By Charles Okoh
There must be something inherently wrong with us as a people. There must be a reason that has made it practically impossible for all governance models or theories that have worked elsewhere to work here. Of course, the answer to that is corruption. We cannot say it enough. The level of corruption in the country is such that until something drastic is done, the development of this nation would continue to remain stunted.
*DangoteFor a while now, we have been waiting for the much-anticipated
Dangote Refinery to be launched.
Our expectations and optimism were not misplaced given the harrowing experience Nigerians have been having with exploiting our God-given resources for the benefit of the people of this country. Sadly, there is no evidence to show that this nation is endowed with such a resource as crude oil because we have never benefited as a people.
We have suffered worse fate than those countries who do not have
even a drop of crude oil. Our lot is that of deprivation in the midst of
plenty. Why? Corruption.
At the twilight of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, the
then president hurriedly commissioned the Dangote Refinery, even though the
refinery was still undergoing construction. That is to tell the extent to which
we all looked forward to its completion, hoping that the long held tale of
Nigeria finally owning at least one refinery will finally be accomplished.
Is it not enough shame that a nation as endowed as Nigeria
cannot own a functional refinery? Again, the reason for this is corruption.
Since I was born, the only recurring words I have known about
the nation’s refineries is that they are constantly undergoing turn-around
maintenance. Billions of naira are budgeted for these exercises but at the end
of it all the refineries never get to work. Yet, the federal government in
partnership with IOCs are happy with the status quo and would do nothing about
it.
The federal government would in collaboration with these IOCs
deny their citizens the benefit of enjoying our God-given resources. Every
year, these men and women go to Jerusalem and Mecca to stone the devil when
the real devil is here with us.
First, let me state unequivocally that Alhaji Aliko Dangote is
not my ideal businessman and I have not admired or liked his kill-all-competition
approach to business.
I have never liked the fact that he would rather patronise or
support foreign interests over local ones. For instance, Dangote has never
hidden his love to purchase Arsenal Football Club in future, but I cannot
recall him even buying a pair of jerseys to support any local club, let alone
owning one like the late M. K. O. Abiola of blessed memory.
Dangote Cements and other products are mostly used in Nigeria,
but his adverts are permanently on CNN and foreign media. But in Nigeria, it is
easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for local media
to get patronage from Dangote. That cannot be the way to grow made-in-Nigeria.
That said, I am completely and totally in support of his
audacious refinery project and everything must be done to make it work, even if
it means sacking all those who have conspired to leave this country lame in the
oil and gas industry.
Recently, the Vice President, Oil and Gas, at Dangote Industries
Limited, Devakumar Edwin, accused International Oil Companies, IOCs, in
Nigeria of doing everything to frustrate the survival of Dangote Oil Refinery
and Petrochemicals.
He said the IOCs were deliberately and willfully frustrating
the refinery’s efforts to buy local crude by jerking up high premium price
above the market price, thereby forcing it to import crude from countries as
far as the United States, with its attendant high costs.
Edwin also lamented the activity of the Nigerian Midstream and
Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, in granting licences
indiscriminately to marketers to import dirty refined products into the
country.
However, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum
Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), shamefully, in its defence, exposed their
obvious lack of interest and indifference to the effort at locally refining our
crude oil.
The NMDPRA Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, while speaking last
Thursday, said the allegations raised by the refinery that its operations are
being scuttled owing to a lack of supply of crude oil by International Oil
Companies (IOCs) are untrue.
He said Dangote refinery is still in the pre-commissioning
stage. According to him, the refinery has not been licensed yet.
Hear him, “We have not licensed them yet. I think they are at
about 45 percent completion. So we can not rely heavily on one refinery to feed
the nation because Dangote is requesting that we should suspend or stop all
importation of petroleum products, especially automotive gas oil (AGO) or jet
kero and direct all marketers to the refinery.”
What is untrue about the allegation? Is Ahmed telling us that
the crude is available to Dangote locally but he would rather prefer to buy
from the US, expending the same scarce foreign exchange we so badly need?
For the avoidance of doubt, it is because of NMDPRA, NNPCL and
their likes that this country has failed in that sector. The corruption in that
sector is such that it would take a resolute and determined leadership that is
completely isolated from the fraud to break the evil chain.
First, what does it matter if Dangote is only 10 per cent
completed or not? The question is, is Dangote ready to refine our crude? And if
the answer is yes, then he must be given all the support he requires. We do not
have to be experts in the industry to know that the cabal behind our permanent
turn-around-maintenance exercises, would do anything possible to ensure that
that stream of free money does not go dry.
Or how on earth can Ahmed convince us that it would be cheaper
for Dangote to go abroad for crude than it is to get supply in this country.
Are we crazy or something?
Secondly, is it because Dangote is 45 per cent completed that
the IOCs and its local collaborators are denying him supply? In any ideal society
Ahmed’s half-hearted defence should earn him a reprimand if not outright sack.
Ahmed talked about Dangote’s quality being inferior. In the same
country where NNPC have given us all kinds of fuel in the past. Assuming this
allegation by Ahmed is true, what has been his contribution in supporting
Dangote to correct it? If he does not have an ulterior motive, why did he have
to openly condemn a local effort just to please their international
collaborators? These same wrong-headed administrators are the same ones who
would accuse Nigerians of not buying locally made goods. If we refuse to
patronise them, how can they then get it right?
Ahmed and his likes are the ones running this country aground,
because many of the IOCs they now favour get regular support from their home
governments.
Again, Ahmed explained that the expectation from Dangote is not
good for the nation in terms of energy security and also not good for markets
because of monopoly.
Can you see the level we can go to kill our own? The same
monopoly they do not want Dangote to enjoy is being enjoyed by the IOCs. This
is the same fate that befalls our local airlines and for which Air Peace
owner, Allen Onyeama, has been crying himself hoarse. Or are our apparatchiks
in the oil ministry telling us that it’s a coincidence that all local
businesses are suffering the same fate as Dangote?
Pray, between Dangote and these IOCs who should enjoy monopoly.
Or does Ahmed not know that when it comes to the interests of the country, the
IOCs would always align to benefit themselves rather than us. Imagine Ahmed
saying Dangote has not been granted a licence, what a disappointment. What
patriotic citizens would make a statement like this and still feel fulfilled
for having done a nation that his badly in need of home grown solutions, some
good?
I would not be surprised if, eventually, Dangote’s effort is sabotaged, because that is the way we live as a people. That is why it’s taking NNPCL eternity to fix the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries they have been promising for ages. It is the same reason NNPCL remains the sole importer of refined crude and its operations have remained opaque. It is the same reason that these IOCs and NNPCL cannot give the exact figures of daily exploration of our crude by their international conspirators.
No sane society would allow
this. Or is the monopoly currently enjoyed by the NNPCL in the interests of the
nation? No, it is in the interests of a few cabal within that industry who
have ensured that the sector remained stunted to enrich themselves. For many
years, we have been importing refined products because there is no refinery;
now we have a refinery and Dangote is importing crude oil. Is it not a shame
that Nigeria cannot boast of a refinery while smaller nations do, and yet the
effort of a Nigerian is being deliberately run aground. That is unacceptable and
should be resisted by any patriotic Nigerian.
*Okoh is a commentator on public issues
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