Labour Is The Greatest Insurance For Democracy, Says Shehu Sani
Malam Shehu Sani is the leader of the Civil Society Coalition in the North, and President, Civil Rights Congress (CRC). He spoke to SAXONE AKHAINE on the recurring energy crisis, the dispute between President Olusegun Obasanjo's government and Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), over appropriate pricing of petroleum products in the country. Excerpts:
Energy crisis
Well, to be fair and candid, I can tell you that the major problem confronting the country as far as the issue of energy is concerned, has to do with the years of plunder and destruction of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by the previous governments. The NNPC is the engine room of the country, it is the nerve centre of the nation's economy, it is the money - spinning machine of the country and it is also where every government has its interest. You will also want to know that it is a place that captures the attention of not only the country, but the entire world. It is really a very sensitive place which must be taken with all seriousness. The problem we have on the issue of energy has to do with the inability of our refineries to function very well.
And if you look at the section categorically, and analyse issues based on history, you will find out that the previous regimes deliberately incapacitated the refineries to such a point that importation of petroleum resources became the only alternative. But, the reality of the situation on the ground is that the current leadership of the NNPC under Funsho kupolokun, in comparison with the former leadership can be said to be doing well.
In the past eight to nine months since the former regime of Gaius Obaseki was replaced, the queues that we had been experiencing particularly in the northern parts of the country have disappeared and the blackmail and intimidation by the independent petroleum marketers have certainly reduced.
We have seen cases where the NNPC management openly came out and dismissed some of its staff on charges of corruption. This is a very courageous step that has manifested in the last eight months.
If you look at the states that are bordering Niger Republic, such as Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Borno and Yobe, the most lucrative business had been the smuggling of our petroleum products across the borders. The fact is that there has been a drastic reduction of what used to be. And from what we can see on the ground, if these efforts continue, certainly, we are going to have tremendous progress in the energy sector.
The contention between the NLC and the NNPC has to do with what should be the appropriate prices of the petroleum products. The truth is that what may be economically sensible could be politically destructive. And what could politically imperative might be economically suicidal. This is the fact of the matter. If you ask the NNPC the rationale behind the increases in the prices of petroleum products, it will tell you that the crude oil supply in the international market which is priced in dollars is what we import as refined petroleum products.
Labour however maintains that fuel is a very sensitive commodity because it touches on the life of every Nigerian, whether he or she is living in the city, the village the hamlet or wherever. And that any attempt to tamper with the price of this all important commodity will affect so adversely the life of the average man in the society.
It may be economically sensible but the solutions to this problem are two. First, it has to do with ensuring that the refineries are back on track, and secondly, there must be more sensitization and campaign to make people to really know what is happening. Because if people do not know, they will certainly use a lay man's intelligence and arrive at a point. The fact remains that we have enmeshed ourselves in the illusion that we are a rich country. We are not a rich country and I think this kind of ego has been destroying us slowly. We have fashioned for ourselves an elaborate lifestyle that is above our means; that is not sustainable.
If you increase the pump price of petroleum products, naturally the costs of other products will go up. People will have to pay higher fares and so on. However, if proceeds that come from the sale of oil are seen on the ground, people will not have problem.
Eighty-five per cent of Nigeria's foreign earnings come from crude oil. This money goes to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and it is supposedly shared among the states. But if the people do not see the dividends of democracy on the ground; the money that is supposed to go to hospitals doesn't go, that for improving education doesn't go, etc, certainly, people are bound to revolt.
In other words, if there are practical achievements of government on the ground at all levels, the people will understand and abide by whatever economic prescriptions provided by government.
Practically, I can tell you that we in the Northern part of the country have experienced tremendous improvement as against what we have been used to. For instance, the resumption of oil exploration in Benue and Lake Chad is an improvement on NNPC's activities. The refineries had been comatose until the last eight months when Kupolokun assumed leadership of the NNPC.
You can see that the Kaduna Refinery has started working now. And all the bad eggs that had been perpetrating corruption in that place for years and had become multi-millionaires had been pushed out.
Decentralization of labour
The issue is a very sensitive one. There is the need for us to really understand that this democracy we have in the country is still fragile. In the exercise of our constitutional rights, in the exercise of our rights of freedom of speech, assembly and demonstration, we must be extremely careful not to incorporate into our bodies those who may want to undo democracy for mischievous reasons. But, it will be better for government to also understand that the strongest pillar for the sustenance of democracy is the people. Whenever there is subversion of the democratic process, it is the people who will mobilise against it. I have never seen any military coup in Nigeria where the police, State Security Service (SSS), National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and other security agencies worked to counter it. It is in the interest of democracy, the government and the people of Nigeria to have a strong civil society organizations and labour movements in Nigeria. These are the greatest insurance for democracy. In the event of any person going to radio station to announce a coup, I don't see a possibility of members of the National Assembly fighting that. I don't see the possibility of the police and all the security apparatuses of the state resisting any military incursion. But, I have seen a clear situation where the civil society, human right groups and labour put up resistance to ensure that democracy was not subverted. If we cripple labour and divide it into pieces, then the government may in the short run have respite from protests and demonstrations. But someday, the government will become vulnerable and the people's strength as represented by labour will be required for counter measures. A military coupist is not afraid of the police, SSS or any state agencies. He is more afraid of the civil society, labour and human rights and pro-democracy groups in the country. Dismembering the NLC is equivalent to raping an AIDS patient.
Appointing a minister of petroleum affairs There is no need for a petroleum minister. The NNPC is not a ministry, it is and will continue to be an independent profit-oriented modern company, that is capable of generating revenue for the country. If they place NNPC under a ministry and a minister, certainly, the waste, corruption, ineptitude and incompetence of the past is most likely to resurface. I think if the president of the nation has decided to be the petroleum minister, this is saving the country all the money and estacodes that a minister should have. Whatever people may think about this, the position is that NNPC should be run as a first-class company capable of competing in the international market. Since the NNPC is in custody of our oil and natural gas, able to exploit and explore all the resources, we don't need a minister. We don't need a ministry of petroleum resources. We have had ministers of petroleum resources in the past and there was nothing that came out of it other than favouritism, corruption, ineptitude and large-scale fraud. I seriously think that if President Olusegun Obasanjo decided to place that portfolio under his office we should criticize him, if he does not perform. NNPC should be run like any other first-class company in the world, like Shell, Chevron and host of others. It should not just remain a company that exploits and exports Nigeria's oil alone, it should also be capable of going to Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China to do business. That is how an oil company of international repute should be run.
Once you turn NNPC into a ministry, then you will be surprised at what we are going to have. There will bureaucrats and bureaucracy and the whole place will be run like ministry. In the end, instead of the NNPC generating money to finance government and projects, it will find itself serving the ministry and the minister. Advice to the federal government and NLC My advice is that it is very important for President Obasanjo to ensure that the refineries are left in operational condition before 2007. This will be a significant achievement and this will be part of his legacy. I advise the NLC to ensure that any fight that it does must be in the interest of the common man. This is against the background that there are a lot of people who do not want democracy to survive in the country.
Such people are only waiting for an opportunity to bring down this democratic process and thereby return the country to a full-blown dictatorship. We may not have a model of democratic government that we want at this time, but the fact is that the alternative to it may be more destructive. So, all we need is patience.
