“Leadership” Award And Chief Sylva’s Oil & Gas Deliverables -By Danyaro Ahmadu

Thomas Mann once declared that ‘the destiny of man presents its meaning in political terms ‘. That is to say, in our contemporary experience, it is difficult to make clear separations or distinctions between the politics of life and the life of politics. Once again, Minister of Petroleum, Chief Timipre Marlin Sylva  add yet another cap to his feather as Leadership Newspaper bestowed on him an   award as  “Politician of the Year 2019”.

According to the Leadership Newspaper “ For his fatherly disposition ,political dexterity and dynamism ,foresight and sacrificial leadership , which he deployed against all odds to build the ruling All progressive Congress (APC) from zero level to the peak in Bayelsa State, culminating in the party’s victory in the National Assembly elections and the November 16, 2019 gubernatorial poll in a predominantly People’s Democratic Party (PDP) State ,Timipre Marlin Sylva is LEADERSHIP politician of the Year 2019”.

In any civilized nation, one of the major innovations to entrenching good governance, socio- political right and accountability to the citizens is the media. It serves as the pivot to uplift true democratic government. In simpler sense, the role the media plays in the building of a society can never be relegated to the background because information is power and information shared is empowerment. It is through the media that we can get comprehensive information about happenings in the world.

As institutions central to the democratic process, media serve several critical functions among which is offering a comprehensive account of the broadest range of events, therefore ,serving the society with corpus of information and knowledge of sufficient of making informed choices. The media also maintain wide range of opinion and analysis of issues unfolding in society.

In his success story, few people erroneously tend to view it as if he employed underhand tactics to achieve them and in the process underestimate his Midas touch. The fact remains that he attained his present height through dint of hard work and unparalleled exhibition of moral discipline. He is a man of many parts, blessed with the ingenuity to break boundaries and discover new frontiers.   

Chief Sylva who, has endeared himself for developing the consciousness of many Nigerians, was born 55 Years ago. His sartorial rise in politics after occupying several elective and appointive offices was equally phenomenal.Sylva brought the idea of amnesty for Niger Delta militants to late President Yar’adua, which paved way for the sustainable peace in the oil–rich region.

Earlier last month, Chief Sylva, in his ministerial statement at the opening ceremony of the Nigeria Petroleum Summit, expressed optimism that the summit would birth the revolution needed for Africa to look inwards and scale up  economic frontiers globally.

 Sylva further noted that the Nigeria Petroleum Summit remains a Pan-African event designed as a meeting point for the oil and gas industry to introduce and harness new technologies and ideas that will enhance inflow and investments for global scaling.

The minister of state has officially launched the National Gas Transportation Code for Nigeria. The National Gas Transportation Network Code aims to ensure that the wrong quality of gas does not go into the pipeline in addition to guaranteeing gas pipeline integrity, open access to pipelines and common understanding on metering.

It is also expected to provide a uniform platform in terms of guidelines for agreements between buyers and sellers which will ensure transparency and eliminate existing bottlenecks.

The Petroleum Ministry under Sylva, in anticipation of the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which seeks to categorize existing Oil and Gas industry players into Policy, Regulation and Operations concerns, has taken a proactive measures to engage stakeholders of the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN) to review the mandate and structure of the Company.

This is with a view to aligning the Company with the realities of the envisaged change from the Petroleum Industry Bill when passed into law in the nearest future. This, the stakeholders believe, will ensure that there is a win-win situation for the nation, producers and off-takers of Nigerian gas. Thus, it takes the ingenuity and leadership drive of Chief Sylva to engage those stakeholders and come out with fruitful resolution.

Recall that the Minister  had unveiled his roadmap and deliverables for the oil and gas sector and received the commitment of the Agencies of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to deliver on all fronts.

 Sylva listed the priority areas to include: Implementation of the reduction of Federal Government’s equity stakes in Joint Venture (JV) participation to 40 per cent, Curbing petroleum products cross border leakages, Completion of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Programme, Increasing crude oil production to 3million barrels per day and Reducing the current cost of crude oil production by at least 5 per cent.

Other priority areas include; Aggressive promotion of the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB); Promotion of inland basin exploration activities; Promotion of deep offshore exploration activities; Collaboration with the private sector to aggressively increase domestic refining capacity and Working assiduously to support President Muhammadu Buhari in his poise to achieving his target of raising millions of Nigerians out of poverty via job creation.

Sylva’s quick- start clearly shows a great sense responsibility, exceptional courage, sincerity of purpose and diligent service towards reforming the petroleum sector. By and large, the minister has distinguished him as a worthy icon of rare breed whose footprint has been etched permanently in the annals of creative and legendary leaderships.

Danyaro wrote in from Abuja and can be reached atstartussolutions@gmail.com