In just an interval of two weeks, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency( NIMASA) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) have destroyed lives and properties of Nigerians over regulatory laxity encouraged by corruption. Properties worth billions of dollars destroyed by fire and imported foul fuel as innocent lives in search of living were killed in the oil production vessel that exploded in Warri, Delta State.
Till this moment, neither NIMASA nor NNPC has taken responsibility for their professional negligence, presupposing that “It does not matter!”
Nigeria has become a stage that hosts different genre of the theatre- of- the- absurd without surprises anymore. Continually, Nigerians and the world as spectators are treated to Spectacles wrapped in comedy of errors by characters in public service. Unfortunately, the defining and recurring messages in these incidents are persistence in professional negligence, conspiracy for corruption and absurd profiteering.
Have you noticed that the outbreak of one tragedy that makes headlines today is usually eclipsed by another of may be bigger impact the next day? And when this happens, the stories are tucked away in less prominent pages in newspapers and ultimately die with the help of government panel of investigation and white paper that follows. And the circle of doom continues.
This is the tragic scenarios the people live with and nothing happens. It simply explains why history repeats itself often in Nigeria, and public office holders are emboldened to live above the law.
On February 2nd , Trinity Spirit, an FPSO vessel exploded off Nigerian coast, with three crew members dead and seven declared missing. Worthy of note is that a distress call was reportedly made to NIMASA for rescue before the situation got unmanageable but the agency was out of reach. After the damage, NIMASA announced that it had declared the vessel out of class in 2017. The question at this point is: What did the monitoring and compliance team do for enforcement? After some blame trade, NIMASA and the Nigeria Upstream Regulatory Commission(NURC), formerly Department of Petroleum Resources(DPR) assured Nigerians they would investigate the incident.
Ideally, when a vessel is out of class, it is unseaworthy, uninsurable and necessary and statutory procedures are taken to evacuate it or scrap it. This was not the case in the fate of Trinity Spirit; the owners sustained it with “good will”. These regulators glossed over their primary duties to keep the vessel afloat, resulting in loss of lives and money. The oil spilled, causing environmental hazard, and will require funds for clean up ultimately. There are many rust buckets in the Nigerian waters being kept afloat by regulatory compromise.
Can you see how embarrassing the disaster is to the nation through the lens of Mr. Richard Meade of Lloyd? “Nigeria’s creaking energy infrastructure has suffered years of underinvestment, leaving an ageing fleet of risk-laden units operating in a regime where safety and security challenges abound and pollution incidents are common. The case of the Trinity Spirit-an unflagged, unclassed, 46-year-old FPSO owned by a defunct company in receivership which exploded last week-has exposed the fragility of Nigeria’s offshore sector where ageing units are norm.”
Similarly, the dramatic scenes that followed the importation of the adulterated petrol leaves the message of no regulator in the sector. There was no barking talk less of biting, and this points to compromise. Consequently, there have been unfolding plans to produce a scape-goat among the major suppliers on one hand and on the other hand the NNPC and the importers described as Direct Sale Direct Purchase(DSDP) suppliers trade blames.
NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari on Wednesday admitted there was presence of methanol in four petrol cargoes imported by its agents. He also acknowledged, “Cargo quality certificate issued at load port by Armspec Belgium indicates that the gasoline complied with the Nigeria’s specification”.
“As a standard practice of all PMS import to Nigeria, the cargoes were also certified by inspection agents appointed by the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority(NMDPRA).
“It is worthy of note that the usual quality inspection in load protocol employed in both load port in Belgium and our ports in Nigeria do not include the test for percentage of methanol content. Therefore, this tip was not detected by our quality detectors.”
At this point, with Kyari’s confession, is it not obvious that the regulators have been compromised? It is pretty difficult to market that cargo surveyors and inspection agents at the port of origin could not detect the methanol percentage content in the cargo and back at the port of destination, the cargo inspectors like SGS also failed. In oil business, the critical test every product undergoes as precondition for consummation of deal is the quality and percentage of the various chemical content.
Perhaps, to help unravel the mystery around this toxic cargo, there is need to investigate the role of the sellers under the prevailing trade arrangements, which conventionally, should be Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF). Under this term, the seller in under obligation to explain the change in the cargo quality.
The intervention of President Mohammed Buhari, who doubles as the presiding Minister of Petroleum appeared more pathetic and infuriating. It lacked the authority and power of a Minister not to talk of a sitting President.
The statement issued by one of his media aides, Garba Shehu, reads: “President Buhari has ordered that producers and providers of consumable products be held accountable for substandard services and or products sold to them.
“The President has also given directives to the relevant agencies to take every step in line with the laws of the country to ensure respect and protection of consumers against market abuses and social injustice.”
With the magnitude of the pains and economic losses by consumers, and marketers whose vehicles and retail infrastructure have been damaged, environmental hazards created, all that Nigerians could get was passing of bucks by regulators and their DSDP agents as well as a statement of indifference from Mr. President.
The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh and the GMD of NNPC, Mele Kyari deserve to be fired for gross negligence of duty and pathetic failure to take responsibility for their respective negligence, if they cannot find their feet to quit.
