ZIK GBEMRE SPEAKS ON NUPRC TAKEOVER OF CRUDE OIL EXPORT TERMINALS: WHAT EXPENSIVE JOKE AND THIEVING DIRECTIVE.

Recent statement credited to Gbenga Komolafe, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) confirming the commission’s takeover of crude oil export terminals at the directive of President Mohammadu Buhari has left me wondering over the choice and context of “takeover” in such a declaration.

It will be another national disaster if the intended reference to takeover meant that the NUPRC which is one half of the unbundled defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has taken over operations of crude oil export terminals. I don’t want to believe so.

When has it become the place of Commission established to regulate upstream oil and gas companies to now take over operations of crude oil export terminals? The so-called NUPRC has no technical capacity to carry out its regulatory duties, talk much of managing crude oil export terminals established by the IOCs in Forcados, Bonny, Escravos and the Bonga. This is so very obvious.

With no capacity whatsoever, give the redundant NUPRC powers to operate crude oil export terminals and they would contract them to fronts at thieving running cost almost immediately. The whole of NNPC Ltd, NAPIMS and their subsidiaries are wasteful conduits. People just sit in Lagos and Abuja drinking coffee in air-conditioned offices and looking slides/simulations in computers that add no drop of crude oil or a cubic foot of natural gas to the nation’s production quotas.

The crude oil export terminals are key national assets managed by experts for sustainable operations and not some redundant NNPC and NUPRC official who can’t even keep reliable oil production and export figures. Has Buhari come to destroy the entire sector for entrusting the entire oil and gas sector in hands of his jobber boys before he leaves?

Buhari writing the IOCs to hand over crude oil terminals to NUPRC, if that by any chance is what this is all about is a joke taken to far. Every time we hear of Senate probe of sales of crude oil that have not been accounted for and no meaningful result comes from all these racketeering probes.

NUPRC, NNPC and its subsidiaries will ruin the export terminals if they take over their mamagement and operations. They should face their oil discoveries in their South East and Northern Nigeria which are not seen being produced but only visible in their computer presentations.The IOCs like Shell and Chevron should operate these crude oil export terminal facilities.

Is it the business of government to run businesses? Is that what office holders or politicians are elected to do? Tell me which government agency/department that is functioning? Federal Government of Nigeria must separate business sector from governance roles. It is not the responsibility of government all over the world to operate businesses.

It is time the Federal Government of Nigeria handed off oil production business to private investors with required expertise. The role of NUPRC and NNPC/NAPIMS is for the operations of businesses to meet set standards and not to operate oil facilities. We couldn’t have forgotten how Federal government of Nigeria grounded Nigeria Airways, Delta Steel Plant, Refineries left to rot.

The case of the refineries are so pathetic that while such multi-billion dollar investments are left to rot, a bloated clan of redundant staff still enjoy smiling to the banks every month with undeserved extravagant salaries and add-ons including overseas training for doing nothing.

We have repeatedly asked, if the moribund refineries were the private investments of the President and the incompetent appointed managers, will they draw fund from other investments to pay redundant staff of broken down businesses? We dare the President to respond to this question.

Federal government has grounded all sectors and they are gradually crippling into oil and gas production.

Another wasteful company of no revenue value is the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC). NGC has no meaningful function. The IOCs and indegenous oil companies produce the natural gas and why can’t they sell what they produce to power plants, domestic factories and export?

NGC should be scrapped totally. NGC has no relevance in my opinion. I dare Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) and federal government of Nigeria to challenge me on irrelevance of NGC. What does it take to sell gas produced by IOCs and indigenous companies? Is NGC a sales agent? So much public wastage.

What has NUPRC got to do with operations of crude oil export terminal assets? Are they bringing NUPRC and NNPC LTD to come and introduce frivolous Turn- Around-Maintenance contracts to steal? We don’t hear this language (TAM) from the IOCs since they have been operating crude oil export terminals. Why creating safe grounds to worsen leakages to steal by NNPC and NUPRC officials colluding with politicians?

Those who sold the idea to Buhari to direct NUPRC and NNPC to take over crude oil export terminals are rogues and common criminals.

The NNPC/NAPIMS and NUPRC corporate/head offices have refused to move to Warri, and continue to operate/regulate from Abuja and Lagos. How senseless or selfish! “Nothing we no go hear for Nigeria due to greed to steal”.

Leave the IOCs and indegenous oil companies to do their work as oil and gas production experts and not NUPRC and NNPC that will take over and destroy these crude oil export terminals. The so-called people driving this senseless takeover of crude oil terminals by NNPC and NUPRC have lost their minds and need to see psychiatrists to cure them of dementia.

The NUPRC (DPR) is birthed to set up standards and regulate the upstream and downstream and not to operate export terminals and other production assets hence they call them regulators. There are regulators in all other sectors like NAFDAC, SON but not to go into manufacturing of drugs and run factories to produce goods.

NUPRC, NNPC/NAPIMS and politicians are just looking for expansion of territories to loot further. Do Nigerians want to hear that they have shut down Forcados, Bonny and Escravos export terminals for their frivolous Turn-Aound- Maintenance contracts aimed to steal public money or what?

What is their aims to expand their scope of operations to take over crude oil export terminals if not that NUPRC, NNPC and politicians want to wreck further the only surviving oil and gas sector in the country? They are just bunches of carefree rogues and common criminals that are determined to wreck the Nigerian economy at all cost without thinking for the common man to survive.

Does it make sense for NUPRC and NNPC to be judges and prosecutors in the Upstream? The NUPRC and NNPC can’t be regulators and operators in the Upstream at crude oil export terminals in my opinion.

For NUPRC and NNPC taking full control of the crude oil export terminals and regulating them is abuse of process and nonsensical.

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