THE 2ND ANNUAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE OF THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN'S PUBLIC LECTURE TITLED “ASIDE BLACK GOLD, WHAT ELSE?” DELIVERED BY ENGR. DIDEOLU FALOBI, FNSE, FIoD, ON NOVEMBER 4, 2016.

 ASIDE BLACK GOLD, WHAT ELSE?

1. PROTOCOLS

2. Notwithstanding the fact that the notice was very short, I consider it a privilege and honour to be given this unique platform to offer my opinion on what the next Black Gold should be for Nigeria. However, more than the opportunity to discuss the black gold, I am always excited when given the opportunity to engage youths. My excitement doubles when the topic of discussion is not mundane but rather deep and relevant to the development of the youths in particular and the nation in general. So, my appreciation goes to the Students Representative Council of the Faculty of Science of the University of Ibadan for the honour

3. An opportunity such as this can, and should be maximized. There are several issues on the front burner in Nigeria toady. It is extremely important that we do not fail to use this opportunity to interrogate some of the issues that are hot on the front burner in Nigeria. Hence, I have divided my lecture into two (2 No.) The first part is titled “RANDOM MUSINGS” which will highlight some of my thoughts on topical issues or to use today’s cliché, “Trending” issues. The second part will look at the alternative to Oil as a prime income earner for Nigeria. E ma ba mi kalo (Please grant me your attention.)

1. RANDOM MUSINGS

4. In February, 2016 I wrote a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari. Titled “In Our Best Interest”. The letter advised Mr. President to focus his attention on Forex generating ventures as a matter of urgency. My advice was that we should focus on Agriculture, Industrialisation and Gas Exploitation as quick fixes that could help to jumpstart our economy. 

5. On September 1, 2016, I wrote another letter. This time, it was directed to the Vice President. I said there and I quote, “I received a letter from one of Nigeria Banks this morning whereby they offered my company US Dollar on 6, 7, 8 and 9 month “FORWARD” basis at N357.05, N362.40, N367.74 and n373.08 to the dollar respectively. Given the fact that the closing rate as at yesterday, August 31, 2016 was N316 = $1, I find such an offer curious and definitely capable of undermining the valiant efforts of the Nigeria government to stabilize the Naira. It presupposes that the future of the Naira is bleak and will not encourage investors to bring the much-needed hard currency into Nigeria”.

6. I engaged a few of my friends on a Whatsapp forum recently. The topic was the $29b+ loan, for which Mr. President sought the approval of the Senate and which request was NOT REJECTED by the Senate. The Senate ONLY asked the Presidency to supply supporting documents. I quote my thoughts on the issue below:

“Loan of $30billion? And we think PMB who is most probably the only genuine Mr. Clean can ensure that it will not be grossly mismanaged & abused? Even OBJ with his agility, strength & capacity for hard work may not be able to manage that at a go. I also think we should not take the failure to attach documents on the face value. It is not right that you will ask 170million people to commit their future in your hands and people will not be diligent with the documentation. How am I sure they will not be less than diligent with the management of the loan? We have a history of mismanaged funds. I see no sign that that has changed. The only change I have seen is that the money has not been available and as such fund managers are forced to make do with what is available. Even then, stories are flying everywhere that the little that is available is being mismanaged. I am not convinced that when the cash is suddenly available, we will do better.

Finally, there are three ways of getting funds for development: One, Your own funds. Two, Equity. Three, Loans.

In my opinion, 70% of the items listed under the loan can be executed under some sort of "Equity" by getting others to design, build, manage/operate for an agreed period and finally transferring back to the Nigerian people. Loan is the easiest & most dangerous for a corrupt country like Nigeria.  Let others take the risk and let the government concentrate on Education, Health & Other non-infrastructure issues. What does the government need to do? First, restore investor's confidence through a better body language and a better management of the Forex market. Today, the Forex market is being driven by speculation as against market forces. Speculation is keeping supply low while demand is increasing. Speculation by banks especially is keeping investment and even non-investment funds away. It must be stopped and defaulters punished severely. Also, the nation's managers must put on their thinking cap and begin to think out of the box. They must dig deep and stop looking at the easy ways out. We, the people must also stop playing politics with and amongst ourselves. We should begin to interrogate proposals with open minds and proffer solutions.  Nigeria is in trouble and if it is allowed to conflagrate, most of us on this Forum may not survive it.”

