On-the-reawakened-call-for-multinational-oil-companies-to-relocate-their-headquarters-to-the-niger-delta-region-the-federal-government-should-lead-by-example-by-relocating-the-nnpc-napims-dpr-&-others-headquarters-to-the-niger-delta

PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI
 

MR. MELE KOLO KYARI, Recently appointed GMD of NNPC
 
ON THE REAWAKENED CALL FOR MULTINATIONAL OIL COMPANIES TO RELOCATE THEIR HEADQUARTERS TO THE NIGER DELTA REGION – THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHOULD LEAD BY EXAMPLE BY RELOCATING THE NNPC, NAPIMS, DPR, & OTHERS’ HEADQUARTERS TO THE NIGER DELTA
With the recent reawakened calls by different stakeholders in the polity and in the oil and gas industry, expressing the need for Oil Multinational Companies/International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the Niger Delta to relocate their Head Offices/Headquarters to the region, especially despite several directives from the Federal Government of Nigeria in this regard, we believe this is a welcome move. But however, there are questions which many have failed to ask or focus on. Aside the fact that we have been on this particular issue for about two decades now, we are glad that other stakeholders are beginning to join the advocacy for this subject issue to be addressed. But the big question is, why are the IOCs not obeying these calls and even the Federal Government’s directive in this regard? Why is the Federal Government asking the IOCs to relocate their Headquarters to the Niger Delta region, whereas its oil giant – the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and its Subsidiaries regulating the industry, have not relocated/moved their Headquarters’/Head Offices to the Niger Delta region?
The Federal Government cannot be talking about the IOCs relocating their Head Offices/Headquarters to the Niger Delta region when the NNPC, which is the National ‘Chief Operator’ with the lion share of the Joint Venture (JV) business of the nation’s oil and gas industry, are still located in Lagos and Abuja with their respective subsidiaries that are also regulating the oil and gas business. It simply does not make sense. What exactly is the NNPC Head Offices/Headquarters and its subsidiaries, particularly the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), doing in Lagos, when their oil and gas operations and business are in the Niger Delta region? What are NAPIMS and the DPR doing in Lagos? What are they regulating and overseeing in Lagos, when all the major oil and gas exploration and production activities/operations are here in the Niger Delta region? 
In our view, the problem here is not really with the IOCs but with the Federal Government and its NNPC. But the NNPC, especially NAPIMS and DPR, which are the bodies that are respectively regulating the commercial aspect of the oil and gas industry for the IOCs, and the operational aspect of the oil and gas business for IOCs and Indigenous companies, are based in Lagos and Abuja. Hence, we see all these big oil and gas services contracting firms having their Head Offices based in Lagos and Abuja as well. They all have their Head Offices in Lagos where “the corporate action in the industry is very active” – leaving the Niger Delta region States like Delta State with the oil city of Warri and environs, without any corporate action in the industry. Once the Federal Government/NNPC can address this anomaly, we believe the IOCs will not have any excuse not to relocate to their Head Offices/Headquarters to places like the oil city of Warri and environs. If the NAPIMS and DPR Head Offices, as well as the Offices of their Top Management Authorities, are relocated to places like Warri and environs in the Niger Delta region, we strongly believe the IOCs will automatically move to the region without any Federal Government directive or being asked to do so.
All 'major contracts' in the industry are being awarded through NAPIMS, which is based in Lagos. And as such, every oil and gas company and servicing/contracting company wants their businesses to stay close to those who regulate and manage the industry on behalf of the Federal Government. Same with the DPR Headquarters that is also located in Lagos. So, if the Federal Government is really serious about this 'relocation of oil firms’ directive' to the Niger Delta area, they know exactly what to do. Vice President Osinbajo's directive in this regard some months ago, is just “a political statement” simply made to “save face”. Vice President Osinbajo cannot be asking/directing IOCS and other oil companies to relocate their Head Offices/Headquarters to the Niger Delta region, whereas, the Federal Government owned oil and gas companies (NNPC Group) Headquarters are still left in Lagos and Abuja.
Even the few NNPC subsidiaries operating in the Niger Delta like the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), all have their Managing Directors (MDs) Offices in the NNPC Headquarters Office in Abuja, and they work from there in most cases. That means, all major decisions concerning the industry and the operations of the NNPC subsidiaries are taken in the said NNPC Headquarters Office in Abuja. We believe if the Federal Government is sincere in addressing this issue, then the Head Offices of the Group Managing Director (GMD), Group Executive Directors (GEDs), Chief Operating Officers (COOs) and Managing Directors (MDs) of the NNPC Group, should be relocated to the Niger Delta region, particularly to Warri and environs which is more central for the oil and gas operations in the region. The oil and gas in the industry is daily explored and produced in the region, and then exported through the Shell (SPDC) Forcados Integrated Terminal. Chevron also has a Tank Farm and export Terminal in Escrvos, all in Delta State. All the other oil and gas companies production pass through the Shell (SPDC) Terminals to export their product. In other words, these are where all the “real actions” in the extractive industry are taking place. so, what exactly are the NNPC Group and its subsidiaries doing in Lagos and Abuja?
