Oil thieves are not poor, they are criminals preventing National development….Engr Babalola
Engineer Sunday Adebayo Babalola is a retired Deputy Director of the now-defunct Department of Petroleum Resources but currently, Director of All Grace Energy. He is also a former acting Managing Director of Belemaoil Nigeria Limited. In this interview, with EMMANUEL KEHINDE , he commends Federal Government of Nigeria, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, and Nigerians for restoration of normal supply of premium motor spirit popularly called petrol. He also proffers strategies to avert a recurrence of fuel scarcity in the country. The energy expert decries the negative impacts of illegal refining of crude oil and lauds Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, for his efforts at ridding his state of the menace. He also called on governors of oil-bearing states to join in the fight against the illegal refining of crude oil.
Excerpts:
How do you feel about the resumption of normal fuel supply at the normal rate in many states of Nigeria?
It is a very good development. I must commend the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited for the efforts they have put in to be able to bring about this restoration of fuel supply and prevent further fuel scarcity. Everybody’s hands were on deck to make sure it happened. It did not happen within the shortest possible time but it did eventually and that is very commendable. In spite of the trial and confusion going on in the world, including the Ukraine-Russian war, we are still able to get fuel into the petrol stations and people are able to buy without queues. I commend the federal government for that.
How do we avert a recurrence?
You never can know what troubles can come in the world again. The world today is a global village. One person’s needs in Chile affect another person’s in Siberia. The effect is there. What people do will always be there. What I will advise the federal government to do is to develop our strategic reserves and make sure that we always have enough buffer. The last one was caused basically, as we were told, by adulteration; that there was too much methanol and ethanol in the fuel. It is not really adulteration per see, it is wrong missing. The right word should have been wrong missing or non-proportionate missing and not adulteration. That kind of created a problem. However, they were able to withdraw everything before it created another damage. They rose up to the challenge. I think Nigerians appreciate what they have done.
To the NNPC, they have done very well. They did very well in rising up to the occasion to withdraw the fuel that was wrongly mixed and got them rid off before they could create further damage. They did very well in also bringing better quality fuel and distributing it as fast as possible. They did very well in ensuring that the prices generally did not change. They did very well in these areas. Of course some unscrupulous elements must have seized the opportunity of the scarcity to rip people off. That is expected in any situation like that.
Should Nigerians who suffered the hardship, now that it has normalized, view the scarcity as one of those temporary shocks that can come in an administration?
There will always be a shock. It is not a surprise that there is a shock. The world today is like a single body. What affects the eyes affects the leg. That is the way the world is. Any small shock anywhere, whether an earthquake or the war as it is happening now, will create ripples everywhere because countries of the world are touching one another. We can not avoid it. The only way to avoid such is to leave the world and since we are not going to leave the world, we have to be prepared for such sudden shocks. That is what I am going to advise the people in the NNPC, and regulatory bodies, to ensure that they are prepared for such shocks.
FG is still waging war against illegal refineries. In Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Wike is seriously doing that. How do you feel about that and how should it be handled?
I must commend Governor Wike for his efforts and work. Illegal refining is cheating us on revenue. The companies are frustrated. They spend a lot of money producing operating costs, capital costs, and exploration and after they have found the oil, somebody goes to steal it and refine it illegally. The effect on the company is not good. The effect on the company with respect to financiers is not good. Nobody will want to bring their money into a country where they are not sure what they have invested the money on is going to yield good returns. The illegal refiners are not helping the situation. Moreover, environmental degradation is enormous. If you got to Port Harcourt today, by evening, you manage to put your hand in your nose, what it will bring out is bad soot. I commend Governor Wike for a very good job.I hope that he continues to do it and I hope that party differences will not make him be discouraged in what he is doing. I hope all the South-South governors will do it. The effect of illegal refining is huge. It affects the health of the people living around the South-South. From that, we see that it affects the hospitals too because when people are sick, they rush to hospitals and hospitals will be overpopulated. It also affects the revenue of the states and the federal government. It also affects companies from being able to raise money to further develop crude oil. It is very sad because today we think that crude oil is all that is required for huge foreign exchange earnings but that is not the case. The world is changing very fast. So if we do not produce what we can produce today, and sell it and make money that we can use for infrastructural development to move our country forward, we will stand to regret it in a few years. Because a time will come, it may not be tomorrow, it may not be next week, it may not be next years, it may not even be in 20 years’ time, but the time will come when oil will not be fashionable again. Just as it happened, coal was the in-thing one time but it is not the in thing today. The effect can be very devastating to everybody and to all stakeholders. And that is why I commend Governor Wike and I pray that he be supported by all stakeholders so that he can do more.
You called other South-South governors to join in the fight..?
It is a given. If Governor Wike succeeds in his area, the people will move to other areas. So it is better to allow them to be prepared and start fighting from their own ends so that they will not have anywhere to run to and continue this illegal refining. When you talk of illegal refining, the environmental degradation, when they puncture the oil pipelines or when they leave the place after siphoning whatever they did, the environment is degraded and it is blamed on the oil companies, which is very sad.
It is believed that many Nigerians who are involved in illegal refining are poor and are looking for a means of livelihood. With the fight against illegal refining, how should they handle the development and their means of livelihood?
Honestly, it is wrong to say that many of them are poor. It is wrong. The people who have been doing it are not poor. They are not poor. Poor people cannot afford to buy high-speed boats, poor people can not afford to buy the equipment they use to puncture and make holes in the pipelines. They are not poor. To me, I am not sure, they may be supported by highly placed people also. They also make a lot of money from it. I do not agree that they are poor people. People who are involved in illegal refining should stop it. They are even endangering their lives and that of other residents. They are also sabotaging the economy of Nigeria and their states. They also inhibit the revenue and growth of oil companies and also prevent them from more exploration. They also deter investors from investing in the industry and so prevent growth and development in their communities.
