President Obasanjo’s Political Muddling and Irrational ActionsByDan Azumi KofarmataKanodanazumikofarmata@yahoo.comThursday, 01 February 2007
With barely 109 days from today (i.e., Thursday, 01 February 2007) to the terminal end of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s eight years of nightmares (if elections holds as scheduled in April 2007), his recent actions (and inactions) do not indicate he is preparing his hand-over notes to a new occupant of the office. For example, the latest approval by him to establish three new national energy research centres in the country does not provide the right signals that he is ready to hand over the baton of leadership to a new person. Probably there are elements of truth to what the embattled Vice President Atiku Abubakar and numerous other very important personalities and politicians have been saying regarding this very frightening and unhealthy development in Nigeria’s democratic development.
The three new centres are: National Centre for Petroleum Research and Development, National Centre for Hydropower Research and Development and the National Centre for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Furthermore, the federal government has also approved the transfer of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), as well as the four existing research centres it supervises, from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology to the Federal Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. The affected research centres include, Centre for Energy Research and Development, Ile-Ife, Centre for Energy Research and Training, Zaria, National Centre for Research and Development, Nsukka and Sokoto Energy Research Centre, Sokoto.
In addition to these, President Obasanjo in the past three months or so, rolled out the following far-reaching policies, programmes and projects:
The above list is just a
selection of a few actions taken by President Obasanjo in the last three
months or so. These actions normally should have been left to an in-coming
administration. I hastened to say that some of these policies, programmes
and projects are laudable if properly articulated, prepared and
implemented. However, with barely few weeks to the end of this
administration one wonders why these mega-projects and programmes are
being vigorously rolled-out as if this lame-duck administration has a
mandate to initiate policies, programmes and projects for an in-coming
one! Coming back to the issue of the new energy centres and their location within the new ministry of oil and energy and the transfer of the existing four other research centres and the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) from the ministry of science and technology also to the new ministry of oil and energy, these actions don’t make any sense at all when looked from the principal reason adduced by the federal executive council that they are put in place to make the energy sector more efficient.
In the first place, there is no need for a rush to establish additional bureaucracies in the energy sector in the name of creating efficiency, more especially from the point of view that even the existing ones have not been adequately funded, equipped and staffed. Why then would the government create more layers of fat instead of trimming the existing ones? We have witnessed government taken innovative reform actions and activities by way of restructuring, consolidation and rationalisation in other sectors of the economy. Why can’t the government extend similar actions or reform measures to the energy sector under the so-called deregulation and liberalisation policies and programmes instead of creating additional problems to the beleaguered sector? I think there is a seriously misplacement of priority here.
The Presidency must
understand that merely changing the name of an organisation (for example,
the change of name from NEPA to PHCN) and or creating additional ones is
not the best and efficient ways of ensuring economic and technical
efficiencies. There are better and more efficient alternative ways of
achieving economic and technical efficiencies in the provision of services
in an economy. For example, why not merge the existing four energy
research centres into two-broad energy and power research and development
institutes? For instance by creating an expanded National Hydrocarbons
Energy Resources Research and Development Institute with a mandate to
undertake research and development covering all hydrocarbons sources of
energy (including petroleum, gas, tar sands, condensates, coal etc). This
should be followed with another expanded National Renewable Energy
Resources Research and Development Institute with a mandate to cover all
renewable sources of energy (including, solar, hydropower, wind power,
biomass and bio-fuels etc). This is where a new in-coming administration
can make a difference. Secondly, there is no rationality in transferring these new and existing research and development centres from the ministry of science and technology to the ministry of petroleum and energy. The reason is simple. These centres are by design and inclination, scientific and research oriented organisations that are better domiciled within a ministry whose sole mandate is the nation’s hub and nerve centre for developing holistic and specific public policies for the advancement of science and technological development and enterprise.
Moreover, the ministry of petroleum and energy is already a national disaster and disgrace. For example, in the last 20 years or so, it failed woefully to ordinarily produce, supply and distribute basic petroleum products on a regular basis and affordable prices nationwide. The ministry could not undertake any scientific and technical research into how to keep our oil wells, refineries and oil pipelines in good shape at all times without recourse to involving foreign experts to design, build, operate and maintain them. All these come at very colossal amounts of foreign exchange and yet the ministry and its parastatals are fully staffed and well remunerated above any other government establishment.
Any in-coming administration must review some of the above irrational actions with a view to repositioning this vital sector of our national economy in a proper standing in order to play its crucial role of growing our spatial economy. As a matter of urgency, a new energy policy for Nigeria should consider drastic restructuring of the energy sector. For example, the octopus Nigerian National petroleum Corporation (NNPC) should be scrapped and replaced with a lean but very efficient and effective National Hydrocarbons (Petroleum, Gas and Coal) Resources Development and Management Agency. Furthermore, all the existing subsidiaries of the corporations should be made autonomous agencies reporting to the main ministry of petroleum and energy resources. Some of them can also be scrapped as their functions can now be adequately be performed by the private sector (i.e., Transcorp and Obasanjo Farms unlimited, etc).
This proposed change in the status of the NNPC should also create separate national oil and gas companies with international outreach similar to what we have in Norway, India, China, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia etc. There should be a separate national agency responsible for research and development of bio-fuels (for example, ethanol etc) located with the ministry of science and technology rather than what we have now. For example, the NNPC has no capacity to do research and development of bio-fuels and yet, it has taken this daunting task or function on to itself at a great risk to our financial resources.
So far, the much-touted reform of the Nigerian petroleum sector has suffered a “mid-summer” fatigue or breakdown since “Mr. Deregulation” Engineer Funsho Kupolukun got promoted to the exalted position of Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC. Rather than deregulating and liberalising the inept and corrupt ridden octopus, he has busied himself expanding the frontiers of the octopus and making it more and more opaque and dollar guzzling than ever, without any positive transformation of services delivery to the citizenry.
The NNPC now shamelessly, wholly imports all petroleum products needs of the country in spite of all the billions of dollars spent in revamping its four dilapidated refineries. For example, in the past seven and half years or so, no refinery has been successfully privatised with all the privatisation gimmicks and propaganda. All that we are witnessing from the NNPC and the Presidency are more of empire building, “gold-platted” expansion programmes and projects and looting of the crude oil and financial resources of the corporation rather than the promised deregulation and liberalisation of the sector. A new administration will have its hands full when it comes into office as far as Nigeria’s petroleum and energy sectors are concerned. We pray that this time around, promises made will be kept and positive changes seriously made. Welcome, in advance, Mr. President. Nigeria and Nigerians await you, come May 29, 2007!!!
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