Nigerians already live without oil – Yinka Omorogbe
Former Legal Adviser and Company Secretary of the Professor Yinka Omorogbe has stated that half of the country already lives without oil or its proceeds.
The Law Professor who was a member of the panel of discussants at the George Etomi & Partners (GEP) Speaker-Series in Lagos on Friday February 28, made the announcement to a hall of lawyers, regulators, policy makers, business people and the media.
“Half of Nigeria already lives without oil,” she said, “So life without oil is already a big reality to a lot of people.”
“In Nigeria, there’s been a lot of stagnation. We have a regulation that has been stagnant for over 50years and as a result, there is hardly any exploration going on at the moment and this is bad for us. We must have policies that harness these resources,” she stated.
Noting that Nigeria was the largest producer of oil and gas and 4th largest oil exporter, Omorogbe wondered why a major exporter such as we are, would have importation challenges.
“We continue to recede in importance,” she observed, stating that until this uncertainty is taken care of and exploration begins, there may be no significant change from the current situation in the country.
When asked about the possible disappearance of $20 Billion from the coffers of the NNPC, Omorogbe responded that “Nigeria was not very good at record keeping and when you are bad at this, things like this are bound to happen. This has occurred because our systems and processes are greatly flawed and in some cases, totally non-existent.”
She continued, “The primary problem that we have had in Nigeria overtime is having very poor regulatory framework and policies. We must also realize that we are greatly impacted by what we presently have.
Other members of the Panel of discussants which include, Odein Ajumogobia, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, Vivien Shobo of Agusto & Co., Sim Shagaya, Founder & CEO at Konga Online Shopping Limited, Bilkiss Adebiyi-Abiola, also spoke to the subject of life without oil. They bemoaned the dangers of Nigeria’s dependence on oil, while highlighting the benefits of a multi- resource economy.
“We risk to be turned into a country of consumers if we do not create a multi-resourceful economy, Shagaya warned, while Shobo urged Nigerians to brace up for the reality that there could be life without oil.
“It is important we develop other non-oil sectors. If 67% of Nigerians live on less than a dollar a day, then it seems that the oil is indeed not enough to go round,” she observed.
However, the Lagos State Governor, who had spoken earlier on the topic, ‘LIFE WITHOUT OIL,’ had noted that the end of oil as a natural resource in Nigeria is not reasonably foreseeable.
Whilst the Governor agreed on the need to diversify our resources; and reverse the oil curse; so that there could be life with or without oil, he observed that it would require scientific exploration and expedition of monumental proportion to prove this.
“It will require much more scientific calculations to know the extent of Nigeria’s deposit of hydrocarbons especially oil, and to predict whether it could ever be fully used up.
“However, while that scientific undertaking may or may not happen, practical choices that we have made in over a century of industrialization and automation suggest that a life without oil is not reasonably foreseeable,” he pointed out.
According to the Governor, the road to a better life requires an understanding by Nigerians that though selling at over $100 per barrel today, the price of oil will not remain so forever, and thus we must begin to see the development of infrastructure as a critical factor to our growth.
“A better life requires us to take developmental and life changing infrastructure projects like the East West Road, 2nd Niger Bridge, new refineries and petro-chemical plants that will create economic growth and jobs out of the pipelines, where we have kept them for a long time and put them on the land of the people to see and use.”
Looking at ways to ways to diversify the nation’s economy, the governor highlighted the benefits of an agriculture-based economy.
According to him, “Every growing and developed economy is driven by agro business. Our economy will not deepen until we go back driving that route- Gov. Fashola.
Still on the issue of a multi-resource economy, Governor Fashola, who is a great advocate of infrastructure development, noted that where income from oil sales is committed to financing infrastructure projects, only or largely, Nigeria will realize first the need to focus on other sources of income such as agriculture, the agro chain, tourism, technology and research.
“In that way, whenever the shocks and politics of global oil prices hit the stage our economy and our lives will not come to a shocking grind. I have tried very hard to avoid it, but I have come to the point where I cannot avoid referring to the United Arab Emirates, and Dubai in particular. Instead of building their economy and their lives around oil, they used the proceeds of oil to build the economy around tourism.
“A city state of only about 2 million people built an airport that processes 80 million passengers a year and built a country that is the story of fairy tales and an airline that has become a global leader.
The Governor of Lagos State who has continually channeled funds from excess crude to capital projects only, believes that our ‘oil’ is not the grease clogging the nation’s progress. According to him, Nigerians must find the will to do the simple things that have been done effortlessly in other parts, with or without oil.
“We should stop talking and we should start acting,” he urged.
The topic was very engaging, as panelists received more than a fair share of reactions from the audience.
Established some 30 years ago, GE & P has grown in reputation and skill to become one of Nigeria’s foremost Commercial Law Firms with offices in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt. Over the years, the firm has been involved in key briefs that have had significant impact on the development of the economy.
Theodora Kio-Lawson