I was underutilised as Minister — Osa Ogienwonyi

Prosper

‘How Sir Manuwa altered the course of my life’

By Simon Ebegbulem,

Benin City

Chris Osa Ogienwonyi, a petroleum engineer, is a former Minister of State for Works. Ogienwonyi dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State. In this interview, he speaks on his experience as minister under President Goodluck Jonathan, the mess in the oil industry and why he left the PDP. He posits that the PDP- led Federal Government is the greatest problem militating against the oil industry,declaring that he decided to join the APC due to the positive changes the Oshiomhole administration has brought to Edo State.

Excerpts:

Background

I schooled in Benin-City at Igbesanwan Primary School. I did my secondary school at Western Boys High School, went to University of Benin. Incidentally, we were the first set at UNIBEN in 1970 which I left in 1974. I did my National Service after which I joined the Federal Civil Service in 1975, worked for 34 years, and retired from the NNPC in 2009. While at the NNPC, I headed three SBUs, namely, NAPIMS, NPDC in Benin-City and NGC, and later became Group Executive Director, Upstream. I joined the Federal Executive Council in 2010 and was there for one year. After I left the NNPC, I floated a company. Today, I am in the oil and gas sector consulting, as well as into farming.

Growing up

I came from a very big polygamous home. With 33 children, my father had about six wives. Every mother had to direct the affairs of her children. Growing up as a child, I owe most of my attributes to my late mother who put in me the core values which I still cherish today. So, growing up was beautiful; lovely parents, brothers and sisters.

I wanted to join the military

Osa Ogienwonyi

I did applied physics in the university. I wanted to do a Ph.D in military science. My intention was actually to join the military. I recall when we were leaving UNIBEN in 1974, in those days, the Federal Public Commission would visit the universities. When they came to UNIBEN, we were 14 graduating. I faced the Commission’s panel and my first choice was army, second choice was air force, third choice was navy. The then Chairman of the Commission, Sir Manuwa of blessed memory, asked me why military? The answer I gave him I won’t disclose, but he changed my destiny. He gave me another form and asked me to fill petroleum engineer-in-training. I did, though I contested that in-training.

I thought with my B.Sc in applied physics, I was on top of the world. As a father, he convinced me to accept that with petroleum engineer-in-training, I was going back to Ibadan and, while at Ibadan, I will be receiving extra money. He used that to convince me. He said, ‘If you go to Ibadan, you will be earning your salary with allowances, you will be almost on level ten? So I accepted. As a matter of fact, I bless his soul wherever he is today; he changed the course of my life from going to the military to petroleum engineering and I found myself in petroleum. And looking back today, I express my appreciation to him for what he did; today I am one of the world class petroleum engineers this nation has ever produced.

Lessons life taught him

Coming from my back ground of polygamous home, being able to navigate my way through life, life has taught me that you need to be very humble because, through humility, there is so much you gain from people. People talk about vanity, you have so many things you don’t need, which is greed. So I have learnt contentment; whatever you may have, don’t look for those things you don’t need. I don’t look for those things I don’t need. I am satisfied with what God has done for me in life.

‘I never knew my dad was rich’

One will expect that with such large number of children, there will be times your father will say no to your requests. But I think I had a different father. I recall that after my Youth Service, I went back home after resuming for work in the public service in Lagos. My father, a stark illiterate, convinced me on the need to marry early because I lost my mother when I was in the university. He said I needed to marry early so that my wife could be the mother to my brothers and sisters. And I did.

My surprise was the role my father played thereafter. I got a house in Lagos. In those days they ask you to pay two years rent in advance. I just joined the service, I had no money. When I went back to Benin to tell him about the situation, he just pulled out his drawer, and asked me how much I needed. I told him I had to buy bed, fan and a few other things. My father gave me the money cash. I was shocked. I never knew my father had money because when we were growing up, we saw his vehicles on which were inscribed, “God is above”,but that was the first time he showed me he had money. My father was really nice to everybody especially those of us who were serious with our studies.

