...before another strike

 

By Stanley Omoniyi-Ajileye

I love former House of Representative member from Kogi State, Dino Melaiye not because he is an Ijumu man like me neither is it because we are both alumni of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State. I love him for his boldness and for self-confidence. However I think I have alternative reasoning on his position on federal government’s decision on the petroleum sector.

I need to say from onset that I belong to the school that believes that government is not subsidising our oil by a kobo. I think the problem is that, our leaders are either ignorant of the right word to use instead of subsidy or they are deliberately deceptive based on feelings that all Nigerians are fools. If a father calls his children fools, he remains their father.

Government is getting it wrong; we should get it right and correct those in government. I was a scholar of political economy and as such I often take a dialectical view at issues. The issue at stake is that, we have an oil sector that is not working and may never work for so many reasons among which is the fact that it belongs to us.

Anything owned by government belongs to all. Anything for all is in the real sense of it for nobody. So, whether you vandalize, destroy or steal anything that belongs to nobody, nobody will talk. Everybody will feel unaffected.

That was why the Nigerian Telecommunication company, NITEL died; that was why Nigeria Airways lost its wings and that was why our refineries may never refine a drop of oil.

There is a need to do for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC what former President Olusegun Obasanjo did to NITEL monopoly. There is need to do in our oil sector what was done to our aviation sector. Today Nigeria Airways is no more but we fly more conveniently. Today NITEL is no more but we make cheap calls. Cheaper than is obtained several places abroad. The last time I visited the United Kingdom, Connect card of five pounds could hardly sustain my call to Nigeria for five minutes.

Today on some of the network in Nigeria, one can call the United Kingdom for N12/min. That is what is achievable through liberalisation or privatisation.

The truth is that there is urgent need for government to remove its hands from business. I told a friend last week that government has no business in business.

We need private individuals to invest in the oil sector but the prospective investors are asking for the operation of market force as a determinant of price of the products. Like I said elsewhere, you and I will ask for the same if we have enough money to throw in.

These people want government kick start the system to see if we would go to the street or not. Truly, no one will want to test run such huge investment. They will need assurance of a violent-free operation.

Once upon a time, you needed about N50, 000 to get a SIM card. At that time I got UK mobile line for free in a gift shop at Piccadilly London. Today, we are getting there. My baby of the house is a little boy of eight; he recently took one of my abandoned phones and bought a N100 SIM card into it from his pocket. It is getting cheaper. It may soon be free.

So also, I foresee a day when oil will be so cheap here that gas stations or filling stations as the case may be, will give out gallons of their brands of engine oil as incentive to make us buy their petrol. This can only come true if we privatize the sector.

I need to explain this in simple economic rule. If government gives license to as many investors as possible and allows them to sell at the price of their choice, it is a question of time, the price will fall in two ways – it will force down Competition and he desire for profit maximization will compel each of them to establish refinery here to bring down cost of production.

So when I read that my beloved friend Dino is calling on people to protest again and that he is ready to die to stop the government, I said I should quickly tell him not to die yet. We still need him and many patriots like him in our state and our country.

The life of one man may be worth than the economy of a nation. Imagine the number of souls we have lost to our incessant street protests. I am not saying protesting obnoxious policy of government is wrong. But, viewing each case on its merit, this one is unnecessary. We only need to counsel government on a better approach to the whole issue. But the truth must be told, it is either we pay more today and pay less forever or we continue to protect the interest of few who are eating up our national economy. Don't let us be the rodent in our own groundnut field.

Stanley Ominiyi-Ajileye is a media consultant and business owner, based in Kogi State