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Sierra Leone: Oil Concession is Better!
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Concord Times (Freetown)
OPINION
6 May 2008
Posted to the web 6 May 2008
Olusegun Ogundeji
With the fluctuating trend of rocking fuel prices in the world market these last few months, securing oil concession benefit is advantageous for nations that have the privilege.
It is unmistakably true that countries that are not endowed with fuel naturally are left with no option but to cope with the burden brought about by the unstable market price of petrol which is a very essential commodity in any given state.
Going to two months now, Nigeria - the eighth largest oil exporting country in the world- accepted to increase crude oil supply to neighbouring Ghana from 40,000 barrel per day to 60,000 barrel a day. This was in furtherance of the agreement for the supply of crude oil which was earlier signed by the two countries in 2001.
According to Nigeria 's Energy Minister Odein Ajumogobia, a concession of sixty days credit was also given to Ghana instead of thirty days supplier's credit.
Sierra Leone has been a very good friend of Nigeria .
If we go down memory lane, it is not misleading to state that Sierra Leone and Nigeria have gone a very long way as far as relationship -first as sub-regional counterparts and, historical linkages- is concerned.
The bond has been manifested by the various activities that have been taking place between the two countries since the colonial era.
Though there might be one or two minor discrepancies in-between, and the distance between the two countries may be a bit far, the psychological proximity linking the two countries together cannot, in any way, be overlooked.
Against this backdrop, it is pertinent to ask: What would it cost Sierra Leone to gain oil concession from Nigeria ? A follow-up to that question is whether Sierra Leone 's relationship has not gotten to that level of benefiting meaningfully from the so-called giant of Africa .
In the mentioned case of Ghana, it was gathered that the decision to increase crude oil supply to Ghana even though crude oil was recently discovered in their country, followed a request by the Ghanaian President John Kuffor who visited President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua earlier on the day the deal was signed.
The publicized explanation for going into the agreement qualifies Sierra Leone as a beneficiary of similar assistance.
Mr. Kuffor said he was in Nigeria to make the request to President Yar'Adua because Nigeria has been assisting Ghana in its energy needs in the last seven years.
"We are brothers in the same region and should therefore support one another," President Yar'Adua said while responding to the words of his Ghanaian counterpart. Almost immediately, a pact that would guarantee prompt supply of one of the most needed resources for a nation with an impression of assurance for the over 20 million population, was signed.
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Under a concession agreement, there could either be dollar discount from the retail selling price for the beneficiary, which is usually different from what is received from other buyers, or the amount supplied could be higher than what others are getting- as in the case of Ghana .
It is glaring that Sierra Leone is not as rich as Ghana and there are limits to what this nation can afford. But considering the essentiality of fuel in this nation and the rapport that exist between the two countries, agreeing on a concession deal for oil should not be a difficult task.
Whatever had been the various forms of assistance sought from Nigeria , going for the jugular by requesting for that which would have great impact on the generality of the people is the best.
Why would you use the phrase "going for the jugular" to a country you are supposedly friends with?
It could have been changed. While reading the article before it was published, a colleague drew my attention to some lucid points. We reasoned together and made necesssary changes. It's just that we didn't seem to pay much attention to the 'jugular' Like in the second to the last paragraph of the article, the original sentence read thus: 'the seemingly rapport that exists between the two countries...'
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