NorthSharp:

For all we ordinary Northerners care, after we achieve our ultimate goal of total separation from you through the SBC, YOUR ND MILITANTS SHOULD AMBUSH AND ASSASSINATE ANY ONE OF THE THIEVING RULING ELITE FROM THE NORTH, AND OTHER REGIONS, WHO WOULD CONTINUE TO CLAIM 'HIS' OIL WELL IN YOUR REGION.

We would NOT mourn them if your militants mutilate their worthless corpses and throw the pieces into your waters that they help to pollute so badly, through their insatiable greed for the transient things of the material world!

 

Uche2005:

how this did happen.

cashmentor: And yet, most folks out here still think that Northerners are Blockheaded, Dumb, Illitrates, Foolish and Undiplomatic! This just got me Madder and Angrier.... North Sucks Big Time! And South; hmmm! Greedy Old Elders sold Us over long long ago with Bottles of Hot and Cow Boy Hats!

[b]Let me paraphrase Farooq Kperogi and title this piece after his inimitable gem last week on Reuben Abati’s violence against metaphors. Since Sunday, I find myself reflecting on Kperogi’s description of Abati’s defence of President Jonathan’s unstatesmanly utterance as “basically a hotchpotch of meaningless and sterile words strung together to overawe the ignorant but which is actually profoundly illiterate.” Wow, wish I had written that! But still, this encapsulates what I think of Ross Alabo-George’s well syndicated (or promoted) pseudo-disquisition, Why the north is poor.

Since the chap claims that his write-up is a disquisition, and since that noun refers to “a formal discourse or treatise in which a subject is examined and discussed, in other words a dissertation”, I shall hold him to very simple and very basic criteria of truth, logic and balance. I intend to examine his write-up on these. Is Alabo-George telling the truth and nothing but? Is he logically consistent? Is he balanced?

His central thesis is this: that greed and the senseless chase for power by the Fulani aristocrats and political elites of the North are responsible for the extreme poverty of the North. Niger Delta states get higher revenue allocation because they contribute virtually all the eggs in the national crate. That is expected. Albeit the 13% remains grossly inadequate... and that the North-East through their aristocrats and ex-military rulers (except Gen. Mohammed Buhari) rake in more oil money (from the Niger Delta) individually than any Niger Delta state, and collectively more than twice the entire Niger Delta put together. Also, that 80% of crude oil and gas produced by indigenous companies is controlled by the North-East. It is an area they have well conquered through General IBB, Abacha and Abdulsalami. However, the loots never get back home.

If I left out other claims and assertions, it is because I want us to see the forest, and not just focus on the trees. However, let us get down to his “proof”.

He took the 10 major concerns in the oil industry that he insists are controlled by “North Easterners” through which they control the economy and rake in more than the whole Niger Delta put together.

Alabo-George started with Cavendish Petroleum, the operators of OML 110, which, according to him, was awarded to the Late Alhaji Mai Deribe by General Sani Abacha in 1996. This, he said, ensured that Mai Deribe “even in death will remain the richest man dead or alive in the history of Borno state”. He added that OML 110 has a capacity to produce “about 120,000 barrels of crude oil daily from its OBE 4 and OBE 5 wells” and that “at current production levels, the Mai Deribes net circa N4billion monthly in crude oil sales (using current oil price of $100pb). Cavendish Petroleum’s N4bn monthly net dwarfs the monthly statutory allocation of Borno, which is about N3bn and its internally generated revenue staggers around N1billion.” The first fiction is the production level; Cavendish’s daily output in 2010 averaged some 17,547 barrels per day, not the 120,000 barrels per day the writer claimed. But even if we are to humour Alabo-George by going along with his fantasy, where did the N4bn monthly to Mai Deribe come from? Whatever it is that the company pumps out per day, does it mean that every kobo is profit and goes direct to Mai Deribe? No production cost, no taxes, nor nothing just plain profits? What opportunistic interpretation is this?

Moving away from there, Alabo-George focused, according to him, on “the centre of the Fulani aristocratic hegemony in the North East – Kano.” No, forget the fact that Kano is not in the Niorth East, let’s just focus on the more critical facts. His claims are that “Prince Nasiru Ado Bayero, Malam (Prince) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s cousin... is a key shareholder and director in Seplat/Platform petroleum, operators of the Asuokpu/Umutu Marginal Field with a capacity of 300,000 barrels monthly and A 30 mmfcsd gas plant capable of feeding 100MT of LPG.” The truth is far from what this Good Samaritan with so much concern for the poor is saying. Platform and Seplat are two different companies. Platform, where Nasiru owns less than 5%, produces less than 1,000 barrels per day (890 barrels on average in 2010) is operating on a marginal field, which they won in open competitive bid. It has more gas than oil. Which was why they borrowed money to set up the gas plant Alabo-George is referring to, which is yet to be on stream.

