WHEN THE MASTER BECOMES THE SLAVE

I was bubbling with life and strength. I was anticipating the flame of euphoria that would cover the atmosphere in church on the Sunday Morning. At least, the religious place provides succour to Nigerians. It has become a place where the average Nigerian would relinquish his state of unhappiness at least for a moment.

I got to church and the usher directed me to my usual place of “abode”. In the same place, there is a man who usually sit beside me. I was wondering if he had chosen another “abode” or perhaps he was not in church. Not quite long, he arrived with a long face.

I was trying to read his mind. I concluded he had issue with his wife at the car downstairs. I was wrong actually. He did not greet anyone, he was indeed angry. “It is time for Nigerians to do the right thing; we can’t continue this way. We need to pray and vote right”. He muttered. I asked what was wrong with him.” I had been at the filling station since 6am.There was a long queue and even the filling station management did not even help matter. I will still have to go back because the remaining fuel in my car would not carry me”. He ranted.

After the service, I surfed the web to see if I could grab a glimpse of the scarcity loom in the country. I was able to gather some information about the issue .However, I felt the pinch of the loom on my way to the office this Monday morning.

On a normal scale, it takes less than 1 hour to get to the office from my house. Surprisingly, I spent two and half hours to get to the office. There was no enough public transport to convey people and the available ones charged exorbitant price. Many stood at the bus stop for 2 hours before they struggled to get a cab to their destinations.

Meanwhile, my bone of contention is the issue with our country. Why would Nigeria with so much abundance and wealth result to importation of fuel? Does that mean our refineries cannot work again? Nigeria National Petroleum Commission has four refineries, two in Port Harcourt (PHRC), and one each in Kaduna (KRPC) and Warri (WRPC). 

The refineries have a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrel per day. A comprehensive network of pipelines and depots strategically located throughout Nigeria links these refineries. The PHRC is made up of two refineries, located at Alesa Eleme near Port Harcourt with a jetty (for product import and export). The jetty is located 7.5km away from the refinery complex. In 1983, the Port Harcourt refinery with 60,000 bpsd name plate CDU capacity and the tankage facilities were acquired by NNPC from SHELL. Subsequently, a new 150,000 bpsd export refinery was built in 1988 and commissioned in 1989. Therefore, the current combined installed capacity of PHRC is 210,000 bpsd. The installed capacities of KRPC and WRPC are 110,000 bpsd and 125,000 bpsd respectively.

This is just a reflection that it is high time we went back to the root. The problem of scarcity would NEVER be abated by any government unless we start refining our crude oil in Nigeria; finding a lasting solution to our  "problematic refineries" would have a great impact on other sectors of the economy including agricultural sector. On the other hand, the Nigeria government can embark on large scale adoption of bio-methanol for petrol. The diesel can as well be substituted with non-edible vegetable oil. Nigeria is blessed with vast agricultural produce such as sugarcane and cassava that can be used for this purpose. Interestingly, our various agricultural waste products, such as corn stalk and comb, millet stalk, rice straw, etc. can all be processed to produce bio-ethanol.

 We, Nigerians, are however contributing to this malady. We take whatever our supposed leaders throw at us. We become “the server” while in real sense we are to be served. If they, therefore, refuse to accord us our birth right, then let us ask for it in a way that would prompt them to act without hesitation.

#CallToAction

It was discovered that the people of Germany were brought under dictatorship of Adolf Hitler because they were silent. Unless we exercise our power in democracy as propounded by Abraham Lincoln, this nation would NEVER get better.

Use your social media platforms to clamour for functional refineries. There is power in our unified voice. The #theoccupynigeria is a clear indication that we can make it happen.

Let us engage our leaders in national discourse in respect of power, security, employment and our refinery. It is our right and NOT a privilege.

Collect your Permanent Voters card and vote based on your personal conviction. Do not jeopardize Nigeria's future because of partisan politics and do not base your voting on #Groupthink, ethnicity, religion, and other demographic differences.