I was livid with anger when I heard former governor Fayose’s diatribe against the North and how we’re responsible for the world of economic troubles President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT), is facing. I had composed a virulent rejoinder and somehow I didn’t get down to scribbling it out. Then I heard his brother reminding him of the number of children from their own father’s house and I was pacified. But then I’ve had cause to reflect on what he said in the light of the riots that have broken out in the North. The looting, attack on public and private property, burning of both public and private property, bombs going off, along with the robbing and defacing of a mosque and of course a church too; I saw the worst of arewa on full public glare. Ex Governor Fayose’s words haunted my thoughts and I felt the sweats of shame fill my forehead. Have we become so barbaric and out of control? The arewa that we are all so proud to call home?
What was on display is just about an accurate illustration of how our society has fallen off from the moral and religious values we so pride ourselves in. Our decorum has hit the floor, the corruption in our society has hit the roof, our moral values have evaporated into thin air, and we are in our worst cultural decline. The culture of Islam that has guided our people has fast become an identity only on our lips and not in our deeds. We say the salam on our lips and carry war in our hearts. We have abandoned the ways of Allah and the teachings of the prophet of Allah, SAW, and have erected devil workshops in each and every of our backyards. We have bred terrorists who maim and kill with reckless abandon. We have groomed an army of terrorist informants and terrorist apologists, and today, even some lecturers in higher institutions are part of the terror trade. Family members plot with terrorists in favor of ransom. Babies are dumped in university hostels and gutters around town. Our men and women are into intoxicants obtained from syrups and other harmful drugs. Prostitution and homosexuality is almost in every home. Our leaders steal publicly and are celebrated publicly. Our traditional institutions have long been desecrated and are now less than even the ceremonial structures they were reduced to ages ago. Our Ulama are facing their own desecration and disrespect from the umma. Our leadership crew is rudderless with everyone trying to steer himself into one advantageous position or the other. Our elders lack the altruism that was handed over to them by their forebears. We have derailed far away from the cloud of providence that used to guide and protect us.
The arewa landscape is littered with thousands of ex-this and ex-that. Presidents, Ministers, Governors, Defence Chiefs, Permanent Secretaries, Directors, Heads of MDAs, and ofcourse business moguls. But these are only litters as they have not nourished the landscape altogether, to build the much needed prosperity for the arewa citizen. They are few and far between ivory towers that have not given back to the society in general. If they have, it has not been adequate. Northern elite have watched the decay and rot in arewa forment into the present day astronomical proportion. The North has had its fair share of power, including in the last 8 years, yet the landscape has become more impoverished. How? By building few and far between ivory towers only. The remaining terrain remains famished. The millions of out of school children, millions of unskilled youth, and millions of unemployed youth are becoming an army without a commander in chief. This uncontrollable army will not watch those ivory towers revel in glory while they live in squalor. They will bring them down along with every other thing else. To them, raising Russian flags is some kind of identity, as they aren’t even aware of the ramifications of it all.
Is arewa going to conscientiously wake up to this challenge, and begin the reform of its society and its people? Do we still have leaders from within us, that can rally round, round up our human and capital resources, and harness them for the betterment of arewa in general? Are we going to holistically and transparently fight terrorism or are we going to keep covering for each other and continue deceiving ourselves? We have a list of our problems, alongside a list of answers too. When are we going to cross-match them? If we do not get rid of these self inflicted problems, then they will be the end of us. Are we ready, or is life for the arewa elite just about power and self aggrandisement? Of what use is the power if it cannot be useful to the people? Our most pertinent problems have not been solved by power, so it must be solved by something else. Now is the time.
If the Northern elite cannot put things aright in arewa, no one can do it for the region. Our destiny is in our hands. For decades we have wandered like a sheperdless flock, grazing freely over lush plainlands, without a care in the world. On our way back, it is not so lush. It is time to be creative and more productive. Socialism is being taken over by capitalism the world over. So only the strong survive and only the wise excel. The siesta has got to end. The slumber has gone on for too long. It is time to wake up to our responsibilities as leaders of this rudderless flock, thanks to our mistakes and mis-steps. The tough economic decisions are being faced by every region of the federation. Still, food is cheaper in the North than down south which is a no brainer. We are badly hit because we are least prepared. We are least prepared because we have been in slumber for too long. Wake up arewa before it is too late. If there is another wave of these riots, there will be no arewa left. If we do not stand up to help ourselves, even God will not bother. Or are we waiting for PBAT to become that Northern leader that will salvage the North, which all our previous leaders were not able to do?

Section 88 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended, empowers the Legislature to conduct investigations into the matters which it has the power to make Laws on, and the conduct of any person or Ministry charged with certain responsibilities.
Known as Oversight, it is a legislative creature created by the constitution to re-tool the role of checks and balances in a democracy.
Through this means, the Legislature is able to review and evaluate projects and programmes implemented by the Executive and Judiciary arms of government in accordance with the appropriated revenue to enhance accountability.
