Category: Editorial

•For maximum and enduring benefits, Lekki products terminal must avoid the chaos of Apapa ports

The coming of Pinnacle Oil & Gas Limited’s $1bn products terminal is, without question, a welcome addition to the number of players in the petroleum industry’s value chain. Located right inside the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, the facility, implemented in phases, is said to cost over $1 billion. The initial phase is said to have the capacity to store 300 million litres of refined petroleum products. This, the promoters said will ultimately increase to about one billion, in addition to an ultra-modern Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Terminal to facilitate import and export of LPG.

Among other many promises, its promoters also say that the facility will revolutionise the downstream oil and gas industry by enabling the direct delivery of petroleum products from large vessels, which would otherwise have been unable to berth anywhere on the Nigerian coastline. In the words of the company’s chief executive, Peter Mbah, the big idea is to promote the efficiency of the downstream sector by eliminating the need for expensive vessel lightering and the associated incidence of demurrage for visiting mother vessels.

Read Also: $1.5b Lekki Deep Sea Port ready for test run

The investment obviously speaks to the nation’s reality in more ways than one. First, it is an attestation of faith in the Nigerian economy, particularly at a time of dwindling investments across the board, a trend that has been more pronounced in the aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Secondly, in a sector that has become notorious for inefficiency and wastes, it has the potential to take out, root and branches, the rentier economy linked to the hopelessly inadequate distribution facility at Atlas Cove, thereby enabling the nation to optimise its potential in the downstream sector. Thirdly, to the extent that the investment couldn’t have been driven by anything other than the huge capacity gaps which still exist in the industry’s value chain – since refined fuel, whether imported or not, or even LPG, would need to be kept in proper storage – the economy can only be better served in the circumstance. In any event, if merely for the reign of anarchy and allied destruction foisted on the Apapa axis by tanker drivers which it seeks to consign to the past, the investment in that alternative location would ordinarily be more than welcome.  

But that is as far as it goes. To the extent that the investment falls short of addressing the elephant in the room, which is, the matter of local refining, not a few will remain sceptical on the question of its pressing need at this time. Moreover, when viewed against the background of the continuing hues and cries about the absence of local refining capacity, many more will certainly wonder if the facility could be said to rank among the nation’s topmost priorities at this time, not to talk of being celebrated at all.

This is hardly surprising. 

Already, the development has since stoked renewed questions about the state of the distribution infrastructure, particularly questions about failures of the government to revamp the pipelines network. To these have been joined the not so implausible fears about the chaos in Apapa being replicated in the Lekki corridor, in the absence of matching transportation infrastructure in the corridor as indeed the larger economy. While Nigerians are not known to be disdainful of genuine entrepreneurial efforts, the issue is that their experiences of so-called high-flier investments have since taught them on the folly of exaggerated expectations.

Yes, the storage facility, an important element in the distribution value chain, is desirable. But even more critical at this time, aside the refinery issue, is the ancillary in the form of a robust petroleum pipeline distribution network. It is tragic that the government, after it failed to upgrade the old pipeline network facility that cost billions to put in place and thereby rendered it susceptible to vandalism, has since left the impression that the nation can continue to carry on the business of fuel haulage using tankers. Of course, this is not only wasteful and uneconomical; it has proven to be destructive to the economy. It is time, in our view, for the government to address this important lacuna.

•We should check corruption and curb waste instead of selling national treasures to fund budget deficit

With a budget proposal of about N20.51trn for 2023, and the Federal Government not having more than half of it, the government must look for the balance from other sources. This could be by borrowing, selling of bonds or some of the country’s assets, etc. Borrowing is almost ruled out because, already, the country’s debt profile is scary. There are indications the government may have settled for selling some of its assets. Indeed, media reports, quoting top government officials, say this seems the most attractive option to the government.

This is not an entirely new idea.

Far back as 2016, the then Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, had hinted that the Buhari administration was not averse to the idea of selling some of the country’s assets in order to curb waste and corruption in government, as well as raise money for development. “I think there are a number of assets that are being considered and I don’t think we’ve said this one or that one.

“There are some unused assets that are just lying idle which people have come and suggested that ‘this thing you are not using, can we lease it from you for money?’

Also, finance minister, Zainab Ahmed, at a ministerial briefing last week told newsmen that the Federal Government would offer some of the assets for sale through equity investments. Apart from selling off some of these assets, the government would toll some federal roads to generate revenue. As a matter of fact, plans are also under way to make her ministry, the Federal Ministry of Finance, a revenue centre.

