By Olaiwola Alao

Many Nigerians snorted when the oil subsidy was removed on the New Year day last year. With hindsight, many more will say, in retrospect, that the nationwide protests which greeted the removal of subsidy on petrol were a blessing in disguise.

Put more directly, the protests served as a sort of public opinion tool which triggered the much-needed reforms going on in the petroleum industry. The January 2012 protests therefore became an important factor in President Goodluck Jonathan’s government’s understanding of what the people wanted and where his government needed to focus its attention regarding the energy sector.

While the most strongly-held opinion may not necessarily be the most accurate, it was realized, for instance, that Nigerians were not absolutely against the removal of subsidy on petrol, but needed to be better oriented on the advantages of the policy.

After the Farouk Lawan-led ad-hoc committee set up by the House of Representatives to probe the subsidy regime lost its credibility, the federal government set up committees and task forces to investigate, ascertain and recommend the way forward in various sub-sectors of the petroleum industry.

The Aig-Imoukhuede’s Technical Committee, chaired by the MD/CEO of Access Bank, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, was set up by the minister of finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in May 2012 to scrutinise the fuel subsidy payments handed oil marketers during the 2011 fiscal year.

In its report submitted to President Jonathan, the committee uncovered illegitimate transactions involving 50 oil marketing companies. Out of 857 transactions valued at 1,112,836,823,380.43 examined by the committee, 661 (valued at N880,644,248,166.23) were classified as legitimate, while 196 transactions  worth N232,192,575,214.20 (involving the 50 companies) were illegitimate. The committee recommended further investigation and prosecution by law enforcement agencies.

Other committees/taskforces set up to look into issues in the petroleum sector include: the Special Task Force on Governance and Controls, set up by the minister of petroleum resources and headed by Dotun Sulaiman, to clean up the NNPC and its subsidiaries; the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, a 16-man team also set up by Mrs Diezani  Alison-Madueke and led by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to determine and verify all upstream and downstream petroleum revenue taxes and royalties due and payable to the federal government; the National Refineries’ Special Task Force, headed by Dr Kalu Idika Kalu  to ensure self-sufficiency of petroleum products in Nigeria.

Two other bodies directly concern the biggest issue in the petroleum sector today: the Petroleum Information Bill (PIB).  They are: the Osten Olorunsola Committee and the Udo Udoma Task Force. After it was discovered that two separate bills were sent to the National Assembly, there was the need to re-draft a standard document to prevent the fate suffered by the bill in the past.

Hence, the setting up of the committee headed by Mr Osten Olorunsola, director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). To ensure a speedy passage of the bill this time around, the executive arm of government realised that a better synergy with the legislative arm was necessary, thereby leading to the creation of the Udo Udoma Task Force to act as a liaison between the two arms.

It is common knowledge that previous administrations have avoided the legislation of a single document which would effectively regulate the structural and financial management of the petroleum industry. Even when, towards the end of the 6th Assembly, the president promised to accent the bill if sent to him by the legislature, those of us who understand the potency of the PIB to revolutionalise the oil and gas industry were surprised that one way or the other the bill did not make it out of the National Assembly.

Considering the push by the Jonathan administration for the prompt passage of the PIB, and despite the clout pulled by those hell-bent on preventing its passage and the ethnic coloration given it to elicit unfavourable public opinion, it is clear that it holds the key to the success of any meaningful reform in the industry. It could as well define this administration as that which sought and delivered a permanent answer to the perennial crisis in the industry.