Energy in a generic sense is that ability, power or capacity to do work. It comes in various forms such as physical energy, mechanical energy, electrical energy, hydraulic energy or wind energy, among others. It is the collective effectiveness and efficiency of the power source that propels economic growth and development. Mother-nature has endowed nations with sources of energy which include naturally-occurring renewable sources like solar, wind and hydraulic energy, and finite sources of energy like coal, petroleum, and nuclear which are known as fossil fuels, according to their origin. Their well-articulated and successful exploitation and utilisation is thus the key to growth and development.
The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century showed that energy is a veritable ingredient for industrialisation, and this propelled Petroleum Energy Resource [Oil and Gas] to displace Coal, which a priori was the major source. Petroleum energy was discovered to be more efficient and cleaner than coal and thus its prominence grew and it became more sustainable. The search, discovery, exploitation and utilisation of petroleum eventually became a priority venture among nations endowed with this resource. For us in Nigeria, the successful discovery of petroleum in 1956, after the earlier interrupted searches dating back to 1908, contributed to place Nigeria on the global energy map. With an increased world demand for this commodity, Nigeria experienced an accelerated increase in foreign exchange earnings which resulted in obvious economic growth and industrial development. Regrettably this was what led to the abandonment of agriculture which hitherto had been the major revenue earner prior to Nigeria’s independence in 1960. With hindsight, imagine where Nigeria would have been with regard to economic growth and development if agriculture and solid minerals development were both combined with petroleum resources to grow our economy?
The scenario in Nigeria in the past three decades has become very worrisome and regrettable. During this period, not only did we abandon agriculture and solid minerals development, we also figuratively took our eyes off the petroleum sector. Our crude oil reserves which we had projected to be boosted to 40 billion barrels and daily producibility of 4 million barrels by the 1990s could not be met. Our gas utilisation, discussions which had commenced as far back as 1962 could not be achieved until 1999, when the Liquefied Natural Gas [LNG] project became a reality. But the most agonising and inexplicable is the demise of our four refineries strategically located in PH, Warri and Kaduna. This has happened under different Presidents and different political parties, and yet Nigerians have not had the courage to call for meaningful explanations and accountability.
With the consequential resort to importation of petroleum products and the nebulous and fraudulent payment of petroleum subsidy, the national economy went down the abyss. What level of economic growth and development should Nigerians be expecting with such daunting economic scenario? But we have all ignored the worrisome signals on food insecurity and the demise of small businesses.
The availability of petroleum products to boost energy and the capacity to run businesses has remained a mirage over the years. Hopes were raised when Mr President courageously enforced petroleum subsidy removal, with the assurance of our refineries being re-awakened. But where are we today? Continuous failure to meet resumption deadlines for production, and yet no consequences were attached. But we would have expected Mr President to have visited the PH refinery to establish, first hand, the real reality of this embarrassing situation, rather than relying on sugar-coated reports from aides who would cherish retaining their jobs. Again, the take-off of Dangote’s 650,000bpd private refinery should be a panacea to our petroleum products availability and relative affordability, but what is the scenario today? Last night Dangote was on air to complain that he had 500 million litres of products yet to be lifted, as NNPCL and independent marketers were alleged to prefer to import. What he failed to tell Nigerians is his comparative cost per litre. Why should IPMAN prefer to import when they can just walk across to lift? This is where Nigerians have again failed to interrogate deeply to unravel the issues hindering our economic growth and development.
Any nation that pays lip service to energy generation and utilisation is definitely sowing the seed for economic stagnation and under-development. Is Nigeria not under utilising its renewable energy resources such as solar, wind and hydraulic, as we are wittingly dropping the ball on petroleum energy resources? This is the situation in Nigeria today. Sad!!!