The assets that the government may want to sell, according to The Punch, include Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) in Olorunsogo, Calabar II, Benin (located at Ihorbor), Omotosho II and Geregu II plants. According to the report, the government’s hydro-power plants — Oyan, Lower Usuma, Katsina-Ala and Giri plants are also to be sold or concessioned. “More than 25 of such projects will be turned into active assets that will be generating money in some ways to the Federal Government”, the report added.

There is nothing inherently bad in expansionary budget. Just as there is nothing inherently bad in looking for alternative ways of financing it. It all depends on what the government does with whatever option it decides to pursue and the political will to see it through. However, we are not favourably disposed to the idea of selling off critical monuments, especially at this point in time, given our experience, first with successive governments’ inability to rein in corruption and even the present government’s handling of the nation’s economy in the last seven years. There is no assurance that the assets would be sold at the appropriate prices and, second, that proceeds would be judiciously spent. We cannot continue to live on pious statements of some future benefits from government’s policies and programmes.

Read Also: Economy: Zainab Ahmed’s scorecard one year after

It is true that the present government did not inherit a healthy economy when it came on board in 2015. But it is equally true that the situation has been deteriorating ever since, an indication that the government has not got a proper handle on the economy. Virtually every sector has gone comatose. Food prices have continued to soar; unemployment queues are getting longer, fuel and power supplies have at best remained epileptic, education sector is in a shambles. Although there is an improvement in terms of road construction and railways, whatever gains that have been recorded are being eroded by insecurity that has continued to take lives and limbs, displaced millions, among other things.

What is more? Our experience with most of the privatised enterprises in the country does not inspire hope that things would be done differently this time around, in spite of the government’s oft-touted anti-corruption war. Indeed, some government properties had allegedly been sold to cronies and friends of public officials at rock-bottom prices. This does not exclude state governments. For example, Lagos State reportedly lost billions of Naira to the sale of government assets while some officials in Kwara State reportedly engaged in clandestine selling of government property at give-away prices. Things are not any different in many other states.

Such is our experience with sale of government properties or privatisation that valuers and auctioneers have had to cry foul over some of these shady deals through which not a few public officials have made illicit money at the nation’s expense.

What makes selling of these assets particularly unattractive is that once sold, they can hardly ever be retrieved, even if the buyers had literally been dashed the assets. So, rather than sell off these national monuments at predictably give-away prices, the government should look in the direction of curbing corruption and wastes that continue to remain drain pipes. Some progress has been made by jailing some hitherto untouchables who had pilfered national resources. But this would appear a mere dent given the pervasive cases of corruption that are reported, not to talk of the unreported ones. 

Till date, the government has been lamenting the humongous loss the country records from the activities of crude thieves, estimated at about $40 million per day. These are areas the government can focus on to drastically reduce the budget deficit if not eliminate it.

There are several questions to answer. The pastor too has explanations to make.

At the end of the shooting, three police protectors had been killed. The man they were supposed to protect, and his wife and children, were unharmed in a bullet-proof vehicle. 

The alleged target of the attack, Apostle Johnson Suleman, General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries International, a church with its headquarters in Auchi, Edo State, said it was “an assassination attempt,” and seven people were killed.   According to the police, the dead included two of his drivers and one female domestic worker.  

They were travelling in a convoy when the gunmen struck on the Benin–Auchi Road, Edo State, on October 21.  The security arrangement has been faulted by the police. Edo State police spokesperson Chidi Nwabuzor said: “The vehicle that the armed guards – the policemen – ought to have used is a Hilux, the open van with a roof so that they can see all corners, rather than a bus that is covered and locked.”

He added: “That is against the ethics of security, and we urge the Federal Government to look into that because it’s now like anything goes for the police when the VIPs get any kind of vehicle and since we don’t have ours, we’re bound to go by it.”

This exposes the vulnerability of police personnel assigned to protect so-called VIPs. The picture shows the grave danger such protectors face in the course of their assignment. It is indefensible and unacceptable.

This is yet another case that highlights the need to review the police protection policy. Two recent instances also underline the necessity for such a reconsideration. In September, two police officers and three civilians were killed in a similar attack on Senator Ifeanyi Uba’s convoy in Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State. Two other policemen were injured in the incident. Early this month, a policewoman, Inspector Teju Moses, was alleged to have been “grievously assaulted” for refusing to carry out “menial and domestic chores” at the Abuja residence of a woman she was assigned to protect. 

