Oil drill in the North

By Ibrahim Garba

The discovery of oil in the north is a national development that is worth celebrating as it would bring about several national developments, provide many employment opportunities to citizens, and enhance the nation’s economic state.

Nigerians, especially northerners, celebrated the news break of the success recorded in Bauchi, north-eastern Nigeria, hoping that the citizens are going to benefit from such a remarkable achievement of president Buhari’s led administration as the Federal Government signed an agreement of establishing a power plant and fertilizer-producing company in the area.

Besides, for oil to be discovered, it has to go through specific series of activities, an operation called SEISMIC, A geological data acquisition operation that leads to the discovery of a hydrocarbon reservoir, which is the key foundation to any success recorded in oil discovery, hence it requires rigorous activities of hard work with persistence and perseverance from the management function and indeed the labourers who are responsible for the entire hard work surrounding the seismic operations.

Also, Seismic is such a difficult job that comes with a series of hard work ranging from carrying and laying heavy loads of cable, drilling machines, and stems, among other equipment and material needed for the operation. It is usual for seismicity to work from 6 am to 6 pm, seven days every week, without any complaints because that is the nature of the work. Still, to JV209, a seismic joint venture between the subsidiary of NNPC Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) and that of China National Petroleum Corporation CNPC, Bureau Geophysical Prospecting (BGP)  workers, the case is different, as the company introduces and succeeded in night operation.

Wholeheartedly the workers stand through thick and thin, thereby enduring the extreme cold weather and highly scorching sunshine of the region as the work cuts across the entire season, where workers often get drenched due to heavy rainfall during the wet season.

The workers on the field are left with no option of which route to follow while working in the bush because the lines to work on are preassigned and therefore have to pass through every nook and cranny, thereby climbing mountains, entering water bodies penetrating through thick forest in the course of discharging their duty.

Notwithstanding, the sacrifices of the workers did not go in vain as the crew recorded the highest production ever in the country and yielded positive results of quality data, and was able to complete an estimated two years project in just a year, which should have been paid for if extended to the said period.

Unfortunately, some workers lament that they were promised a certain amount of money after work by the crew management, which is yet to be fulfilled. Almost every worker was admitted to a crew clinic and some to a medical centre in the state capital during the operation only the sacrifice of staying a year away from our family with a lower salary should be rewarded” and cite their ability to finish two years project in one which if extended to that period they would be paid for it. 

Above all, the government should try and fulfil such promises, as failure is a significant threat to the nation’s security. We are not done with militants, bandits, and insurgents, among other security challenges bedevilling the country’s growth and required development.

The workers should follow the right way of pressing home their demands. This may hinder the progress to the logical conclusion of the project, which will be detrimental to all and sundry.

Ibrahim Garba writes From Bauchi.

By Ibrahim Garba.

Since the announcement of the success of oil discovery by the Muhammad Buhari-led administration through Nigeria National Petroleum Company, NNPC Ltd., people from different parts of the country rejoiced over the milestone achievement.

However, the development came with many controversies by the citizens who are, in one way or another other, have a direct or indirect connection to the development that is from some groups of people and individuals from the host community.

Immediately after the ground-breaking ceremony, which was attended by his Excellency President Muhammad Buhari, Bauchi State Governor Bala Muhammed, the Group Managing Director NNPC Mele Kyari, among other dignitaries in Nigeria, an argument broke between the neighbouring states, Gombe and its mother state Bauchi, about who owns the Kolmani oil well.

Besides, Bauchi may be right to claim the ownership of Kolmani oil because the oil well is located in Barambu, a village under the Alkaleri local government area of Bauchi state. Bauchi cites the presence of their governor at the breaking ceremony as one of the reasons that they own the oil well.

Gombe state, on the other hand, has more than a reason to claim the ownership because of their closeness to the point where the oil was drilled. Therefore oil as liquid stuff cannot just be for Bauchi alone.

Unfortunately, farmers operating within the host community of MaiMadi, Kwaimawa, among the other 7sevencommunities, complained that they were not paid for the damage done to their farmlands during the oil drill.

Among them, one claimed the ownership of the Kolmani oil well, which according to him, was inherited from his father and yet to be compensated. Also, the report indicates that workers who served during the seismic operation were not adequately paid but only promised to be paid on unspecified dates.

Farmers and other people from the host community should be well informed about the operation of that kind to seek entitlement associated with the oil drill operation in their localities.

With the allegations above, one must note with dismay challenging the Public Relations section of that particular for failing the Social responsibility service expected to render to those communities.

Above all, what Nigerians need to know is how much we need to poster national development above our interest to build Nigeria of our dream. We should also learn from the experience of our people down the south. There is a need for cooperation and mutual understanding between the two states, the farmers, and the entire host community to benefit from such a remarkable achievement. 

Ibrahim Garba writes from Bauchi.

