Apart from General Muhammadu Buhari, I don’t know any other politician that is skinny. Buhari is a special case that needs the attention of the teaching hospitals to figure out. Besides him, practically all other politicians, especially of the ruling party, look grubby. Yes, grubby, like the giant larva that develops in organic manure. It has no bone, and moves by the contortions of its own body. They are so supple and oily when roasted as they do around Benin.
There’s more to the relationship between politicians and the larva, beyond looks. Check out their habits too. The larva develops in steamy compost. And where do Nigerian politicians develop their grubby outlook, if not in the political compost?
From ‘Operation Wetie’ in the 1960s, down to the brazen INEC Capture of 2023, Nigerian politicians have always created composts in which they swim like a million maggots in an open sewer.
The only commitment they have is to their stomachs, and nothing is too gross in the pursuit of this commitment. When candidate Bola Tinubu declared in the run-up to the 2023 presidential election that it was his turn, emi lokan, he simply undressed Nigerian politics for what it is – power game without any high ideals. He wasn’t coming with a promise of making anything better; just coming to cut his own slice of the proverbial national cake (or take it whole!). And to be fair to him, though he undressed the political message, he was no different from others.
Since the return to civil rule in 1999, nothing has shown the true colour of Nigerian politicians like the petroleum sector. Indeed, one needs to stretch the definition of politicians beyond their manner of dressing to include the military.
I recall that it was under the dictatorship of General Sani Abacha that the phrase, turnaround maintenance, of the nation’s petroleum refineries became a common expression. The refineries had all been grounded, and the government told the citizens that it had a turnaround maintenance (TAM) to run, which would sort out the problems.
Abacha gave the contract to a local contractor who couldn’t differentiate crude oil from palm oil. The turnaround maintenance was never conducted. And in its place, the refinery merry-go-round started.
From Obasanjo, all new governments promised during the campaigns or before inauguration to sort out the refineries. The most popular timeline was six months. But without exception, the sleaze-dripping smooth hydrocarbons seduced them all. Even Muhammadu Buhari, the stern-faced general who managed to inscribe ‘discipline’ as a moniker (if not downright middle name), fell beyond recognition.
Obasanjo, with hindsight, knowing that the comatose refineries were certainly going to be the Achilles heel for every other government after his, went for the near-noble. He tabled the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries for sale. And when no buyers showed up, he gave out the two refineries to Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola.
But Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, with his leftist tendencies, smelt crony-capitalism. He felt Obasanjo had given out the family jewels to his friends, and quickly reversed the ‘dash’. I guess that at this point, even without a penny invested in the refinery, the seed had been planted in Dangote’s mind. That field needed his touch, he must have mused.
Plans concluded, it took Aliko a decade plus to execute the erection of the biggest petroleum refinery in Africa, with a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels a day. Aliko doesn’t worship the god of small things. His refinery has the capacity of supplying all of Nigeria’s refined petroleum needs and has some for export.
Most people shouted hurray that Aliko was about to bail Nigeria from the ridiculous position of being the biggest exporter of crude oil from Africa, as well as being the biggest importer of fuel. Embedded in Dangote Refinery is the exit button from the collosal waste of foreign exchange for fuel imports.
But both Dangote and most Nigerians did not reckon with the diversity of interests over the petroleum matter. While the majority applauded the coming of the Dangote Refinery, there is a tiny but very powerful minority that feeds from the fuel disequilibrium, who would never want our mess cleared.
So, the Dangote Refinery was commissioned early last year by President Muhammadu Buhari, and both Dangote and most Nigerians looked on with hope to a crash in petroleum prices, predicated on the savings from shipping costs and forex savings. But since then, it has turned out a mirage. Entrenched forces both in government and in the oil industry, have practically asked Dangote who sent him to clear our mess.
All manner of obstacles have been thrown his way. Both the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd and the international oil companies (IOCs), refused to sell crude to Dangote, giving all manners of stupid excuses. He had to import crude from the US to refine. But that wasn’t enough; even industry regulators were deployed in the fight against him. It got so much that Dangote, known to keep a cool mien under practically any circumstance, went stomping within the last fortnight.
Finally, government heard, and has directed the NNPC and the IOCs to sell crude to Dangote and all local refineries in naira-denominated transactions. Dangote has won, and Nigerians may be co-victors.
The abiding lesson is that things are not always what they seem. There could be something more than face value. One person’s mess could be another’s food.