Read Also: Apostle Suleman: Why assassins were after my life

 Notably, the Police Service Commission (PSC) recently called for a review of the operations of the Special Protection Unit (SPU) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), saying “there is an urgent need to free many police officers loitering in private houses and following big men around” when the country is faced with serious security problems. The commission criticised “the abuse of police orderlies by Nigerians who now use them as status symbols or convert them to house helpers who clean, cook, or do menial jobs.”

 The questions are: Who approves the placement of police protectors? Who should be given such police personnel? What are the considerations?  What are the conditions? 

There is a string of instances showing that this issue is not new.  It is puzzling that the police have not resolved the issue, which is why it keeps coming up. Since 2009, at least six police chiefs had ordered the withdrawal of police orderlies attached to private individuals and companies. It has been talking without enforcement.

Interestingly, a viral video by Suleman raised questions regarding what he knows about the incident.  “They’ve decided to make an attempt on my life,” he said in the video. “People who did this are expecting me to come out, mention their names, so that they will come out and deny. I won’t do that. But the truth of the matter is this: you can’t kill me.”

He also addressed “those who are among those that are attacking me,” saying “but you don’t know where the fight started from.”  “There are things you don’t understand; you don’t have an idea of the beginning of what happened in 2017 — the people who are behind it.”

The cleric should not be allowed to obfuscate this tragic incident. He should be made to clarify what happened since he gave the impression that he knew the identities of those who masterminded the attack. 

Indeed, a group called YesWeFit Movement demanded clarification from Suleman, arguing in a statement that “one who witnessed the commission of a crime and knows the perpetrators, has an obligation to report what he knows to the police, otherwise be viewed as an accessory to the crime.”

 There is no doubt that Suleman has a lot of explaining to do, given what he said in the video. Questioning him should be a critical part of the police investigation of the incident.

The investigation should be comprehensive and done professionally. A curious aspect reinforced why it is important to get to the bottom of what happened.  Police spokesperson in the state had been reported saying “One of the hoodlums was gunned down and one of the vehicles was recovered.”

 But it is unclear under what circumstances the said suspect was killed. It had been reported that he was caught by vigilantes and handed over to the police, giving rise to a disturbing allegation that the police eliminated him in a cover-up.  The police said he was killed in a gun battle. 

In a reassuring move, the outgoing state Commissioner of Police, now Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) Abutu Yaro, had ordered the withdrawal of the Divisional Police Officer of Auchi Division, Edo State, CSP Ayodele Suleiman “for debriefing at the State Headquarters with immediate effect.” The police need to demonstrate that there was no cover-up. 

This should not become yet another unsolved case.  There are too many already. And the body count of the Suleiman attack shows it is not about the cleric alone. His family is intact. The victims’ families mourn. We owe those families not only funerals or tears but also the truth of the crime and criminals. That will be the real empathy.

 •Petroleum downstream would know no peace until these two are tackled

Hardly any government has eliminated human greed, or even seen any critical need to.  Yet, every effective government somehow manages to ease the extreme impact of greed on the supply chain.  

That it does by fixing the supply dynamics.  That simply ensures there is not only adequate supply, there is also no glitch in the supply chain.  

That way, hoarding, powered by greed for profiteering, is not only manifestly stupid, it also ensures demand doesn’t gorge on excess supply, flattens the price and ruins ventures.  It’s the great “equilibrium” in economics: the point where forces of supply and demand exchange money for ultimate value.

That fuel queues come now and then to disrupt Nigeria’s economic and social life is because this twin-conundrum of supply and pricing is yet to be settled.  That must be addressed, even as the country takes slow steps to local refining — a major plank of the fair supply chain, since Nigeria is a producer of crude.

The latest round of crisis, for instance, has not resulted from any basic “scarcity”.  If we were to believe statistics from the regulatory agency, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Nigeria still had enough wet stock to last 24 days and eight hours, as at October 25.

So, why that glitch — that had started paralysing Lagos and the rest of the South West, by October 26?  The depot of NNPC Ltd, the biggest importer of prime motor spirit aka petrol, diesel, kerosene and allied fuels was reportedly dry.  A clear proof of that was that NNPC Ltd’s retail outlets and associated fuel stations didn’t have fresh products.

Only the independent marketers, under the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), had some products — and even those were sourced from private depots that jacked up their ex-depot price to N178 a litre: well above the N165-N168 a litre official selling belts.  

Since IPMAN members cannot sell below the price they bought the products, aside from adding their own margin, the selling pump price belts around Lagos and the rest of the South West soared to between N190 and N200 a litre, though a few conscientious stations, probably selling old stock, still stuck to the N165-N168 a litre basket.  With queues all over the place, prices shot higher in more remote areas in the country.

