Mr. Sergius Oseasochie is the
Managing Director/CEO, Relentech Integrated Services Ltd, Nigeria. He was
recently elected into the House of Representatives to represent Esan
North-East/Esan South-East of Edo State. In this interview with Ediri Ejoh, he
lamented the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the seventh
National Assembly and also emphasized the need for the total deregulation of
the downstream sector of the oil industry. Excerpts:
Do you think the seventh National
Assembly is justified over their inability to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill?
Sergius Oseasochie
Not at all. The seventh Assembly
should have passed the Petroleum Industry Bill given the volume of work already
done by the sixth Assembly on the recommendations of the Oil and Gas Industry
Committee (OGIC), with the impact and benefits of such reform in a high oil
price regime.
The impasse in the passage of PIB
has led to uncertainty in the investment climate in Nigeria and the ability of
the oil and gas companies to guarantee returns on investment based on their
portfolio across other regions of the world. Within the lull of the
non-passage, most investment that should have come to Nigeria found a safe
alternative in Mozambique, and additional development of oil in Ghana, Sierra
Leone, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. All these amount to about $50bn.
Following your election into the
National Assembly, what contributions will you make to ensure that the PIB does
not suffer the same fate that has befallen it in the past?
I shall immediately review all the
legislative notes and submissions from the 6th and 7th Assemblies with a view
to reducing areas of discordance while getting maximum value for Nigeria, given
my background in the oil and gas industry. Professional societies such as the
Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) that are apolitical shall be requested to
provide their unbiased communiqué over the years.
What are your views about the
much-touted corruption in the oil and gas industry? Where do you think things
started to go wrong and how can the rot in the sector be addressed?
Strategic reforms shall be
recommended in the sector through tenured appointment of young technocrats
within the system with considerable career life. This is to steer the ship
aright bearing in mind that the consequence of non-performance leads to early
retirement. Independent boards should be appointed in line with CAMA (Companies
and Allied Matters Act) to reduce interference.
If you were to advise the Muhammadu
Buhari administration, what will you advise should be done to the country’s
refineries?
Given the amount of money spent on
subsidy (N3 trillion naira), I shall advise the government in the short term to
repair the refineries and implement both new governance models such as the NLNG
model and business model to encourage profitability. This guarantees the
country’s energy security, while ensuring that its product serves as feedstock
to petrochemical and manufacturing industries. In the long run, government
should fully deregulate the downstream. You cannot be issuing licenses for
importation of fuel and fixing prices for the product and expect people to
invest in building refineries. In Western democracies, refineries are owned and
managed by individuals and businesses, not government. This will naturally
create employment and increase government revenue through tax. If the business
was not profitable, the likes of Aliko Dangote would not have been building
their own refineries. The question will be how many Dangote’s do we have in
Africa? This is why government should stay off completely to allow simple
economic dynamics come to play in this sector.
Strikes, production shutdowns and
vandalisms have over the years been sore points to the Nigerian oil industry.
In what ways do you think these can be addressed, in view of the huge revenues
the country is losing in this regard?
Proactive intervention and
collaboration with the executive arm in engaging the labour union shall reduce
industrial unrest which leads to production shutdown in the present situation
of low foreign exchange income occasioned by low oil price. Vandalism needs to
be addressed via the critical infrastructure intervention command and force
under the NSA (National Security Agency) created by a presidential order. This
would remove the current impediment on the current structure of the Police and
Armed Forces commands in the protection of oil pipelines limited by command
jurisdiction. The sophistication of the vandalism is above the capacity of the
NSCDC (National Security and Civil Defence Corps), charged with the responsibility
without the necessary platform for intervention.
The fall in the prices of crude oil
in the international market is currently hurting the Nigerian economy in no
small measure. What measures do you want the Federal Government to put in place
to cushion the effect of the drop on the Nigerian economy?
Diversify the economy: “Nigeria
Beyond Oil.” As long as the world cannot control its appetite for oil, there
will be boom, burst, downturn, meltdown etc. No modern economy can rely on one
commodity as its source of revenue, not to talk of the most populous black
nation with over 180 million people of which 60 per cent are young people.
There should be massive investment
in agriculture. We should be able to feed ourselves and export food to our
neighbours. Our population and land mass should count for something in the
sub-region. The best chocolates are from Switzerland and yet they do not have
cocoa plantations. We should farm our land and process the produce. This will
create employment for our youths. The World Bank, ADB, international donor
agencies are ready and willing to support this initiative. We just have to kick
the habit (over dependence on oil) and the entire storyline will change. Yes,
it is as easy as that. With increased security, the tourism industry will
thrive. We do not have to look for the Western world. If we can lure our
brethren in the region to Nigeria, the West will follow thereafter. We have all
it takes to be the Dubai of Africa.
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