Reginald Stanley: The true worth of recognition
In this season of acute moral famine when all institutions of state have been bastardised and every societal value desecrated, the temptation to dismiss every honorary award as lacking in credibility is not only high, but dismissing the recognised as beneficiaries of a rigged process is difficult to resist.
But then, at such time as this when society appears to have lost its soul and its institutions have surrendered their self-esteem to the highest bidder, there is always that flicker of hope that should remind men of conscience and those that refuse to join the bandwagon that all is not totally lost, after all. At such season of moral decline, a few institutions stand out of the crowd, refusing to be compromised and insisting on not lowering the standard, no matter the pressure or the temptation.
It is in this context that the recent Distinguished Public Service Award with which Reginald Chika Stanley, the head of Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), was decorated by the Nigerian Association for Energy Economics (NAEE) can be situated.
The calibre of winner(s) of the NAEE awards this year speaks eloquently about the standard and quality of the award. They include Omowumi Iledare, a renowned Energy Economics professor; Platform Petroleum (now Seplat); Yinka Omorogbe, professor of Energy Law and former legal adviser at NNPC; Layi Fagbenle, a retired professor of Mechanical Engineering; Timothy Okon, group co-ordinator, Corporate Planning and Strategy, NNPC, and Stanley, who won the Distinguished Public Service Award.
To keen energy watchers and analysts, the Stanley Distinguished Public Service Award stands out among the lot. First, until his arrival at PPPRA in November 2011, the twin issues of subsidy regime and importation of petroleum products had become the most daunting problem for the government as dozens of oil trading and importing companies feasted on the country under the guise of importing fuel, with the regulator appearing helpless while the revelry lasted. By the time the stock was taken, Nigeria had expended over N2.2 trillion on alleged fuel importation in 2011, an amount even higher than the capital expenditure for that year.
Determined to clean this mess and institute a regime of transparent operation at the agency, a major plank of its transformation agenda, President Jonathan gave matching orders to the Diezani Alison-Madueke, Minister of Petroleum Resources, to reform the agency and get it working as it should. Stanley’s appointment came on the heels of this presidential directive with his supervising minister giving him an unambiguous mandate to clean the Augean stable and put in place a transparent system that is result-driven. Deadline was November 21, 2011.
One year and five months down the line, what Stanley has accomplished in that agency is not just that he has saved for Nigeria billions of naira which could have gone into the private pockets of some fat cats, but he has put in place a system that is so transparent that it is impossible to circumvent.
Stanley’s stride at PPPRA is worth taking a look at. As noted earlier, fuel importation had become an all-comers’ affair and one endless cash cow for fat cats with contacts in the corridors of power up till November 2011. By this time, about 128 companies, many with only their briefcases as their offices, were in the business of importing fuel. Today, Stanley has reduced that figure to less than 40.
How did he do it? One of the earliest measures he took on assumption of office was to restrict participation of marketers under the PSF scheme to only owners of coaster discharge/depot facilities. This measure ensured that only credible, established operators with verifiable investment can participate in the business.
Other measures aimed at entrenching transparency and compliance with best global business practices were to follow in quick succession. One of such initiatives was the introduction of independent cargo surveyors to undertake the verification of product discharge on all transactions under the PSF scheme. These inspectors were mandated to fiscalise the shore tanks and vessels at berth before and after discharge and also monitor quantity of products trucked out of the depots. This measure which is aimed at curbing sharp practices has, according to industry operatives, worked wonderfully well that such underhand deals as volume manipulation and round-tripping now belong to the past.
In its determined battle against shady practices, the Stanley team rejects “homogenised cargo” for multiple vessels with no defined origins. And to make proper tracking of imported products easier and put round-tripping to a halt, a total ban has been placed on cargos procured from floating storage in the West African coast.
To authenticate sources of imported cargo and ensure that international suppliers are held accountable for products supplied into the country and to track all transactions relating to the operations of suppliers, marketers and banks under the scheme, oil traders now have to submit the following additional documents to have their subsidy claim processed: Certificate of Origin, Affirmation Letter from supplier and complete “Family Tree” of transaction.
Adjudged as remarkable on the list of the reform initiative of the Stanley-led management team was the subscription to Lloyd’s List of Intelligence Tanker/Channel/Sea Searcher Services and Reuters Eikon tracking system. With this subscription, it is possible for the agency to track and validate movement and location of vessels worldwide and confirm import claims of marketers. And these are just some of the initiatives put in place to sanitise the downstream sector by Stanley.
But, have these measures really worked? What difference have they made? A lot, as any interested observer will discover. The figures tell the success story. Between January to October 2011, the average daily quantity supplied (from both NNPC and marketers) was 59.7 million litres per day. Stanley came on the beat in November 2011. Between January and October 2012, the Stanley Reform Initiative has crashed supply to 35.6 million litres per day.
In monetary terms, between January and October 2011, under the PSF, subsidy payments stood at N1.35 trillion. During the same period in 2012, the total subsidy payments were N679.736 billion, thereby saving for the country some N671.7 billion when compared with the 2011 figure. It is estimated that subsidy payment for 2012 may not exceed a little over N1 trillion as against over N2 trillion in 2011.
Another major gain of the ongoing reform initiative at PPPRA is that a system is being put in place, an institution is being built. Today, to earn a licence to import fuel, the criteria are very clear. For the first time, whom you know does not count, where you come from is irrelevant and your political affiliation is of no use.
It is perhaps in this regard that discerning analysts contend that Stanley owes his strides at the agency to the transformation agenda of the present government and the iron cast resolve of the supervising minister to reform and sanitise the downstream sector. Mr. President and Madam Minister just happened to have found the right guy for the job. He deserves this award!
ADEMOLA ADEDOYIN
Adedoyin, an energy analyst, is the editor-in-chief of Energy Thisweek
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