It is sad that experts and stakeholders in the industry are not looking at this aspect of the argument and the situation with this ‘oil multinational relocation’ issue. Nobody is talking about this aspect of the politics being played out by the Federal Government. Everybody is only talking about the directive given by the Federal Government to the IOCs but nobody is looking at the other angle, where the Federal Government’s NNPC Group needs to lead by example by doing the needful. They cannot be asking/demanding the IOCs to relocate to the Niger Delta region when the NNPC Group is hiding in Abuja doing nothing.
The Federal Government and the NNPC should look at other developed climes and see what is obtainable there in this regard. The Headquarters and Head Offices of oil and gas companies in most developed countries are not in their State Capitals and Federal Capitals, but in locations/areas where these natural resources are predominantly situated. Take the United States of America (USA) for instance; the Headquarters and Head Offices of their oil and gas companies are located in Houston, Texas, whereas Austin City is the state capital. Headquarters and Head Offices of oil and gas companies are also located in New Orleans, Louisiana whereas Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana and not in New York (which is like the Lagos of the USA) or Washington D.C. (which is like the Abuja of the USA). In other words, these two US cities (Houston and New Orleans) are not State Capitals, but yet, the oil and gas Head Offices are majorly located in these two cities. Same in Canada, where the oil companies and their headquarters are not in Toronto, which is like the Lagos of Nigeria. In other words, the cities we hear of in advanced countries when it comes to such things, are not their Capital Cities and State headquarters. Amsterdam is the capital city of the Netherlands but most of their Government offices are in The Hague. Houston and Louisiana are the oil cities in the US. Calgary is the oil city of Canada. In fact, Calgary and Toronto are more known than Ottawa in Canada. But here in Nigeria, everything is situated/located in Abuja or Lagos. Everything, especially the “executive decisions and actions in the oil and gas industry”, are carried out from Abuja and Lagos. And yet we keep wondering why there is always tensions and apprehension in the region. Is this not enough anomaly that can stair up agitations and complaints every now and then?
If the above examples are the situations in advanced countries, why can't we have same in Nigeria? If former President Olusegun Obasanjo had relocated the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Head Office from Abuja to Lagos, and donated the Abuja NPA building known as the "Ship House" to the Nigerian Defence, because he believes that the NPA has no business being in Abuja since it has no sea ports and there is no marine business there, unlike Lagos; why did he not also relocate the NNPC Group Headquarters to the Niger Delta region? These are the realities on ground which the President Muhammadu Buhari administration seriously needs to address. You don't need a decree or any law for the NNPC, NNPC Subsidiaries, IOCs and indigenous oil and gas companies to be relocated to the Niger Delta region. No country can develop on “tribal sentiments”, hence it is about time we do away with it in Nigeria when it comes to doing what is right to benefit all, rather than some sectional interests.
If the Federal Government is serious and really wants IOCs to relocate to the Niger Delta region, they know exactly what to do with the NNPC and all its subsidiaries, which include NAPIMS and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), as advised above – they should all have their Head Offices relocated to the Niger Delta region. Only then would we take the Federal Government seriously. We are not referring to merely having their Offices here in the Niger Delta region to issue ‘Permits’ – we are referring to the DPR and NAPIMS Headquarters being relocated to the region as a whole. The Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources could be left to remain in Abuja. But the NNPC Group and all its subsidiaries should relocate to Warri, which is centrally located in the Niger Delta region. If the Niger Delta region is good and available to be explored to produce oil and gas for export to make money for the Nigerian Government and the 36 States plus the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, then the Niger Delta region should also be good enough to have the Head Offices/Headquarters of the NNPC Group and its subsidiaries located in the region. We also wonder if the oil and gas exploration were majorly done in the South-East, South-West and Northern Nigeria, will they allow this oppression and injustice to happen and remain all these years without addressing it? Will they allow this oppression to remain? We seriously doubt it!
 
 
 
Zik Gbemre.
 
 
 

We Mobilise Others to Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes