It Takes A Determined Patriot To Confront The Evil Cabal And A Nation Succeeds. Suddenly Our Refineries Are Working. How?
The Oasis Reporters
December 31, 2024
The last time Nigeria’s refineries worked despite systemic hitches and almost seamlessly was during the regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo in the seventies. He was then a military leader, 1976-1979.
As soon as he handed over the reins of power to President Shehu Shagari in 1979 and corruption with profligacy became the cornerstone of government policy without discipline and check, everything started going wrong. The entire system lost discipline and things continued to go wrong.
Followership lost discipline and corruption was heavily enthroned. Nigeria’s refineries would go for Turnaround maintenance and come out worse off. All the millions of dollars spent would be wasted. A few civil servants would be stupendously wealthy.
This virus continued unchecked after Shagari to the regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari, then General Ibrahim Babangida, General Sani Abacha, General Abdulsalami. Nigeria became a net exporter of crude oil and massive importer of petroleum products. Few people had become stupendously wealthy and well entrenched in the billionaire class.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s refineries remained comatose and the civil servants were still receiving their salaries without care or concern.
Then Chief Olusegun Obasanjo came back again as civilian president and for 8 years, he tried to reform the system but failed. The corruption had grown more massively entrenched. He even tried to get multinational oil firms to go into profit sharing in the management of our refineries. But they politely declined his generous offer. Privately, one of them spoke to Obasanjo off the record about the virus in the system. Forced on the system by human and entrenched interests.
Everyone feared the Oil cabal. All through his regime into the Yar’adua presidency and Jonathan regime, the fear persisted.
Then Aliko Dangote the dreamer decided to float the idea of a private refinery from scratch. No one gave him a chance to succeed. He stubbornly continued his pursuit of a dream into the Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari civilian regime. And by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s regime, there was a commissioning and the dreamer had succeeded.
Of course he faced a lot of problems from entrenched interests intent on sabotaging his efforts.
Finally he wore them all down.
His petrol was flowing and the well lined up petrol tankers you would find in Port Harcourt refinery, Warri refinery and Kaduna refinery suddenly relocated to Dangote refinery in Lagos. A few could be found in the Edo refinery as well.
Suddenly the self smug entrenched interests workers in the three NNPC refineries went into a panic mood, fearing that the fate that befell NITEL which has practically gone into oblivion may be upon them shortly.
Almost overnight, refineries that refused to work for almost 40 years have started roaring back to life without waiting for their usual billions in naira for Turn Around Maintenance.
This is worth a huge laugh.
What changed, this time around?
A stubborn Aliko Dangote has silently whipped them out of the path of gross indiscipline and now they are eager to work because unexpectedly, competition has come.
But who is interested?
Nigerians that can dream are dreaming of Driverless electric cars that need no petrol.
But a new cabal shall still arise out of the electricity cabal to keep Nigeria in darkness and out of modernity.
This time, the people would take back what dignity there is that belongs to them.
May Nigeria succeed.
Greg Abolo.
Dangote
