By UGO ONUOHA
“Federal Government led by the ministry of petroleum incorporated [MOPI] and the ministry of finance incorporated [MOFI], have planned to sell significant portions of Nigeria’s equity in some of our best-performing oil and gas joint ventures”.
Some commentators have since alleged that this set of our rulers behaves like “usu biara orji ntagbu”, Igbo for ravaging and destructive locusts and cankerworm. They claimed that by the time this journey is over, whenever that will be, the country will be empty and comprehensively hollowed out. The carnage could turn out to be numbing and crippling. By the way, locusts are known to be destructive given their voracious appetite for food. They, like our rulers, are at their worst when they exhibit swarming behaviour under certain conditions. Also like Nigerian politicians, locusts can and do devastate farms and cause significant economic damage wherever and whenever they invade any territory. Desert locusts are reported to be some of the most destructive species. And they are mostly found in Africa. Politicians are some of the worst species in many countries. The worst of the worst are mostly found in Africa with Nigeria competing strongly for the number one position. There are some other interesting bits about locusts that parallel Nigerian politicians. Each locust can eat its weight in plants daily. A typical Nigerian ruler can steal more than he needs in 10 lifetimes. Locust swarms can consume vast amounts of food to rival the daily consumption of residents of well populated cities. The same can be said of the amazing capacity of our rulers to steal from the commonwealth, even money that would confound their successors up to the fourth generation.
It was not long ago that Nigeria’s president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, reminded us that the problems we are contending with currently, over which he has been exerting so much energy and sleepless nights to reverse, were because his predecessors were nonchalant in their governance style which failed to provide for the upcoming generations. In other words, the earlier rulers spared no thoughts for future generations of Nigerians. The irony was that at the time that Tinubu was grandstanding and waxing philosophical, his regime was busy borrowing and accumulating foreign and domestic debts for the next generations he claimed to be concerned about to repay. For the discerning, the president was engaged in theatre. It was a performance for his choristers, and the unwary. And the background music was the ubiquitous…’On your mandate…’ which is now strongly competing to dislodge the national anthem at events organised by the national assembly, and the ruling All Progressives Congress [APC] political party. At some formal sessions and sittings of the national assembly, including during budget presentations by the president, the partisan ‘On your mandate…’ dwarfs and takes precedent over the national anthem. This speaks to the state of the fears of some people about state capture by this regime.
Apart from propaganda and the desperate search for wins where there are no wins, the current APC regime is notorious for borrowing and taxation. It has made deceit an artform, and a governance imperative. For them there will always be a lie as a solution to every problem. To tax or borrow and spend on productive ventures can be excused. But to tax and borrow, and then leave Nigerians wondering what happened to the revenues is numbing. It is also troubling to tax and borrow to fund the lavish lifestyles of our rulers, and the profligacy of the regime. Our rulers cannot in good conscience, that’s if they have conscience, ask us to tighten our belts whilst they’re loosening theirs. That’s wicked. That’s evil. That’s unconscionable. Sadly, that’s what is happening now.
“Elsewhere, a commentator who identified as Umar Sani, likened the speculated proposed sale of public investments in some oil assets, and the amendment of the PIA, to winding down [liquidation] of a corporation but in this case the country.“
And like buccaneers our rulers are now reported to be training their eyes on our national oil assets. The goal is essentially two folds- increase the revenue accruing to the regime, and asset stripping for the benefit of regime honchos, their collaborators and business partners. The plot is laid out, starting with the amendment of the Petroleum Industry Act [PIA]. The amendment is given since we have a pliable national assembly which has elected to be a parastatal under the presidency. The curated and carefully selected leadership of the national assembly said from the onset that the primary reason for their existence is to accede, without question, to ALL the demands of the president and his executive council. What this means in effect is that looming vandalisation of our national oil assets is a fait accompli unless Nigerians rise to the challenge to say enough is enough. The designs on the oil assets are clear, and coming into the public domain. But that an alarm has been blown on the scheme by industry operators and sundry watchers does not seem to deter the government.
Instead the regime has started preparing the grounds by falsely claiming that $18billion has been secured through some of its reforms in sectors of the oil and gas industry. “Nigeria secures $18bn in oil and gas investment commitments” was one of the headlines that trended last week. To be sure, ‘commitments’ are not contracts”. As someone wrote, “in the oil and gas sector, they [commitments] often amount to handshake promises, useful for optics [and photo opportunities], but rarely backed by enforceable timelines, financing structures, or regulatory clarity. Without transparency, execution plans, and measurable milestones, such announcements risk becoming political theatre rather than economic transformation. Nigeria deserves more than ceremonial pledges. We need bankable deals, local capacity building, and a clear path to energy security”. The danger is that the planned alteration of the PIA and the expected accompanying assets stripping, and the ceding of portions of our oil commonwealth to self and acolytes and business partners will not ensure and assure “a clear path to energy security” for our country.
