By Henry Uche
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Femi Falana, in this monitored interview on Channels TV spoke on the crisis rocking the energy sector among other topical issues.
What do you make of the statement coming from the NNPCL about possible worsening energy crisis in the country?
I am worried that discordant notes are oozing out of the seat of power with regards to the supply of petrol in the country. The NNPCL is coming out rather belated to assure Nigerians that there would be regular supply of PMS. But in that statement, which is extremely loaded, NNPCL was also talking about affordability, sustainability, and the rest of them. If you consider that statement along with the official pronouncement of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, who had said during the week that the country could no longer afford to sustain 600 Naira per litter of fuel because, according to him, smuggling is on the increase, because the pipelines are owned, because of the nefarious activities of smugglers, if you will realise that once again, Nigerians are being informed that very soon we are going to be collectively penalized for the criminal activities of smugglers. For me, the government has to come out clean if it wants to increase the pump price of PMS once again. Government should know what Nigerians are subjected to, it is unacceptable. I was very embarrassed as a Nigerian, and I think majority of Nigerians are; that the government came out to say that we are helpless, that we are incapable to check the activities of criminals, smugglers, and therefore all of you will have to be held responsible. I’m challenging the Minister publicly that in 2010, the government entered into a PPP arrangement with a company called TPMS to install a cargo tracking system in the ports, that system for one year checked or monitored oil theft, smuggling of petrol out of the country. But what happened after a year? Criminal elements pressurized the government to cancel the contract. And by August 2018, the government awarded a N17 billion contract to check and stop smuggling of petrol out of Nigeria. In fact, all tankers taking petrol out of Nigeria were going to be tracked by a particular software- Aquila, but what happened? The money was criminally diverted. The software was not installed. Nobody up to now has explained what happened to the fund. In July this year, July 13 precisely, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources announced that the Bola Tinubu administration had awarded two contracts worth $21 million to checkmate oil theft and smuggling of petrol out of Nigeria. In fact the contract, according to the Minister, will be complemented with advanced cargo- tracking. That was last month. But for the same Minister to come out and say that the government cannot stop smuggling, I think there are problems. There’s a need for coordination in terms of information being dished out there by the government. But if you match or consider the statement just made by the NNPCL and the statement of the Minister of State, I think there are problems, and Nigerians are being told to be prepared- if you want to stop fuel scarcity, sustainability is key. And we are being told that petrol is being smuggled out of Nigeria and the government said we cannot stop that. So to stop that, the question of sustainability and affordability will come in. So the government should come out and let Nigerians know. What is the effect of the contract, because the contract will be executed in 180 days, according to the Minister. So what are we expecting at the end of six months? Two, we have been told that, with effect from October 1st, the Dangote refinery and petrochemical company in Lagos as well as the other local refineries are going to get steady supply of crude oil for refining. At the same time, we have been told that by September, Port Harcourt refinery, the Warri refinery and the Kaduna refinery will be commissioned after several postponements. Now, the implication of that is that, this country will be refining not less than 1 million barrels of crude oil per day, ceteris paribus(all things being equal). Now what is the implication, is the government talking to the management of NNPCL, with respect to what to expect from the refineries? Is the government engaging with the Dangote refinery? What will be the implication of our giving you about 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day? So that Nigerians will know where they stand.
It looks like there is trouble brewing. Shouldn’t the government be seen on the street monitoring the supply of this product?
As I did say earlier, once the government begins to speak about affordability and sustainability in response to growing queues in filling stations, there are problems. And when you also consider a statement of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources that the government can no longer sell fuel at N600 per liter, at the same time we are being told that subsidy is gone and the government is no longer subsidizing but again, we are told that we are still spending a colossal sum of about 10 billion dollars per annum to subsidize. So somewhere, Nigerians are not being told, there’s no full disclosure on the part of the government, but this time, with the statement coming out from the NNPC, it is high time questions are asked by Nigerians. For instance, it is high time the importation scam was investigated. I’m not talking of the joke that is going on in the National Assembly, Nigerians must now rise, the media must act, civil society organizations must help to expose the fraud. I’m not sure you know how many people have bought cars in the last one and a half years. Even second hand cars, the point I’m making is that the number of vehicles on the road is being reduced, yet we are told that during the days of boom, the NNPCL was subsidizing 68 million litres of fuel per day. Now that there are problems, there is scarcity everywhere, there’s poverty everywhere, new vehicles are not on the roads. We are still paying for 68 million litres of fuel, whereas before this regime came on board, the Comptroller-General of Customs challenged the NNPCL during a Senate public hearing that it’s not possible for the amount of fuel that is said to be smuggled out of the country saying, ‘we man the borders’ because you will need about 2000 tankers to take out the amount of fuel that the NNPCL claimed that was being smuggled out. But what has changed? This is the time to expose the monumental fraud that has characterized the importation of fuel in Nigeria, but again as I did say – the new refineries are going to take off in September. The Dangote refinery will start refining the crude oil and that we’re going to have fuel in September. We also being told now that the Port Harcourt, Warri and the Kaduna refinery will take off, in fact the NNPCL has announced that it will require some people to help them manage those refineries. So, we cannot be having development with deceit and you are talking about increasing the price.
