The Nation Newspaper

Tag: nigeri

  • ‘How to solve Nigeria’s oil industry woes’

    ‘How to solve Nigeria’s oil industry woes’

    Emeka Okwuosa is the chairman of Oilserve Group, which is into power, oil exploration and production and farming. He chairs five other companies in the group, that is involved in building the largest pipeline system. In this interview with JOSEPH JIBUEZE and NNEKA NWANERI, he speaks on pipeline vandalism, how Nigeria can survive fall in oil price and the recession, and how to improve refining capacity, among others. 

    How can Nigeria survive the oil price plunge?

    I’ll give you a background to oil price drop. It is a normal thing. Oil is a natural resource that we mine or drill through a process. When you talk about oil production and utilisation, you talk about a global phenomenon. We apply the basic knowledge of economics here. When you have production and consumption, you try to match them. When production becomes higher than consumption, you have a glut of the product. So, what you have is a drop in price. When consumption at anytime is higher than production, you have a squeeze, which leads to oil price increase. I can tell you that the current drop in oil price is the fourth cycle I’ve seen in the industry. The first one was in 1986. Oil went down to $5 per barrel. The second one was in 1997/1998. Oil price went down to $9 to $10. The next was in 2008 when we had the global economic crisis. There was a major problem in the structure of the world economy. Oil price went down, before we had the one of two years ago. It’s a normal thing. Therefore, being a normal thing, it’s left for any producer to plan ahead. Our problem in Nigeria is not low oil price, but lack of planning of the economy. At $20 or $30, it’s tough because production cost in Nigeria has gone up to about $28/$29 per barrel, which should not be so. If Nigeria had gotten its oil industry under control, and managed it properly, we should not be having production cost of more than $12 or $13 per barrel. So for it to be over $20 is our fault.

    The inability of successive governments to plan ahead and know that when you have a resource based economy, you will be open to all the vagaries of price changes of this commodity is the problem. We should not at this stage, after more than 60 years of oil and gas production, be a single commodity economy. Today we should have an oil industry that should have gone through second or third cycle of evolution where we’re using the oil and gas industry to develop various industries to have added economic benefits. Why is Nigeria still exporting crude oil? All you do is produce it and sell. Who you sell it to will be the one to refine, produce bitumen, and other things that you go back to buy. It’s a no-brainer that it’s not sustainable. Today we should not be importing refined products. We should be producing our products. We should produce enough fertiliser from our gas. We should have added economic benefits from our oil. We have not done that and that’s why we’re suffering.

    The second part is the way we have structured our economy. It is not robust enough to adapt to world economic changes. So, oil price drop is not the primary thing that is affecting our economy. It is primarily because we have not planned and executed very well, and we do not have enough savings to drive the process. So, I hope we have learnt from this.

    What should be done?

    There is an added incentive to develop alternative sources of energy. Nigeria has many. Nigeria can develop biogas systems, solar systems, even our coal, but in a cleaner manner. How come Nigeria has not been able to develop cheaper forms of energy in the past 40 years like other countries? The last time coal was properly mined was when the colonial powers were here. Since the late 60s, we have just been living in denial; we have not developed our systems. So, there is a lot we can do. Agriculture is another one. Our economy should be robust because we have all it takes and we have the human resource to drive it.

    What projects have your companies executed?

    Oilserv is made up of six companies in the group. But Oilserv EPC Limited is primarily an engineering, procurement and construction firm, that’s why it’s called EPC. We are the first Nigerian company to provide full EPC services. We do the front-end engineering, we do detailed engineering, we do the procurement of the required facilities, and we construct the lines. We also maintain and rehabilitate the lines when necessary. We have full value chain coverage. Oilserv has that capacity. We have built over 30 pipelines in Nigeria. We built the longest gas pipeline in the Southern part of Nigeria of 137 kilometres. We crossed eight major rivers through what we call horizontal directional drilling (HDD), where we do not disturb the water, but we drill under the water, just like you have the channel tunnel between UK and France. We have the capacity to do that. We built the gas supply to five of the gas fired power plants in the country. We built the systems including the pipelines and the metering stations. They include the Ihovbor power plant in Edo, Gbaran Power Plant in Bayelsa, Egbema Power Plant in Rivers, Alaoji Power Plant in Abia, Calabar Power Plant in Cross River. We also built the supply system for geometric power plant in Aba, the one owned and operated by Prof Barth Nnaji’s company. So you can see that we have contributed more than any other company in Nigeria in developing gas systems.

