When extracted, it is shipped abroad to be refined and returned to Nigeria at a great cost to the economy. The refineries are moribund. Every year, billions are budgeted for their turnaround maintenance. The more they pretend to turn the around, the more they sink into disrepair. The workers in these grounded refineries still get their huge salaries as at when due. This can only happen in Nigeria. This ugly situation has despaired both the citizens and the economy.
It is true that they’re lots of other derivatives aside petrol, diesel and kerosine from crude oil. However, most of these derivatives are lost to countries where the black gold is shipped to for refining. Jobs that ought to have been done by Nigerians go to the nationals of the refining countries too. What a shame.
Why is it that the past and present governments have refused to appreciate the urgency in fixing the refineries that have been moribund for decades?
It’s become a norm for elected presidents to declare themselves as Ministers of petroleum.
Many Nigerians thought that the decisions of the past and present presidents to appoint themselves as petroleum ministers would turn the table around for better. Unfortunately, it’s been the same woeful and shameful story.
The system has been so viciously hijacked by a Cabal. They’ve permitted and visible in every administration. In and outside of the national oil company, they are known and see. They are never tamed!
Immediately President Olusegun Obasanjo came on board in 1999, he vowed deodorize the stinking oil sector as inherited from the lawless military regimes. Scarcity was the norm and Nigerians were sleeping in fuel stations to get the product just as it today . After over two decades, Nigerians are still sleeping in fuel stations to fuel their cars at cutthroat prices.
The demeaning spectacle was embarrassing as it is embarrassing today. President Obasanjo vowed to end the agony of Nigerians. This propelled him to appoint a new top management team for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The team, as headed by a respected technocrat Jackson Gaius-Obaseki promised to turn stones to bread. The team could do only little. The cabals had their heavy boots on the neck of the sector.
Obasanjo kept blaming the cabal and kept doing their bidding. He kept increasing the pump price and preaching deregulation as the silver bullet to bring the so called Cabal on their knees.
The frequent increments led to several industrial actions as led by Comrade Adams Oshomole who was the president of the Nigeria Labor Congress.
Obasanjo never succeeded in taming the cabal. They were more embodied as at when his tenure elapsed in 2027.
However, at the 11th hour of his administration, he made a move that was welcomed by many Nigerians. He had concluded that the refineries were not ever going to work as long that government was in charge of running the show. He described them as scraps which can never be revived by government. According to him, he had consulted widely and wisely and he was advised that the refineries were better sold to private individuals who would decide what to do with them. Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola became the beneficiaries of the sales.amd Nigerians were optimistic and believed the process was going to decide a fresh future for the down oil sector.
The US Dollars that was going into fuel importation and subsidy payments had become a huge problem for the economy and entire country. The sale would stop the haemorage of resources. Obasanjo took a bow and president Umaru Musa Yar’adua took over.
President Yar’adua did not continue with some policies of Obasanjo’s regime. One of the policies he reversed was the sales of the refineries to Dangote and Otedola. He refunded the paid some to the duo.
Yar’adua’s health blurred his vision for the oil sector. One never knew his blueprint for the refineries or if there would have been a major turnaround.
The huge subsidy payments, occasional scarcity continued until he died and President Goodluck Jonathan took over .
President Jonathan’s era was not different even as he was Yar’adua’s vice. Were they not supposed to have the same vision for the country? He brought a Mrs. Diezani Maduekwe as the country’s Minister of petroleum.
The rot continued. The same crafty individuals, whom they call “Cabal” continued to hold the country by the balls. The challenges of the industry continued to grow in leaps and bounds. The refineries continued to guzz the nation’s resources while output remained zero.
President Mohammadu Buhari was the administrator that Nigerians thought was going to brutally sanitize the oil industry. Having been prominent in the sector in the past and seen as an incorruptible leader, the hopes were high. Majority of Nigerians thought the silver bullet had come. How wrong they were. Even when he appointed himself the Minister of petroleum like Obasanjo did, majority of Nigerians believed that it was going to be for the benefit of tge economy , Nigeria as a country and Nigerians who had never enjoyed the gift as bestowed in their soil by God. Buhari turned to be the same. A total fiasco he was. His regime is being branded today (with enough evidence) as one of the worst in Nigeria’s history.
Tinubu is here! He has unleashed his own extremes. Having told Nigerians during the campaigns that he was going to continue with Buhari’s policies, many are not surprised about these terrible times. He started the torture from Eagle square. From the very first day. Yes! During his innaugural speech, he told Nigerians loudly that subsidy was gone. It was a bombshell. From that moment, things turned upside down. Nigerians that were already sent to the intensive care by Buhari fell into coma. The prices shot up geometrically keep going up. Yeah! It’s been climbing.
As the pump price galloped upward , the prices of commodities flies along. So many Nigerians can no longer meet up with their basic obligations. Goods , food and services have slipped away from ordinary people. The subsidy The president claimed to have been removed is back through the back door. More money is being paid. The money reportedly paid so far within a year is the highest in history of subsidy payments. Today, there are places where the product is being sold for over a thousand naira.
When will Nigerians begin to enjoy this gift from God? When will the government gather the balls to take in the merciless cabal that has kept the oil sector so stuck in limbo? Why is this cabal so untamable? Should any cabal be stronger than government? Could it be that the government and the cabal are in cahoots against the people of Nigeria?
Nigerians are asking for a reversal of the policy. It is obvious that the policy is hurting the sector, the economy and majority of Nigerians.
Nigerians want the president to return the payment of subsidy.
They want him to fiercely deal with the corruption that plagued it.
They want him to be ruthless with the cabal.
I wonder why the president is scared when he obviously has majority of Nigerians on the same page with him. If the government is not working working with the cabal, let there be a political will to end the shame. Let the president deploy the instrumentality of state crush the cabal.
Aliko Dangote is here with his refinery. Will his foray into the sector be the game changer? Will it end the frequent scarcity and the capital intensive importation of petroleum products? Will the pump price be less and affordable to all Nigerians? Is it going to be the silver bullet that we’ve been waiting for? Time shall tell.
In all honesty, president Tinubu should please do something spectacular. Nigerians are neck deep in excruciating pains. Hunger is tearing the people like a hot knife through butter. The purchasing power has dipped to the nadir. Let him renounce his vow of continueing with Buhari’s obnoxious and tyrannic policies. Nigerians should not be tagged as “born to suffer” This gifted country should be enjoyed by all. Mr. President, think about history. Let Nigerians enjoy their country please!
Prince Okhifo writes from Abuja.