THISDAYonline

As Nigeria marches on in the third year of her fledgling democracy, tongues have been wagging on what is in the democracy enterprise for the common man. Held down by an economy which growth rate does not march the increasing demands of the citizenry for employment and other good things of life, analysts contend that the way forward is the efficient management of the country's huge natural resources.

A case in point is the manner in which Nigeria's large oil resources and the untapped gas reserves are currently being managed. The Special Assistant to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Petroleum Resources, Mr. Funso Kupolokun, postulates that the country's wealthy few are being subsidised at the expense of the majority poor in the sale and distribution of petroleum products in the country. Kupolokun, who spoke during the Presidential Technical Campaign Committee on Liberalisation of the Downstream Sector of the Petroleum Industry's visit to the Nassarawa State capital, Lafia, last week, revealed that over three billion naira was being lost annually by the government as a result of this anomaly.

In a country where social services are absent for the poor, the Presidential aide reasoned that when the sector was fully liberalised, the accrued revenue would be used by the various tiers of government to touch the lives of the majority. He said the funds would not be centralised since those who govern at the apex of government from the centre would not know what the ordinary folks, spread across the country, really need. "Each tier of government will be allowed to set priorities for its people when it receives the extra revenue that would accrue from the opening up of the sector. He who wears the shoe knows where it pinches. Therefore, the government at the centre will allow the states and the local governments to set priorities for themselves with the additional revenue", he stated.

It was his view that for the air of freedom which the nascent democracy has imbued in the political sector to be worthwhile, that freedom of choice must be replicated in the economic sphere to enable democracy dividend trickle down to the average Nigerian. He argued that liberalisation of the oil sector which promises to bring competition to the industry as a result of its opening up to different players, was the equivalent of the democratisation of the economic sector. This, according to him, tops the list of choices open to the populace if they must reap fully the dividend of democracy prevailing in the country.

In his contribution to the subject matter, the Deputy Governor of Nassarawa State, Professor Onje Gye-Wado, who stood in for Governor Abdullahi Adamu, said it was necessary to support the Federal Government in the spirit of cooperative federalism being practised in the country to enable the President deliver democracy dividend to the greater majority of the populace.

"I do realise that the question of liberalisation and deregulation is a very sensitive one, but I am sure that your ambition and the programmes you have which our people would benefit from very shortly, makes it very timely and necessary", Prof. Gye-Wado stated.

He said the government was very pleased with the democratic manner in which the Federal Government was going about consulting people on the need to embrace the policy. The deputy governor said the Nassarawa State Government was having nightmares with the distribution of petroleum products in the state which prompted the state government to adopt strategies that would make them satisfy the demands of the people for petroleum products. He said there was a committee at the state level to check against undue sabotage through price hikes and hoarding of the commodity.

He said all policies on petroleum which is the main foreign exchange earner for the country and an important global product, needed to be supported for Nigeria to realise her dreams to the citizenry and the international community. He advised the committee to translate their message into local languages to enable ordinary Nigerians to be abreast of the developments in the sector. Significantly however, he pledged the support of the government and people of the state to the efforts of the Obasanjo administration to liberalise the petroleum sector.

During the interactive session, Mrs. Esther Dogos, General Manager, Nassarawa State Environmental Protection Agency, observed that it was customary in the country that when prices go up, they never drop and wanted to know what the committee was doing to forestal such an occurrence. She said she was not opposed to the policy per se, but was conscious of the abuses it could be subjected to which would be to the detriment of the common people.

Also speaking, a prominent royal father in the state, Dr. S. Ayi, wanted to know what would happen to the local refining companies in a situation where imported petroleum products become cheaper than those produced internally. Another contributor, Mr. Abraham Dantoro, General Manager of the Nassarawa State Farm Mechanisation Company, likened the proposed policy in the petroleum industry to the devaluation of the naira. He stated that when the previous government was canvassing for support for the devaluation of the naira, so many promises were made which have largely remained unfulfilled to this day and wondered whether the promise of abundant life for all Nigerians would not be similar to those made in the past.

In his response to the issues raised, Kupolokun allayed all the fears or reservations on liberalisation stating that the country has embraced new ways in the art of governance. He said in addition to running a transparent government instituted by the people, there would be a regulatory body to monitor the process in order to guard against unwholesome practices. He said he could not categorically say that there won't be inflation, but the most important thing was that, products would be available and prices would be determined by the market forces of demand and supply.

