Fuel Fiasco As Metaphor For Governance

 By Dele Sobowale

“If they go about solving the problem this way, how many more problems will they have created by the time they are through” -James Baldwin, 1924-1987, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p201, available online.

By any objective measure known to adults globally, what we have on our hands with regard to fuel problem is a fiasco. You cannot ask any of those in control of our fate in this regard a straight question and receive a reliable answer. Two Presidents, the Minister of Petroleum, the Minister of State for Petroleum, the Minister of Finance, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the Debt Management Office, DMO, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, all the regulatory commissions and agencies of government. The conspiracy of falsehood started since the Dangote Refinery was nearing, but still far from, completion in March 2023.

Toying With The Hardship Nigerians’re Going Through

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Since May 29, 2023, Nigerians have been struggling with unrelenting rises in the cost of living following peremptory removal of subsidy on petrol by President Bola Tinubu.

The much-touted ‘market forces’ have since reacted to the development most viciously, and continue to do so, with many Nigerians gnashing their teeth as it gets harder to make ends meet. What is very disturbing about the whole thing is that government has completely abandoned the people to the mercies of the market forces.

Petrol Price And Economic Enslavement Of Nigerians

 By Adekunle Adekoya

AS each day dawns in Nigeria, the economic omens are getting more and more bothersome, sending  wave after wave of apprehension about how to make ends meet down the spines of most of us, except, perhaps, those permanently connected to sources of unending funds, like politicians, clergymen, and motor park operatives, known as agberos.

These three classes of Nigerians are about the only ones seemingly immune from the excruciating impact of the economic policies of the government in power. They are immune from it because the systems in which they operate is wired to generate money that they can spend at will without let and hindrance, and the sums available are simply humongous.

Nigerians Remain Dispossessed After 64 Years Of Independence

 By Owei Lakemfa

Events of monumental proportions are happening in the world. The assassination of Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasarallah, may signal the commencement of all-out war in the Middle East.

Those who love conquest would celebrate his elimination. Those who seek peace would recognise that his death drives humanity closer to an avoidable war.

Since we all agree that we now live in a global village, we should be concerned about such events in the world. But Nigerians are not prepared for such a fall-out.

As Poverty Deepens In Nigeria

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime. — Aristotle (384-322 BC).

The state of affairs in our dear country, Nigeria, as at now, is simply bothersome. When an Ijebu man is finding it difficult to afford garri, which he wants to soak in water and gulp down with either a piece of meat, a cutlet of fish or a handful of groundnuts, then there is a hell of a lot of things to worry about. Two weeks ago, I was at home, in Ijebu-Ode for the burial of an in-law. Returning after the affair, I detoured to the popular Oke-Aje Market, near the Moslem Praying Ground to buy garri, which I really can’t do without.

Oil Refineries: Nigeria Ignores The Green Energy Transition At Its Peril

 By Olu Fasan

Last  week, I wrote about the dire economic consequences for Nigeria as a petrostate almost solely reliant on oil and gas exports. This week, I want to address another aspect of that intervention: the climate impacts of Nigeria’s deepening commitment to burning fossil fuels.

Nothing demonstrates this commitment more than the excitement over the Dangote Refinery and the government’s determination to license more private oil refineries while pursuing new hydrocarbon exploration. The economic and climate impacts of Nigeria’s fossil-fuel dependency pose existential threats to the country’s future stability. Yet, Nigeria is entrenching itself as a hydrocarbon country while paying lip service to energy transition.

Dangote Refinery Is Here; Why Are We Unhappy?

 By Dele Sobowale

“I am beginning to wonder how many fools it takes to make the term ‘My Fellow Citizens’” -Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850, in LOST ILLUSIONS

You were probably one of those who eagerly awaited the completion of the Dangote Refinery while labouring under the illusion that it will crash the price of fuel nationwide. Welcome to the unpleasant reality. Underlying that self-deception was the un-stated but implied assumption that Alhaji Dangote was embarking on a venture designed to free Nigeria from fuel importation. Well, “when you assume, you make an ass of you and me.”

Gullible Nigerians, especially many media commentators, had committed the blunder of forgetting that Dangote is a businessman caught in a global race for position among the world’s richest people. He went into refinery primarily to make as much money as he can; and stopping fuel importation is a distant second objective – except that securing a monopoly of the domestic fuel supply would help achieve the ambition.

Nigeria Made Dangote A Colossus, It Must Now Handle Him Wisely

 By Olu Fasan

Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa, is a product of the Nigerian state. By deliberate policy choices, the state made Dangote Nigeria’s foremost oligarch with presidents on speed dial. However, recent rifts between Dangote’s oil refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, as well as the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, not to mention the raid on his business headquarters by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, suggest that all is not well with the long-running relationship between Dangote and the state. Yet, having turned Dangote into a commercial Leviathan, the state must now wisely recalibrate and manage the relationship.  

*Dangote 

To be clear, Dangote was not born poor. He was born into wealth and became a millionaire very early in life. However, his transition from a millionaire to Africa’s richest man would not have happened without a leg-up from the state, without special favours and preferential treatment from the Nigerian state. To this credit, Dangote himself admits this. Before we come to the refinery saga, let’s tell the fascinating story, as Dangote himself narrated it.

