‘The bottomline is for the refineries to work – eventually. If they do not, President Tinubu should understand that former President Obasanjo is waiting around the corner to laugh him to scorn’!
Reports that N90 billion was found in the account of one of the recently-sacked Managing Directors of one of our refineries that work in fits and jerks – when it is not completely comatose – got me thinking and wondering at the same time. What does a man want to do with N90 billion? Even if he intends to contest for the presidency of the country in 2027, does he need such a humongous amount to make his dream come true?
That amount is just what has been found in one bank account! How many more will still be unearthed? That is not to talk of monies in foreign currencies or monies buried in ‘cemetries’ and stored in silos here and there. It is also not to talk of monies tied down in properties locally and abroad. It is not talking of investments abroad and hidden treasures in shell companies and secret bank accounts in Dubai and the ubiquitous Swiss banks. We are talking of just one man! What of the other Managing Directors? What of other top officials? That is in just one government establishment – what of hundreds of others?
The other day, an Accountant-General of the Federation was alleged to have had over 100 Billion Naira traced to him. He is still in court. Now, the question is this: What does anyone want to do with this kind of money? It is not a quest to escape poverty that drives such people. It is not the desire to assure their offspring a life of comfort. If these people and their generations until the second coming of Christ do nothing but only spend and spend, they still will not exhaust what one person has stolen and hidden!
What kind of spirit drives people here? In the midst of grinding poverty all around them, they cannot be bothered. They are not swayed by the preaching they hear in churches and mosques. The cries of the downtrodden mean nothing to them!
Again, I ask: Where are people taking all the money to – heaven or hell? Because there is no consequence for bad behaviour is why impunity has taken roots here. The worst that happens to the thieves – if anything at all – is a slap on the wrist. They roam all over the place flaunting their ill-gotten wealth in our face. The unlucky ones among them are those that are forced to make plea bargains where a fraction of what is stolen is retrieved from them. The well-heeled among them go scot free. We salute them. We lionise them. We reward them with chieftaincy titles and install them obas, obis and emirs. They contest election, buy votes and rule over us still!
The refineries are still not functioning despite over US$3 billion reportedl;y wasted on it by the new government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Before him, billions of dollars had been similarly wasted by his predecessors. A bottomless pit! That was how former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described it. He told us the refineries would never work. Many of us said his mouth stank. Let us refresh our memory with what exactly he said as was reported online:
‘Obasanjo declares NNPCL a rotten entity filled with corruption… NNPCL killed the refineries and is deliberately wasting money on repairs. Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has opened up on why the nation’s refineries can not work. The former president said the perpetual claim of fixing the refineries were gimmicks to perpetuate corruption in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL). According to him, efforts made by his government to fix the refineries failed because corruption in the Corporation had become endemic. He noted that NNPCL is deceiving Nigerians with claims that it can fix the refineries.
‘When I was President, I called the management of Shell to come and help us run our refineries. I told them to take a certain percentage as equity, but they said no. So, I told them if they don’t want to take equity, they should just come and run it for us, but still, they refused and they left. Then I called their Head of Management for a one-on-one discussion and asked why they refused; they gave me reasons.
‘First, they said our refineries were too small. They said an ideal refinery should operate at 250,000bpd. At the time Port Harcourt was 60,000bpd, Kaduna was about 100,000bpd, and Warri was 120,000bpd. Second, they said even though they run their operation as a service, they don’t run at a loss. That they make substantial profit upstream. So if you run the refinery well, you will break even and make profit, and if you don’t run it well, you will run at a loss. Thirdly, they said the way we run and service our refineries is not the proper way refineries should be run and serviced, and so, they didn’t want to get involved in that. Fourthly, they said they didn’t want to also get involved in the corruption around our refineries.
‘When they told me all these, I was completely numb. Then, some Nigerians got together and paid 750 million. I said this must be God-sent. But my successor asked me to return it. I ran to him and said to him, look, you know this is not right. He said, well, NNPCL said they can do it. I said NNPC cannot do it. The National Assembly is currently investigating $1.5bn that NNPCL has spent on refineries since then and still, the refineries are not working. I told my successor that NNPCL, from what I have heard and known, will not work. And when you want to sell it you would not get anybody to buy it at 200million as scrap, and that is the situation we are in right now.
‘So, why do we do this type of thing to ourselves? NNPCL knew that they couldn’t run the refineries but they were interested in eating and carrying on with the corruption. In a civilised society these people should be in jail. Why do we do this to ourselves? And the same was the case with the National Shipping Line, the Nigeria Airways…why do we do this to ourselves’?
Well, the list does not end there! What of Ajaokuta and the other steel projects? I know President Tinubu is tough and rugged; he will not take ‘No’ for an answer. He seems determined to succeed where others have failed. He has reconstituted the NNPCL management, and the new management has got cracking. A clean sweep of the old hands has recently been effected. A probe is underway and mind-boggling revelations are already being unearthed.
Good, but the bottomline, however, is for the refineries to work – eventually. If they do not, President Tinubu should understand that former President Obasanjo is waiting around the corner to laugh him to scorn!
Dare Babarinsa’s ‘Eat Now, Pay Later’
I am sure you are already wondering where that restaurant is?! Where people can eat now but pay later! How will that restaurant break even? How will it keep its head above water? Is this not another ponzi scheme? It is not! ‘Eat now, pay later’ is the title of a book launched yesterday (Tuesday, 6 May, 2005) at the Ikeja Airport Hotel by Dare Babarinsa, one of the country’s most celebrated first-class journalists and inimitable writers. The creme-de-creme of the country’s journalism profession meshed with politicians of the radical/Afenifere school to tell the story of where this founding editor of TELL magazine pitches his tent in the country;’s ideological horizon.
A synopsis of the book goes thus: ‘In Eat Now, Pay Later’, the author confirms his reputation as one of the grandmasters of modern Nigerian journalism. The reader is served, in exhilarating details, vignettes of modern Nigerian history, from the heroic exploits of Chief Moshood Abiola and the inner interplays that culminated in the 12 June debacle to the demands of modern democracy and the new challenges facing the historically-influential Nigerian media.
The book is a full menu on Africa’s greatest and most populous country. Its colour and power, its varied challenges, its pulsating politics and the colour and pomp of its ancient institutions facing the dictates of the modern era. This is a book that would command attention and compel the reader to ponder on the possibilities of Nigeria and its immediate future’.
Born on 9 May, 1955, the occasion also marked the Lagos-leg of the author’s 70th birthday celebration. Dare’s Oke-Imesi, Ekiti state will celebrate their illustrious son at a later date. The two-in-one Lagos book launch/birthday bash was an occasion that afforded many the opportunity to meet long-lost friends of the media confraternity. Congratulations, Dare! Remember you were told at the event that only after 100 years on earth will you have the opportunity to decide either to JAPA above or still retain your membership of this plane!
Former editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of the New Telegraph newspaper. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in the New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television. He can be reached on turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533, 0803 251 0193