    What is East-West pipeline project?

    It is the largest pipeline system in Africa. It is a 48-inch diameter of 67 kilometres pipeline. It is referred to as East-West pipeline. It’s actually called OB3 Pipeline, which means Obiafu, Obrikom, Oben pipeline. It starts from the eastern flank of Rivers State and goes all the way to Edo State through Delta State. It is about 85 per cent concluded. The pipeline is 100 per cent built. What we’re now building is the metering stations, and the gas commissioning systems. That should be completed this year. When it is completed, we’ll have a total of two billion standard cubic feet of gas being transported from the eastern flank where you have gas source into the West and North. Part of the pipeline will supply the Escravos to Lagos pipeline and feed more gas into Lagos and then into the West African gas pipeline. The other part will move from Oben to Ajaokuta and from there we’ll construct another line that will go to Abuja, Kaduna and Kano. So this is the major artery of Nigerian gas transportation system.

    How have you been dealing with vandalism and militancy?

    Don’t forget the basic, underlying issues and the causes. The fact that successive governments did not address the needs of host communities led to agitation, which led to militancy. But I believe that the current administration has done quite a lot in trying to address it. The engagement is better today than it was before. We have managed to work despite all these problems because we have a method of engaging the communities; we have a corporate social responsibility system that works very well. It can be quite expensive but the only meaningful solution is the government addressing the issues holistically by looking at environment degradation and the huge gap in development between what these communities should have and what they have. Of course government has put in funds previously, but their management was questionable. But from what is coming out of the current government, it seems they fully understand the issues and are working towards addressing them.

    How can Nigeria boost its refining capacity?

    We have over time made a simple issue complex. Our refining capacity is there but not efficient. Some of our refineries are not functioning, while some are not up to capacity. For over 20 years, we have managed our refineries in a way that made them not to work. Successive governments did carry out turnaround maintenance, awarding these contracts to individuals and companies that had no capacity to maintain them but ended up destroying them. Another factor is that the government has not invested in developing further capacity by training people. Most of the people that built these refineries were very good workers, but have retired.

    Younger ones have not received the same training that the older ones got in the 70s and 80s. So, there was a problem of sustainability of the refineries. However, I’ve been an architect of their privatisation. Refineries cannot be run by government or NNPC. They should be sold. And then entities like the operating companies should be encouraged to set up their own refineries. And the environment should be made conducive for them to do so. We should have enough refining capacity in Nigeria. On tackling illegal refining, I’ve heard government in the past few weeks talk about modular refineries. If we can articulate it very well and work closely with host communities, some of these illegal refineries will be taken out and replaced by modular refineries. And jobs will be provided for the same people that engage in illegal refining that is damaging the economy and the environment and killing people.

  • Xenophobia and Nigeria/South Africa relations

    The latest wave of violent attacks on the Nigerians living in South Africa has generated local and international condemnation. This article examines the   core issues of racial intolerance and dislike for foreigners, particularly Nigerians in South Africa, within the broader historical framework of the apartheid regime and the post-apartheid socio-economic relations which have over time shaped the existential notions of false community, vague entitlement and empty sense of belonging amongst a number of black South Africans. It further highlights and provides fresh perspectives to addressing reverse migration and building for Nigeria a positive foreign policy template that promotes genuine national pride and national interest.