Billions of Naira have been spent on those refineries you mentioned, and they have not given us one drop of oil. Are we under a threat right now?
Now, I lead an organization that has already decided to engage the service of engineers to go to Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries to find out the state of the contract, because for the two refineries in port Harcourt, the Buhari administration awarded the rehabilitation contract for $1.5 billion, for Warri and Kaduna; it was $1.4 billion, so we cannot afford foreign contractors, you know, to mess up the country. So we want to find out. When I’m talking of NNPCL, we want to sue those contractors if there is another postponement of a commencement day for those for production. I mean for refining of crude oil in those four refineries. It is not the business of the NNPCL, unless there is more to it than what we are seeing, what is your business? You are not the contractor fixing the refinery, why are you changing the date?
What about those who are supervising or coordinating these repairs on behalf of the Nigerian people, those who are in government, those who are in the NNPCL, they have the trust of the Nigerian people to supervise. It’s over a year now that the government has promised under the Buhari government that this refinery was going to be ready. Are they taking Nigerians for a joke, or what exactly is going on? Many people are suffering! Nothing is working!
I’m not sure the government is actually in control of the development around the oil industry. When you awarded contract, there is a timeline. The government awarded a six month contract last month, for tracking of ships that are taking goods out of Nigeria. The government also awarded the contract to track patrol being taken out of Nigeria. So, we’re making some progress with respect to the rehabilitation of the refineries. Again, there’s a timeline. There’s already a breach. We want to find out why we have the bridge, those who are in charge. Because of the cabal, importers are having problems taking charge of the situation, and that is why the media, the labor unions, civil society organizations, will have to intervene in the interest of the Nigerian people, as regards the reverberating effect of any increase in the price of petrol. We cannot afford to just simply continue to clap for the NNPCL. No, we have gone beyond that level now. We can’t be treated like pigs in our own country by an agency of government. The refineries would be commissioned next month, the contract for the rehabilitation has been perfected! Oh, it is going to be December last year, later it became March, later it became July, August, now it’s going to be September! We can’t continue like this as a people.
The President is the Minister of Petroleum, Nigerians are taken for a ride, this is quite unfair, a lot of criminal activities are going on and Nigerians have seen it. Where do we go from here?
I think Nigerians should be prepared to challenge the NNPC, to come out boldly and let Nigerians know what the situation is. But I throw the challenge to Nigerians, to be prepared to join the issues with the government at every stage. Government can’t continue to justify inflicting punishment on the people because of the criminal activities of smugglers! No! Nigerians must reject any argument, any reason adduced by the government that simply expose us to ridicule. Furthermore, all the agents of change in our society: Trade unions, the progressive extraction of the civil society, all of them must join issues with the government, because this fraud has gone up for too long, for too long, these guys in power for 25 years, both the PDP led government and the APC led government have given Nigerians the impression that what is going on in the oil industry or the crisis there cannot be solved. We have the PIA. It took over 20 years to have the PIA- the petroleum industry Act. We now have the PIA, yet things are getting worse by the day, and that is why we can no longer leave our affairs in the hands of the government. The government needs assistance. We must also challenge our governors and now the local government because the three tiers of government are also being surcharged by NNPCL with respect to what goes to the federation account at the end of the day. So that is why all hands must be on deck to resolve this problem once and for all. We can’t spend $2.9billion to fix refineries when the refineries are about to take off; we are now being told to be prepared for a new increase. No, It is unacceptable.
Nigerians are not happy with the National Assembly which are supposed to rescue them, what do you make of SERAP’ suit against the National Assembly?
I have tried to reach out to the leadership of SERAP this afternoon to remind the organization that indeed, there is a judgment which was delivered by the Honorable Justice Obiozor, a couple of years back, where the Court held that is illegal and unconstitutional for members of the National Assembly to fix their own salaries and allowances because by virtue of Section 70 of the Constitution, that is a duty imposed exclusively by the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). If that judgement has not been challenged on appeal, it is valid and subsisting. So, instead of starting a new action, SERAP which was a party to that case, and I’m talking of the case of Monday Ubani vs National Assembly, what SERAP and other concerned organizations and individuals should do is to come together and see how the judgment that have been delivered on this matter will be enforced, because nobody is above the law.
