A natural resource management expert has identified mismanagement, benefits maximization among issues affecting the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.
Tengi George-Ikoli, the Program Coordinator of the Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC), stated this during a live Instagram chat with Dayo Ibitoye, a development expert.
Ms. George-Ikoli said the sector is faced with mismanagement and is known for its opaque process. “Generally, mismanagement and transparency issues. The sector is very secretive. “A lot of things are done in secret, and people are not carried along. “For instance, the Malabu oil deal is another case where you see all those mismanagement and transparency things come to play alive, “ she said.
On the part of the citizens, she alluded that people do not ask necessary questions about the sector, especially on those that maximise benefits
“We do not ask adequate questions. For instance, Nigeria has made $1 trillion as oil revenue. We should expect people to ask where the infrastructure is to complement revenue.
“What is happening in education, health, and all other sectors. Are there value for the money. “We have agriculture which is Nigeria’s saving grace, but where is it now? All these things are not appropriately channel, and as a nation, we don’t save from those revenues. Even if we spend, how did we spend them? Most times, we spent them on Recurrent and not Capital expenditure.”
Ms. George-Ikoli said the country mismanaged the revenue for years and had no strategy for short and long term plans. She says the NNRC is all about providing insights for the government on how to improve their earnings. “The organisation also get citizens to demand better principles and get the government to implement those principles.
“We need to learn about how Dubai, Norway, and others relied on oil revenue to develop their economies.”
Need for Continuous Education on Fuel Subsidy and What its Removal Can do for Citizens
Tengi George-Ikoli said the initial intention of fuel subsidy was to lessen the price burden on the poor, but that was not the outcome. She believed that is one of the reasons why many keep supporting the payment of fuel subsidy. It was also the factor that led to the subsidy removal protest of 2012.
Fuel Subsidy is the difference between the cost of taking a petroleum product to the pump and the selling price. For years, the government has been bearing the difference.
Putting things in perspective, she explained that removal favour more of the rich than the poor. For instance, the fuel subsidy helps someone with a car to buy fuel at a subsided rate. She said if the government put such funds into health or education, it will have a direct benefit on the masses.
“It is so contentious that Nigerians feel they get value for the oil revenue, and that t is the only way they get a share of the oil revenue. In actual sense, it does not get to them. “ If the subsidy funds are put into health or education. Nigeria would have had a strong health infrastructure in place. Ventilators and modern hospitals would have been in place during COVID-19.”
A recent Dataphyte report showed that the Federal Government spent over N10 trillion on fuel subsidy in at least 12 years. The expenses far outweigh the direct benefits on the citizens. In development terms, the amount would construct 328,100 Primary Health Centers (PHCs) or 656,200 houses. It would have even provided 27,342 megawatts (MW) of solar electricity to support Nigeria’s perennial power problem.
She expressed hope that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) – a bill that seeks to reform the oil and gas operations would be pass soon.
The NNRC programme coordinator called for continued conversation and advocacy around the oil and gas sector and advised citizens not to relent.
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