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Alison-Madueke and oil sector transformation
BY HAMIDU ABUBAKAR
‘Knowing where you are going is the first step to getting there’ – Ken Blanchard
To many Nigerians, Diezani Alison Madueke’s name may not have been found in the list of Nigeria’s high-ranking political gladiators before assuming her present position as the nation’s Minister of
Petroleum Resources about three years ago. But then, before delving into the usually turbulent political landscape of the country, Alison-Madueke had been globally acknowledged as one of Nigeria’s brightest brains whose career had been one of the most exciting, having had cause to sit with global corporate leaders in championing the cause of corporate governance at managerial and board levels, spanning over two decades.
The appointment of the reticent and amiable young intellectual Amazon by President Goodluck Jonathan, therefore, could be seen as a well-deserved recognition by the government to infuse fresh minds into national political reengineering and the drive to reposition the country on the path of sustainable development. This explains why Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s appointment is seen by many observers
as deserving by all assessment parameters.
As has been observed in transformational rebirth of many nations, there comes a time when a reformer emerges and embarks on trailblazing endeavours that change the course of their national history and restore hope to the people.This happened in English history with the coming of Oliver Cromwell, in French history with the emergence of Napoleon Bonaparte, in American
history with the leadership of the inimitable President George Washington, and only recently with the African experience in the Madiba, Nelson Mandela who, until he passed on recently, represented
a leader and a torch-bearer in his people’s search for political identity in a land of their birth and nurture.
Even when the minister may not have qualified to be ranked among these leaders of global political clout, the Minister has over the past three years of her leadership at the most sensitive ministry
in the country demonstrated one attribute that separates great leaders from the crowd – patriotism.
Quite remarkably, despite the odds and politicization of every facet of public governance, the Minister has proved to be a woman of rare mental endowments characterized by uncommon virtues and wondrous capabilities that the Nigerian youths should be proud of, particularly if her achievements are used as a parameter for assessing her contributions to the current transformation agenda of the government.
Despite the daily obfuscating and sensationalised lamentations by the minister’s political opponents in order to distract her from pursuing the transformational agenda in the industry, one thing that cannot be denied is that Mrs. Alison-Madueke symbolises an epitome of courage and who, like athletes who are never bothered about sidelines distractions to win their races, never lost sight of the forthrightness of her initiatives.
Having carefully observed her untiring and remarkable efforts at eliminating corruption and turning around the hydrocarbon industry in Nigeria, we have therefore come to the conclusion that her story must be told to all Nigerians.A cursory appraisal of her anti-corruption stance showed that the minister did not only agree with millions of Nigerians that the age-long sleaze in the fuel subsidy scheme but also championed the audit of the industry. This led to the arrest and prosecution of fuel importers who were defrauding Nigerians under the subsidy regime and today, billions of naira are being
saved into government coffers from the initiative on a monthly basis.
Secondly, one other achievement that cannot be removed from the minister’s scorecard of remarkable strides is the ending of the maddening shortchanging of the country by fuel scarcity racketeers who, for selfish reasons, engaged in unconscionable diversion of fuels and never allowed the downstream subsector of the industry to experience industrial peace. Interestingly, she exposed the fuel scarcity racket and since her assumption of duty, Nigeria has not experienced fuel scarcity as was witnessed in the past.
In line with the present administration’s efforts to give meaning to the perennial clamour by industry experts and investors for encouragement
of indigenous players’ participation in the upstream sector of the hydro carbon resources sector, Alison-Madueke has remained relentless in ensuring the implementation of the Nigerian Content
Development Act 2010 over the past three years.
For instance, through her efforts, the Federal Government recently awarded oil lifting contracts to 73 oil operating companies just as hundreds of others are engaged in instrumentation and other tools manufacturing and supplies to the International Oil Companies, IOCs, in furtherance of the local content development policy.
The Niger Delta Production Company, NDPC, which is a subsidiary of the NNPC, has through improved investments in core technological and human capital assets increased production to 200,000
barrels a day under her leadership and local operators have ramped up production to about 800,000 barrels per day.
By far the most instructive proof of the minister’s patriotic commitment to enthroning discipline in the industry is the current move to ensure the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, which industry analysts believe, holds the key to holistically transform the industry and enable Nigeria get improved dividends from exploration and production operations in the sector.
Even when the National Assembly is yet to finalize its deliberations on the Bill, our Group believes that the Minister has not only demonstrated her desire to see to the timely passage of the Bill but has also begun necessary moves to ensure increasing global investments in the sector, a step which is expected to provide an operational platform for the implementation of the PIB when passed into law. Since a write-up of this nature may not be adequate to fully chronicle all that the minister has done to change the policy regime and operational landscape of the industry, it is the intention of our Group to come up with more facts about how she has employed her intellectual and managerial capabilities over the past three years to reform and reposition the industry on the path
of sustainable growth.
.Abubakar writes from Abuja
from http://ift.tt/I8U8zQ
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