    Indeed, the issue of xenophobia in contemporary South Africa in my view is profound psychosomatic carryovers and the negative product of the apartheid regime that cannot be wished away from the collective consciousness of the people of the rainbow nation. This is even more so, given the attendant dispossession of their heritage and personal pride by the despicable and repugnant apartheid regime, which exploited them in their own land. The reality of these historical facts has continued to obstruct the wheel of progress and development. Furthermore, the political crisis of that dark era led to social dislocation, which in turn affected their economic means, educational advancement and developing the required skill sets that would have prepared them for high-level jobs and proper integration into a new South Africa promising a brighter future.

    While xenophobic violence is not a new phenomenon in post-apartheid South Africa, the sudden explosion of violence has been attributed to a combination of factors which include local political pressures over time, increases in prices of basic goods, high levels of unemployment estimated at 25 percent and growing concerns and frustrations at the inability of the South African government under incumbent President Jacob Zuma to provide essential services to poor people and the resultant economic hardship and tensions surrounding crime and competition over scarce resources by non-national population. The continued socio-economic issues are pushing the average Black South African into extreme poverty in the midst of plenty and there is a high level of dissatisfaction with the scheme of things after the fall of the apartheid regime.

    It would be recalled that between May and June 2008, there were 135 separate violent incidents that left 62 people dead, at least 670 wounded and unfortunately, dozens were carnally assaulted and many properties destroyed and looted. In addition, the South Africa domestic environment has been hostile to non- nationals particularly, undocumented migrants and there is implicit culture of impunity, which encourages mob justice in most communities. Interestingly, South African state security institutions such as the police and immigration services show no sympathy to black settlers from other African countries; the xenophobia appears institutionalized. Therefore, Nigeria’s international diplomacy should not dwell much on the criticism of the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa, but rather much attention should be placed on understanding the dynamics of international politics, which is a game of selective morality, outrageous paradox and double standard. Hence, concrete efforts should be made at home to culture an enabling environment that would create jobs and livelihoods for the common people in Nigeria. In addition, Nigeria must re-jig her diplomatic institutions to engage the South African government.

    It is important to note that people migrating in search of safer and more prosperous living conditions is as old as man and the right of any person to leave any country is enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

    While it is not possible to eliminate social tensions in any country, it is expedient on the part of the South African government and its nationals to respect universal and regional treaties, declarations, norms, protocols and conventions rather than resort to barbarous acts that have outraged the conscience of Nigerians and Africans. Indeed the unwholesome politicisation of migration as an excuse for xenophobia in South Africa must be addressed by diplomatic means by both countries. The issues and factors of migration that include increased unemployment, poverty and greed must be top in re-tooling the new Nigeria-South Africa partnership. Both countries must promote and sustain protection mechanisms for human rights and conducive environments for decent work by migrant workers and their families whether documented (economic) migrants or undocumented migrants.

    Sadly, one major challenge in Nigeria-South Africa relations over years, beyond the recent violent attacks on Nigerians and other Africans, is lack of mutual diplomatic and tactful reciprocity on the part of the South Africa government and the country’s non-state actors for the strategic role Nigeria played in the struggle against apartheid. In addition, this is why Nigerians are angry at the latest attacks. Nigeria played a frontline role in ensuring freedom for black South Africans through the mobilisation of international opinion to isolate the apartheid regime in the global community, business and sports.

    Equally, Nigeria has also provided a robust and unrestricted market for South African businesses like MTN and Multichoice. Therefore, Nigeria must also forge strategic business alliance in South Africa to balance the insalubrious business equation. Furthermore, beyond the existing skewed bilateral and economic relations in favour of South African businesses in Nigeria, there is an urgent need for both countries to initiate a liberalised migration regime and a robust migration management capacity towards enhancing and strengthening the strategic role of Nigerians in the diasporas as development partner and factoring their contributions to the overall Africa development agenda for sustainable peace and security.

    The two countries in my view are not exploiting their leadership and governance roles in sustaining the African dream and indeed the drive for poverty eradication through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Indeed, South Africa and Nigeria, representing the two leading economies in Africa, must play leading roles in driving a sustainable green revolution that would provide food security thereby contributing significantly to overcoming hunger and social tensions that have fueled African emigrations. It is imperative for the government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to escalate and mainstream key external relations that are mutually beneficial in ties with South Africa, while respecting all treaties and obligations on persons and related matters.

