[accordions id=”419″]

« ‹ of 9 › »

Chairman’s Speech

Protocols

Nigeria is one of the most endowed countries on this planet, let no one be in any doubt of that fact. Nigeria is also one of the most exploited nations in the world; both nationally and internationally. This nation is seen as a resource smorgasbord for the hyena within and the sharks without to come and pick, nay gather, more than their needs to the disbenefit of the native Nigerian. There is no sector of the Nigerian economic landscape in which this happens more than in the Oil and Gas as well as the Hydrocarbon Sectors.

As far back as the beg of the 2nd Republic, every economic buccaneer on this planet descended on this country, searched for and connected with a Nigerian wishing to harvest where he had not sown. They successfully made millions of Dollars and Naira within a short period of time and export the money to enrich the economy of other more developed countries. Let us consider the situation of our Oil & Gas and Hydrocarbon sector as a typical example.

Who is to blame for this undesirable situation? Nigerians are to blame. The blame emanates from the following bases:-

1. The initial relationship between the exploiters of our crude oil deposits and this nation did not go beyond the extraction of the crude mineral, taking it away and paying royalties to our government. What happens to the environment and the people who dwell in that place was never considered important, either by the exploiters or the Nigerian representatives negotiating the relationship. The result is with us now, in our defecated farming and fishing environment.
2. The communities that have been deprived of their means of livelihood are left with no alternative modes of living. Quite a noticeable number of their youth have been forced into antisocial occupation, with no real or foreseeable solution to the problem. Giving money to insurgents is no real solution.
3. The traditional leaders in the communities have been deceived, and they apparently believe the lies, that all that they needed was more coral beads for their necklaces and a community center for their towns
4. Our leaders cannot see beyond requesting the exploiters to clean up, in a short time, the environment which had been consistently defecated over a period of decades. The nature of the …….. cannot be reversed to fulfill its original purpose. Neither are the exploiters overanxious to execute the directive.

This nation is between the devil and the deep blue sea. Our national economy is based on the niggardly stipend called royalty – a revenue not able to satisfy the development needs of the nation as well as feeding the voracious beast called corruption which we had husbanded over the years. We had abandoned other economic activities which could revive the stability of our economy. We still have a noticeably abundant deposit of petroleum. The problem is that we have not reviewed the governance beyond our cyclopic view of just getting revenue from its exploitation. The reason is because no reliably sufficient data had been available to propound optimal solutions to the negative problems besieging our Oil and Gas Sector.

POSSIBLE CONSIDERATIONS FOR PROPER GOVERNANCE

Anyone who has visited the Nederland, Texas in the USA, or any other country where Petroleum is mined, would observe the pumps operated within a garden environment without any spillage or corruption of the environment. This had been the condition long before the discovery of petroleum in Nigeria. Why was it possible for the same oil companies not to recreate the same environmental conditions in Nigeria’s oil fields?

Most of continental Europe depends on natural gas from Russia to survive. One had not heard of gas flaring in any of Russia’s oil fields. Nigeria still flares natural gas in our fields.

With the exception of the Communist nations and the Arab nations, most other countries allow full participation of the traditional land owners to participate fully in the exploitation of their oil deposits. Not so Nigeria.

The recently concluded Oil and Gas Governance Act makes provision for what is referred to as  decentralization and commercialisation of the operations of the NNPC. However, the much needed private ownership of these companies was conspicuously absent from the Act. It is still Government Business as usual. But we all know that government business is Nobody’s Business. Government business should be limited to Regulatory Actions, not in business, manufacturing, trading or any of those economic activities for which the private sector is known to excel.

There is an urgent need to revisit the conditions of our Oil and Gas exploitation in Nigeria. The first step should be a mutual agreement that the present conditions of exploitation contract between Nigeria and the Oil companies should be abrogated. A replacement set of conditions which must right all the existing wrongs must be established, giving equity rights to the traditional land and site owners, the local governments and the States without neglecting the Federal government.

Research funds should be made available to this Institute, to gather realistic data for optimal developmental solutions in the Sector.

Nigeria has one of the largest deposits of BITUMEN on this planet. It has not been exploited, yet we import bituminous materials. Are we waiting for the time when other viable alternatives to bitumen to be discovered before we allow the exploitation of ours? The market price of petroleum declined because of the development of shale oil, etc. Just what is delaying us? Even if the product is for domestic consumption in the maintenance of our highways, it should give us an opportunity to this right for a change.

Ladies and gentlemen, the purpose of establishing this Research Institute is to ensure realistic interventions in the governance and performance of the Oil and Gas as well as Hydrocarbon Sectors of our nation’s economy.

Today’s lecture series will address just a few of the insights into what is happening, is expected to happen and what we, as a nation, ought to be doing to right previous wrongs and pursue positive development in this sector for the benefit of Nigeria and Nigerians.

On behalf of the Institute of Oil & Gas Research and Hydrocarbon Studies, I warmly welcome you all to this lecture series and ask that you join