Fuel Importation to end in 24 months?

Kindly Share This Story:

It looks like yet another clever ruse calculated to hoodwink hapless Nigerians in other to distract them from the crisis rocking the House of Representatives fuel subsidy payments probe adhoc committee. But if Petroleum Resources Minister Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke’s recent hint that the Federal Government has planned to stop the importation of refined petroleum products in 24 months becomes a reality then Nigeria would have produced another wonder to ponder about. Yet, if this ambitious plan is not met, Mrs. Alison-Madueke should be prepared for a legal battle with concerned Nigerians as her wild goose chase could be interpreted as perjury, a criminal offence since she made the statement under oath in her official capacity as minister of petroleum resources. The truth, however, is that our government officials make statements just because they have to read out something to the expectant public for the fun of it.

Otherwise, why would the Minister predicate the stoppage of importation of refined petroleum products on the turn-around maintenance of the four decrepit refineries? She knows that even if the four traditional refineries were to function optimally their total output would still not meet the demand for local consumption. All things considered, the business segments of the society  and the consuming public that suffer the brunt of petroleum products importation would have jubilated at the pronouncement of the Minister in far away Vienna, Austria. But no one will applaud Mrs. Alison-Madueke as pledges from Nigerian government officials, despite their explicitness, only serve to mislead productive society and the wider population. We recall that in August 2011, President Jonathan himself ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to commence the process of building two additional refineries within 24 months to end petroleum products importation. Almost a year down the road, nothing has yet been done along that line.

Also, in February 2012, the President said that the violence perpetrated by the Boko Haram Islamist religious sect, would end in three months. We are already etching towards the end of June. Has the violence ended? All these happen because Nigerians cannot hold their rulers accountable to their words. Whether or not Mrs. Alison-Madueke remains the Minister of Petroleum Resources in the next 24 months, Nigerians are counting. But it is indeed regrettable that the Presidency is unbothered by the negative turn of events and the dire implications for its own image. What has been evidenced is the limited capacity of government to translate plans and policy pronouncements into concrete actions and measures that could enhance the quality of life of the citizens. For the price regime that it intended to sustain, all that was required of government was a firm determination to fully re-stream its four crude processing plants in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna by setting performance targets for the NNPC.

The Corporation would not have had any reason to miss the targets, having devised its own means of sustenance by cornering proceeds from crude oil sales into the two so-called commercial accounts it established abroad in 2003. Unconstitutional as that act is, since it was inspired by a corporate desire to sidestep a 2002 Supreme Court ruling that annulled the funding of the NNPC through first line charges, government turned a blind eye to it. Funding ceased to be a problem of the Corporation after the establishment of those accounts, yet the refineries have never attained any appreciable level of operation over the years, as government hardly demonstrated any interest in its activities beyond what accrues from Joint Venture equity holding. If the NNPC has been fired by anything close to a sense of mission and patriotism, Nigeria’s dependence on fuel imports would have been minimal. By extension, the country would have been sufficiently insulated from the unending astronomical surge in world prices of crude oil.

Government needs to look back to re-engage the thinking and motivation that prompted its issuance of operational licenses to 18 private companies to establish their own refineries during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. In the face of the failure of the major players of the petroleum sub-sector to plan and manage the operations of the oil and the sub-sector to guarantee product availability and accessibility, Nigerians can no longer afford to leave their fate in the hands of economic sharks and capitalist adventurers.

Even as oil marketers who are members of President Jonathan’s kitchen cabinet prefer fuel importation to  letting the refineries work, it is expected that the authorities would realize soon enough just how embarrassing it is that Nigeria, one of the world’s largest exporters of crude oil, is unable to refine the crude to meet its fuel requirements. It is a pointer to poor planning and leadership failure in the country. We expect that government would act speedily to redeem that pledge for the good of Nigerians, economic planning as well as its own image as the ultimate authority on matters of resource allocation and national development. Nigerians have suffered enough.


Kindly Share This Story:

Related Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

amehnews greetings

x
%d bloggers like this: