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By: Ifeanyi Izeze
It can’t be less disturbing that every single thing that happens in this country now is twisted by politicians and sectional warlords to suit their narrow interests. But for my elder brother Shehu Sani it would have completely skipped me that: “Now that a northerner replaced a northerner as the Inspector General of Police and a northerner replaced a northerner as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), all is quite on the northern front; if a northerner replaced a southerner or a southerner replaced a northerner, missiles from both sides of the Niger River could have been fired.”
Now, the issue as being noised about is not the section of the country the new NNPC boss comes from, his qualification for the job or integrity but that President Goodluck Jonathan did not give any reasons for the sack of Andrew Yakubu. Haba, Nigeria! When are we going to grow above this disable mindset?
Why should anybody raise hell because the President did not adduce reasons for the removal of Andrew Yakubu as the NNPC helmsman? Was it not obvious that since the NNPC Act did not provide specifics for the manner of removal of the head of the corporation, apparently, whoever has the power to appoint also has the power to remove?
Why is the immediate past GMD himself not the one running wild seeking to know why he was replaced? Is it not interesting? Turning this thing into partisan politics may be counter-productive for Andrew Yakubu himself and I am strongly convinced about that. Who knows what his former employers have on or more aptly against him to have decided to retire him quietly?
Some Nigerian politicians in search of what to say had even alleged that the President has a hidden motive for selecting a “terminally ill person” for the NNPC job. How could a right thinking person publish this sort of comment against another person? How fair is this to Joseph Dahwa? If Jonathan recalled the new GMD from retirement as claimed, was it the first of such act in the history of the NNPC? Funso Kupolokun was recalled from retirement by Obsanjo and the sky did not fall so why the noise about Dahwa?
It was incredible for all sorts of people to have come up with what they believed were the reasons for the leadership change in the NNPC and most of what they thought were some of the reasons turned out as ridiculous as those flying them.
The common denominator in all the blames was the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke who as alleged sacked Yakubu because of disagreements between the two officials on issues relating to the health and smooth running of the oil and gas sector. It was alleged that the differing positions of the two officials concerning the passage of the PIB; the handling of the aircraft charter scandal; perceived investment flight from the nation’s oil and gas sector as a result of the minister’s sidelining of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) amongst other led to the sack of the former GMD.
Throughout the period Diezani and Yakubu worked together, who could be said to have expressed more concern or rather was more pushy in the agitation for the speedy passage of the PIB now archived at the Senate? And why would anybody accuse the minister of not wanting the speedy passage of the PIB which she facilitated and even fast-tracked into the National Assembly?
Also, was the former GMD closer to the IOCs than the Minister so much so that he decided to make the issue of sidelining the foreign operators a point of irreconcilable disagreement with his boss? And then between the NNPC GMD and the Petroleum Minister (no matter who is there), whose decisions rules (as stipulated by the Petroleum Act) on issue such as asset sale by NNPC joint venture partners and marginal field lease/bid?
Of all the comments expressed so far on the moribund PIB, no single person was honest and honourable enough to mention that the National Assembly should be held responsible for sitting on the PIB rather than the minister or President Jonathan. It’s annoying that some Nigerians especially the political class see the truth but prefers to rationalise aberrations.
The same issues holding down the passage of the PIB at the National Assembly, did they not manifest to completely ground the National Dialogue? Revenue derivation to oil producing communities; total withdrawal of fuel subsidy and scrapping of Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF); onshore/offshore dichotomy amongst others, were these not the issues that forced the confab to adjourn indefinitely without firmly agreeing on some knotty issues especially those that border on revenue sharing formula and participation of oil producing communities as partners in the nation’s oil and gas sector?
For the presumed fear that the scrapping of PEF may shoot up the prices of petroleum products in the north because of the cost of haulage from the existing depot facilities in the coastal areas, some interest groups including most northern lawmakers vowed to sit on the PIB. Can anybody say today that fuel products sell at the same rates across the country? Even in Rivers state that hosts one of the functional refineries, prices of fuel varies at almost every 5-10 kilometres and that’s why the people in Oyigbo and Etche pay higher than their counterparts within the Port Harcourt metropolis. In Bayelsa state, it’s only in Yengoa that someone can buy fuel at the regulated price. Truth be told, some riverine communities in Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa pay even higher than what obtains anywhere in the north. We need to move forward and begin to think on how to improve the quality of the lives of our people whether in the north or south.
No doubt that since the NNPC was established in 1977 to oversee the management and operation of the nation’s oil industry, it had not only failed to establish itself as an active oil company in business to make profit, it also failed in establishing administrative structures that is free from government manipulations.
All these years, we have majorly dwelt on the bad eggs in the NNPC system ignoring the hen that has continued to lay these bad eggs. It is time we place the NNPC problem in proper perspective. The Presidency’s interference in the operations of the NNPC, especially in money matters has done more harm and made the corporation completely lose its credibility in business transactions both at home and abroad. It is not a Jonathan thing at all. It was instituted by King Obasanjo when he reigned as the sole administrator of the entire oil and gas sector using even NNPC funds to run his Peoples Democratic Party activities and campaigns. We had what happened during the fight between Obasanjo and his deputy Atiku over how the NNPC was used by the then president for purposes other than our collective national interests. And it has been so through Yar’adua and now to Jonathan- nothing has changed.
In 2010 when Andrew Yakubu was appointed GMD of the nation’s apex oil concern, I suggested he champion an independent audit of the finances his corporation to come up with a strong case to prove that the problems of the corporation had been extraneous. My exact words: “And again, whether the latest Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu likes it or not, if he does not pioneer this self audit, he will go the way of his predecessors and with the same accusations as any assessment coming from outside the corporation would continue to indict the NNPC Management of fiscal irresponsibility. This is the truth.” Has it not happened as prophesied?
(IFEANYI IZEZE is an Abuja-based Consultant on OilPolitics and can be reached on: iizeze@yahoo.com; 234-8033043009)