Before the first military coup in 1966,each region enjoyed fiscal federalism with the north noted for the groundnut pyramid, cocoa in the west and palm produce. With the discovering of crude oil, four refineries were established: two in PortHarcout, one in Warri and one in Kaduna. Focus by the Nigerian government was essentially on export. Nothing concrete was done to expand these four refineries and no attempt has been made to establish new ones. Regrettably, these four refineries have become moribund with government spending billionaires of naira through the award of contracts to their cronies all to no avail.
Shockingly, an oil producing country has become an oil exporting country, a trend which has continued till date. Billionaire clubs have been created through the importation of petroleum products through bogus subsidy claims. At the moment, the recession in Nigeria requires critical thinking.
The government should under study Singapore and find a way of establishing more refineries perhaps in form of public private partnership, issuance of licences to private individuals (like what Dangote, Captain Ihenacho etc) are doing, curtailing the restiveness in the Niger-Delta, creating an enabling environment etc.
How we shamefully arrived here is a narrative caused by our leaders. The present government should extend the anti-graft war to the petroleum sector. Those found wanting irrespective of their political affiliations be dealt with while playing its role of setting up more refineries.
It's a sad story that Nigeria with a population of over 200 million has just four moribund refineries. Let's be united for a better tomorrow and a better Nigeria.
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