The National Assembly had said, we do not fix our salaries and allowances, some Nigerians have challenged them to print their bank statement…
I don’t think the impression should be given. We shouldn’t demonize the National Assembly as it were. We shouldn’t single out the National Assembly as it were. We are complaining about the SUVs bought for one hundred and sixty million naira per member of the National Assembly, I also know Heads of agencies that have acquired two cars for about 700 million naira. So,it has to be a holistic review of the perquisites of public offices not National Assembly alone. But in the case of the National Assembly, whether they call it running cost, allowances or whatever, there is already a judgement of a court, and to worsen the case, I think the National Assembly has not looked at the budget; the 2024 appropriation Act, the total budget of the National Assembly for this year is N370 billion. Running costs are included; and when you talk about running cost of an organization, it is the cost of keeping the organization going that includes cost of running the Secretariat, I mean fuelling the generators, electricity bills, and of course, in this instance, the Salary and Allowances of members of the National Assembly are different from the running cost of the National Assembly. There’s no provision for running cost for individual members of the National Assembly. You can go and check the budget. There’s no such provision. There are public officials who are riding four SUVs jeeps alone. So if you limit it to the National Assembly, there are problems.
Shouldn’t the Oronsaye report be urgently implemented as many have demanded?
Without going to the Oronsaye report, we’re talking of the cost of governance, and the cost of governance today has to deal with the perquisites of office of members of the executive and the legislative branches of government. And we shouldn’t be talking of the federal level alone. We shouldn’t be talking of National Assembly members alone. It must be a holistic review. I mean, you can’t have a public officer under the current harsh economic reality riding 10 to 50 cars! No, there are problems with that. We must begin to ask, what is the take home of every Public officer in Nigeria. You can’t talk of security votes, we need to see the budget for the security of the people in every state, so that at the end of the day, we will know what it will cost a governor to run a state. We know what should cost the president to run the Presidency. We know what every Minister will need to run a Ministry, and now that goes for the National Assembly, and, of course, state legislators even to the level of local government in view of the judgment of the Supreme Court.
Demands of members of the Patriots who visited President Bola Tinubu and the need for a composition of a constituent assembly of Nigerian people who will come together to change the Nigerian constitution
Well, in 1999, it was said that the country would need a new constituency. And the agreement there was that, once we terminated military rule, then Nigerians can sit down and have a popular Constitution drafted by the accredited representatives of the people, and that has been made impossible. In 2014, there were about 600 recommendations arrived at by the majority of the delegates, though there were problems here and there, but majority said, we need a new constitution. But as far as the National Assembly is concerned, no other forum will be allowed to suggest or draft a new constitution for the country. So it has become a question of balance of power, and I have therefore come to the conclusion that unless you have a revolutionary government in Nigeria, it is going to be difficult to discard the 1999 constitution. We haven’t been able to mobilize national consensus, even on the part of members of the political class. We are talking about the new constitution but there are those amongst them who believe that the status quo is the best for the country and that is why since 1999, every section of the National Assembly has proposed some amendments that do not question the status quo. The current 10th National Assembly has also set up a bipartisan committee to go round the country and propose new amendment. But I can assure you that those amendments will not question poverty in the midst of plenty; it will not question how Nigeria can feed ourselves; will not question how can we can get 18 million out of school
children to enroll in schools; it will not question unemployment for the majority of our young people; it will not question infrastructure decay in our country. So once you have this kind of picture before you, the demand for a new constitution has gone beyond calling on the President to convene a sovereign national conference. People have to struggle. It’s a question of power now. You have to struggle because those with power are not ready to give up power, hence, they are acquiring more enablement to empower themselves to sustain and maintain the status quo. Those who want a new country under a new popular constitution will have to struggle. They will have to mobilize some people. For instance, that kind of mobilization of the people who confront the National Assembly when they are going to conduct public hearing in respect of their own proposed amendments. Nigerians should be united in rejecting installment amendments of the Constitution, artificial amendments of the Constitution, and amendments that do not go to the root of the problems confronting the country. Then it would be a new game entirely but now to make constitutional demand, members of the National Assembly would simply say, these members of the Patriots are exercising their freedom of expression.
Need for part time law-making Job and a unicameral legislature.
It goes beyond the presidency. The point I’m making, the people in power are not likely to as it were commit class suicide by saying, come and take away our benefits, they’re not likely to say that, what I’m saying is that, it’s a struggle, it is intensified struggle for a new constitution. The Executive, the president and members of the National Assembly, we have no choice in the matter, but for a new constitution, you will need a new government, a revolutionary government that will change the social order, social order of oppression, of exploitation, of abuse of power, abuse of office. You need a revolutionary government.
Your client- Joe Ajaero- and police claim of a foreign threat
My duty was to take my client to the police, and even when over 2000 workers wanted to follow the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress to the police to make it clear to them that they mustn’t give the impression that the labour movement was trying to intimidate the police, because from the information at my disposal, there wasn’t much to it. When we met the police team led by the very enlightened police officer, DCP, Sanusi, a Professor of Criminology, the interaction was quite interesting, of course, it was made clear that there wasn’t any criminal activity on the side of labour; it was an interaction that lasted just about 20 minutes, so it turned out to be a storm in a teacup at the end of the day. There isn’t much story. But we are waiting, charges are now being filed in court, we are waiting for the state to prosecute those they claimed were trying to commit treasonable felony.