    Crucially, sustained job creation particularly for youths at home and positive image-building abroad would enhance the respectability of Nigerians in the Diasporas and indeed address the negative way the world sees us as a people and a nation. Furthermore, our government at home must understand the relationship between poverty, irregular migration and the overall issues of xenophobia, which is not new in South Africa.

    Nigeria’s relevance within the global system depends on relative strength and control at the domestic level and our continued relevance within the Africa continent and indeed the changing world. Against this backdrop, Nigeria’s international communication and reputational image-building mechanisms must be hinged on diplomatic caution and decency to safeguard our nationals wherever they are in the globe, beyond the xenophobic realities in South Africa.

    In addition, the African union (AU) has to be alive to its continental responsibility for the emancipation of Africans from the clutches of poverty, walking the talk of development for its people across the continent.

    Overall, Nigeria’s international engagement strategy should be done with diplomatic finesse and dexterity and pragmatic efforts should be pursued to improve on our foreign relations mechanisms, particularly on the issues of cross-border migration. Nigeria should desire to play by the rule of international obligations in spite of its visible failings at home in providing basic social welfare and essential services for majority of its people who live on less than one dollar a day. The challenge of xenophobic attacks again is wake up call for the Nigerian government to organise its affairs by improving living conditions at home, as well as strengthening its foreign policy objectives.

     

    • Orovwuje is founder, Humanitarian Care for Displaced Persons, Lagos.
  • WHO delists Nigeria from polio list

    WHO delists Nigeria from polio list

    The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to formally pronounce the delisting of Nigeria as a polio endemic country before President Muhammadu Buhari.
    The event, which is slated for the State House, Abuja, on October 26 will see the country hosting the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, who will be represented by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso R. Moeti.
    According to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. Linus Awute, “The Regional Director will meet with Mr. President to formally announce to the Government of Nigeria the WHO’s decision to remove Nigeria from the list of Polio endemic countries, as a recognition of the immediate achievement of Nigeria in stopping the transmission of the Wild Polio Virus for a period of fourteen months, which has exceeded WHO’s target for interruption”.
    The Regional Director, Dr. Moeti, is also expected to emphasize to policy makers and major stakeholders, that despite tremendous progress in Nigeria, complacency is not a luxury at the disposal of the Government and partners until the gains of this great feat is sustained for two years to be able to achieve the certification of Nigeria as a Polio-free Nation by 2017.
    In order to boost population immunity of children between the ages of zero to five years, as well as achieve eradication status in 2017, Nigeria will continue to vaccinate children, irrespective of their previous immunization status.
    The President, Muhammadu Buhari, during his interface with the High Level Advocacy Team on Poliomyelitis, headed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, emphasized that his administration “Would provide the necessary oversight over the Programme to ensure no child ever gets paralyzed again by Wild Polio Virus”.
    He therefore directed the Federal Ministry of Health and its Agency to come up with programme elements that would sustain the gains and maintain the momentum towards achieving a final certification.
    Consequently, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Health, has developed a robust Polio Emergency Plan with corresponding roadmap detailing strategies to sustain the achievement.
    According to the Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr. Ado Muhammad, “The Programme will continue to carry out high quality Polio campaigns, intensify routine immunization and enhance surveillance system, all aimed at sustaining the Polio zero case status of the Country”.
    He said that this is ‘critical’ to achieving eradication and attaining certification by 2017.
  • Thinking about Nigeria @ 54

    Thinking about Nigeria @ 54

    Celebrating October 1 each year has become an annual ritual in Nigeria. That day in 1960 marked the end of colonial rule and the enthronement of indigenous leaders in the country. Today, exactly 54 years after, the country is still groping in the dark and tottering on the brink. The low key nature of the independence celebrations, since a few years back, is a confirmation of the bad times. It appears the older the country becomes, the farther it drifts from its promised land. Not even the advent of civilian governance in 1999 has brought anything significantly different. I say civilian governance because that is what we have in Nigeria today, not the democracy we all crave for.

