By Dele Sobowale

Each time I read or listen to someone asking why the FG does not repair our four museum pieces called refineries, it occurs to me that this is another explanation why Africans lag behind the rest of the world intellectually.

Our fathers invented the hoe before white men emerged. We are still carrying the hoe around more than a million years after. We have not changed mentally in terms of being wedded to old and dysfunctional tools and systems. That explains why people still seriously talk about refineries which are at least 38 years old as if they can be cost-effective. Many of their spare parts were custom-made by suppliers which have gone out of business or no longer manufacture those parts.

Instead of scrapping them and starting all over again, we continue to shove billions of dollars down the throats of corrupt contractors for absolutely wasteful Turn Around Maintenance, TAM. The current attempts will still not work. Just wait until December 2023, when the refineries are expected to start supplying fuel to eager Nigerians.

Real competition is the answer

“A town that cannot support one lawyer can always support two.” –

Daniel Boorstin, 1914-2004, American Historian.

Given the fact that we no longer have four refineries, and the Dangote refinery is the only prospect, we are inadvertently creating a monopoly. It is a costly blunder which will come to haunt us. Additionally, the refinery can only process crude oil – at a time when globally some vehicles are being modified to use gas instead of petrol. And a growing percentage of cars in the future will be Electric Vehicles, EV. Commonsense would dictate that the obvious step is to start another project in a state which is equally blessed with crude and gas.

It was discovered under military administrations in the 1990s that Akwa Ibom State’s resource endowments can be characterised as lots of gas associated with oil. In other words the state has more gas than oil and can easily support a new and very modern refinery complex which can supply fuel, gas and EV batteries. That was why the Aluminium Smelting Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, was situated at Ikot Abasi to take advantage of the vast gas deposits in the area. It is most unfortunate that ALSCON has become a mirage of what it was intended to be.

“Ideas are capital; the rest is money.”

That ALSCON failed should, however, not deter us from trying something else in the same area. What has been lacking so far are two critical stimulators. One is ideas to exploit the abundant resources to provide a variety of solutions to our problems and to create healthy competition which will actually limit fuel prices and guarantee supplies of all energy needs. Two, private sector capital is needed to partner with state governments to widen the opportunities for everyone.

A multi-purpose project in AKwa Ibom makes more sense than Rivers State which is already over-crowded with refineries and LNG projects that are stuck in ancient times and deploying obsolete technology. Investment in Akwa Ibom provides the opportunity to introduce cutting-edge technology allied with abundant human and material resources. Fuel and gas supplies from Akwa Ibom can more easily reach Rivers, Bayelsa, Abia, Imo, Cross River, Ebonyi, Taraba and Benue States via Katsina Ala than the consignment from Lagos and it will arrive at lower prices.

The point here is this: we should avoid putting all our hopes on Dangote Refinery alone; thereby creating a monopoly. Only a healthy competition can guarantee that consumers enjoy a fair deal all the time. The new complex will also supply the growing gas market as more vehicles convert to using gas in order to save operating costs.

From information available to me, the Akwa Ibom State Government, AKSG, is willing to partner with credible private sector operators for the venture. Apart from that AKS remains one of the safest states in the country today. The people are generally well-educated and welcome non-indigenes with open arms.