Blue Economy ministry and Sahara Reporters’ ignorance
By Uche Nnadozie
Reading through the scandalous whitewash published by SaharaReporters on November 18, 2024, where at best it speculated about the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy’s expenditures, calls to question the editorial judgement of those who run the beleaguered website.
The whitewash was to cover truth with fiction, embellish lies with white coat and stand logic on its head with a bid to satisfy shadowy Voltron parading in the dark— too shaken to show themselves in the open—because of the larger than life personality of the minister in charge of the ministry, Adegboyega Oyetola, who took his redoubtable integrity from Abere, Osun State government house in Osogbo to a new ministry requiring honour and rectitude.
For the record, this is not the first time that the news outlet, reputed for their ability to weave tales by moonlight in the afternoon, would throw mud at the minister and attempt to destroy his reputation. The last time, they, without cross-checking their information from all important stakeholders as demanded by cardinal principle of ethical journalism, ran with a jaundiced story of “How Osun State Government Under ex-Governor Oyetola Violated Procurement Law in N700milliom Contract.” However, they were put to shame when the Osun State Government, through the General Manager of the state Public Procurement Agency, Engr Babatunde Adesina, said the claim advanced in the report was untrue as the Oyetola administration did not violate procurement law. The General Manager added that the data elevated in the report was a mere error.
He said, ” The award is for a single project, award amount is N233,456,205, as against the claim of SaharaReporters which said it was N700m.”
The same ethical faux pas committed in the foregoing publication was what they committed in the story under discourse as they failed to verify their findings and seek reactions of the concerned ministry, to balance their story, before rushing to press.
What did Sahara Reporters, a lickspittle to politicians of easy virtue, say this time?
Part of the gossip reads: “Michael Oloruntola, the Secretary General of Nigeria’s Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, received N76 million between July 26 and October 23, primarily for travel expenses, allowances, and Estacodes, including a 40% estacode supplementation for a study tour to Morocco.” To be clear, there is no position called “secretary general” of the ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.
Secondly, SaharaReporters failed to explain to their readers how quoted figures for air tickets, local transportation, accommodation and feeding could have come with a lesser fee or might have been bloated for the period under review.
Also, the hack writers seem to be ignorant of the fact that the fiscal responsibility law that prohibits government money being paid into personal account does not apply in the instant case as dubiously imputed, this is because the money was paid into the beneficiary account.
This is not a contract fund. It is a running or overhead cost. A civil servant on official duty is entitled to estacode or Duty Tour Allowance (DTA).
Sahara Reporters again failed to establish that the mentioned officials were over paid or didn’t deserve to be paid or are not staff. Or was the money for their duty tour not supposed to be paid by the ministry?
Did the website expect the ministry in Abuja to pay directly for taxi or Uber services on behalf of the civil servants while away in Morocco? Or the ministry to pay directly to restaurants, hotels, etc? This is a common-sense issue, but Sahara Reporters have shown they didn’t do due diligence when they were hired for the savage job. It is obvious they do not understand the letters of the fiscal responsibility act. Their report was riddled with ignorance and lack of knowledge of governance processes. The details would have been explained to them if they had been humble, fair and professional enough to cross-check from the ministry.
Who among the mentioned officials are political appointees of Oyetola? None. They are civil servants employed by the Nigerian government with defined conditions of service dissimilar to those of political appointees. None of the four names listed had the minister’s name or relation. It was a tangled repertoire of low intelligence assuming that government officials should not spend money to upgrade their knowledge in a highly technical sector that requires constant peer review. Sahara Reporters, as a centre of rough and tumble journalism, won’t understand that their chatter had nothing on Oyetola.
Knowing that there is no strand of evidence or link between their pay-per-click tattle and the former Osun governor, they found deception in words with which they used to attempt to provoke Nigerians. Unfortunately for them, Nigerians know fiction when they see it.
Stringing worthless words and dropping names are the stock in trade of the news outlet as the entire article reeks of blackmail writ large oiled by ineffectual political shadow boxers.
On another day, such condescension would have been ignored, however knowing politics, first impressions may matter to people as they run away with the first glance of distorted opinion passed around as a researched news story.
Former Governor Oyetola is extremely busy trying to reignite the nation’s maritime sector and the blue economy. On behalf of the president and the people of Nigeria, he is committed to establishing excellence— expanding the sector hitherto seen as “promising” to an era of physical prosperity.
He has no time to dance like a punchured tyre in a bid to attract peoples’ support as it’s obvious he is not a clown.
His mandate to turn the sector around, consolidate on a fast changing maritime sector to ensure smooth trade between Nigeria and the world in the scale that the new Nigerian economy, envisioned by Mr president, permits. He is consumed by hard work to have time to bother about Internet trolls or fake news merchants who are out to demystify the noble profession of journalism.
