Date: 2018-01-07

ARISE O COMPATRIOTS

On the occasion of my birthday, I call on fellow Nigerians to join me in reciting the first stanza of our national Anthem;

"Arise, O compatriots,

Nigeria's call obey

To serve our Fatherland

With love and strength and faith.

The labour of our heroes past

Shall never be in vain,

To serve with heart and might

One nation bound in freedom, peace and unity".

FUEL CRISIS; WHENCE THE COMPATRIOTS?

Often we recite this anthem by route with little thought to its deep message for our collective welfare. A compatriot is defined as a fellow from the same country; a fellow countryman or woman (to repeat the common expression!). With as many as 180 million fellows, Nigeria has the highest number of compatriots in sub-Saharan Africa. But what is lacking is fellowship, compassion and what President Muhammadu Buhari in his 2018 New Year broadcast called "UNPATRIOTISM". On Wednesday, 3rd of January, I travelled by road from Lagos to Ilorin. I saw countless petrol stations under lock and key. Nigerians in Lagos, Ibadan, Ikirun, Oshogbo, Offa and Ilorin in their thousands agonize at fueling stations, most of which simply refuse to sell. Few selling points are now war zones. I was shocked in the last two days on my way to Mosque for Subhi early prayers, seeing residents in Ilorin who slept at filling stations rushing from mosques to be on long queues for fuel. This is an unacceptable economic war against poor Nigerians.

According to 2019 budget, we are an "oil rich" oil producing nation of crude oil production estimate of 2.3 million barrels per day, including condensates. Yet refined petroleum product eludes us. This is a national scandal! Where is the compatriotism? Where are the compatriots? Why would Nigerians for whatever reasons, deny other fellow Nigerians (not Afghanistans!) fuel to transport to work, to take school children to schools, market women to market and Nigerians to look for food and means of livelihood? We have in our hand what I call a "country capture" by few petroleum marketers and their official collaborators. I call on compatriots to rise to liberate Nigerians from these greedy profiteers who are as worse as the dreaded kidnappers. They are indeed nation-kidnappers, not just blackmailers, the President called them. Blackmail and refusal to sell to induce high prices are annual rituals, of the marketers just like the periodic episodic deadly rituals of the notorious Badoo criminals in Ikorodu.

GOVERNANCE CRISIS, NOT FUEL CRISIS

Better late than never. I commend the two stakeholders meetings recently convened by President Buhari and the Senate leadership on the petroleum crisis. I follow the deliberations keenly. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu listed the problems facing the downstream petroleum sector, as Lack of sufficient reserve, low clearance speed of petrol at the ports, diversion of products as some of the reasons for the ongoing fuel crisis being experienced in the country. All the identified problems show that Nigeria does not have fuel crisis but governance crisis. It is government through the NNPC that must have enough product reserve. It is the government that must clear products timely at the port. It is the government that must fix refineries at home. It's the government that must put an end to criminal corruption ridden products imports for which Nigeria spends as much as $12 billion annually.

The Federal government should not only make marketers responsible for every tank of fuel up until point of delivery, but there must also be severe consequences for product diversions. Diversion of critical inelastic indispensable product like petrol must be treated as an act of terrorism. The current fuel crisis shows that there is no substitute for good governance. As we can see near deregulation over the years means nothing but fuel price increases for the masses, trillions Naira reaps off for the cabals.

The point cannot be over stated; President Buhari should know that market dogma in terms of deregulation, is no substitute for governance. There is the need for national as well corporate governance in both the upstream and downstream petroleum sector. There should be prompt sanctions for non-compliance and rewards for those who play by the rules. The National Assembly must make oversight function routine. Legislators must be more proactive. Notwithstanding their latest commendable efforts, their action is still reactive not proactive. Never again should government at all levels be off duty. Marketers are in business to make profit, which they would do through padded fuel price template or blatant products diversions as revealed not long ago by Minister of State, Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu. However the government is there to ensure the prosperity of the nation and the welfare of the citizens. It is wrong for government officials to privilege marketers who are just interested in profit making with special exchange rate with utter disregard for the real sector of the economy and welfare of all. The challenge facing the petroleum downstream sector goes beyond pricing. The fundamental issue is sustainable domestic supply which can only be made possible through reinvention of the existing domestic refineries and building of more. Nigerians want to see the President and Vice President commissioning new refineries in line with the promise of Economic Recovery and Growth Plan that Nigeria will refine 80 percent in 2018. We don't want to see Executive petroleum fuel attendant but Executive service and Product delivery.

