‘Deadly Mistske’: Obasanjo Criticises Nigeria’s Dependence on Fossil Fuels, Laments Corruption in Oil Sector

Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has argued that the country’s overreliance on crude oil for its economic survival remains one of the deadliest mistakes made by its leaders.

Speaking during an interview with the Financial Times, Obasanjo said Nigeria’s economy would have been much better if it had not relied on just crude oil production as its major source of revenue.

“I believe we made a deadly mistake by putting all our eggs in one basket by relying on oil. We had a very important commodity, gas, but we were flaring it,” he said.

He also lamented the failure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), the International Oil Companies (IOCs), and other national oil companies to ramp up oil production to meet the country’s needs.

The former Nigerian leader pointed out that Nigeria could have invested more in agriculture as against crude oil stressing that: “We ignored agriculture which could have been the centrepiece of our investment.”

Speaking on the reason Nigeria’s four refineries had remained moribund despite huge investments and attempts at revamping them, Obasanjo recalled how he persuaded Shell to run the country’s refineries but the IOC declined, saying there was too much corruption in the sector.

“When I was president, I invited Shell to come and take equity and run our refineries for us. They refused and said our refineries were not well maintained. We brought amateurs instead of professionals.

“Then there was too much corruption with the way our refineries were maintained. They didn’t want to get involved in such a mess,’ he Obasanjo noted.

He condemned the government’s disposition towards getting the refineries back to working properly, lamenting the lack of certainty surrounding when the facilities will start functioning.

“How many times have they told us that the refineries would be fixed, and at what price? Those problems as far as the government refineries are concerned have never gone. They have even increased. And if you have such problems, and the problems have not been removed, then, it means we are not going anywhere,” Obasanjo maintained.

He said that those benefiting from the lucrative business of fuel importation would make efforts to frustrate the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

Obasanjo made the comments against the backdrop remarks by the President of the Dangote Group,  Aliko Dangote, that some ‘mafias’ were making efforts to frustrate the $20 billion refinery.

“Aliko’s investment in a refinery, if it goes well, should encourage both Nigerians and non-Nigerians to invest in Nigeria.

“If those who are selling or supplying refined products for Nigeria feel that they will lose the lucrative opportunity, they will also make every effort to get him frustrated,” Obasanjo stated.

There has been an altercation between the Dangote group and the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Mr Ahmed Farouk, who appeared to have recently cast aspersions on the quality of fuels churned out by the 650,000 bpd refinery.

Also, Obasanjo expressed concern over youths’ restiveness caused by unemployment, fearing that Nigeria might be sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

He said: “Our youth are restive. And they are restive because they have no skill. They have no empowerment. They have no employment. We are all sitting on a keg of gunpowder. And my prayer is that we will do the right thing before it’s too late.”

For over one week youths all over the nation have been on a nationwide protest over the current hunger and hardship in the country, urging the government to end sleaze in governance.

But Obasanjo also criticised the style adopted by President Bola Tinubu in removing fuel subsidies, stating that the present administration should have first considered the hardship the decision to remove underpayments could cause people and how to ameliorate it.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Not just wake up one morning and say you removed the subsidy. Because of inflation, the subsidy that we have removed is not gone. It has come back,” the former president argued.

According to him, for there to be investor confidence in Nigeria, the country will have to move from being a transactional economy to a transformational one.

Emmanuel Addeh

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