Sometime ago, the former Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke hinted that the Federal Government had planned to stop the importation of refined petroleum products in 24 months. I had said in this column then that if that ambitious plan was not met, Mrs. Alison-Madueke should be prepared for a legal battle with concerned Nigerians as her wild goose chase would amount to perjury, a criminal offence since she made the statement under oath in her official capacity as minister of petroleum resources. The truth, however, is that our government officials make statements just because they have to read out something to the expectant public for the fun of it.
There is usually not substance or truth in their mouths. Otherwise, why would the former Minister predicate the stoppage of importation of refined petroleum products on the turn-around maintenance of the four decrepit refineries? She knew that even if the four traditional refineries were to function optimally their total output would still not meet the demand for local consumption. All things considered, the business segments of the society and the consuming public that suffer the brunt of petroleum products importation would have jubilated at the pronouncement of the then Minister in far away Vienna, Austria.
But no one did applaud Mrs. Alison-Madueke as pledges from Nigerian government officials, despite their explicitness, only serve to mislead productive society and the wider population. The current administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari is also in the habit of promising what they cannot fulfill. The pump price of petrol was N86 per litre when Buhari campaigned in 2015 that his government would bring down the price to N45 per litre in the event of his winning the election.
More
than five years after winning the election, the pump price has been jerked to
N162 per litre thereby subjecting the people to untold hardship, poverty and
gnashing of teeth. Yet some cynical jesters still clap for Buhari as the best
president Nigeria has ever had.
It
could be recalled that in August 2011, former President Goodluck Jonathan
himself ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to commence
the process of building two additional refineries within 24 months to end petroleum
products importation. Until he lost election in March, 2015, nothing had yet
been done along that line.
This
present APC government also promised Nigerians as part of their campaign
mantras that they would build four modula refineries within their first year in
office. More than five years down the road, what have we seen? Fuel importation
with incessant hike in the prices of petroleum products is still the norm. How
long more will Nigerians suffer before the Buhari government realise that the
burden is so much on the people?
Most
unfortunate is the pronouncement last week by Mr. Garba Shehu, Buhari's media
goon on CHANNELS TELEVISION that the prices of foodstuffs have started coming
down even when Nigerians are paying more. Why are they mocking the suffering
people of this country? Why are these little Pharaohs calling themselves
progressives in power? Who will redeem Nigerians from the hands of these power
drunk monsters? Why is the Nigerian state so wicked and callous?
But
it is indeed regrettable that the Presidency is unbothered by the negative turn
of events and the dire implications for its own image. What has been evidenced
is the grossly limited capacity of government to translate plans and policy
pronouncements into concrete actions and measures that could enhance the
quality of life of the citizens.
For
the price regime that it intended to sustain, all that was required of
government was a firm determination to fully re-stream its four crude
processing plants in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna by setting performance
targets for the NNPC and also liberalise the sector by encouraging investors to
build their refineries. Why has it become a Herculean task for this APC
government to build modular refineries that it promised Nigerians it would accomplish
within their first year if voted into office in 2015?
The
Corporation would not have had any reason to miss the targets, having devised
its own means of sustenance by cornering proceeds from crude oil sales in two
so-called commercial accounts it established abroad in 2003. Unconstitutional
as that act is since it was inspired by a corporate desire to sidestep a 2002
Supreme Court ruling that annulled the funding of the NNPC through first line
charges, government turned a blind eye to it. Funding ceased to be a problem of
the Corporation after the establishment of those accounts, yet the refineries
have never attained any appreciable level of operation over the years, as
government hardly demonstrates any interest in its activities beyond what
accrues from Joint Venture equity holding.
If the NNPC has been fired by anything close
to a sense of mission and patriotism, Nigeria’s dependence on fuel imports
would have been minimal. By extension, the country would have been sufficiently
insulated from the unending astronomical surge or lamentable fall in world
prices of crude oil. Unfortunately, the Buhari-led Federal Government which is
implementing the conditionalities of its massive borrowing binge from China and
other numerous creditors, is busy lying to Nigerians that its incessant
increases in the prices of petroleum products are responses to the vagaries of
demand and supply in the international market. What a shame!
Government
needs to look back to re-engage the thinking and motivation that prompted its
issuance of operational licenses to 18 private companies to establish their own
refineries during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. In the face of the
failure of the major players in the petroleum sub-sector to plan and manage the
operations of the oil and gas sub-sector to guarantee product availability and
accessibility, Nigerians can no longer afford to leave their fate in the hands
of economic sharks and capitalist adventurers.
It
is patently wicked that Nigeria, which is the sixth highest producer of crude
in the world and first or second in Africa, could subject her citizens to this
harrowing experience. When did it become wise economic judgment for the
citizens of an oil producing country to always suffer when the product is
selling high or low in the international market? The Nigerian condition is like
the analogy of the wealthy farmer who allows his children to suffer so much
hunger just because the children of his poor neighbours have no food to eat.
Whereas other countries of the world are striving to cushion the impact of the
lockdown orchestrated by the Coronavirus pandemic, the Nigerian government is
busy shunning out policies that promote poverty, pains, crime and insecurity in
the country.
The
President boasted last week that history would be kind to his regime for the
courage to remove the fuel subsidy, what he said, previous governments could
not do. Why did it take him five years to remove what he did not believe
existed? Is he sure that the subsidy has been removed, and that there would be
no further increases in the pump price of fuel until he leaves office in 2023?
Who will understand his hyperbole?
Does
he think that Nigerians still trust him? Even as oil marketers many of whom are
now Buhari's personal friends, prefer fuel importation to letting the
refineries work, it is expected that the authorities would realize soon enough
just how embarrassing it is that Nigeria, one of the world’s largest exporters
of crude oil, is unable to refine the crude to meet its fuel requirements. It is
a pointer to poor planning and leadership failure in the country. It is
expected that government would act speedily to redeem that pledge for the good
of Nigerians, economic planning as well as its own image as the ultimate
authority on matters of resource allocation and national development. Nigerians
have suffered enough.
*Dan
Amor, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja
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