By Timeyin Ejoor
I apologise to readers of this column for some omissions in last week’s presentation on The Oil Sector Reforms. It was as a result of the printers’ devil. The error has been corrected and aligned with the concluding part of the topic.

Last week, we started a discussion on the expectations of Nigerians on the reform being embarked upon by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deziani Madueke, in her ministry and parastatals to engender some confidence in Nigerians on the activities of the petroleum industry; the all important sector of our economy.

We discussed mainly the expectation of Nigerians and support for two of the committees set up to jump start the reform, namely: the special task force saddled with the responsibility of reviving the four ailing refineries, headed by renowned economist and former Minister of Finance, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu and the Revenue Task Force headed by former EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu.

The Kalu committee is expected to achieve its main objective of bringing the refineries to full stream in 60 working days. Translated into reality, it suggests that a major part of our fuel consumption requirements would be met locally, thereby reducing dependence on imports.

The Naira, which perhaps is the most battered and abused currency in the world, would also be a major beneficiary if the Kalu committee can achieve the target set for it by the Minister. There would be lesser demand for foreign exchange in that regard.

This dovetails into the revenue committee which has an unenviable task of identifying the several revenue leakages in the petroleum sector for which government has been denied huge revenues due to activities of certain unscrupulous people, particularly in the upstream sector of the industry.

I have written severally on the need for government to plug the leakages in the system rather than seek funds from unnecessary sources which tends to increase the debt profile. Only a few weeks ago, the federal government, through a letter written by the president sought approval of the National Assembly to source about eight billion dollars from foreign banks and agencies.

A government delegation, led by the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has in fact travelled to China to seek another loan of some two billion dollars for infrastructural development.

This money can be sourced locally without recourse to any loan whatsoever if government is up to its task of plugging some obvious financial drainages in the system which would have accrued to it. It is a known fact that no fewer than 150,000 barrels of crude oil is stolen out of Nigeria daily.

With current prices at about $103pb in the international market, this translates to outrageous revenue loss of $1.56m per day. Shell Petroleum, one of the major Joint Venture partners had sometime last year raised an alarm on the increasing volume of crude oil theft along the creeks, claiming that the thievery through illegal bunkering was affecting its production and set targets. The situation has often been blamed on the activities of Niger Delta militants.

However, available facts, according to WikiLeaks, indicate that less than 15 per cent of the oil theft is committed by the militants. The larger percentage is allegedly the handiwork of top politicians and the military. A report had also indicted the JV partners in this regard. It is said that they do not adequately disclose the volume of crude oil being pumped at the wellheads to their terminals.

Also, as a matter of urgent necessity, the government needs to redefine the rules of engagement between the oil companies and their host communities. The current situation where the companies plunder the resources of these areas and in turn treat the people with utter disregard and disdain is unacceptable.

A case in point is the recent explosion at Chevron platform in Koluama in Bayelsa State. It took appeals and threats to get the company to accept its liability. Yet, nothing tangible has been done by the company to redress the ecological malfeasance it has caused the community.

These are some of the challenges before the Ribadu led committee and would need to unmask those Nigerians and their foreign collaborators whose activities not only deny the nation of its due resources but also impacted negatively on the environment.