However, the recent visit by the leadership of the 10th Senate, led by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio CON, to the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals at Ibeju-Lekki in Lagos State, has expanded the jurisprudence of oversight responsibility beyond government owned enterprises and re-defined the scope of oversight function.
The tour of the facility has an enormous socio-economic significance, coming at a time when Nigerians are facing an unprecedented economic hardship, associated with the withdrawal of the Petroleum subsidy.
The on-the-spot facility visit to the privately owned venture is not only seen as part of the legislative interventions in the recurring challenges in the nation’s oil industry, but has also gone beyond a mere jamboree exercise, to a more people-focused and result oriented constitutional assignment.
The Parliamentarians spent hours inspecting the refinery located at Ibeju-Lekki in Lagos, on a land area of approximately 2,635 hectares. The project is the World’s largest Single-Train 650,000 barrels per day Petroleum Refinery with 900,000 tones Polypropylene Plant.
The facility, funded by Nigeria’s industrialist and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is expected to turn Nigeria, which is currently depending on imports, into a net exporter of petroleum products.
The success story of the Dangote Refinery is a proof that with diligence, dedication and commitment as well as an enabling environment, Nigeria can become a global investment hub. It is also a challenge to successive governments in Nigeria that a privately owned refinery can succeed in the same country where four government owned refineries, 2 in Port Harcourt, 1 each in Warri and Kaduna, are not functioning.
The role of refineries in socio-economic development of any oil producing country cannot be over-emphasized. They refine crude into petroleum products for use to enhance land, air and Marine transport logistics, heating, road infrastructure, generation of electricity and feed stocks for making chemicals.
It is a sad commentary that Nigeria, with its huge crude deposits, cannot boast of functional refineries, but still depends on fuel imports. The visit of the Lawmakers therefore, enabled them to see things for themselves and also raise questions on why other giant and lofty government projects in Nigeria have either met their untimely death or are performing below installed capacity.
Such projects include the multi-billion Naira Ajaokuta Steel Company, in Kogi State, the Ikot Abasi Aluminium Smelter Plant, the Sunshine Battery Company, the Oku Iboku Paper Mill, all in Akwa Ibom State.
By embarking on the facility visit, the Legislators not only took the Parliament to the people, it also obtained first-hand information on factors militating against Nigeria’s industrialization efforts, which will put it in a better position to enact laws that will support government’s policy on Ease- of- Doing Business in Nigeria.
Section 4 [2] of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, empowers the National Assembly to make laws for peace, order and good governance of the Federation or any part thereof with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List.
The aftermath of the visit to the Dangote Refinery and Petro-Chemical Company triggered a series of allegations and concerns in the management of the Nation’s hydrocarbon resources and its assets.
Unarguably, the oversight visit of the leadership of the Senate to the Dangote Refinery occasioned the recent inauguration by the Leadership of the Senate of its AdHoc Committee to investigate the activities in the oil and gas sector, and recommend legislative actions.
Furthermore, the innovative reforms in the oversight responsibility by the Senate also accounted for the Presidential directives to NNPCL to sell crude oil to Local Refineries in local currency of Naira.
Arising from the knowledge gained from the visit, the Lawmakers are now better informed to take an overview of Tax Incentives Schemes in Nigeria, for a possible review in such a way that will encourage the growth of local businesses and attract Foreign Direct Investments into the country.
Excitingly, the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio CON, succinctly captured this when he said during the visit that the Legislature would not hesitate to enact laws to enhance tax waivers, where necessary, for genuine investors in Nigeria.
Such tax waivers will lead to improvement in job creation, transformative fulfillment of local demands and the generation of export earnings. The Senators’ visit to the refinery and their pronouncements thereof, have given the needed assurance and confidence to private investors that the present administration is prepared to create the enabling environment for their businesses to grow.
Before the Senate delegation departed the complex, Senator Akpabio inaugurated the Dangote Sino truck CKD West Africa Limited, another gigantic project, which has already provided employment opportunities for the teeming population of the Nigerian youths.
Indeed, the visit of the Senate Leadership to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, a privately owned business concerns, has underscored the determination of the 10th National Assembly, under the chairmanship of Senator Akpabio, to key into the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, and come out with effective legislative interventions on the various socio-economic challenges currently facing the Nation.
As the nation grapples with the challenges of soaring cost of living, insecurity, unemployment, the accrued benefits of the Senate’s intervention and Presidential directives shall very soon, usher a regime of drastic reduction in the prices of petroleum products and general cost of goods and services.
Rt Hon Eseme Eyiboh is the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President of the Senate

In its editorial of 2nd August, 2024, the BusinessDay newspaper, characteristically, launched another scurrilous and baseless attack on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd). In the editorial entitled: “NNPCL: Liability or Asset to Nigerians?”, the newspaper set out to paint the picture of NNPC Ltd that is a liability to Nigeria instead of an asset that it should be. It chronicled a litany of issues which in its estimation have made the company to lose its place as an asset to the nation. As to be expected, all the issues it raised were either outright lies or unfair misrepresentation of facts. Let’s take a look at them one by one.