Big query: why are the NNPC Ltd depots dry?  The government must explain that — and fast.  Otherwise, the country faces the spectre of product scarcity, as the celebratory December of high travels nears.  That must be averted at all cost.

Read Also: Scarcity: Petrol ex-depot price rises to N178 per litre

Beyond that, NMDPRA must urgently fix fuel supply and pricing.  On that, the ultimate solution is home refining.  With Dangote refineries projected to start pumping products latest by Q2 2023, there appears a progressive, though slow, step to that epoch of fairer and more guaranteed supply.

But even with local refining compared to imported stock, NMDPRA must still get the pricing right — that would be the threshold at which sellers and buyers get mutually fair deals, which in turn sustains the market.  

Local refining would, other things being equal, deal with less subsidy headache.  At least, the freighting of imported products, and its mandatory insurance, would cease being part of the cost mix.  Still, that doesn’t mean adequate pricing would be a piece of cake, given the wafer-thin margin that globally defines the volume-driven petroleum downstream market.

But before then, we must face down the subsidy blues — clearly a huge challenge.  Gangling greed and alleged free-wheeling sleaze has given the subsidy regime a bad name, to the extent that the supposed beneficiaries — the poor and most vulnerable — are now being dragooned to drink the “subsidy is evil” hemlock.  

Hardly anyone is thinking of the huge social costs of the so-called “market-driven” pump prices: with rigged imported supplies; and with inflation now a global menace. Still, it is doubtful if the government would take any rash action on the eve of a crucial election.  

Yet, beyond panic-driven junking of subsidy to “save costs” yet unleash social dragons in the streets and poor homes, we must strive toward a clinical management culture that ensures subsidy delivers due value to the target beneficiaries, and is not ruined by the ringing greed of a few.

Another challenge is the leakage via smuggling.  Much of refined products find their ways into neighbouring West African markets by organised smuggling rings.  Leakage would appear even more challenging than subsidy.  Even with local refining and adequate pricing, we still have to seek a comprehensive antidote to this wanton waste.

This present crisis is therefore, a good window to forge efficient and effective measures to sustain a sane downstream market now, in the coming era of local refining.  NMDPRA, working with the market players, must come up with winning policies.

•Footballer’s death in the process of saving co-passengers is the height of sacrifice any human being can make

Had the warning by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) as early as February that there would most likely be heavy rainfall across the country been taken seriously by most states and safety precautions taken, the heavy damages that have accompanied severe flooding in several states in the last two weeks would probably have been largely averted. So far, there have been no less than 600 casualties recorded, more than 2.5 million people affected or displaced and substantial hectares of farmlands destroyed by the floods. Even in the midst of the general havoc caused by these natural disasters, however, are some sad and tragic personal stories that touch the heart and reveal the noble and compassionate possibilities of the human soul.

One such example was the reported drowning and death of a 31-year-old footballer, Peremobowei Ernest, who met his demise in the Yenebelebiri community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State in the process of rescuing some co-passengers in a sinking boat. The deceased and his co-passengers were reportedly on their way to their destination when the boat conveying them smashed into the Government Jetty Barge and lost control. Apparently, the deceased was the only one of the passengers who knew how to swim and he could easily have chosen to safeguard his own life by swimming to safety. Rather, he chose the nobler and sacrificial path of saving the five other passengers above the overriding need to preserve his own life. His younger brother, Komboye Ernest, said his brother most likely died of exhaustion after he had successfully rescued the other passengers which enabled the flood to sweep him away. The corpse of the deceased was recovered two days later and deposited at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa.

Surely, Peremobowei had every reason to concentrate first and foremost on saving his own life. Here was a young man at the prime of his life who still had a bright promise ahead. He was a family man with a wife and two children aged between 10 months and three years. No one would blame him if the need to continue to care for and provide for them was uppermost in his mind at that critical moment. Furthermore, even if his name as a footballer was not as yet well-known on the national stage, he had attained a measure of local success in the game. He had reportedly won laurels with several  local teams, including the Eternal Grace Football Club which emerged as the winner of last year’s Bayelsa State Governor’s Cup tagged the “Prosperity Cup” and was voted the third-best highest goal scorer in the tournament. He could most certainly have justifiably dreamt of achieving greater success in the game; another reason for according greater priority to his own safety over helping others to survive.