Problem with the oil industry

On the oil industry where I spent 34 years, the call for diversification is valid. But before we talk about diversification, we must look at the management and the international oil and gas companies (IOCs), who are here on joint venture with Nigeria. The production sharing contract with companies equally working with government in partnership, I think we need effective monitoring. We need to be more steadfast in doing that so that the cost of our operation will be within what we expect.

The cost of contracting, the contract in circle, we need to address it because if you don’t approve these contracts in time, there will be problem. On diversifying, it is imperative. We have seen some countries building refineries within two years but our case is quite different. Our refining capacity is there, but the issue of vandalism is still a problem. So it is a matter of trying to address the issue holistically and let those who are very experienced drive the industry. I think we can do better to manage the oil industry. We have inexperienced people manning the oil industry today.

Govt interference in the NNPC

It is not the best thing. I always pride the NNPC staff as competent; we should give them the enabling environment to operate, there is too much interference from the top. Talking about more refineries, if that will happen, then we must deregulate. Let market forces prevail, today the market is controlled. When investors see that you can guarantee their investment, they will come to invest. People feel that if we deregulate,the price of petroleum products will be higher, but I tell you the problem is that we are subsidizing products to neighbouring countries. Our borders are very porous. To do it right, we should go for deregulation, let market forces dictate the price and then we block the leakages in our operations, in our importation; a lot of things go wrong at that level (importation).

Experience as Minister

I was Minister of State for Works for one year. And my recommendation when I was leaving was to give the Minister of State as well as the senior Minister their respective job descriptions. In a situation where the Minister of State operates at the whims and caprices of the senior Minister, in most cases, the Minister of State is really doing nothing or doing very little. My experience in the one year I spent, I can confidently tell you that I was underutilized compared to where I was coming from, the NNPC, where I was head of an establishment. I did not shy away from this discussion when I was a Minister. I remember I told Mr President that subsequent Ministers of State, it will be nice they have job descriptions.

We can talk about roads from now till tomorrow and there will be no improvement. Before I went in as a Minister, I had a different perception from reality. One common problem facing many of these projects we talk about like the East West Road, the contract award process is not faulty. But when you award a contract of say, N30 billion, you pay 25 percent mobilization. Subsequently, every year, you put N2billion into that contract. If care is not taken, that contract will last for ten years which is not ideal. So the major issue facing most of those contracts is funding and I think we must start thinking outside the box to see how we can fund our key projects. You talk about roads, we have issues in the health sector, our universities,various services are contending with the limited resources at the center. But the East West Road is a little bit different. I understand that

it was alleged that there was no design One thing we did in the Ministry of Works during the period we were there was to advise that the design for a particular road should be unique and not generic. What we applied when I was there with Daggash was to say you must design as per that road because two roads are never the same. The terrains differ from place to place because, within one mile, you can see a variation in the strength of the ground so you cannot use the design here in Benin where we have firm soil for a place like Bayelsa that is water logged.

How did you feel when you were appointed Minister of State for Works?

I was shocked because looking at the CVs of all the Ministers, there was none close to mine when you talk about oil and gas operations. But I later learnt that you don’t have to be a petroleum engineer to work in the NNPC in Nigeria. In other places, Ministers are supposed to add value to governance. If you are Secretary for Energy in the US, you must have been a senior Vice President in Exxon Mobil, big oil companies, but it tells you how we do things here. Here in Nigeria I am told that Ministers are not supposed to know the business, it is the civil servants who will advise them. But I see it differently. The leader must be good, but here in Nigeria, you see an architect in the Ministry of Health and that is why we are not making any improvement in many areas.

Edo politics

When I was Minister of State for Works, I was thinking of running for the governorship of Edo State. But when I noticed the leadership style of those driving the PDP in the state, I pulled back to re-strategize. In my profession, we always believe that one plus one is two, but I realized that what I was seeing here was quite different. I came from a system where you use your best eleven, where competence is key. But I realized that in the PDP in Edo, their preference is loyalty and I pulled out. I did a lot for the PDP during the 2011 general elections because I remember the President asking us, Ministers, to go back home and work.