By Ibrahim Sambo

On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the drilling of two oil wells on Kolmani OPL 809 & 810 at the Kolmani field sites in the northeastern states of Bauchi and Gombe. The two sites have about 1 billion barrels of crude oil reserves based on initial figures by the NNPC, with the potential to produce N32 trillion over 10years (at crude price of $73 per barrel).

From many angles in the North, this sparked a euphoric roar. This euphoria is quite understandable. Who would not want to have, at their disposal, tremendous quantities of the most traded commodity in the world, the mighty magical black liquid?

And even with all the green-economy and climate-smart drive by the West, the exit of the fossil fuel era is some distant away. Some months ago, the most foremost and practical evangelist of renewable energy, Elon Musk, stated in a conference in Norway that “civilization will crumble” if the world stops the use of oil and natural gas and called for continued drilling and exploration of fossil fuel sources.

Further, the concerns that the two sites where the reserves are located (Gombe and Bauchi states) are far from port terminals (at-least 700km away), hence a potential difficulty in exporting the crude oil has been laid to rest by the NNPC as they announced the plan to refine the crude oil around the oil fields by building a 120,000 barrels per day refinery. This is in addition to gas processing facilities and a power plant that could generate at least 150 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

But even with all these, there is still a great deal of pessimism as to whether we can derive the juices from the oil revenues, or we will be struck with what economists called the “resource curse”, a situation where a region has valuable natural resources but are still steeped in poverty.

A question that will linger on the mind of every discerning and concerning northerner would be, what future does this hold for the states involved, or the region, or even the country in terms of economic prosperity. A superficial answer would be that the oil and its byproducts will drive more revenue to the government for social and infrastructural development, provide employments for the youths and improve standard of living. While this is true on paper, it would not necessarily be so in practice.

For one, the resource-curse phenomenon is real. When the first oil wells in Nigeria were discovered in Oloibiri in 1958, jubilations filled the air, and it was assumed that within few years, this precious commodity will pick Nigeria up from the gutters of poverty and put her on the elitist list of wealthy nations. But 65 years down the line, Nigeria is still stuck deep in that stinking gutter. Similar thing is happening with oil-rich countries like Columbia and Venezuela for instance where they produce humongous volumes of oil but are still poor.

The second frightening thing is environmental concerns. Uncontrolled oil spill is a major threat in oil-producing areas, and a perfect example of these devastating effects we have seen in Ogoniland, where some 2.1 million barrels of oil was spilled into the land, adversely affecting their water, farming and fishing activities. Here too, this environmental fear was allayed—at-least verbally—by Gombe state governor, when he remarked during the flag-off ceremony that the region “will avoid mistake of the Niger Delta.” “With regard to the issue of the environment,” the Governor remarked, “our ministry of environment is working hand in hand with the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) so that we will avoid all the mistakes and pitfalls that have been the big challenge of oil exploration and implementation in the southern part of the country.”

But as oil has been a curse to some, so has it been a blessing to others. Petrodollars has created immense wealth in the middle-eastern Gulf countries such as never seen in history. There is nothing that can stop northern Nigeria from doing exactly so. Oil can turn the North, and indeed Nigeria into an incredibly virile economic powerhouse.

The two northeastern states of Bauchi and Gombe will now, potentially, have a share of the 13% oil derivation fund pie. And this fund is quite huge. For starters, in just 11years, the 8 oil producing states pocketed a whopping N6trn from this fund. This share of the 13% oil derivation fund, a petroleum refinery and a gas plant, a powerplant, a fertilizer plant, all exude odor of economic merriment.

The question now is how do we make these seemingly tremendous economic potential translate into real time prosperity. The answer lies in adopting the classic model that has worked for the middle eastern countries which is great, visionary leadership.

Leadership—and not an abundance of resources, is the foundation upon which prosperity lies upon, as we have seen time and again. It is that simple. Without good leadership, a society has zero chance of prosperity even if bars of gold gushes down the gutters of its towns and cities.

When Sheikh Muhammed Al-Makhtoum put a tiny desert nation, the UAE, on to the world map, it was through sheer vision and strategic implementation. The North needs to have Al-Makhtoums who would properly manage the money gotten from this venture and channel into well-crafted visions of development; of erecting technology infrastructures for a digital economy, of building mega industries that provide jobs, of constructing roads and state-of-the-art health facilities, of building modern schools and laboratories, of building structures for hospitality and tourism, and all the things that make for a modern economy. The money will be there and in abundance.

As the first oil drill takes place in the Northern region, can we get into power the leaders who would properly use the money from this venture into longterm projects that will finally liberate the North from extreme poverty that has so much traumatize us, and turn it to a modern economy, full of wealth and possibilities and opportunities, or are we leaving the money to go down the wire, into the pocket of the privileged few elites, just like our southern brothers, and just be bragging that we are now oil producing entities, with nothing to show? It is now left to us. In the words of the Hausa man, dabara ya rage wa mai shiga rijiya.

Ibrahim Sambo writes from Lagos. He can be reached at ibrahymsambo4@gmail.com