    In essence, our claim to democracy is a ruse. The reasons are glaring for any discerning mind. More than 15 years of civilian governance and 54 years of independence have brought no tangible respite for the long suffering Nigerians. Just look around. More and more people are being sentenced to a life of dependency, want and penury on a daily basis in the country. As a result of this, crime and criminality have taken over on a frightening scale previously unknown in history.

    At the moment, the north-eastof the country is almost being excised from the rest of the country due to the activities of a few misguided individuals who have taken up arms against the country and their fellowmen. Not even the much-publicised killing of the real or fake Abubakar Shekau, the acclaimed leader of the notorious terror group known simply as Boko Haram, has brought much relief. More than 200 schoolgirls abducted from their school in Chibok community, Borno State, are still marooned in the evil forest of Sambissa, also in Borno State, where the hoodlums have turned into their operational headquarters. The other day, one of the innocent girls (if the reports are true), almost half dead, was abandoned in one of the villages in Borno State. By the last account of her health status, she was foundto be four months pregnant with visible evidence of depression and trauma metamorphosing as some mental illness. Her case is a signpost of the calamity that has befallen the innocent schoolgirls who have been denied the comfort of their parents and families to forcefully co-habit with criminals, drug-addicts, rapists and people on the brink of lunacy. For these girls, there is nothing like independence; what they need and crave for today, is freedom from the hands of their tormentors.

    As it is, not only the abducted girls desire freedom; those left behind in Chibok and other villages in the North-east that are currently ravaged by terrorists activities are all desperately looking forward to their emancipation from the hands of their torturers. Recently, the media reported that no fewer than 150 refugees from Nigeria, holed up in a border community in a neighbouring country, were feared dead as the terrorists descended on them and snuffed out their lives. For those ones too, there is nothing like independence celebration.

    So, in view of all these occurrences, do we deserve to celebrate the country’s independence at all this year? Certainly no. The day should have been converted into one huge prayer session all over the country in supplication to God Almighty to come and liberate the country from the current pains and anguish confronting it. But our leaders seem to be thinking in the opposite direction, perhaps, because they are comfortable anyway. Why do we pretend that things are normal at a time they are abysmally abnormal?

    On Monday, more than 300 people were conferred with national honours. While a good number of them could have merited it, some of them were mere misnomers. Among them is a former governor of an oil-rich state of the Niger Delta region of the country who, in a bid to avoid prosecution for corruption and other financial malfeasance while in office, approached a court and obtained a “perpetual injunction” from prosecution. Today, he has been rewarded with a national honour. And there are so many other shameless ones in the same boat with him who have been so honoured in the country. Nigeria we hail thee!

    In the past few years, particularly under the current democracy, the country has again and again demonstrated either unwillingness or lack of capacity to tackle corruption, the hydra-headed monster that has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation. The country is still enmeshed in the $9.3 million money laundering embarrassment that was discovered in far away South Africa. The government said the money was meant to purchase arms to fight the ongoing terrorists’ war in the country. If that excuse was meant to draw sympathy, it has failed and woefully too. The reason is that Nigerians do not trust their leaders because of their high propensity and proclivity to manufacture and tell lies. The same government enacted a law banning her citizens from travelling out of the country at anytime with an amount exceeding $10,000. Now, the government had the effrontery to pack $9.3 million in cash in three suitcases to go and shop for arms across the counter somewhere. Besides, those who ferried the money out are not government officials, while the vessel or the jet used belongs to a known government apologist and bootlicker in cassock.

    There is no amount of explanation that can erase the guilty verdict the people have passed on the government. The public deserve to know the identity of the two couriers involved in this illicit transfer of money that has gone awry. As for the funky man in cassock, it might be too late for him to retrace his steps since he appears to be easily swayed by filthy lucre, for which he makes no pretensions within and outside the country. At least, he is well known all over the place as a commercial ‘Man of God’ who will stop at nothing to smile to the banks to the detriment of his perceived faith. One thing is that he should not allow his greed and selfishness to pit the two major religions against each other in a war of attrition. Based on his antecedents, that is the danger his unguarded pursuit of worldly things could pose to the corporate existence of this country. After all, there is no need putting on a cassock and behaving more like a Boko Haram convert.

