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There
is palpable excitement in the air for oil players with the expectation
that a new round of oil blocks bids is in the offing. From what
happened in the past, we learn that some of the bidders have always
been mere speculators who would not distinguish the smell of crude oil
from that of groundnut oil, but whose nasal acuity is precisely locked
into the smell of cash. We heard stories of one person sitting on the
board of a number of companies and landing on blocks on all fronts. We
also heard stories of bidders who would not pay the mandatory
application fees, but used their winning to covert and convert public
assets in what is sometimes called privatisation.

Bid rounds in the
past have been the padded beds of rampant corruption. There are
assurances being made that the upcoming round will be transparent and
devoid of corruption. We do not have to doubt those promises in this
piece. The question is whether we need any bid round at all.

The truth is that
we do not need a new bid round. Indeed Nigeria does not need to search
for new oil at all. We have enough going on to satisfy our projected
production as well as revenue dreams. It is an undisputed fact that oil
theft is a major issue in the oil fields of the Niger Delta. It is
rampant. It is entrenched. It pollutes in physical and social
dimensions. It needs to be uprooted. If it is true that as much as is
officially produced daily is also being stolen, then the plans to raise
oil production to five million barrels per day by the year 2015 can be
met by halting the rampaging international crooks in the oil fields.
The first move towards curtailing this robbery is for the government to
equip the Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) with the equipment
and the authority to independently collect crude oil production data at
both the oil wells and the export terminals. The gaping hole between
those two ends of the pipe must be plugged. The second steps in the top
kill will be the immediate commencement of environmental detoxification
of the area. This can be accompanied by provision of infrastructure and
social safety nets. If leakages are sealed in the oil fields, by
halting oil thefts, that would liberate almost as much oil as we
project to produce in 2015. It saves money and contributes to a safer
environment by not expanding the scope for pollutions, gas flares and
further corruption. There are ways we can make up for the one million
barrels deficit going by 2015 projections.

Ecuador’s example

One way could be to
follow the Ecuadorian model where the government has proposed not to
extract $7 billion worth of crude oil in the Yasuni protected area. In
that proposal, the government of Ecuador is ready to sacrifice 50 per
cent of the projected revenue while demanding that the international
community contributes make up the other half. So far, information has
it that the government of a European country has offered to contribute
$50 million per year over 20 years towards this target. The advantage
of saving the Yasuni area from the harmful impacts of oil extraction is
many. They include the preservation of the rich biodiversity of the
area, and the protection of the health and cultural heritage of the
indigenous people who live in the area and do not want oil activities
there.

Leaving crude oil
in the soil is the best form of carbon sequestration. It is better and
surer than the technologies being developed for carbon capture and
storage with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and thus
combating climate change. Leaving the oil underground does not require
any technology transfer. It only requires an urgent rethink about the
harmful carbon civilisation that is threatening life on planet earth.

The other option,
which we recommend for Nigeria, is to allow Nigerians to buy into the
one million barrels per day deficit. What does this mean? Let Nigerians
pay to keep the one million barrels per day under the ground. It would
require each Nigerian to contribute less than N22, 500 ($150) per year
to achieve the level of income we project to derive from oil exports.
Not all Nigerians can afford that. We must discount for the children
and for the very poor. No doubt. But there are some Nigerians who can
pay for multiple barrels of crude oil to be left in the soil if they
understand that this would help secure the future liveability of our
planet. And the international communities can step in also.

The beauty of
having Nigerians pay to keep the oil in the soil is that we would all
recover the true meaning of collective national wealth. At present,
there is a serious disconnect between national wealth and the peoples’
wealth. We are seen as a rich nation of poor people. One way this has
crept in is through the non-payment of tax by a vast proportion of the
population.

This disconnect has
made it impossible for citizens to demand for accountability by the way
public officers spend public funds. You hardly hear of people
complaining about how “tax payers” money is being spent.

Halting the bid for oil blocks will place a demand for political re
engineering of our productive systems and relationships within the
federation. No more oil blocks. Enough is being extracted already. Stop
the oil thefts. Stem the corruption. We have gone drunk on crude for
too long. Let us get on the productive track. We have had enough of
voodoo economics and wealth without work.