Buhari and the OPEC Presidency
Two weeks ago there was no one single petrol station that was selling the product within the Federal capital; motorist resorted to buying at the hands of ‘black market ‘operators at N300 per litre. The situation lasted for days with queues as long as 2-3 kilometres long; disappointed drivers lamented and complained in despondency about their plight.
What is intriguing is that fuel has been selling at the cost of N120 - N140 in petrol stations across the North East with no Government regulators to their rescue. Remember that President Goodluck has reviewed the pump price from N97 to N87 shortly before the presidential election.
I tried discussing the problem with a cabman in Lagos, and what he said to me got me thinking. In a lengthy tirade, he tried to explain with this question “how can I have a bag of garri in my house but go about eating egba in restaurants?
That was really thought provoking. But what baffles me most is what is the role of the petroleum minister in all this?
Some people i questioned defended that the in-coming administration must not sack the petroleum minister because of her position as the OPEC president. The question i always ask myself is that, how is that important to Nigerians?
The Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had in its 166th meeting elected Nigeria’s petrol minister, Diezani Allison Madueke, as its first female president effective January 1, 2015. She is also the first petroleum minister in Nigeria.
The 12-member organization produces approximately 40% of the world’s oil. The powerful producer bloc has recently discussed in Vienna to maintain its current output level of 30 million barrels a day.
But of what significance is it to Nigeria and her citizens? “Absolutely of no use”, said Chibudum Okeke, an energy expert. Her position did not bring in the necessary prestige and dignity Nigerians are craving for. They have continued to suffer under staggering petroleum pump price regimes, occasioned by scarcity, theft of crude, subsidy scam and wide corruption in the oil industry.
Recently, Mrs Ikonjo Iweala, the minister in charge of the economy and finance has claimed to have paid over N500billion in the last five months to oil marketers in lieu of subsidy. In spite of this huge payment the aggrieved marketers have continued to stay on strike, refusing to provide the product for consumption to Nigerians.
Mrs Ikonjo Iweala, who is believed to be a World Bank expert could not simply fathom that a N500billion package can break the oil marketers stronghold monopoly on the economy? Unless the money is in the wrong pockets this could turn around the status of our refineries and create more output for domestic consumption which in turn would lessen the time and effort Nigerians put up to refuel their cars and worry over other issues of their daily lives.
Who is responsible for this mess? The management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had since countered that that “NNPC/PPMC fuel supply chain remains robust with enough products to last till the end of the year...” it also claimed that it is the leadership of Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) that asked the unions to stop bridging in protest of a long standing contractual issues ranging from bad access roads to the depots and sundry matters.
NNPC, PPPRA, DPR and other industry key players must be punished for this irresponsible action that has caused misery and hardship to Nigerians. Including all the ministers that directly supervises the activities and regulations in the oil and gas sectors.
The in-coming administration of Buhari/Osinbanjo must make it a priority mandate to immediately overhaul the sector and make it more transparent, efficient and accountable.
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