Rotberg’s Intrastate Conflict Program coordinates the “capacity training” the governors claim to be interested in. An assistant in Prof. Rotberg’s office who did not want the name published also denied the existence of an agreement between the school and the Governor’s Forum. I was further informed by the assistant that Mr. Rotberg was in a meeting but would be happy to respond to my email. I was given Prof. Rotberg’s email address and I promptly fired off an email to him.
In my email to Mr. Rotberg, I expressed my disappointment that an esteemed institution like Harvard University would be involved in an enterprise as sleazy as the one involving the governors. I told him that Nigerian governors do not need Harvard University workshops or degrees to know that provision of water, electricity and shelter are basic rights of citizens. That they do not need Harvard University workshops or degrees to know that treasury looting is a crime against the people and the state. That they do not need Harvard University workshops or degrees to understand that the money they spent on the needless trip to Cambr
idge-Massachusetts could have been better spent providing basic amenities for the people; that at a cost of $2,500.00 a borehole, a community of 50-100 people/Nigerians can be given year-round access to clean water that would reduce the risks associated with water borne diseases. I further told him that the real victims of the Harvard University jamboree are the ordinary Nigerian people who could have had several boreholes installed for them with the resources spent on the jamboree. That the real victims are the new born babies and mothers dying due to lack of basic medical supplies, including incubators. I also explained that ordinary Nigerians “are the real victims of the type of financial brigandage that brought these governors to Harvard University. The victims may not be in front of you, you may never meet them, your knowledge of them may be limited to figures/statistics, but they are real human beings. They are people’s children, parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, husbands and wives. Think about them when you deal with these politicians” .
I sent my email to Prof. Rotberg at about 7:00 p.m. and within an hour I received a reply from him. In his reply, not only did Prof. Rotberg deny the existence of any contract with the Nigerian governors, he said “there will never be an agreement with them” without stating why. Prof. Rotberg accused the Nigerian press of jumping the gun. If you believe Prof. Rotberg and I am tempted to, one is then forced=2
0to ask why the governors travelled to the United States and how much the trip cost them. Unlike Prof. Rotberg who saw his reputation and that of his 373 year old university at stake and decided to explain their side of the story, our politicians do not give a hoot about the governed. I do not expect the governors to provide any answers to these intrigues because they do not comprehend their responsibilities to the Nigerian people. After all, what can the voters do? The governors do not need to explain anything to anyone because they do not need the people to “vote” them back into office. All they need is Maurice Iwu.
Majekodunmi Adega
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MAJEKODUNMI ADEGA'S COMMUNICATION #3: ADEGA'S LETTER TO HARVARD
RE: Agreement to Train Nigerian Governors at Harvard University
It has recently been reported in some of Nigeria’s newspapers and Internet portals that your esteemed institution has entered into an agreement with four of Nigeria’s governors representing the country’s Governors' Forum. From the news conference granted by these governors upon their return to Nigeria, the concomitant news reports in Nigeria and my conversations with your office today, I understand that your institution will train governors in capacity building and effective public administration, assuming the governors will actually be coming there to learn.
From the perspective of Harvard University, the above may not be a correct characterization of your discussions or relationship with the so called governors from Nigeria (there is no point seeking the perspective of the Nigerian governors because nobody believes them). This is because you may have received reports of my conversations with Jake Ackman of the Communications Office and your office - Office of Intrastate Conflict. Both Offices acknowledged some ongoing conversations but denied the existence of an agreement. Your office would also not provide figures with respect=2
0to the financial cost of similar training programs offered in the past.
For the governors, their version of events is different. Their position is that they have consummated an agreement with your institution for the training of their members. Before you start wondering why citizens would be angry at an institution that has offered to train public officials in capacity building in a third world country, you have to understand that the groundswell of anger has nothing to do with the acquisition of knowledge. It is about the efficient utilization of scarce resources. People are angry because your position on what happened is suspicious. That is the case because it is difficult to understand why you will need four state governors traveling thousands of kilometers across the world and spending a fortune in order to have a conversation? Did Harvard University assist the governors in obtaining U.S. visas, to what extent and what was the story told to the American Embassy? Harvard University bears the burden of clarification at this point in time.
You may be aware without wanting to acknowledge such in writing that history has thought Nigerians that most Nigerian politicians would not engage in any endeavor that does not provide an opportunity for further looting of the treasury, even if such an endeavor is the acquisition of skills needed to improve their own on-the-job performance. You may be surprised to know that the trip to Harvard University may have cost the Nigerian t
axpayers millions of dollars in airline tickets for the governors and their retinue of assistants/girlfriends, payment of bloated official allowances and hotel accommodation. Notwithstanding the egregious nature of the above-described components of this trip, one’s indignation is further exacerbated upon realization that the trip may actually have been used as a cover for the primary purpose of squirreling looted funds out of Nigeria and into American bank accounts.
As esteemed and respected as your institution and its degrees are, Nigerian politicians do not need Harvard University workshops or degrees to know that provision of water, electricity and shelter are basic rights of citizens. They do not need Harvard University workshops or degrees to know that treasury looting is a crime against the people and the state. They do not need Harvard University workshops or degrees to understand that the money spent on the needless trip to Cambridge-Massachusetts could have been better spent providing basic amenities for the people. At a cost of $2,500.00 a borehole, a community of 50-100 people/Nigerians can be given year-round access to clean water, thereby reducing the risks associated with water borne diseases. The real victims of the Harvard University jamboree are the ordinary Nigerian people who could have had several boreholes installed for them but for the jamboree. The real victims are the new born babies and mothers dyeing because of lack of basic medical supplies, including incubators. These are the real vict
ims of the type of financial brigandage that brought these governors to Harvard University. The victims may not be in front of you, you may never meet them, your knowledge of them maybe limited to figures/statistics, but they are real human beings. They are people’s children, parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, husbands and wives. Think about them when you deal with these politicians.
There is a groundswell of anger against your esteemed university. The perception is that your university is conniving with notorious Nigerian politicians to further deplete an already depleted treasury. As mentioned earlier, this perception may not necessarily be correct. However, there is no reason why the perception should not prevail until Harvard University takes a formal stand on what it knows about this “gathering storm” It owes the Nigerian people the obligation to let them know the facts. It owes a responsibility to its past and present students, including the current President Obama, to ensure that it is not about to dilute the value of its degrees and other accreditations by selling them to the highest bidder; the same degrees that hundreds of thousands of students from around the world have burnt mid-night candles and spent years of rigorous academic engagement to obtain. Harvard University must demonstrate that is not about to soil the solid reputation it has built over the last 373 years on the expediency of financial gains from some corrupt public officials from Nigeria.
0A
Those governors do not need Harvard University training to do their jobs. The University must be aware that many of its graduates who got involved in governance in Nigeria over the years were either disgraced or forced out of office for trying to live up to the ethos of their training or survived by becoming turncoats. If the Harvard Learning methodology is what is needed to fix governance in Nigeria today, you are in a position to verify that Nigeria has enough Harvard Graduates to do it. This junket should be seen for what it is: a jamboree by the governors.
Finally, Harvard University must live up to the words of one of its best known former students, late president John F. Kennedy. Kennedy challenged Americans and citizens of the world to seek to know what they can do for their countries, not what their countries can do for them. It is imperative on Harvard University to seek to know from these governors how their relationship with Harvard University will benefit the ordinary Nigerian people, rather than themselves.
Regards,
Majekodunmi Adega
B.A., CISA, LL.B, B.L, LL.M
Barrister, Solicitor & Notary
23 Westmore Drive, Suite 216
Toronto, Canada
M9V 3Y7