Seplat was essentially put together with Nigerian and foreign partners to buy and run an oil block Shell was divesting from due to pressure from Niger Delta militants, with Platform as one of the partners, virtually halving Nasiru’s shares. In 2010 their daily output was 6,888 barrels per day on the average. Now it is probably about three times that. So, even together with Platforn they cannot be called major players.

NorthEast Petroleum is, according to the writer, owned by another Fulani businessman from the North East, Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Jambo. Again forget that he actually hails from Dangi in Plateau State in the North Central, and that his tribe is Kantanawa, the company had been sold to Addax who sold it to the Chinese, it still had to be dragged in as an example of northern dominance.

South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) is Nigerian major player in oil exploration and production, largely identified with General T. Y. Danjuma. Its history and operations are well documented. So are its current ownership structure with the Chinese and many other nationals on board. Unless you also highlight those Nigerian part owners and beneficiaries of Chevron, Shell and other majors, it is disingenuous to simply single out about 10 companies with some level of northern presence and make crazy generalizations about the whole oil sector and who reaps the benefits there from. In any case, it is intellectually dishonest to use barrels per day in one example, barrels per month in another and elsewhere try to combine oil and condensate all together in an attempt to mix things up and come up with big numbers to “show” northern control.

Alabo-George tried to weave something around Abdulsalam Abubakar, Sani Bello as well as Total and Afren Energy in the case of AMNI International Petroleum Development Company. AMNI owns two oil blocks – OML 112 and OML 117. With less than 20,000 barrels per day the whole operation is really marginal. But Rilwan Lukman owns some shares in Afren, which is a publicly quoted company. To my knowledge, he has no oil block in Nigeria, but then why should any “Molah” have any business at all in “our resources” ‘ which seems to be the guiding consideration in the entire write-up..

Similarly, Oriental Energy Resources Limited, a company linked to Alhaji Mohammed Indimi, who, according to Alabo-George ignorance or contempt, is a Fulani who hails from Niger State. Equity Energy of Aliko Dangote is also involved, so we have to be told that they pump twice as much as Cavendish. I could not confirm this so I accept it for now. Since we have established that Cavendish’s output is 17,547 barrels against his claims of 120,000 per day, the applicable figure comes to some 35,000 barrels per day.

Express Petroleum and Gas Limited, Sheba E&P Limited, Shebah Exploration and Production Limited (SEPCOL), and Conoil Producing Limited were all brought in and allocated fictitious production figures so as to claim the north control this sector. Even the directors and shareholders from the south are not mentioned to give the desired impressions. But is all this true?

Take 2010 for example, the year for which we have complete figures. Nigeria’s total production per day averaged 2,454,913 barrels. Joint Venture, Production Sharing and others arrangements account for over 94%, with Independent (Sole Risk) and Marginal Fields operators accounting for 4.6% and 0.4% respectively. Alabo-George should “do the maths” and show us how a section of the country that operates largely within this 5% range can be so stupendously richer than all the Niger Delta states put together? Why did he add together production per day here, oil reserves there, gas reserves elsewhere just to prop up the numbers so that, to the superficial reader, the North would seem to control things? This is dishonest.

And while he is at it, why did he not add what citizens of the Niger Delta themselves make from similar ownership/operations, or is it only Northerners that are involved? He should also add the almost 1,000,000 barrels siphoned away daily by illegal bunkering, the millions extorted from oil companies daily and other official “interventions” by the Jonathan administration in the region. Basic common sense requires that we compare like with like and not just string together figures to arrive at our pet conclusions[/b].

[b]In the first part of this write-up, I pointed out Alabo-George’s fantastic false claims central to which is that the North-East geopolitical zone of this country (which in his ignorance includes Kano, Niger, Katsina, and Plateau states!) “rake in more oil money (from the Niger Delta) individually than any Niger Delta state, and collectively more than twice the entire Niger Delta put together. Also, that 80% of crude oil and gas produced by indigenous companies is controlled by the North-East.” I base my scepticism on this simple fact; Nigeria’s total production per day averaged 2,454,913 barrels in 2010, with NNPC Joint Ventures, Production Sharing and others arrangements accounting for over 94%. How could the 10 or so companies with some “northern” ownership, who together with several others, operating within the balance of six per cent ran by Independent (Sole Risk) and Marginal Fields operators manage to achieve the feat claimed by him?

While it may be true that “figures will not lie,” it is also true that often “liars will figure.” It is our duty to prevent liar from figuring; in other words, to prevent them from perverting the truth, in the interest of some theory they may wish to establish. Instead of taking the total daily output of crude oil and showing that these 10 companies he highlighted produce over 80 per cent of the amount, which he knew to be untrue, he was busy adding together production per day here, oil reserves there, gas reserves elsewhere and even the are covered by the oil blocks just to prop up the numbers so that, to the superficial reader, the North would seem to control everything. While this is clearly dishonest it seems to have achieved the purpose, especially to the superficial reader. With all these figures there must be some truth, the mind would suggest. But we should not add up apples and oranges and hope to make some useful statements regarding mangoes!

