By Emmanuel Ogbeche
There is a concerning narrative floating around. And that is the federal government should move against the trade unions in the oil and gas sector just as the brutal dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, did back in the days of his dictatorship. What a pity party!
The argument of these pseudo-democrats is that the unions – PENGASSAN and NUPENG – are working to sabotage the country’s functional private refinery, the Dangote Refinery. If not for revisionism, it is utterly false equivalence to indulge in such expensive farce. To glorify a dictatorship that trampled on the civil rights of Nigerians with the utmost impunity, suspended constitutional order is to give meat to the abhorrent idea that the black man is in love with his chains.
There is little argument that the Dangote Refinery is consequential and transformative to Nigeria’s today and future. But is not the end of the matter in our country’s march towards energy security.
It is untenable to replace one monopoly, NNPCL, with another, Dangote Refinery, in a clime that lacks robust regulatory framework to ensure competition, transparency and the long-term stability in the downstream oil industry.
How some individuals want a single entity to monopolise the downstream sector and distribution chain is worrying and exposes either lack of understanding of basic economics, or some other sinister motive motivated by lucre.
For long, the Dangote Group has been adversarial to competition. It is an open secret that taking advantage of political connections and closeness to the corridors of power is one of its modus operandi, which isn’t bad in itself. But Nigerians must not be made to count the cost.
Only as recent as 2022/2023, we were all witnesses to the execrable war between the Dangote Group and BUA. We also witnessed how Dangote lunged at NNPCL through the courts to frustrate it out of importing PMS.
There are litanies of adversarial endeavours by the Group against competitors or those seen to be so.
To the matter of “he needs to recoup his investment and ensure PMS sufficiency for local consumers.” Fafafafowl! As at September 2022, just 46 companies benefitted tax waivers to the tune of N16 trillion of which the Dangote Group topped. There is nothing amiss with tax incentives as they stimulate economic activity. The point is that it is not wholly his money. Lest we forget, the refinery operates in an export free zone with lots of tax incentives and waivers.
As far back as 2009, the Group was amongst a few firms that were granted N31bn interest waiver by the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc. Specifically, Dansa Oil and Gas and Bulk Pack Limited, both controlled by Dangote, received concessions of N8.17bn and N4.34bn of outstanding balance of N13.6bn and N7.27bn, respectively. So tell me what I don’t know.
As I conclude, the unions may be after their dues as some have alleged, but their selfishness is nothing compared to that of the ultra-rich who like Paulo Freire notes entice us with their false charity. It is a surprise that those who are singing the Dangote Hallelujah are unaware of the massive capital flight that will happen with the over 2, 000 Indians brought in to replace Nigerians at a time the federal government has committed much effort in stablising the FX market. What a sad tale!
Ogbeche, a former Chairman of NUJ FCT, writes from Abuja at emmaogbeche@yahoo.com