IS NIGERIA WORTH SAVING

"Saudi Aramco profits Soar by 90% as energy prices rise." The Guardian of London, August 16, 2022.

According to the report, "The $48bn figure from world's biggest oil firm is thought to be one of largest quarterly profits in history... to easily beat the near $26bn it made a year earlier."

What about our NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources?

Colossal failure. Yes, we are reporting unmitigated failure, wastage, and corruption, while the rest of the oil-producing countries of the world are smiling to the bank with colossal $$$ windfall.

About three months ago, I wrote an essay on the same matter in response to World Bank's reports, stating that Nigeria is not meeting its crude oil production quota that was set by OPEC. Please, find below, some excerpts from the essay, titled "NIGERIA IS WORTH SAVING." May 31, 2022.

"In recent times, we've not been able to meet our crude oil production quota as set by OPEC as a result of the alleged hostile investment climate in the Niger Delta. According to the World Bank's reports, we are comfortably at the top of the list of countries within the OPEC cartel that are unable to meet the surge in the demands for crude oil, motivated by the Russian/Ukraine war."

"How can we, as a nation-state, justify that sabotage or tolerate it, when the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is the Minister of Petroleum Resources? The 2021/22 academic year is gone all over the world, while the students in our public universities are still at home."

"We have a product on the ground in abundance, pleading for exploitation; there is presently an unmatched demand for the product in the global marketplace; yet, we're crying Argentina, lamenting the shortage of foreign revenue and how broke we are as a nation-state. How can you reconcile that? And no member of the cabinet is speaking out or resigning."

"First, we must identify the cause or causes of the unrest. Pollution is real. Unforeseen environmental catastrophe is real. And sabotage is real. Then, develop sustainable mechanisms for the total elimination of the perils. It's that simple. That's an attribute of sovereignty, the inalienable right of a nation to legislate over the use of its natural resources."

"With sustainable peace in place, backed by the adoption of the "social license" principles by the IOCs and domestic investors, we should be able to meet the demands of the markets and boost our foreign exchange earning capacity steadily."

"Feigning ignorance of the adverse business climate in the region is not the best approach to managing our production shortfall in the crude oil markets. Confront the problems, disrupt them, and resolve them to be able to achieve permanent peace. That is the global approach or standard."

Culled from "Nigeria is Worth Saving." By Alex Ehi Aidaghese, May 31, 2022.

So, who is more credible now between the NNPC and the Presidency combined as against the author of this essay and, therefore, deserves to be the Chairman of the Board of the NNPC?

I ask this question, in light of Saudi Aramco's unprecedented quarterly profits, juxtaposed with the timely warning and appropriate solutions that the author addressed in the previously referenced essay, concerning our production shortfall and dwindling revenue.

The facts are overwhelmingly convincing; from all indications, all the president's men at the NNPC are not sufficiently educated about what is going on in the Niger Delta. Therefore, they don't deserve to continue in office, managing the mainstay of our economy - the petroleum resources.

It's either they couldn't fathom the wisdom in taking action to normalize the hostile business environment in the host communities, given the disturbing tone of the Word Bank's reports, or they simply don't appreciate the economic benefits of embracing a peace initiative.

This author covers the World Bank's reports, and succinctly articulated the appropriate solutions needed in the circumstance to stem the tide of unrest in the host community. The fact that only a cordial business environment can guarantee a steady stream of production and revenue windfall is not disputable. So, why are we lukewarm about traversing the course of peace?

Making peace and sustaining it doesn't require rocket science. What is required is a culture of social license, which is a step beyond the fundamentals of corporate social responsibility.

You're likely to spend more money on buying peace and funding all the security apparatus, compared to embracing the social license culture. (You would, however, need a consultant on the ground to assist in putting that culture in place).

And as long as the people around the oil-producing communities consider the investors, the owners of the various oil blocs, and their workers as agents of colonialism, you will never have peace in the Niger Delta.

Social license is a culture and it can only endure if the investors can eliminate the business and social barriers between the host communities and the non-native workforce in the facilities.

You can't be living in paradise inside of your Staff Quarters, enjoying every element of social amenities, while the owners of the soil where you are milking your black gold are living in abject poverty. It's about patronage and sociocultural interactions between the natives and the workers.

If the natives or host communities consider themselves as part owners of the investment, the colossal funds we are wasting on pipeline monitoring contractors would be more than necessary to maintain a sustainable peaceful investment climate in the host communities.

I have written copious amounts of essays on social license since I completed my Master's degree in Energy and Environmental Law and Policy at the Stum College of Law, University of Denver, Colorado, USA, in 2011. But no one in government is buying into it. Sadly, the unrest in the Niger Delta remains unceasing and we are running out of cash to keep our university campuses in session.

Today, while the rest of the OPEC member countries are making a killing in the sale of crude oil in the global market, Nigeria, though in the same marketplace, offering the same product, is cascading dangerously toward economic ruin. And Nigerians are not aware of what is going on.

That's why I'm going to the Senate, to help put things right for Nigeria and Nigerians at home and abroad at the seat of power. Insha Allah, it will come to pass. We cannot allow our future generations to inherit the hazards and institutional decay that our docility and failure to act have created.

God has blessed me with enormous and uncommon wisdom. And I have resolved to discontinue dissipating them for the benefit of a disinterested audience (the government). But rather, take a step of faith to be in the right place where I can successfully apply them for the benefit of my beloved Nigerians.

Governing Nigeria is the easiest thing to do. We are very docile and amenable. The solutions to our problems are readily available, but the leadership and their surrogates or chosen ones are acutely deficient in foresight. The audacity and innate drive to attempt and confront challenges are missing.

There is no culture of Nigerians or "Nigeria first" in us as a people. This scourge (ethnic chauvinism) became so pronounced with the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari as our President.

Not once in the history of our amalgamation have we seen or experienced a Nigerian President so deep into ethnic factors in the running of our institutions of government.

He unapologetically assumed total control of our oil wealth and the NNPC. Today, the petroleum industry has collapsed and no national refinery is in production mode. The fact that revenue from the sector has plummeted is not his concern.

Reading the Saudi Aramco dollar windfall, I do not expect the Board of the NNPC Ltd to be in good mood, knowing what their incompetence and failure to act are costing Nigerians.

Despite everything, I still firmly believe that Nigeria is worth saving, but certainly not on the threshold of the present monstrosity of the Unitary system of government at Abuja. Our best bet is True Federalism and Decentralization of Power.

Alternatively, we can either revert to the 1963 Federal Constitution or write a new one. In a true federal system, the central government will not be able to plunge the entire university system into dysfunction right as President Buhari and his cabinet members have done or hijacked the petroleum sector. And no State Commissioner of Police would have to wait for Abuja to approve before deploying his forces to quell or surmount insurgency or terrorist attacks. The time is now to start.