By Kingsley Omose
Fate is dealing President Tinubu the privilege to complete the deregulation process in the downstream petroleum sector. Even though he had opposed this same policy during the fuel subsidy riots against the Jonathan administration, the fact is that we are in what is called an Environment of Opportunity.
This simply means that the impact, the emphasis of the negative thrust from the adoption of complete deregulation policy in the downstream petroleum sector, is not the thing we should focus on. The reason why the emphasis from this policy is so strong and so problematic, it is because of the nature of the opportunity and light that we are being offered.
Many of us remember what happened in the early years following the adoption of GSM technology and the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector as costs of sim cards have dropped from N20,000 to as low as N150 today.
Call rates were then charged at N50 per minute, unlike today, when call rates are charged at 11k per second, and we have moved from postpaid to prepaid tariff plans, an offering that is uniquely Nigerian.
There were other innovations in the telecommunications sector, such as the use of generators to power telecommunications masts across the country and the design of unquie techical products known only in Nigeria.
And from the declaration then by Senator David Mark that telephones are not meant for the poor with only about 400,000 phone landlines to serve 200 million Nigerians under the stranglehold monopoly of NITEL.
Today, Nigeria has about 4 or 5 mobile telecommunication networks with 224 million active phone lines as of December 2023 and 159 million active Internet subscribers as of July 2023.
More than anything, the reforms in the telecommunications sector was like witnessing a long dormant volcano suddenly erupt unleashing lava and steam high into the air and then those molten rocks have now spread to every nook and cranny of the country.
The enterprise and endeavour of Nigerians have grown in leaps and bounds since the adoption of GSM technology all thanks to the reforms embarked on by the Obasanjo administration, leaving the government only with regulatory responsibilities through the Nigerian Communications Commission.
The coffers of the government have swelled with tens of trillions of Naira from taxes paid by the telecommunications companies and from taxes paid by companies and individuals due to their enhanced productivity all facilitated by the reforms in this sector.
The gains from allowing market forces to determine the price of petrol, will finally unleash the energy required to power the rocket engines propeling the Nigerian spaceship beyond the confines of the earth’s gravitational pull and air, into space where the absence of air increases the thrust coming from the rocket engines.
Nigeria will need much more than the 650,000 barrels of oil per day Dangote Refinery to provide petroleum products to meet its energy needs across all sectors going forward meaning additional refining capacity will be required to power the enterprise and endeavour of these unique people living beyond the rivers of Ethopia.
New petroleum products depots will be built and maintained across the country by private sector interests who understand the importance of providing better and more efficient distribution facilities rather than using trucks to haul products by road across the country.
Just as there was no room for NITEL and it’s obsolete analogue phone network that utilised land lines following reforms in the telecommunications sector, there will also be no room for NNPC Ltd and its four obsolete refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt in the new era being ushered in by Dangote Refinery.
The gains that will come following the deregulation of the price of petrol will dwarf that of the telecommunications sector for the simple fact that energy is the primary igniter of the productive capacity of the people in a country. And for decades, no thanks to NNPC Ltd and its collaborators, Nigerians have been in lockdown mode due to corruption in the downstream petroleum sector.
That is why I strongly urge Nigerians to see the environment of opportunity presented by the need for complete deregulation and for them to demand that President Tinubu exercises that privilege and allows market forces to determine the price of petrol even if that is going to come at great initial pains to Nigerians.