Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has declared that Nigeria made a deadly mistake when it put all its eggs in what he reckoned as one basket of oil, ignoring gas subsector and agriculture.
This is coming just as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reiterated that his administration met a country though blessed with both oil and gas resources, but had been dependent solely on oil-based petrol, neglecting its gas resources to power the economy.
The Obasanjo spoke in an interview with Financial Times, saying gas, agriculture should have been the centrepiece of the nation’s economy.
“I believe we made a very, very deadly mistake. We put all our eggs in one basket of oil. We even ignored gas. We were flaring gas, which is a very important commodity
“We ignored agriculture, which should have been the centrepiece of our economic development,” Obasanjo stated.
He shared his experience on inviting Shell to run the country’s refineries but the International Oil Company declined, citing too much corruption in the sector as reason for declining.
“When I was President, I invited Shell and I said, look, come and take equity participation and run our refineries for us. They refused. They said our refineries have not been well maintained.
“We have brought amateurs rather than bringing professionals. They said there’s too much corruption with the way our refinery is run and maintained. And they didn’t want to get involved in such a mess,” he recalled.
Obasanjo also said that those profiting from the lucrative business of fuel importation will make efforts to frustrate the Dangote Petroleum Refinery if they felt their interests have been endangered.
Obasanjo said Dangote refinery if allowed to succeed, is something that should encourage both local and foreign investors.
The Daily Crucible reports that the President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, had earlier alleged that some ‘mafias’ were making efforts to frustrate the over $19bn refinery located at Ibeju lekki area of Lagos State.
And despite President Tinubu’s directive, the Dangote’s multi-billion dollar refinery and other domestic refineries had not yet purchased crude oil in naira.
President Bola Tinubu had over a week ago ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited(NNPCL) to sell Crude Oil to Dangote refinery in Naira but as of Monday, August 5, no indication yet that the NNPCL had complied with the directive.
But speaking further, Obasanjo said, “Aliko’s investment in a refinery, if it goes well, should encourage both Nigerians and non-Nigerians to invest in Nigeria.
“If those who are selling or supplying refined products for Nigeria feel that they will lose the lucrative opportunity, they will also make every effort to get him frustrated.”Obasanjo stated.
On the promises that the refineries will bounce back, the elder statesman asked, “How many times have they told us that? And at what price?
“Those problems, as far as the government refineries are concerned, have never gone away. They have even increased. So if you have a problem like that and that problem is not removed then you aren’t going anywhere.”
