Nelson Ekujumi: Ensuring global best practices in Nigeria’s oil industry key to national security
The Nigeria oil trade is no doubt the mainstay of its economic system and has additionally acted as a stabilizing element for national security, peace and improvement. In survey of this straightforward truth, successive governments continually positioned top charge on the trade with a survey to making it, a global participant in accordance to global finest practices in sing to design native and global buyers into the trade with a survey to achieving its maximum potentials for our collective merely and national security.
The high hobby of the Nigerian govt to uplift and swap the face of the trade from its chaotic and unplanned processes and system to compete globally, attract competitive native and global avid gamers ended in a series of actions each and each within the community and internationally which initiating the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) after decades of series of advocacy, agitations, debates, discussions, and other civilized manner of optimistic engagements in sing to revive sanity, orderliness and organized processes to the predominant quit of the Nigeria economic system.
Since time immemorial, debates and discussions about the Nigerian oil trade is one who has evoked emotions and passions even amongst trade watchers, oil consultants and economists on solutions to faucet into the entire potentials of the trade for national security and improvement. These interests of changing the face of Nigeria’s oil trade for merely culminated into the bringing to existence after several makes an are attempting of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) below the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2021.
The Petroleum Industry Act came into existence as a sport changer to address severe wants and interests within the oil sector and to design competitive native and global buyers and avid gamers in accordance to global finest practices. As the prolonged awaited sport changer, the PIA made provisions for the institution of two regulators within the trade. They are: The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Fee (NUPRC) and The Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Fee (NMDPRC).
These two above-mentioned regulatory companies scrapped the function of the previous Division of Petroelum Sources (DPR)which used to be beforehand a regulator. The PIA ensured that the NNPC which is the reveal agency transited correct into a restricted legal responsibility firm that operates below the Firms and Allied Issues Act 2022 and is thus a participant and no longer a regulator below the regulations.
No longer odd, finest as of late, Nigeria’s oil trade has design below public highlight as a outcomes of the allegations of sabotage being leveled against the Global Oil Firms (IOC) by the Dangote Refinery administration with reference to its scenario or inability to supply rude oil within the community for production.
The allegations by Dangote Refinery administration web evoked debates and discussions all over Nigeria and previous due to the its strategic scheme in changing the panorama of the Nigerian economic system from an importer of accomplished petroleum product to a producer and exporter.
Sadly, an investigation of the allegations against the IOC’s by Dangote Refinery Administration, revealed otherwise. Whereas we sympathize with Dangote Refinery for attempting to manipulate the system to revel in counseled advantage in an trade that is high-tail by guidelines and guidelines which has been firmed up by the PIA for global finest practices, we want to remind ourselves that the reason for the enactment of the PIA used to be to revive orderliness and competitiveness to Nigeria’s oil trade which has suffered from years of undue favouritism, nepotism and unbridled corruption and contributed in no exiguous measure to the mess within the trade till now.
The Nigeria’s oil trade is a global trade of Joint Mission (JV) companions wherein the avid gamers web contractual agreements for which they’re high-tail as signed, so for Dangote Refinery administration to be raising terror of sabotage when it’s conscious of the industrial fact, speaks quantity of its diagram as a enterprise entity.
As wisely as, we’re no longer blind to Allotment 109 of the PIA which makes provision for home rude provide responsibilities to feed native refineries, and the provision makes it explicit that it must be on a entertaining purchaser, entertaining vendor settlement. That it must be competitively priced in accordance to economic and enterprise terms and never on the basis of bending the guidelines to suit any participant for whatever reason.
Therefore, it must be made identified to all and sundry that as important as we adore the efforts of the Dangote Refinery to swap the industrial panorama of the Nigerian reveal, it must be admonished to be ready and entertaining to play by the guidelines of engagement, barely than this resort to unethical practice of raising fallacious terror.
Whereas the IOCs might well well additionally no longer design out overtly to reveal the the clarification why their rude supply to Dangote Refinery must no longer well-liked, it is crucial to expose that complications with rude gross sales are in overall influenced by global trade realities.
Thus, it is imperative on Nigerians to continually abominable test the facts since the world is a global village with the realization that guaranteeing global finest practices in Nigeria’s oil trade is key to economic sustainability and national security barely than emotions.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Ekujumi, is the Government Director, Centre for Social and Financial Rights