Bola Tinubu And Our Oil Sector

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The #EndBadGovernment protests largely flopped partially because they demanded for the restoration of the petrol subsidy. In life, better be careful what you wish for because it might actually come true!

*Tinubu

If for any reason President Bola Tinubu acceded to this demand, the engine of his government would knock. Petrol is selling between N640 and N800 per litre, and it is still scarce. Imagine returning it to N180? All petrol stations will close shop, and we will be buying at the black market between N1,500 and N2,000 per litre. The train has left the subsidy station, and it will never come back.

Who Wants Dangote Refinery Dead?

 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.

*Dangote 

For 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.

Dangote Refinery, Victim Of Nigerian Factor

 By Dele Sobowale

A lot of media people have been talking to Alhaji Aliko Dangote lately; more would give an arm to be able to reach him – all because of the refinery which was advertised as the answer to our perpetual fuel problems. Laymen and women have developed the notion that, when it starts supplying fuel, prices would crash to pre-subsidy removal levels – among other expectations. More unsolicited write-ups have been sent to me by strangers and friends, alike, about Dangote himself and his refinery than I have ever received in a long time.

*Dangote 

Suddenly, the Dangote Refinery, apart from pervasive hunger, appears to be the only subject worthy of attention. The opinion leaders are almost evenly divided – those sympathetic to Dangote and those totally against – even though the latter are often afraid to be identified. That is power – the ability to make people fear you even when you don’t know them.

The Economy Is Wobbling, And The Govt Is Fumbling

 By Ugoji Egbujo

While the naira gasped for breath, the nation sent 400 tourists to Dubai to fill the gallery in a climate change conference. Two weeks ago, the President dabbed powder on the wound. He announced a cut in his entourage and those of his wife and ministers. The general attitude of the country to the looming disaster seems surreal.

At N1400 for a dollar, alarm bells should be ringing. But in the highest offices in the land and amongst politicians, the dollar has become the preferred instrument of settlement and lubrication. Nothing moves the leaders of this country. In the middle of this economic tornado, a minister signed off air tickets to a non-existent Kogi airport. The new government met a mess. But it has been sloppy and haphazard.

Nigeria: Using Torchlight In Broad Daylight

 By Owei Lakemfa

There is a country called Nigeria. For three decades, its coffers were daily looted in the guise of fuel subsidy. The looters are known by name and some are known faces. The companies they use in looting are registered and have addresses. Rather than bring the criminals to book, government decided to remove the subsidy.

Thus, the people are forced to pay astronomical prices for fuel, while the subsidy looters keep their loot and are free to forage for other things to loot. This is the truth. There is also the lie; that fuel subsidy has now been removed. The truth is that it is impossible to remove fuel subsidy no matter how much the people are visited with high fuel prices.

What Did Sanwo-Olu Come To Lagos With?

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The first story is about a young Nigerian 45 years ago, and you see the coincidence in the story, 45 years ago, a young Nigerian came to Lagos all the way from another mega-city, Kano, who saw the prosperity, and diversity of our country, who came with nothing but in 45 years has built the biggest empire in the world — Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State.

*Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his wife, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu

Ordinarily, this statement, which Governor Sanwo-Olu made amidst befitting accolades for Alhaji Aliko Dangote for finally delivering the world’s largest refinery in Lagos, should not raise eyebrows. So, why is it arousing mixed feelings? The reason is obvious. It is a bitter reminder of the fallout of the just-concluded elections, particularly in Lagos, where Sanwo-Olu, his political principal, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his political party, APC, used ethnic bigotry and violence to save themselves from being shipped out of power by Lagos residents who are tired of their oppressive rule.

Stealing The Nation!

 By Nnimmo Bassey

To say that Nigeria is being stolen is an understatement. It is a sordid situation. Shocking stories from the oil and gas sector continue to hit the news. Rather than being numbed by the monstrous pillaging of the nation, Nigerians should wake up to the wake-up call, especially in an election season.

By some deft choreography, the blame for the stealing and pollution in the oil field communities of the Niger Delta has been deflected to the poor communities.

This devious deflection has been so successful that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which has the fingerprints of multinational oil companies all over it, criminalizes communities and holds them up as being responsible for interferences that may occur on oil facilities in their territories. 

The Way Out Of Naira’s Deepening Woes

 By Faith Omoniyi

In recent times, Naira has been defined by its continuous downward spiral. The Naira has plummeted from $1/N198 to $1/N430 in the parallel market during the last six years. This increase equates to a 209% depreciation. The depreciation is due to a reduction in global oil prices, a lack of foreign currency income, and higher inflation in the country. The downward trend of the Naira is set to continue if proper economic measures are not in place. Increasing  Nigeria’s export potential and reducing the inflation rate are viable options for getting Naira back on track.

Overbearing weight on Oil
Low export potential is one of the causes of the Naira’s depreciation. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in 2021, Nigeria’s imports exceeded exports by N1.94trn. Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings are derived primarily from the export of petroleum. However, Nigeria still spends $14.95 billion on the import of petroleum products annually. Nigeria needs to build refineries to shelve this figure or collaborate with private companies like Dangote and BUA that are building refineries.