2027, NNPCL and the gathering of termites

By Bonaventure Phillips Melah

As politicians realign and strategise for the 2027 general election, now is the worst time for any patriotic citizen to be appointed to lead a government agency in Nigeria, especially the major organisations that are critical to the success of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The above is true, because, as the President himself put it at a recent public event, no matter what you do, professional critics, political opponents and haters, would still abuse and insult you, even if you decide to spill your blood for the good of the nation.

Of course, we have arrived at a consensus with Chinua Achebe that the greatest challenge facing Nigeria is the absence of quality leadership. It is also true that Nigeria has been plagued with multifaceted cankerworms of corruption, nepotism, ineptitude, ethnic and religious bigotry as well as lack of political will by those in authority to do what is right at the right time which are part of the major reasons for the nation’s underdevelopment.

We have to agree also that Nigeria is home to some of the most talented geniuses who have, through the deployment of acquired skills and knowledge, impacted positively on their communities, nation and humanity at large.

However, it is also true that Nigeria is one of the most difficult places to on earth to govern; and this is not necessarily due to the fault of Nigerians, but the unpatriotic nature of Nigerian politicians, most of who put their personal interest far above the destiny of the nation and the wellbeing of the over 200 million people that make up her citizens.

For most Nigerian politicians, if you don’t occupy the position of president, governor, minister. State commissioner. or any of such ‘juicy’ leadership position, the nation can as well burn to ashes. Once a Nigerian politician tastes the sweet apple of government office, he would never want to let go of the trappings of power and would rather pull down the roof rather than not be a part of any administration.

And there lies the underbelly motive behind the ongoing gang-up of those who claim to be potential messiahs that condemn anything and everything that government does while claiming they have the magic wands to perform miracles if given the opportunity, even though most of them have occupied top leadership positions in the past and performed woefully.

Critics of President Tinubu have refused to acknowledge any of the many outstanding achievements of the administration, including the removal of petroleum subsidy, that has helped to make more money available for provision of critical infrastructure and tripled monthly allocation to states. Before Tinubu took that decision, the very first day in office, subsidy had for decades contributed to the sorry state of Nigeria’s economy as trillions of Naira went to dubious businessmen and women, most of who supplied nothing at all. Its removal therefore ended the hell we went through trying to get petrol and kerosene, so that today, you just drive into any petrol station and within minutes you are out. That alone, saved us huge manpower and is part of the reasons for Nigeria’s improved GDP.

Apart from achieving stability in supply and distribution of petroleum products, prices of the products have continued to reduce, even if in trickles, thereby bringing relief to the people.

As far as detractors are concerned, not even the ambitious Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is worthy of any kind of applause. The 700-kilometer road is billed to run from Victoria Island, Lagos to Calabar, Cross River State and will pass through eight states which are Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta ,Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom before ending in Calabar. It is meant to connect western and south-eastern regions of the country and aims to improve cross-country connectivity and trade relations.

It is on that backdrop therefore that you see former presidents, former vice presidents, ex-governors, ‘extinguished’ senators, former ministers and others, attack government and call public officials unprintable names, while unashamedly refusing to look themselves in the mirror, to see how they contributed in escorting Nigeria to where she is today. Shameless, they attack every step taken by the government and sponsor negative media insertions in the same direction.

The most attractive vocation in Nigeria today, is to attack Tinubu and pour tar on his administration; and this would continue, even get worse. as 2027 draws closer. The idea is to attack the president, either directly, or send the missiles against his loyal aides and appointees, especially those manning strategic ministries, departments and agencies that are seen as critical to the success of the Renewed Hope Agenda. The overall mission is simple- Muffle and diminish the President’s positives and in the process, impact the government’s public perception in order to achieve the regime change project in 2027.

In the ongoing anti-Tinubu war, the President’s First Eleven, must be attacked relentlessly and ferociously, as a way to either prod Tinubu to sack them or cause them enough distraction so that they would fail in their mandate of helping the administration achieve results.
It is therefore no surprise, that Dr. Bayo Ojulari, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, who assumed office barely three months ago, is on the radar and has become a major prey of the hawks, the termites and the vultures of destruction and enemies of progress.

Dr. Ojulari, unarguably, one of Nigeria’s brightest technocrats of the decade, was appointed by President Tinubu purely on merit and in recognition of his enviable and intimidating record of achievements, especially in the oil and gas subsectors. His mandate was clear- reform the NNPCL and make the company fully functional and profitable to the nation and Nigerians.

To effectively achieve set goals in a colossal organization like NNPCL, the management of the Company saw the need for a retreat, where all stakeholders, including local and international partners and interests, would have the opportunity brainstorm, to take stock of what has happened in the past and fashion out the right way forward.

Rather than seek to know what the retreat was mean to achieve and decisions therefrom as well as how all that would impact on the fortune of Nigeria’s petroleum sector and by extension, the nation’s economy, the hawks were concerned with telling the story of how participants and resource persons were transported to Kigali. Their allegation was that Dr. Ojulari and others travelled without first conducting public procurement bidding or what the writers decorated as due process.

Are the authors of the so-called ‘exclusive report’ suggesting that before the management of NNPCL or any other government agency travel for official engagement in Nigeria or outside the country, they should wait until public bidding process is conducted to determine whether they would travel by bus, donkey, boat, train or plane as well as which company own the bus, trailer or plane they would travel with?

To make matters worse, the so-called exclusive investigative report was syndicated across four online platforms easily known for similar basic instincts which exposed the transactional nature of the insertions.

Nigerians already know that NNPCL is undergoing probe over some transactions especially those related to contracts awarded for rehabilitation of refineries and related matters, there is the need for the public to know that Dr. Bayo Ojulari became the CEO of NNPCL about three months ago and that he was not there when the contracts in issue were awarded and executed. It is neither Ojulari nor his management team that is being investigated.

While we all agree that elected and appointed leaders should be subjected to public scrutiny and make them accountable to the people, well-meaning citizens should take all necessary precautions before drinking the coffee from the double-bellied coffee mug of some of critics. This is in view of the well-known fact that a huge number of them are bigoted by either of political biases, ethnic and religious prejudices or outright mischief and hatred for Nigeria while some others are ready to anything for money.

Dr. Bayo Ojulari and the new management/Board, should be allowed to work without unnecessary distractions, so that we can objectively assess them on the merit of their performances, rather than on preconceived prejudices against NNPCL.

Bonaventure Phillips Melah is an Abuja-based journalist and author.