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Hawking Nigeria
KEVIN ETTA Jr.
Continued from Yesterday
IN our own backyard, John Kufuor of Ghana
very recently said that to remove subsidies from petroleum products would mean
for the Ghanaian people an erosion of the democratic gains made so far. Hear
him: "If we abdicate our responsibility (by increasing fuel prices), all our
gains of the last three years - a stabilized currency, reduced inflation and
lowered interest rate - would be thrown into disarray and disaster will take
over." Well, disaster has taken over Nigeria for that very reason. For the
Nigerian political elite the only reasonable mantra is: "market forces, market
forces," while they engage in sharp practices and continue hawking Nigeria to
the highest bidder.
It is no longer any secret (if ever it
was) that the Obasanjo administration is following a script commissioned by the
big economic powers, in particular the United States, that gives them effective
control over the Nigerian economy to the detriment of the average Nigerian. In
his June 3, 2004, article "Continuing Fuel Crisis In Nigeria, "Dr. Gary Busch
writes in the OCNU Newsletter: "The NNPC no longer subsidizes the sale of crude
to the domestic refineries, but charges the full OPEC price. That means that,
down the line, the full price for refined products must be charged as part of
the netback of refining high-priced crude. The fact that it is a domestic
refinery theoretically refining the crude does not effectively reduce the price
to the consumer. Indeed, there are many analysts who say that if the domestic
refineries have to pay world prices for crude it may actually be cheaper to
import refined products from efficient overseas refineries than the inefficient
domestic refineries. The unions have picked up on this and have demanded that
the government sell the crude to the domestic refineries at a subsidized price
and to subsidize the price of imported fuels to the level at which it would be
priced if the domestic refineries worked. With the windfall profits of rising
oil prices and the fact that Nigeria is pumping out about 800,000 barrels a day
of crude over its OPEC quota, the government certainly has the funds for this,"
The analysis by Dr. Busch basically sums up the scenario that the Nigerian
consumer faces: being at loggerheads with a government that is casting off all
responsibility for providing for the well-being and happiness of the citizenry.
A statement signed by PENGASSAN (Petroleum
and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association) General Secretary, Dr. Mojibayo
Fadakinte, and published in the Daily Independent Online of Thursday,
June 17, 2004 bears out the dubious intent of the Nigerian government to make
fuel importation a fait accompli within the context of deregulation of
the downstream petroleum sector: "We consider that selling the refineries in
their current state will seriously distort the deregulation process as Nigerians
would be subjected to the dollar import driven programme of the Federal
Government because the buyers may not be obliged to repair the refineries as
fuel import will be more profitable to them.
"PENGASSAN, however, maintains that
strategic national assets like the refineries can not be sold at the whims and
caprices of a cabal without carrying the community and Nigerians along because
the action may provoke communities to protest against such sale."
As observed by Dr. Fadakinte, the Nigerian
government appears bent on continuing the dollar driven manipulation of the
Nigerian economy by the West through a sustained policy of importation of fuel.
The evident eagerness of the Bureau of Public Enterprises to sell the refineries
as scrap is in furtherance of the agenda to foreclose the resuscitation of local
refining capacity to meet domestic fuel demand in preference for fuel
importation - without the element of subsidy.
Speaking of recent strike, Dr. Gary Busch
writes (summing up the strategic thinking of the West): "The NLC has no right to
do so under Nigerian law and is an unrepresentative body as far as democratic
principles of elected government are concerned." This insight into Western
perception of Nigerian petroleum politics throws light on the reasons for our
governments new-found faith in the judiciary in its attempt to curtail Labour’s
rights to call for national strikes, especially in view of the fact that a
recent pronouncement of the Courts declared that Labour has the inalienable
right to embark on strike to protest any policy of government that impacts on
its well-being.
Hear Dr. Busch again: "Things have not yet
come to a had, but it is very likely that the Government will come down heavily
against the strike call. The oil unions have a lot at stake in this strike. They
know, or should know, that Nigeria’s oil future lies in deepwater oil rigs.
These can be easily operated by expatriate workers; indeed that is the trend
they are fighting to control. If they strike they are adding to their long-term
woes as it provides a further incentive to reduce Nigerian labour on the
offshore platforms.
"Another development which has not passed
people’s consciousness is that there are now two U.S. strike force warships just
outside Nigeria’s waters, on a training operation to Sao Tome. If there is any
unrest or attempted occupation of the deepwaters rigs there is enough firepower
in the area to put it down very quickly. That means Nigeria can still earn
billions every day the strike goes on (indeed 95 per cent of the GNP) with
deliveries from the FPSOs. The only sufferers will be, as usual, the Nigerian
populace.
If there was any doubt that America’s
deployment of warships in the Gulf of Guinea was in keeping with its historic
strategic doctrines of acting in furtherance of its national interests and
influencing, to the maximum extent possible, the internal economic and political
dynamics of the regions of their deployment that poser should erase them
entirely. The general area of the deployment is the JDZ or Joint Development
Zone, an area jointly administered by Nigeria and Sao Tome for the vast oil
blocks that exist in the overlapping maritime boundaries of the two countries.
Is it mere coincidence that at a time of escalating American military
involvement and interrelations with Nigeria our country should at the same time
be thrust into one of the fiercest socio-economic and political crises of its
history, courtesy of the policies of the Obasanjo administration? Even more
scary is the thought that the Nigerian people can embark, or threaten to embark,
on an industrial action to protest government policy in a critical industrial
sector whose strategic operations are moving preponderantly to offshore
facilities overrun by expatriate staff and safeguarded buy foreign security
forces to the extent that were the industrial actions effected they would not
significantly impact the operations of those sectors? It is business as usual in
those sectors when Nigeria is burning. Is the economic security and well-being
of the Western peoples of superior importance to the economic security and
well-being of Nigerians when they are operating businesses in Nigeria and her
territorial waters?
When President Obasanjo goes globetrotting
in the name of seeking debt relief and FDI (foreign direct investments), what is
he doing but hawking Nigeria’s strategic interests to the highest bidder? The
gusto with which this administration is ready to cannibalize the Nigerian
economy in the name of privatization may be in the interest of the Western
creditor nations and in line with their doctrine, but the past five years of
hardship, dislocation, and disruption that they have occasioned on the Nigerian
citizenry have demonstrated that it is not in the overall interests of Nigeria.
In a country of 130 million people 70 per cent of whom live on less than a
dollar a day, government cannot leave its citizens at the mercy of "market
forces," which is simply a pseudonym for Western teleguidance and manipulation
of our economy to bring it into conformance with Western indices and interests.
It is time the Nigerian people took back
their country from those who have both stolen and put it up for sale. When
General Victor Malu raised the alarm about Obasanjo hawking Nigeria’s strategic
secrets to the Americans, Nigerians probably thought he was talking nonsense. He
was not. It is time for all stakeholders in Nigeria to arraign this president
before the court of public opinion and bring him to book before he destroys our
country irreparably. As canvassed by other eminent Nigerians, among them Wole
Soyinka, a government of National Unity is required to convene a truly sovereign
national conference where Nigerians of all hues and shades can decide how they
will co-exist and the method of governance that they will abide. If we do not
act now tomorrow may be too late.
•Concluded
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