Before the managers of Nigeria’s public affairs must begin the implementation of policies of fuel subsidy removal and other matters connected therewith, there is a need to revisit the issue of ownership of Nigeria’s oil blocks. It has been an open secret that awards of oil licences and mining leases in Nigeria have always been shrouded in secret deals, high level of corruption and gangsterist patronage. Past military rulers began the regime of secrecy in the award of oil licences, which continued after 1999, with no effort to stop the unfair advantage meant for an exclusive few.
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) had raised alarm long ago about ‘’the absence of transparency in the acquisition and awards of oil prospecting licences, mining leases, financing mechanisms, inappropriate disclosures of oil and gas production figure revenues that have characterised Nigeria’s extractive sector’’. Despite changes and some repositioning that have been described as mere window-dressings, the oil and gas sector is not only in a systemic rot, but ‘‘nobody knows who owns what’’.
From the grapevine, there had been gossips that many allocated oil blocks ended up being serviced, thus resulting in economic disservice to the nation. Despite the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), a pattern set by the regime of late General Sani Abacha (1993-1998) continues to operate hitherto. That pattern has to do with our heads of state holding on to the portfolio of Petroleum Minister, whereby the oil and gas sector of the economy runs into deeper waters where no one can raise issues.
The oil and gas industry generates over 70 per cent of all Federal Government earnings and 90 per cent of Nigeria’s external revenues. For such strategic and sensitive industry to be associated with inexplicable secrecies, characterised by exclusive monopolies, makes the policy of subsidy removal not palatable to many Nigerians. Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), a global body, had given Nigeria a very poor mark in the administration of its oil and gas sector. In a study tagged Resource Governance Index, RWI described Nigeria’s extractive industries governance as very weak.
It is true to say that the situation in the oil and gas industry began long ago but that is no reason why the jinxed situation must continue unchecked; neither is it true that the PIA has succeeded in sanitising that sector. Hitherto, apart from some uproar and denials, nobody has disproved an assertion made long ago by Senator Ita Enang that ‘’Northerners owned 83 per cent of all oil blocks in the country”.
A situation where there are rent collectors, buccaneers and secret awards of oil licences, can there be such transparency and accountability to justify the issue of subsidy removal? Especially where such removal of subsidy would place the masses in a disadvantage and agony, should Nigerians not ask what is happening in the oil sector? Is the government not duty-bound to publish the ownership profile of all oil blocks in the country and how transparent the process had been?
To address the issue of dwindling revenues would require not more borrowing, but taking the line of public accountability by checking financial leakages and profligate spending. Transparency and accountability would include addressing fuel subsidy fraud, of which fuel importation has been an old issue!
What happened to an alleged N2.4 trillion stolen oil money many years ago in connection with fuel subsidy? Was somebody not alleged to have collected $620,000 bribes to prevent the indictment of an oil company over subsidy scam many years ago? Nigerians are obviously not comfortable with the secrecy and exclusiveness associated with the oil sector, especially where the blessing of oil and gas becomes a curse to the masses. Late Bola Ige, at a lecture organised by Ibadan Chamber of Commerce, was quoted by TELL magazine (April 19, 1999, page 18) as saying: ‘‘All Nigerians are thieves, stealing the property of the Niger Delta people, and if care is not taken, we will face the wrath of God, because it is a sin to continue to plunder the resources of the people’’.
It is quite sad that despite the enormous resources coming from that zone, the Niger Delta remains marginalised, coupled with the fact that the NDDC, as an interventionist agency, is remotely controlled by external power blocs.
Managers of Nigeria’s affairs should appreciate the fact that the masses have made commendable sacrifices, at least, by way of allowing peace to reign even when they should protest. The issue of cuts and checks in public spending should be taken seriously and be followed by transparency and accountability, such that the confidence of the masses can be restored. Every country usually passes through trying times, calling for exemplary leadership where the masses would not be bamboozled as if they are all fools.
Security is a crucial issue in governance which can be facilitated by exemplary and just leadership, rather than a situation where a nation’s political economy is characterised by secrecy and exclusiveness. The oil and gas sector surely shows such evidence, with regards to oil-blocks allocations. How would there be security where, in the midst of abject poverty among the majority, there is arrant and provocative display of wealth by a few people? A situation where wealth is not associated with productivity and patriotism, the poor masses would obviously feel bitter. Is poverty the result of laziness?
People of the Niger Delta region, which produces the bulk of the resources that sustain the Nigerian economy, deserve a better deal than what they have at the moment. In spite of 13 per cent derivation bonus and the paltry provision in the PIA, the ways that awards or allocation of oil licences are being handled need to be corrected. Similarly, those representing the Niger Delta region at the National Assembly should be seen as being on the side of their constituencies rather than being used as means of undermining the interests of the region.

By: Bright Amirize