Read Also: Expect more flood in North Central, South East – NiMet, NIHSA

This selflessness that saved other lives at the expense of his own is an uncommon act of heroism for which the deceased deserves posthumous plaudits. We join his junior brother in calling on the Bayelsa State government to offer substantial succour to his wife and children. Indeed, the state should bear the expenses of his burial and a monument named in his honour, both to preserve his memory and serve as an example and inspiration to others. 

Incidents like this remind us once again of the need for state governments, particularly those with expansive body of waters, to take the modernisation and standardisation of water transportation seriously. Rather than roughly hewn boats, well-constructed ferries should be procured to ply properly charted water transportation routes and such vessels should be manned by trained professionals and equipped with requisite life-saving gadgets. 

We pray for the repose of the deceased’s soul and that his loved ones have the strength and fortitude to bear the loss.

•Teachers yet to enjoy enhanced benefits package two years on

President Muhammadu Buhari, at the 2022 commemoration of the World Teachers Day, reaffirmed commitment to enhancing the fortunes of Nigerian teachers. No society could grow beyond its educational attainment, he said, noting that: “One of the major differences between healthy, well-functioning and prosperous societies and poorer societies is education. We owe so much of our well-being as a nation to our educators at every level.” ‘Couldn’t be better stated.

The World Teachers Day is marked every October 5 to celebrate teachers and draw attention to their welfare and concerns. Speaking at this year’s event with the theme: “The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers,” the President stressed the centrality of teachers to Nigeria’s educational transformation. Represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, he said the present administration was determined to return teachers and the teaching profession to their rightful places by fully implementing professional teaching and teacher qualification framework standards that would invariably impact on education outcomes and teachers’ performances at pre-school, basic, secondary and tertiary levels.

At the 2020 edition of the World Teachers Day, President Buhari had announced new incentives for teachers which include a bumper and specialised salary structure, upward review of their retirement age from 60 to 65, and years of service from 35 to 40, payment of the fees of teachers’ children and provision of low-cost houses for them. Other incentives promised include: increase in rural posting allowance for teachers, science teachers’ allowance, peculiar allowance, automatic employment of Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) and Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) students upon graduation, prompt payment of teachers’ salaries and timely promotion to eliminate stagnation, as well as sponsorship of teachers on skills enhancement trainings. These packages were unfolded after more than two decades of struggle and agitations for improved welfare by teachers.

However, two years since the presidential package was unveiled, teachers across the country are yet to enjoy the promised bounties. Vice President Osinbajo said the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission had completed work on the reviewed remuneration package for teachers in basic and secondary school. “Implementation is awaiting conclusion of consultations with state governments and the National Assembly,” he added. In his own address at the 2022 commemoration, Minister of Education Adamu Adamu acknowledged that teachers, especially at the basic and secondary levels, had been at the receiving end of “some of the most unfavourable and sometimes intolerable policies, practices and experiences.” According to him, the Federal Government has implemented the retirement age of teachers at 65 years, with corresponding elongation of service years to 40. Teachers, however, say government has only enacted the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act, 2022, but has yet to gazette it; hence, it is not being implemented yet and teachers still get retired at age of 60 or after 35 years of service.

Read Also: Soludo cancels teachers’ recruitment over irregularities

Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) National President, Audu Titus Amba, argued at the 2022 commemoration that the Nigerian education system is in crisis. He noted that students of tertiary public institutions were out of school for more than seven months due to a protracted industrial dispute, while the basic and secondary education sub-sectors were faced with challenges that include “non-implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage for teachers in some states, shortage of teachers, poor infrastructure, lack of instructional materials, insecurity in schools, inadequate funding and poor conditions of service in general.” Amba lamented that the deplorable state of education and poor working conditions of teachers adversely affect education service delivery, especially in the public sector. He, however, praised President Buhari for the harmonisation of retirement age of teachers and called on government at both national and sub-national levels to place high premium on education and accord teachers pride of place in society.

With the Buhari presidency having barely seven months left of its tenure, there are fears teachers could be forced back to the starting blocks of agitation if the promised package does not get implemented before it leaves office. In other words, the package could expire with this administration, especially in view of lack of continuity that typifies governance policies in this country. That is even to talk about the federal level, and not to mention the historic struggle it will inevitably take to get the package through with state governments. And it is one reason the Buhari administration must be earnest with implementing the package of benefits by perfecting enabling laws as may be required. As for getting resources to fund the package, this is contingent to a great extent on the administration being able to plug leakages of corruption that constitute huge drainpipes on the economy.