Jimitota Onuyume
6 July 2009
(Page 3 of 3)
A lot of the oil and gas companies are forced to close shops and off course send their workers parking. The unemployment situation in the country has seriously worsened. As we speak, it is doubtful if the Federal and State Governments will meet their 2009 revenue target. Already interest rates and exchange rates have both worsened. Poverty is widespread. The situation is really terrible.
What is your advice on the way out?
You will recall that the Federal Government set up by the 45man Ledum Mitee-led Niger Delta Technical Committee to collate, review and distil all previous reports, suggestions and recommendations on the Niger Delta, and come up with plausible recommendations on how best to resolve the Niger Delta crisis.
The Committee has also submitted its report to the Federal Government. I think it is important that the Federal government implements the recommendations of the Ledum Mittee led Technical Committee on Niger Delta. It is also important that the NDDC Regional master plan for the Niger Delta is implemented. The National President of PENGASSAN Comrade Babatunde Ogun and the National Executive council of PENGASSAN have also forwarded some very important recommendations on the way forward to the Federal Government. All these need to be looked into with a view to addressing the root causes of the crises.
The Niger Delta State Governments should also demonstrate the judicious use of the resources at their disposal. The local Governments in the Niger Delta should wake up to their duties as a lot of money now goes to that tier of government. The Niger Delta State Houses of Assembly should show greater diligence and dedication in the discharge of their oversight functions. The oil companies should do more for the development of their host communities. The developmental impact of the presence of the oil companies should be positively visible and greatly felt by their host communities.
Oil firms seemingly share in the circumstances that gave birth to the crises in the region because they don't seem to be doing enough to address problems of poverty in their areas of operations. What do you say?
Oil firms alone cannot address the huge unemployment challenges in the region. Although it is my opinion that they should set aside a reasonable portion of their jobs to the people of the Niger Delta.
A situation where the people of the region are alienated by omission or commission from the wealth creation that is taking place in their God given land could lead to hatred, mistrust and strong feelings of alienation. Having said that let me point out that Oil and gas business is capital intensive and so will not generate the number of jobs that a viable manufacturing and agric sector will create. Moreover the way we operate the oil and gas industry in Nigeria will only transfer much of the development associated with oil and gas to Europe and America .
We only produce crude oil and natural gas in Nigeria . Thereafter we export them in their natural form. We even go back to import the refined products from those who bought the crude oil from us.
Imagine the jobs that will be created if the refined petroleum products we use in Nigeria are all produced locally? Imagine also the number of jobs that will be created if 50% of the gases that are currently flared are utilized to power our industries, cities and as feedstock for fertilizer and petrochemical plants?
Imagine the number of jobs and the impact on our universities if 50% of all oil and gas studies are done in Nigeria ? Imagine also the impact on the economy if 50% of the oil and gas pipelines used in this country are produced locally? We have not really attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) commensurate with our potential.
In fact if the investment in the petroleum sector (which is largely upstream petroleum companies reinvested earnings) is stripped out, FDI in Nigeria is low for a country of such potential, with a population of 140million, available raw materials. Some of the reasons why this is so, is the over dependence on the petroleum sector to the detriment of all other sectors as well as inadequate infrastructure, corruption, insecurity and weak institutions. We need viable manufacturing, commercial enterprises, agriculture and allied businesses as well as competitive business environment to address the huge unemployment problem in Nigeria.
To tackle this terrifying unemployment situation, which poses a serious threat to security, we need to attract investments in labour intensive sectors. We also need to encourage entrepreneurial development, small and medium scale enterprises.
We need to eliminate or drastically reduce the impediments to doing business in Nigeria. We need a stable power supply and reliable infrastructure. We need peace and security. In fact we cannot address the unemployment problems in Niger Delta in particular and Nigeria in general until genuine peace returns to the Niger Delta region. Remember to build infrastructure and diversify the economy away from petroleum cost money and in the present day Nigeria, much of that money will come from revenue from oil and gas.
We cannot address the unemployment problems in Niger Delta until people feel secured to go about their normal businesses. We cannot address the unemployment problems in Niger Delta and in deed Nigeria, until we fix the power sector and eliminate considerably those things that make doing business in Nigeria very uncompetitive.
The cost of doing business in Nigeria is very outrageous and very prohibitive. The security situation in the Niger Delta for instance has added a lot to the cost of doing business in the region. Just begin to picture the cost of providing security for each of the oil and gas facilities and operations. It is outrageous. And that is why many oil and gas companies and other businesses have basically relocated from the Niger Delta to Lagos.
Property prices in Lagos have hit the rooftops together with their internally generated revenue. Hotels and the service sectors in the Niger Delta are now crying. All these need to be fully addressed by all including the Niger Delta elders and youths, the local governments, the state governments and Federal Government. Let me also remind us that the demand for labour is a derived demand. If there are no industries or the little we have in Nigeria are producing at very low capacity, where will the jobs come from?
It will indeed be very difficult to exonerate the oil companies from the whole of these crises. They obviously have their own share of the blame. The focus now should however be on how we can urgently resolve the Niger Delta problems and move the region and the country forward.
Can you advice on the way out of the woods?
The Federal Government should immediately begin the implementation of the Ledum Mittee led Technical Committee report on the Niger Delta as well as the NDDC Regional Development Master plan.
The National President of PENGASSAN Comrade Babatunde Ogun and the National Executive council of PENGASSAN have also forwarded some very important recommendations on the way forward to the Federal Government. All these need to be urgently implemented. However the implementation of the Ledum Mittee report, the NDDC master plan and the recommendations of PENGASSAN all require an atmosphere of peace.
The Niger Delta people, the Federal and State Governments and indeed other stakeholders of the region have an important role to play in ensuring peace. There cannot not be any meaningful development in the absence of peace and 'peace' without justice will fail the test of time. We need genuine peace leveraged on justice in the Niger Delta.
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