Let us move on to at least to two more lies the chap threw up as if they were established truth. The most serious of this regards his stated beliefs. Alabo-George claims that he is “an unabashed capitalist who believes that every citizen has a right to do good business and make profit” adding that he “salute(s) hard work and do not disparage honest efforts.” I could not help but laugh at these strange claims. This is the same chauvinist who cannot stand to see northerners “making it” in the oil business, who implied they are stealing his people’s resources yet would want us to believe he welcomes their investments and yes, even their right to profit therefrom, and yet implied that they are just “aristocrats” unfairly fleecing his region? Take his position on Intels for starters. Established in 1982 at Onne port complex Intels is a major player in the development of the Oil and Gas Free Zone, with additional Oil Service Centres and bases at Warri and Calabar. It got its’ concession in the face of stiff competition from many and is now understandably the object of envy especially from those who believe that, even though they control less than a majority, the northerners who are the Nigerian partners have no business there.

Let me focus only on Alabo-George’s claims that “Intels runs a ‘private port’, a venture that has systematically killed the Calabar, Warri and Port Harcourt ports” and that “the company makes more money in profit than the government of Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states put together.” The writer puts private port in inverted commas for the very good reason that it is not true. It is a government-own port, concessioned to Intels in a duty free zone. It is also not true to say it has “killed Calabar, Warri and Port Harcourt ports “ because, based on the latest figures available in the public domain the ports are experiencing their biggest expansion ever. According to the Nigerian Ports Authority, Cargo throughput in the nation’s ports went from 13.3 million metric tons in 2000, to 74.9 metric million tons in 2010 and 82.8 million metric tons last year. A breakdown of the port to port analysis from January to December 2011 shows that Lagos Port Complex recorded a total of 23,364,886 metric tons; Tin Can Island Port had 15,370,777 metric tons of cargo; Rivers 7,463,556 metric tons; Onne port recorded 26,216,849 metric tons; Calabar 1,879,825 metric tons while Delta port received 8,467,491 metric tons of cargo. All these hardly paint a picture of “killed” ports, and it is clear that if Onne is still doing better than other Eastern ports the reason lies somewhere, and not simply in some fictitious northern dominance.

Let me rest this by pleading with the writer to please expedite the release of his “Part II” so we can verify his claim that this single company “makes more money in profit than the government of Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states put together.”

However, I got a very clear impression from my reading of his write up that his grouse is that these northerners are making too much money from oil and gas, which he is yet to prove, that they make more money collectively than the states in the Niger Delta, which he clearly failed to prove in any rational way. And so long as we all belong to Nigeria, and our laws remain as they currently are all of us are entitled to go into this sector and make what we can. Unfair advantages given to northerners, by former heads of states? Please, tell me something else! These chaps favoured all sorts of friends and cronies FROM ALL OVER NIGERIA.

Which brings me to the more contentious proposition: the North is poor because its leaders stole 80 percent of the nation’s oil money and did not develop the region. The first part is not true, but the second could be argued somewhat. The two are not directly necessarily related however. With or without oil and gas revenues it was and still is their responsibility to develop their region and they did not. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Nasiru el Rufa’i, Babangida Aliyu and others pointing out the unfairness of the nation’s revenue allocation are also right; per capita the north is getting much less than what is fair, but that does not excuse us from using the little we get judiciously and fairly. But there must not be double standards. We should hold our elected officials at the local governments, states and federal levels mainly accountable, not people who go out to make their money in other businesses. Indeed could hold all of us, parents, civil servants, school teachers, religious leaders and all, jointly accountable for our children’s education or lack thereof.

Development is not charity, not something given to the poor by the rich. It is something we do for ourselves under the guidance of those we charge with leadership.

Postscrift

Since my piece on this issue last week I got bombarded with some funny twists to this issue: that I am protecting those who have made money from oil and have messed up the north. I think the accusation is not justified because if Alabo-George had stuck to the truth, the whole debate would not have arisen. Simply because we believe someone committed ‘A’ and he is being wrongly accused of committing ‘B’ we must then keep quite because in any case he has committed something? We have not descended to that level yet, or have we? I am shocked we are so eager for heroes such that even this newer version of north bashing by the Alabo-Georges, the Asari Dokubos, the usual retinue of north bashers, is now being tabled as honest advice to us. Is poverty only a northern phenomenon, and are the southern oil-rich tycoons really any better, or any less guilty? Don’t attribute to people positions they never champion because you want to criticize others. Right now the only game in town is our introspection. Let’s keep on meeting and organizing so that we don’t end up where some people want us to be. I support all the socio-political meetings going on, those by people who want to come back to power, those inspired by governors, and those by all the many iPad fraternities, even the recent one inspired by Jonathan. Let a thousand flowers bloom! We shall find our way in this our federation. We do not need anyone to tell us who to work with. We shall float or sink together, and we certainly can survive without any oil revenue.[/b]