If the Committee's message was well absorbed in Nassarawa State with little or no complaints, its assignment in Bayelsa State was not an easy one. After the team leader, Kupolokun, presented the facts on the desirability of liberalising the oil sector at the Women Development Centre, the stage was set for the outpouring of previously held grievances against the Federal Government and the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta.

The State Deputy Governor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who held forte for Governor D. S. P. Alamieyeseigha, stated that the idea was not a new concept, but that he was apprehensive about the implementation of the policy in Nigeria. He stated that liberalisation was long overdue in the country to correct the distorted practice of capitalism on these shores. Jonathan said even in the animal kingdom, there was capitalism because all the animals are not equal leading to competition and the survival of the fittest.

"Over-control of certain things by government can never bring fruitful result. In an economy that is just growing, people should be allowed some control and the best should emerge. I believe that liberalisation would be the best option", the deputy governor stated.

However, he said some people might capitalise on the programme to create empires for themselves and their surrogates thereby abusing the good intentions of government.

Although he agreed with the object of the mission of the team to the state, he used the opportunity to paint a gory spectacle which oil exploration has left his people in the hands of the multi-nationals. "You always hear about some crises in the Niger Delta, Bayelsa State happens to be at the centre of the Niger Delta being sandwiched by Rivers and Delta States. The terrain is more riverine than Rivers State and is the heart of the oil industry.... The oil companies don't have any functional office in Bayelsa State, none of them. So, as a state, we don't have a kobo tax from any of them", he disclosed.

He said against this unflattering background, the Bayelsa Government spends more money on the crises arising from oil drilling by these companies due to the restiveness of the youths. He decried the situation where the companies don't employ the indigenes of the state.

The deputy governor said as the government pushes towards liberalisation, it should compel oil companies to domesticate their operations in the country. He cited China as a country which has the same oil exploration history with Nigeria, but while the former had domesticated its industry by 60 per cent, the later was still 100 per cent foreign-based. He added that the main object of liberalisation must be to domesticate oil explorations adding that the state government was ready to establish its own refinery.

Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Environment, Chief Lionel Jonathan-Omo, opined that monopoly in a predominantly capitalist economy was a misnomer. "What the people in the centre of power at Abuja are trying to do is to crack down the monopoly at the commercial level, to allow other people to have oil wells and all that, but there is a bigger monopoly in the business, that is the political monopoly", the commissioner stated.

He said if all tiers of government benefit, it was the fundamental essence of democracy, but that a man that owned a property must necessarily have proprietary rights over the property adding: "As you are crushing the commercial monopoly, you should also try to completely obliterate the political monopoly over our resources". He stated that if this was not done, there might not be an end to the agitation for resource control because in his words: "I teach my infant son how to resist oppression except that from God".

According to him, the Bayelsa man sees liberalisation as artificial because he was not financially buoyant to compete if the sector was fully liberalised. He said although they were happy to be part of Nigeria, the authorities should grant them some autonomy over their resources.

Other speakers at the public presentation spoke in similar vein, but they were not totally opposed to liberalisation as a concept. They argued that some steps should be taken on ownership or control before they could negotiate with others.

Earlier in his welcome address, Mr. Digiteme Ayebanoa, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Alamieyeseigha on Petroleum and Energy, said the team's visit was necessary because the monopoly of the oil industry by multi-national companies was very unhealthy. "It (liberalisation) is indeed viewed as the only antidote to this sort of industrial dependency which invariably spells social and economic slavery on us as a people", Ayebanoa stated.

He said the timeliness of the campaign tour to enlighten the people in order to erase all prejudices on the matter was in order. "We are all gathered today in the interest of national unity. National unity in itself is built upon a legal framework which provides for the respect of the rights of the various constituent ethnic nationalities. Bayelsa State alone is occupying one quarter of the total coastal landmass of Nigeria. No doubt, it is 90 per cent riverine and only 10 per cent an agrarian state", he said, adding that, it was dismal to note that the rights of the Bayelsans were constantly violated by the oil giants.

Kupolokun said his team's visit to the state was essentially to explain the economic benefits of liberalisation to the people and that he was not competent to speak on the political issues raised.

However, he said whichever angle one viewed it, there were enormous advantages to be derived from the policy since people would own their investments in the liberalisation project being popularised across the country.