By Jonas Odocha
The essence of a probe is to inquire, investigate or examine a worrisome matter or situation, in order to unravel the root causes and to proffer remediation. There have been probes in this country in the past and present, which have not yielded the intended and expected results, and one begins to wonder why such probes were initiated in the first place.
As we now embrace the announced probe into the alleged sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Sector, Nigerians must be courageous enough to demand a thorough investigation into this issue. Should it not bother Nigerians and their leadership at various levels, that a country endowed in natural petroleum resources, is a country on its knees, totally confused, on the management of such resources? Nigeria had joined the league of global oil producing countries almost seven decades ago, which prompted Shell BP, the pioneer international oil exploration and production company, to set up a petroleum refining company in Alasa Eleme, [PH Refinery] in 1965. The idea was to make petroleum products more available and affordable in the country. With the rise in oil production, industrialization, population and development, 3 additional refineries were built in PH, Warri and Kaduna, with a total capacity of 445,000bpd. Petroleum products depots were built all over the country, with a network of pipeline distribution system, to facilitate the dispensation of products to the citizenry. Today, all this is history, with all the four refineries in comatose for two decades and successive governments embarking on importation of petroleum products, with the concomitant burden on our limited foreign exchange earnings. But how come that these successive governments were not bothered to ensure that all our four refineries were rehabilitated to ensure availability and affordability of products as were the thoughts of the earlier refinery initiators? Is this what this probe of the alleged sabotage intends to unravel? But there are interrogations that must not escape our minds.
Who are these probers? How far did they succeed with earlier probes? Did Nigerians themselves bother to follow through with unreleased probe results? With the current crisis of hunger and protestation in the land, will there be a change of heart by these probers to unravel this worrisome situation in a country blessed with both human and natural resources?
There is just one factor that can address all the above: PROBITY. Can we have probers that we all would vouch for their INTEGRITY and STRONG MORAL CHARACTER? Time will tell!!!
•Sir Jonas Odocha writes from Abuja
