The National Oil Company of Liberia or NOCAL for short, which is the regulatory body in the country's oil sector continues to face increased public scrutiny about its functions and structural composition with the latest coming from a civil society group here, Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia, CENTAL.
CENTAL Co-founder and Executive Director Thomas Doe Nah, has raised serious reservation about the US$23 million allotted to NOCAL by the Government of Liberia terming it as a waste of state resources.
The National Oil Company of Liberia has already reported here the full expenditure of the money with US$9 million allegedly spent on personnel salaries and incentives.
However, addressing a one-day seminar on managing natural resource revenue in Liberia for sustained economic development on Monday in Monrovia, Mr. Nah noted that NOCAL seems to have become a foundation, adding that in the midst of extreme poverty among the citizenry, it recently awarded US$100,000 to a local football club Barrack Young Controller-II.
The seminar held at a local hotel, was organized jointly by the International Growth Center, the Government of Liberia and the International Monetary Fund, in the wake of widespread reports of oil discovery in Liberia.
Mr. Nah stressed that good governance is not just about process, but the credibility of those appointed to implement the process, arithmetically pointed out that good governance = Transparency +Participation +Accountability.
He noted that the government seems to be in a rush to conclude concession agreements without adequate consultations and participation, saying "We are always in a rush for the bonus fees; the issue of participation is critical."
Earlier, National Investment Commission Chairman O. Natty B. Davis, said has suffered resource curse for more than 50 years, noting that expenditure is relatively two times higher than revenue generated.
"I see us continue to complain about capacity, but I don't see the program to get us there", Chairman Davies added. More detail in subsequent report.
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With all due respect to Mr. Nah, the government and NOCAL spent several months through town hall meetings and diaspora both in our nation as well as other continents to better understand what we want to see in these oil contracts. It was only then that they spent over 1 year renegotiated the PSC for block 13, with the outcome being the largest upfront payment for any non-producing country, annual funds for infrastructure, assistance for education, and favorably royalty payments with our country taking zero exploration funding risk. We could keep spending years trying to figure this out, but a few more dry wells or our continue unwillingness to work with large international drillers who are the ones putting up the funds will only further set us back. Our $4bn of national debt was waived once, but I don't believe those creditors will be amenable to doing that again (already back up to almost $600m).