He asked Ministers from PDP controlled states to go and work under their governors but states where you had non-PDP governors, the Ministers from there were supposed to take the leadership. As the Minister from Edo then, I was supposed to take charge but the state was quite peculiar because you have very strong leaders who are very domineering, they are not prepared to allow you as Minister to play your role. I was not prepared to be confrontational with these people. I just felt the best thing was to allow them to do what they know best which is politics and I went back to my business. But from all indications, their politics have led them nowhere; they are gnashing their teeth for all they have done to Edo people. Our people have embraced change. PDP leaders are not used to change, they are clueless.

Dumping PDP for APC

My decision to move from the PDP to APC was based on some factors, notably the leadership style of Governor Oshiomhole. I always believe that once the head is good, there is the probability that the body will be good. But once the head is not straight, there is the probability that the body will not perform. I am pleased with the type of leadership that I see in the APC people. I see very refined people. I see Oshiomhole doing what he speaks, no double standard, hardworking, focused, smart. And at the center, look at the National Chairman of the APC, a former super permanent secretary. I see in APC people I can work with.

I see people who are sincerely working for change due to the decadence we have observed in Nigeria and caused by the PDP government. I give you one example. Before I left the NNPC, I was driving this gas to power project. I promised that we will deliver 6,000 megawatts by December 2009. That was in January 2009. At that time I was pushing the IOCs, pushing the NNPC,pushing Pan Ocean to deliver, we were at about 3,400 megawatts. Where are we today after almost six years? I hear we have about 3,200megawatts. But if you look at the APC governors, you will see they are committed to change. Look at what Fashola is doing in Lagos.

Look at Edo and see what Oshiomhole is doing. Roads they said before were going nowhere, today they are going some where. Today we have red roof schools. The first thing you give to a people is education because once you are educated they can diversify. If you see what APC governors are doing, you will say these people are focused, they know what they are driving at. And if you give them the opportunity to lead Nigeria, you will see growth. And that is the reason I say I want to be a progressive.

Guber ambition

People will always speculate. Edo guber race is 2016. From 2015 we still have 365 days. That you go to bed and wake up is by the grace of God. Let us wait and see. If God says I will, He will give me the enablement, He will give me good health and the people of Edo will decide who will be their governor. And if it is the will of God that I will be, one day it will surely come to pass. I believe in destiny, I believe in what God has ordained. I am declaring for APC now to go and work for the party.

So if the people believe that I have the capacity, if they believe they can trust me, then I will go for it. Governance is not for children, you must have the capacity, you must have the experience, you must have done something similar. It is not where you go and learn, it is for people who are focused. But when we get to the bridge, we will cross it; it is still too early to talk about 2016because that will be distractive to the laudable government headed by Governor Oshiomhole, who has done Edo people proud.

PDP’s boast of winning Edo

Our people are not stupid. People like to do comparative analysis. PDP was in Edo for ten years and APC is here now for six years. The boy in University of Benin or Ekpoma will compare when PDP was here and what they are seeing today. We are no more fools, nobody can come here and talk about using the federal might to rig, the people of Edo will decide. You are not coming to force anything down our throat. Time has passed when one man will decide who becomes what in Edo.

We are all giving support to Oshiomhole because of what he is doing; our people can see the difference. Look at our roads with six lanes. Look at the Benin water storm project; flood no longer sacks our people. If not for the bad situation Oshiomhole met this state, we would have been comparing Edo to Lagos. Edo people will vote APC come 2015 and 2016; there is no doubt about that.

Nigerians are no longer people you give rice to deceive at the polls; making fake promises, we have passed that stage. What Nigerians need now is effective leadership, leaders they can trust,  leaders that will make promises and deliver, leaders that will stop oil theft, corruption, improve our power sector and solve our insecurity problem. We need a Federal Government that can guarantee security, take roads seriously, a government that will respect the rule of law, that ensures the legislature is independent. And if you see what the APC is saying, that is the direction. The current PDP-led Federal Government is incompetent and must go.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/underutilised-minister-osa-ogienwonyi/#sthash.w2rEP5iN.dpuf