7. Prior to all of the above, I had actively engaged others on the need to take our eyes off Oil and develop other sectors. In 2007, I attended a Nigerian Investment Forum sponsored by the Commonwealth Business Council at Abuja. One of the facilitators at one of the sessions, a renowned Nigerian Economist flaunted the GDP growth rate of 6-7% on a consistent basis as an indication of the solid state of our economy. I disagreed with him. I made it clear to him that every morning I entered Ikorodu Road in Lagos at Idiroko and then drove for 2-300m to m y office at Maryland. On my way I usually saw hundreds of able bodied Nigerians selling chin chin, gala, biscuits and the likes on the expressway. No nation making genuine progress could have such scenario. Of course the Economist stood his ground and I stood mine. The rest as they say is history.

8. My company, Kresta Laurel Limited occasionally holds public Lectures as our own contribution to the expansion of the body of knowledge in the country. In 2011, it was delivered by the then Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanuai, the topic was “INFRASTRUCTURE, INDUSTRIALISATION AND THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY”.
9. Personally, in pursuance of my belief that the black gold had been over-exploited and could be on the way to its usual cyclical decline, I have delivered papers at 3 different Fora on the need to invest in other sectors of the economy. The first was to a Conference of Ijesas held at Houston Texas; in October 2011 where I delivered my paper titled “Industrialisation of Ijesaland”. I also delivered a paper to the Nigerian-Finnish Business at Helsinki in December 2012. Finally in July 2013 I delivered a paper on Investment in Non-oil sectors of the economy at a Nigeria Investment Forum held at the United Nations Headquarter in New York.

10. Two (2) years ago, I co-founded the Ijesaland Development Foundation. Our objective is to harness all resources available in Ijesaland and to Ijesas towards the rapid development of our homeland. In the first Ijesaland Development Foundation Business Summit held in Lagos in 2014, I advocated for all different ethnic nationalities to come together and develop their homeland through promotion of Agriculture and Industrialisation.

11. I hope I have not bored you with my random musings, I consider them germane to building a background for the main topic which in reality does not require too much time to explore. The alternatives to black gold are staring at our faces. How can we get there given the several obstacles in our path? Hence, my random musings. We must continue to engage government and each other on what needs to be done. We must also back our talk with action. In Nigeria today everybody is an analyst and/or critic. Few are doers. WE MUST LEARN TO WALK THE TALK

B. THE ALTENATIVE TO BLACK GOLD (PETROLEUM)

12. I believe there are tangible and intangible alternatives to black gold in Nigeria. Also, there are those fundamentals that we must bear in mind before we can propose alternatives to black gold.

13. Historically, oil was first discovered in commercial quality at Oloibiri in 1956. However, it did not become a major factor in our GDP until the early 70s when peace had returned to the Niger Delta and the job of exploitation resumed

14. However, prior to the early 70s, the different regions had thrived on Agriculture which was stoutly promoted and supported by the different regional governments. In the West it was Cocoa and Kolanut, in the East, it was Rubber, Palm Oil and Food Crops. In the North, it was Groundnut, Kolanut, Cotton and Co. The Regions we built and sustained with the income from Agriculture. Farmers were gods. Agriculture Economist, Agriculture Engineers, Experts or Cooperatives e.t.c were in high demand. There were structures backed up by research institutes and the Economy was buoyant. The proceeds were deployed to Education, Health, Housing and the Construction of Infrastructures. Nigeria was the pride of the world and it was listed among future world powers.

CORRUPTION, though existent was at a barest minimum.

Oil came, corruption festered and we lost it.

We did not only concentrate on oil, we also lost those fundamentals that made us such a respectable Community.

15. We lost our value system, we lost our sense of responsibility, we stopped working hard, we embraced corruption, we embraced laziness and all sorts of “Get money quick” schemes.

16. The intangibles that we lost must be restored if we truly desire to embrace the alternatives to Black Gold. The easiest and cheapest thing to exploit was Petroleum. It only required being close to power and being able to connect with Oil Exploitation and Exploration companies in the Diaspora. No hard work, just commission agents. The Alternatives are not going to be that easy. We will need to restore our lost values if we truly desired to excel in these areas.

17. The Alternatives to Black Gold are as follows:

1. Agriculture
2. Industrialisation/Manufacturing
3. Entertainments/Arts (Culture, Music, Drama)
4. Sports.
5. Solid Minerals mining
6. Gas Gathering and Distribution
7. ICT – Soft and Hardware
8. Human Resources.

ENGR. DIDEOLU FALOBI FNSE, FIoD

4^TH NOVEMBER, 2016