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LAGOS – Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has commended President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the signing of the Executive Order 10, saying that it’s a most foundational piece of policy ever.
Agbakoba stated this at a press conference which took place at his Law Chamber in Apapa, Lagos, on Wednesday, maintaining that the Executive Order 10 is the strongest decision ever taken by any Nigerian President.
He also decried a situation whereby 70% of the nation’s resources were utilised by the NNPC, even as he faulted the authority for transferring ownership of our crude oil to the International Oil Companies (IOCs), with the belief that the IOCs will work in the nation’s interest.
According to the erudite lawyer, with Executive Order 10, the sovereignty of the Nigerian crude oil has been placed in the hands of Nigerians, adding that the decision to make Nigerians owners of their crude resources is one of the hardest and strongest decisions taken by a Nigerian president ever.
He said, “I’m excited about Executive Order 10. We’ve been shouting for a long time, is it that people in government don’t read section 44:3 of the constitution, which makes us owners of our own oil and natural resources, crude oil sovereignty belongs to us, Nigerians. Why is it that we have abdicated our crude oil sovereignty to two actors, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and IOCs? NNPC is gulping 70% of our crude oil resources, when I saw Executive Order 10, I followed it word for word. I was absolutely thrilled. It’s the most foundational piece of policy ever, because we need money.”
Agbakoba, who characteristically and painstakingly went through the Executive Order 10, while commending the government, said there is lots of work to do to improve on the Order. “There are a few problems, but those ones can be addressed by the Supreme Court or the National Assembly, on whether the Executive Order can override legislation, not the constitution. Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) is a legislation, in the PIAs there are many parts that give NNPC money, but in the same PIA, NNPC is made a private company, so how can a private company continue to take 70% of our revenue? So kudos to President Tinubu for finally realising that this was a big error.
“So it’s going to add a lot of money to us, because I’m suggesting to Mr. President and I sent him 10 ideas. When I was talking about the potential of Nigeria touching N10 trillion five, six years ago, people doubted me, saying it’s not possible, but now we’re talking about N50 trillion, the way we’re going, we’re going to reach N100 trillion. For a country like Nigeria, N50 trillion is nothing.”
He knocked the government for failure to harness the nation’s resources, stressing that the Nigerian railway was last valued in 1975 for N20 million and that is still on paper today. He made it clear that the Nigerian Railway is potentially worth more than N500 Billion today. “So I’m beginning to see the potential of some of those 10 ideas I gave to Tinubu coming to fruition, that’s the reason for the executive order and why I support it.”
He stated that the NNPC is not more than an ordinary oil company, like Seplat or Mobil, and shouldn’t have any regulatory power of any kind. “Let there be a minister of petroleum who sets policies on how we harness our crude oil.
“That thing that I see in the executive order that didn’t quite go fine, is the role of the IOCs in relation to the sovereignty of our oil. So they play two roles, a commercial role, which is fine, but they also play a role over ownership. Here is how it works, section 44:3 makes Nigerians owners of the oil, rather than actually own it, Nigerian Government created the Joint Venture, and that joint venture agreement, if you read it, Nigeria seeded ownership, transferred ownership of our crude oil to the IOCs, with believe that the IOCs will work in our interest, they don’t. In fact they turn around and ask us to pay 60% of the so-called cash call and that cash call determines it, I have no idea how they created it.”
He argued that IOCs can continue their operation but should be limited to commercial drilling. “For me let the IOCs continue but let them be limited around commercial drilling. Just like Saudi Arabia, the country controls 100% crude oil resources. They don’t allow anybody to have a say on ownership issues around their crude oil.”
He reiterated that the Executive Order 10 is the strongest decision ever taken by any Nigerian President, now NNPC is not a place anybody would want to go to.
Agbakoba, years ago, called for scrapping of NNPC which he said has been sucking the nation’s resources away with 70% of nation’s revenue being swallowed by one agency, and giving the nation nothing but fuel scarcity.
He commended Dangote and decried activities of fuel importers whom he said are part of the cabal with capacity to influence the government to see that there is no Dangote Refinery. Therefore with the Executive Order 10, it would be difficult for the cabals to have undue influence on the oil sector now.
So for the past 20 years we have been talking about how to upgrade our laws, because the key thing we have in Nigeria that drives the economy or development is first of all a leader, so we hope by 2027 we have competitive politics, because it is by competitive politics that you get the best result.
“But one of the key things we lack is revenue. So on the monetary policy side I am prepared to give Cadoso a very high mark, he steadied the economy, lowered the rate, strengthened the naira, kudos but what of the fiscal side? Fiscal side is not doing well because we are borrowing. And when we borrow and make an income of say N100, and paying debt of N90, and just N10 for 200million people is not enough, we need to strengthen our income, and that is why support the Executive Order 10.
While speaking on political matters, Agbakoba decried non-issue based campaigns by political parties and sees it as the bane of Nigerian politics. He said the issue of real time uploading of results is not the problem with the Nigerian Electoral system but the quality of politicians. “It is like when you have bad players that quarrel with referees, you lose 3:0 and you are quarrelling, score first, score goals, you are not playing.”
