I no know book! But when I hear, “Catch am!”, my sense of self survival is put in active mode. You may not understand. I am talking about the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which may soon be signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The bill has gone through series of rounds of re- presentations right from the days of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who handed over to Buhari, in spite of Peter Godsday Orubebe’s tragicomic melodrama.
The bill kept going and coming back again. And I once referred to it as the “Abiku Bill” in one of my essays during Jonathan’s soft-touch reign. From then till now, the bill has been “coming and going these seasons…” (apologies, John Pepper Clark of blessed memory). From all indications, it is hoped that the reincarnated returns of our Abiku Bill has come to an end. This is courtesy of our two legislative houses who have passed it recently.
However, I am nursing a sneaky feeling that it may not yet be Uhuru for the midwives and parents of our dear Abiku! I hear cacophonic rumbles from the mangroves of the Delta Region and the entire agonising South Nigeria. I pray it does not degenerate to a thunderstorm.
Everyday-young E. K. Clark seems not to be happy with the born-again bill and it’s adulterators. You know that dry-meat-that-fills-the-mouth! He fights doggedly. Each time he raises his finger in protest, there is an error somewhere. And he has a large and committed followership cutting across ethno-religious boundaries among his people.
The elder statesman is complaining that the original Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has been doctored beyond recognition. The Abiku has been tortured, humiliated and scarified to the extent that the parents can hardly recognise her as their baby. Clark the grandfather, with his entire clan are therefore rejecting Abiku the Bill.
Is it true that while the real owners of the bill slept, committed rivals hijacked it and remoulded it to suit their whims and caprices? I no know book o!
All I know is that E.K. Clark is angry. Very angry. And his people are in his support. Their anger is based majorly on three points:
- The new PIB has redefined Oil Producing Communities to include “any community that oil pipelines pass through”.
- The new PIB awards 30% annual oil profit to Frontier Oil Exploration in the North.
- Approves 3% annual allocation of oil profit to Oil Producing Communities.
This is just a chip off the iceberg. Yours sincerely is not an Oil and Gas expert. I therefore leave you to take your own stand as regards E.K. Clark’s anger. I am not qualified to assume the role of an ombodsman for the Oil Producing Communities who have, over the years, been left to suffer environmental degradation, life threatening hazards and other untold deprivations due to callous oil exploration in their frontages and backyards.
My grouse is with the quisling Southern Legislators who slept on duty and allowed foes plant weeds in their vineyard! Are they still authentic Representatives of their people? Why leave your assignment for E.K. Clark? The narratives coming from the grapevine are becoming clearer now to discerning minds. It seems true that you have gone on permanent legislative recess and only waiting for your fat salaries and allowances at the end of every month. You have become mere bench warmers. Only a few still remember why you are there in the first place.
Could be you did not actually understand what the PIB initially set out to achieve. It was originally meant to ameliorate and compensate the suffering endured by the Oil Producing Communities as well as heal their wounds of ages of errant neglect by the callous multinational oil exploration companies. The PIB was also expected to facilitate positive rural and urban development in those areas. Could your allowing the Abiku Bill to be hijacked by your more alert counterparts from the North be a signal? A signal that you are now a spent force, empty and bereft of legislative relevance?
Behold, history is about to repeat itself in Nigeria. The story of Aburi Accord when Ojukwu and Gowon went to Ghana, to iron out their differences. The two gladiators agreed on terms to end the mutual fratricidal bellicosity between Nigeria and Biafra. On their return, while Ojukwu eagerly waited for his military colleague to kick-start an implementation of their Accord, the “people wey know book” interpreted the agreement to Gowon. He made a U-turn and the Accord collapsed!
Dear Southern Legislators, I want to believe that your case is different from General Gowon›s. You were neither floored by semantic janglover not legislative abracadabra.
I am suspecting that what floored you is nothing but an inherent character flaw. Avarice and greed. That was why you fumbled, lost and failed to protect the integrity of the original PIB. Why did you allow it to be corrupted in the first place? Why did you allow the adulterated bill to be passed, without a fight?
You still have a last chance to truncate the signing of this bill into law by the President. Put your acts together and say an emphatic NO to legalising the PIB in its current shape and content.
You can still prove to us that you are still representing our collective interest, and not your belle kingdom. This, you can achieve by putting in abeyance, your personal desires for a return ticket to either the House, clinching Gubernatorial position or Ministerial appointment, by the mercy and patronage of unpredictable Godfathers from the North. We beseech you not to sell your birthright for a mesh of porridge.
In conclusion, permit me share my mother’s advice to me. She said, “My beloved son, never you be eager to befriend anyone whose desire is always to cheat you!”
- Rev. Canon Opara writes from Port Harcourt