Elsewhere, a commentator who identified as Umar Sani, likened the speculated proposed sale of public investments in some oil assets, and the amendment of the PIA, to winding down [liquidation] of a corporation but in this case the country. His could be an extreme position probably borne out of deep concern over the frightening dimensions of the proposals allegedly by this administration. With this regime and given its insatiable appetite, lust and hankering for money, and more money for hedonistic and less than altruistic purposes, the planned spinning off of the country’s productive, profitable and strategic investments in the oil and gas industry to benefit individuals and private corporations should not be treated as red herring. The trending exposé in the media, even if by unknown author[s], was imbued with the knowledge and expertise of insiders.
The whistleblowers made their presentations in two parts- asset stripping, and sudden alteration of the PIA. They voiced their opposition to the two plots and urged Nigerians to take a stand because of the feared dire consequences of letting the plot succeed. The first issue they raised was the ‘Planned sale of Federation’s equity in the Upstream oil and gas JVs [Joint Ventures]’, and the ‘Proposed amendment of the Petroleum Industry Act [PIA]’. They described their action as “a call to defend Nigeria’s future and economic security”. They said: (The) “Federal Government led by the ministry of petroleum incorporated [MOPI] and the ministry of finance incorporated [MOFI], have planned to sell significant portions of Nigeria’s equity in some of our best-performing oil and gas joint ventures”. They proceeded to name the JVs in which the Federation’s equity is being sold to private individuals, the prospective beneficiaries, and the percentages involved. Some of the JVs slated for divestments are Renaissance Africa Energy Company [RAEC JV] where 25% of the current 55% held in trust by the NNPCL for the Federation will be sold to an Indian oil firm, Sterling; 25% of the 60% in Oando JV will be spinned off and then sold to Oando Oil Company led by Wale Tinubu. Nigeria’s president is Bola Tinubu. If the sale is effected the Federation will be left with 35% equity in Oando; the Federation holds 60% equity in Seplat Energy Producing Nigeria Unlimited JV. The plan is to sell 35% to an unnamed company which is alleged to be in the orbit of Chagoury & Chagoury, a well known long-standing business partner of Tinubu, Nigeria’s president.
The whistleblowers contended that the planned divestments will lead to loss of control of strategic national assets. They argued that “handing over control of these JVs to a few individuals [will] take away [the] sovereign ability of the Nigerian state to control its national economic affairs”, and could lead to economic shocks that could threaten the stability of the country. It is also their contention that the sales of the JV assets to a few “well-connected private individuals” will be at great expense to Nigeria’s energy security. “… (T)he revenue coming from these JVs are among the country’s most reliable source of revenue and foreign exchange. Shrinking the Federation’s stake in the JV means shrinking of the Federation’s revenue and Forex inflow. This is simply selling away Nigeria’s assets that have sustained the Nigerian nation since the discovery of crude oil in Nigeria “. They also warned that the planned divestments will be a threat to jobs, discourage skills transfer, blunt vendor opportunities, and make host-community obligations moot. The whistleblowers further argued that selling the identified critical and profitable national oil assets will endanger existing potential employment opportunities. “This is because reduced equity means a weaker say on field development [and] local content targets. This is tantamount to taking Nigerians’ power to manage their resources from them. Once the crown jewels are sold, they are difficult and costly to recover. This will then set a precedent for further disposals and it will greatly undermine intergenerational equity in the management of our natural resources. These assets belong to Nigerians. They must not be traded away behind closed doors for the benefit of a few”.
The whistleblowers also canvassed against altering the PIA, claiming that the move will work against the interest of Nigerians. “The amendment is planned with personal interest and so it will destroy [the] stability of the [oil and gas] industry and discourage investment. The amendment is designed to hand over the nation’s oil and gas resources in deep water to a…few rich private individuals who are within the corridors of power”. The whistleblowers signed off as a Committee of Patriotic Forces. The gravity of the issues raised above by this so-called Committee of Patriotic Forces notwithstanding, it must be noted that the oil and gas industry is a shark-infested terrain. That business is ‘ike keta orie’ or might is right or the survival of the fittest. It’s not for the faint-hearted. It is a business for the financially well-heeled and politically well-connected. In effect the alarm raised by this Committee could be due to patriotism, but it could also be sour grapes and false alarms by losers in the bazaar of auctioning our collective oil assets by the privileged few for their own personal and selfish purposes. But whichever it is, the government has a bounden duty to lift the veil on the status of the country’s oil assets and provide clarity on its policy concerning this sector of the oil and gas industry. On this allegation, silence cannot be golden.