According to the newspaper, NNPC Ltd.’s status as an asset is undercut by the opacity of its operations and corruption. The truth, however, is that this is a regurgitation of age-long allegations that have since been overtaken by the emergence of Mr. Mele Kyari as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the company and the transition of the old NNPC as a corporation into a limited liability company under the Petroleum Industry Act.
One of the key thrusts of the Kyari-led management since 2019 has been its focus on transparency and accountability. This was what gave rise to the Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) management philosophy under which the company’s audited financial statements began to be published annually since 2019. In fact, the same BusinessDay newspaper that is so bent on hanging the tag of opacity on the company actually honoured Kyari with its “Energy Executive of the Year” award in 2021 for turning the fortunes of the company around and entrenching the culture of transparency in the company. But out of sheer mischief, the newspaper has forgotten so soon and chosen to borrow some ignoble tricks from Josef Goebbel’s playbook, that of repeating the lies of opacity and corruption against the NNPC Ltd frequently with the hope of sustaining the propaganda just so well the public would believe the lies to be the truth.
The next point made in the editorial is that of mismanagement of resources and inefficiency. In its bid to present a semblance of balance, the newspaper acknowledged the role of government interference in the company. A bulk of the legacy problems, such as the age-long lack of maintenance of the refineries, is traceable to government interference. Any old refinery staff member of the NNPC Ltd will tell you that NNPC engineers used to carry out the turn-around maintenance of the refineries until past governments started dabbling in to influence contracts for their cronies.
However, with the PIA, all that is behind as the NNPC Ltd now operates as a limited liability company under the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA). As is presently constituted, the company is owned by the government through the Ministry of Finance Incorporated and the Ministry of Petroleum. But the PIA envisages that in no distant time, the company will be listed on the stock exchange with shares owned by Nigerians in their individual capacities. But prior to that time, the management of the company under Kyari has instituted a management system encapsulated in the Performance Excellence element of the TAPE philosophy. Under this, the company has made great strides in moving from a position of loss in 2019 to consistent profitability. This is in spite of the fact that the company contends with monstrous odds in the form of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
The fact is that companies like Saudi Aramco, with which the newspaper tried to benchmark the NNPC Ltd, do not contend with such odds that have very practical implications for crude oil production. The newspaper is only being disingenuous in blaming the nation’s suboptimal crude oil production on inefficiency in the NNPC Ltd when it is common knowledge that the security challenges are not of the company’s making. But even at that, the NNPC Ltd has not fared badly in managing the bad situation to get the results that it has been posting in the past few years. The truth is that the current reality of the NNPC Ltd, in terms of management and performance, does not reflect the picture of mismanagement and inefficiency that the BusinessDay tried to paint in its editorial. The question that arises from all this, which the BusinessDay must answer, is: do companies that have issues with mismanagement of resources and inefficiency make profits as the NNPC Ltd has consistently done in the past three years?
The other issue that has stymied the NNPC Ltd from being an asset to the nation, according to the BusinessDay, is its monopolistic control of the petroleum sector. Supporting its position, the newspapers states: “The corporation’s dominant position as the sole importer of petrol and the primary issuer of import licenses for diesel creates market distortions”. This allegation, coming from a business newspaper like the BusinessDay, is very curious. For the newspaper to state that NNPC Ltd is the “primary issuer of import licenses for diesel” shows how little it knows about the oil and gas industry. It only means that the BusinessDay either does not know the difference between an industry regulator and an operator or it just wants to take its mischief to a ridiculous level, hoping that the public would swallow its lies hook, line, and sinker.
For the avoidance of doubt, NNPC Ltd does not issue import licenses for diesel or any petroleum product for that matter. This is because, NNPC Ltd, as provided in Section 64 of the PIA, is an operator just like any other company that operates in the oil and gas sector, and not a regulator. The PIA makes provision for the establishment of two regulatory agencies in the sector. They are the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). The newspaper actually acknowledged these two regulatory agencies in the editorial. But how it came by the idea that the NNPC Ltd issues import licenses to marketers, a clear regulatory function, is really difficult to understand. This, however, goes to show that the newspaper and its editors know very little about the subject matter of their editorial.
On the allegation that NNPC Ltd runs a monopoly in the importation of petrol, here are the facts that the BusinessDay failed to acknowledge in its editorial. When the downstream sector was deregulated on 29th May, 2023, with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration that fuel subsidy was gone, every petroleum marketer was automatically empowered to import the product and sell at whatever price(s) they chose. NNPC Ltd only stepped in to close the gap as a supplier of last resort, a role assigned to it by the framers of the PIA to guarantee energy security for the nation. NNPC Ltd did not muscle any marketer out of petrol importation to become a monopoly. Besides, it does not look like the company is making any profit from being the sole importer of petrol which is usually the major objective of monopolists.
In fact, by playing this role of sole importer of petrol at this time when others are not able to import the product, NNPC Ltd has proved to be a huge asset to the nation- much more of an asset than the BusinessDay would want Nigerians and the world to believe!
Soneye, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd, wrote in from Abuja.