    That takes us to the Synagogue church. The building collapse, regrettable and painful as it may be, looks more like an end time thing. For many years, one man suddenly appeared on the scene from nowhere and started equating himself with the trinity and we were all clapping. Within a few years, he built a stupendous empire with many fairy tales of magical prowess. Now that it seems the chickens are gradually coming home to roost, the same man is crying foul and attempting, at least by his body language, to extract sympathy from the public. If people troop to his miracle city in droves, must he only corner the proceeds from such pilgrimages? Why not out-source, for instance, the lodging, accommodation and feeding of his teeming pilgrims to competent hands? Instead, the man embarked on what a Warri man will call “long throat”. Now see what he has caused for himself and the country. For lack of any serious thing to say, he said that the more than 115 people that perished were “martyrs of faith”. By the way, how many of these martyrs are his relations or offspring? And the man is still walking free all over the place. Anyway, that is a story for another day.

    On the political turf, the wave of endorsements and collation of millions of signatures, real and imagined, including the break dancing and the orchestra by our politicians on the threshold of the general elections scheduled for next year, does not give much cheer about the future of the country. Something is seriously wrong. That reminds me of that bespectacled tyrant, General Sani Abacha of blessed (or unblessed) memory. Nigeria we hail thee!

  • Fashola at Lagos CAN’s interdenominational service 2013

    Fashola at Lagos CAN’s interdenominational service 2013

  • Pastor seeks end of 32-year-old marriage

    Pastor seeks end of 32-year-old marriage

    A 62-year-old man, Pastor Emmanuel Ojo, on Friday begged an Akure Chief Customary Court to put an end to the 32-year-old marriage between him and his wife, Victoria.

    The pastor had filed a divorce petition against his 56-year-old wife praying the court to dissolve the marriage.

    Ojo told the court that his wife had abandoned her matrimonial home since 2010, adding that there was no more love between them.

    The Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) pastor complained that his wife was too quarrelsome, and was in the habit of raining curses on him whenever there were disagreements between them.

    He told the court that because of her behaviour, he had attempted suicide three times in the past, adding that he was tired of her as she was too hot tempered.

    The marriage is blessed with four children, Oluwaseyi Ojo, 32, Bankole Ojo, 30, Ayotunde Ojo, 27 and a Oluwabanke Ojo, 24.

    Ojo told the court how he used to prostrate for his wife and beg her just for peace to reign in the house anytime she started fighting him.

    According to the pastor, his wife’s behaviour had affected his pastoral duties and had caused him to break the vow he made with God.

    He said he had vowed before God not to have any affairs with another woman, but since his wife had abandoned him he had broken the vow.

    Ojo lamented that since he cannot continue to live alone, cook for himself and nobody to care for him when he was ill; he had to take another wife.

    The pastor said that as a servant of God, he would not accept his wife back even if she wished to return because he could not have two wives.

    In her defence Victoria said that her husband had been very unfaithful to her since their marriage.

    She said that her husband never told her he had other children outside the marriage, adding that her husband deceived her for close to 20 years before she knew the truth.

    Victoria told the court that unknown to her, the pastor already had two wives before they were married, adding that each time she inquired about the wives and the children, he always denied it.

    She said her husband never gave her any money for toiletries, adding that she never complained as she endured it because she was convinced of a better tomorrow.

    She said that before she married her husband, he was a socialite, who could finish a carton of beer at a sitting, adding that she went into serious fasting and prayers before he could stop drinking.

    Victoria, who said she loved her husband then, added that the pastor was too secretive and never discussed any issue with her.

    She told the court that she gave her husband N50,000 when he started his church project, and said that she had incurred a lot of debt because of his actions.

    She prayed the court to dissolve the marriage for the two of them to go their separate ways.

    President of the court, Chief Joshua Omofaye, later adjourned the matter to Oct. 11, for judgment. (NAN)