By SUNNY IKHIOYA

IT is heart-warming to hear that the Dangote Refinery products will hit the market in a few days time. The same applies to the Port Harcourt Refinery, which has declared a mechanical completion to the rehabilitation process. The challenge of this pleasant development is sustainability. For how long will the Nigeria in us allow these projects to last? Even if we succeed in scaling this hurdle, what about the foreign factor that has been conceived to  make sure that the sleeping giant remains sleeping? That is the concern of this piece. 

Revelations from the Beta Edu scandal have shown clearly that our rot has gone very deep and become institutional. It will require the combined will of the whole nation and a very focused leadership to steady the course. We have displayed a collective disdain for the progress of this country, and yet, we are the first to complain that things are not working. Look at the scam of the free train ride offered by the government during the yuletide season; see the handling of the palliative, the massive suffering going on across the length and breadth of the land. 

Thank God for modern media. Everything hidden must be exposed, no hiding place for the politicians and rogue civil servants. The task is herculean but we must begin to apply solutions from the basic levels; adjust our security structure, take security to the local government and community levels, embark on very effective sensitisation campaigns and allow our institutions at all levels to work. We have to rejig our security architecture and reprogramme the training outlines of our security operatives. They must be trained and retrained to meet contemporary challenges facing the nation. 

Nigerians are the biggest challenges of this nation, and we must set up institutions to put them in check. It does not cost you anything to convince a Nigerian to sabotage his own country – stealing railway lines sleepers, railings on our bridges, fake drugs and counterfeit products, pipeline vandalism and stealing, round tripping of foreign exchange or what they call arbitrage, civil servants disloyalty, bribery and corruption at all levels, religious fanatics and ethnic jingoists- too numerous to mention here. We are all involved in it, and we must find ways to stop it if we want this country to survive. 

Sabotage also occurs when the president or any of his ministers or top officials display a conflict of interest. President Bola Tinubu has said that we should not pity him, I do not pity him either. But he must remember that how you start your journey most times determines how you will complete it. He is perceived in many quarters as not sending the right signals. If Nigeria must work, our institutions must work correctly, especially that aspect that deals with security. 

We have announced the Dangote and Port Harcourt refineries readiness to commence full production soon. My question is: will all of this labour not go the usual way? Are we not going to be faced with the same outcomes, given our usual trajectory? I ask because, even with our self-destructive tendencies, there are many countries, international bodies and self-interests that will want our status quo to remain the same. The ones that have benefited from our serial failures through the years, that have made our manufacturing endeavours and local production to fail, the ones that are egging on and bribing our officials and helping them to siphon stolen monies abroad. They have always been there, studying and observing us like vultures, as our manufacturing concerns wound up, one after the other. They are still here and exerting controls on our leadership  – the World Bank, IMF, WHO, and other vested interests. 

Some come in as non-governmental agencies and aids agents. These ones are not ready to help Nigeria move forward. They are the killers of the productive destiny of Nigeria, and we must do something about them. That is my fear for Dangote Refinery, Port Harcourt Refinery, Ajaokuta Steel, and others like them that we are looking up to to revitalise our faltering economy. The big powers will do everything to sabotage our efforts, no matter how hard we try; that is why every aspect of our security must be activated, especially the international angle. 

If you are in doubt, I will give you an example. In their book titled, MOSSAD – The greatest Mission Of The Israeli Secret Service, Michael Bar Zohar and Nissim Mishal gave the following narrative: “In April 2006, the Holy of Holies – the central installation in Natanz- was the scene of a festive assembly. A large crowd of scientists, technicians, and the heads of the nuclear project gathered underground, where thousands of centrifuges were churning around the clock. In a celebratory mood, they came to watch the first test of activating a new centrifuge cascade. Everyone waited for the dramatic moment when the centrifuges would be started.

The chief engineer pressed the activation button  , and a powerful explosion shook the huge chamber. The pipes blew up in a deafening blast, and the entire cascade shattered… Furious, the heads of the nuclear project ordered a thorough investigation. ‘Unknown Persons’ apparently had planted faulty parts in the equipment.  CBS reported that the centrifuges had been destroyed by tiny explosives charges attached to them shortly before the test. It also claimed that Israeli intelligence had assisted American agents in causing the Natanz explosion… In January 2007, again, the centrifuges became the target of a sophisticated sabotage. The Western Secret Services  had established Eastern European front companies that manufactured insulation materials used in the ducts between the centrifuges. 

“The Iranians couldn’t buy theirs in the open market because of the limitations imposed on them by the UN; so they turned to bogus Eastern European companies run by Russian and Iranian exiles. 

Only after the insulation was installed did the Iranians find that it was defective and couldn’t be used.” That was how the Iranian nuclear project was sabotaged. It is happening to many of our projects; sub-standard and fake parts that are guaranteed to fail from the beginning. They even give wrong counselling like the World Bank is doing now with our subsidies. We are informed that Dangote has over 10,000 foreigners working for the refinery plant, which is dangerous for our security and sustainability of the plant. The Indians will never allow this in their country. 

The above narrative shows that when the super powers want to stop your project, they will go to any length. Again, I ask, how secure are we? We have seen projects stalled in Nigeria because of the unavailability of spare parts. Why is this so? We must hasten work on our fabrication plants. They must be able to reproduce vital spare parts for production in the country. Some of our top officials are compromised to stay quiet or act as accomplices. Such people should be fished out, especially in the areas of vital projects for the country. Again, the aspect of reorientation cannot be overstated. The people must be made to know why the country must move from consumption to production, and there must be proper feedback mechanisms between the people and government. 

A country can never make real progress without taking the matter of its security seriously. The security goes beyond carrying arms. It also includes corporate intelligence and citizens incorporation into the whole system. 

*Ikhioya wrote via: http://www.southsouthecho.com