From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) has raised the alarm that the on-going economic crisis in the country occasioned by dwindling oil prices would get worse unless urgent reforms are enthroned to curb corruption and leakages in the oil industry.
According to the Nigeria Officer of NRGI, Dr. Dauda Garuba, a combination of factors, including the discretionary award of oil blocks, violation of processes and procedures, especially the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), tax evasion and underpayments have robbed Nigerians the benefit of being an oil producing country.
Garuba, who stated this in a Media For Oil Reforms (MFOR) training for journalists, organised by the NRGI School of Media and Communication, Pan African University, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and Premium Times, lamented that regulatory bodies in the oil sector have been weakened in the discharge of their duties.
Identifying the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as the fulcrum of reforms in the oil industry, he said with 37 viable commercially viable mineral resources; 37 proven oil reserves and 187 cubic feet of gas reserves, Nigeria could increase its per capital income which currently stood at $23,400 per capital compared to that of Equatorial Guinea which stood at $154,000 per capital and Kuwait which was $3.8 million per capita.
Garuba said reforms in the oil industry should include unbundling of the NNPC, enforcement of fiscal responsibility and procurement laws at all levels of oil revenue, delinking from portfolio investments and creation of necessary linkages between the oil industry and other sector.
Also speaking, Israel Aye, an energy legal consultant and partner, Sterling Partnership regretted that the fixation on the oil money had made governments to shy away from improving on the Internal Generated Revenue (IGR).
Aye pointed out that the problems in the oil industry would not improve if the current trends of collecting oil rents persist.
“Most of the money Nigeria made in the past 58 years of oil exploitation is from its share of oil sales. There has been no new investment in the oil Industry in the last 10 years. Nigeria’s reserve has gone into decline for the past six years. There are no new exploration activities in the country.”
An environmentalist and Deputy Director in the Environment Rights Action (ERA), Mr. Akinbode Olufemi, said the President Muhammadu Buhari must address the dysfunctional system in the Niger Delta region to resolve the on-going crisis.
According to him, the blowing up of pipelines by NDA members had worsened the environmental issues in the region.
We’ll sustain peace process in Niger Delta –Naval boss
From Emmanuel Ogoigbe Warri
Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ete-Ibas, has vowed that the Nigerian Navy will not rest on its oars in tackling the unwholesome activities in the nation’s territorial waters.
Admiral Ibas, who stated this yesterday in Warri, Delta State, said the present peace process in the Niger Delta region would be sustained by the Nigerian Navy, and warned the militants to steer clear of the area.
“We will ensure that operations of oil production will no longer be disrupted, as more effort will be intensified by the Nigerian Navy to guarantee safety of workers too,” the Navy boss said.
Admiral Ibas, who was on official visit to Naval installations in Warri, expressed delight over the effort shown by officers and men of the NNS Delta, Warri Naval Command in reducing criminalities in the area.
On the Navy school at Ibusa, Delta State, the Navy boss disclosed that the college had been up-graded to university level, adding that it would soon take off as soon as accreditation and clearance were completed.
Ibas revealed that the hitherto up surge of criminality in the early part of the year had reduced drastically since the setting up of a task force group across the Niger Delta area.