Unfortunately Nigerians have not seen much activism on the part of the government in this direction. Getting "appropriate pricing" for imported fuel pushes Nigeria into permanent dependency making the economy vulnerable to vagaries of foreign exchange fluctuations. Nigeria must take advantage of the multiple benefits of crude oil by fixing existing local refineries, exploring local refining capacity and building petrochemical and gas plants. Minister Ibe Kachikwu once remarked embarrassingly that "It's cheaper to import petrol than refine locally". Nigeria spends as much as $10bn annually on importation of petroleum products, almost the same amount to build Dangote Refinery, the biggest private Refinery in the world with proposed 650,000 barrels per day in the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) Lagos! Nigeria should move from policy distortions, policy corruption to a coherent sustainable policy on petroleum downstream sector.

GOVERNORS SHOULD BE ON DUTY AND SUPPORT GOOD GOVERNANCE

The fuel scarcity was initially nation-wide. But with the commendable concerted efforts of the President and his Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo, products supply had improved in FCT and Lagos. However the states are still in shortages. Let me use today to also call on all state governors to get out of their comfort zones and ensure products' supply in their states. I commend Lagos state governor, Ambode, Ekiti state governor, Fayose, Osun governor, Aregbesola for their governance activism and sensitivity. The President commendably addressed the nation with apology to Nigerians over distorted Christmas and New Year holidays due to fuel shortages. But why are most governors indifferent to the plight of their compatriots who elected them to office? Why do governors and their officials remain indifferent when their fellow citizens are sleeping in fuel stations? The governors must show through sensitivity to the worsening plights of their fellow compatriots that they are truly elected leaders not imposed slave masters? The governors should also join the President to denounce the activities of some marketers who according to the President "Instead of showing love, companionship and charity, some of our compatriots chose this period to inflict severe hardship on us all by creating unnecessary fuel scarcity across the country." The governors must also promise to be as "...determined" like the President "to get to the root of this collective blackmail of all Nigerians and ensure that whichever groups are behind this manipulated hardship will be prevented from doing so again". The governors should not just see the President as the ladder to get to office while refusing complimentary effort for good governance.

AGAIN ARISE O COMPATRIOTS

Nigerian democracy needs urgent quality control. It must deliver the promises of water, light, roads and security. But we the citizens must break the complacency, indifference and insist on good governance. Only vibrant citizenship and civil society groups could compel the political class to ensure service and product delivery. All compatriots must therefore rise and make sure our government seats up at all levels to ensure our welfare and security in line with 1999 constitution. We must support the President and resist another round of fuel price increases. We should not leave the resistance to NLC alone which, in 2016 single handedly fought against 60 per cent increase in the price of PMS from N86.50 to N145 by this government.

HAIL THE RETURN OF RAILWAY

I now travel happily from Kaduna to Abuja frequently, thanks to return of Railway, which started with former President Jonathan's administration but has given big push by President Muhammadu Buhari's commendable "ambitious targets". We must commend the return of railway as enunciated by the President in his speech. The Abuja - Kaduna route will be boosted by additional rolling stock next Thursday and will be able to handle one million commuters annually.

With Lagos-Kano Standard Gauge Railway to be completed in 2021, hundreds of thousands of jobs to be created and million passengers per year and million tons of cargo to be transported every year, President Buhari is truly set to diversify the economy and reinvent development.

By the same year the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri line covering Aba, Owerri, Umuahia, Enugu, Awka, Abakaliki, Makurdi, Lafia, Jos, Bauchi, Gombe, Yola and Damaturu, The Abuja to Itakpe line through Baro and terminate in Warri with construction of a new seaport at Warri, the construction of other railway lines, firstly from Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic passing through Kazaure, Daura, Katsina, Jibia to Maradi and Lagos to Calabar the "Coastal Rail" through Ore, Benin, Agbor, Asaba, Onitsha, Sapele, Ughelli, Warri, Yenagoa, Otuoke, Port Harcourt, Aba, Uyo and Calabar are completed then.

DEDICATION

I dedicate this year birthday celebration to two compatriots, namely late Dare Akanbi my school mate who died on … and my living namesake, Obalowu Keke. Both believe in service to the community and humanity as a whole. May the soul of Dare rest in eternal peace and may Allah speed up the recovery of Obalowu Keke. Amen

Comrade Issa Aremu, mni

GENERAL SECRETARY, NUTGTWN

NEC MEMBER, NLC

VICE PRESIDENT, IndustriALL GLOBAL UNION

BOARD MEMBER, NATIONAL SALARIES, INCOMES AND WAGES COMMISSION (NSIWC)