Dangote vs Farouk in the eyes of my village people

ELECTRICITY has suddenly become so scarce in parts of our country. If this inexplicable anomaly has not affected you, it is affecting millions of other Nigerians as you read this. We are not talking about this crisis of a life. It is just like the situation with N100 and N50 notes in the country. These living currencies are now relics even to 13-year-olds. Perhaps, the only truth we might have heard in our country’s public electricity supply business is that it does not belong in the same category.

“Me and you no dey for the same category.” We belong to different circles of influence and we must make that difference very clear by how much electricity is supplied to your area. In order to make this bitter pill as tasty as possible, the holders of power called this electricity apartheid regime “Band”. So, in Nigeria, the amount of public power supply you get to use is dependent on the Band to which you belong.

Nigerians in ‘Band A’ are the ones who are not complaining about non-existent public power supply in recent weeks. Those Nigerians who belong to ‘Band B’ or ‘Band C’ or lower currently do not have electricity supply from the electricity distribution companies. They are in the dark both literally and figuratively, because they do not have power supply and they do not get to know why they do not have power supply. Nobody is talking to Nigerians about it.

The lower denomination of Nigerian currencies are also off our hands. We no longer see them in circulation or have them. They have disappeared like water preserved in a clenched fist. N100 and N200 currency notes are also seriously endangered species. The dirty, mutilated ones we see sparsely are like some animal on the road to perdition. Although we often see new N100 and N200 notes sprayed recklessly at parties and celebrations, we all know that in real terms, these currencies are not available indeed.

They might appear to be obedient to the amorphous ‘cashless policy’ but this is ruining small-scale businesses and hurting the economy of the generality of the masses. Well, Nigerians who are currently — and boundlessly — enjoying their government must also spare a thought for those who lack access to large Naira denominations and now, N20, N10 and N5. These same people lack access to clean water, electricity and other social amenities. You may argue that we still have them, but it is easier to argue otherwise because we do not use them. Truth be told, it is looking more like the labours of our heroes, whose photos adorn these endangered currencies, have been forgotten while we have a new topic to chew.

The reigning hot topic is not even how some people have lumped the month of December with ‘filth’ by their coinages. Rather, the champion topic is that of a rough fight between Africa’s Numero Uno on the rich list, Aliko Dangote and Farouk Ahmed, formerly of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA). Nigerians who cling to all manners of electricity generating sets for power supply and survival — every day, and who watch helplessly as their micro, small and medium scale enterprises choke and maybe dissolve, are the ones in the forefront of the Dangote vs Farouk row.

That allegation by Dangote against Farouk and, by extension, his NMDPRA, which got to a climax during the week, is seriously tugging at the integrity and at the moral constitution of those sitting atop our economy. Dangote went to the village for Farouk and the system he represented in a very special way. The fact that Aliko Dangote made good his threat not just to speak but to also show evidence means that this is no longer a soft issue. The matter has climbed to the point at which there could be a fight to the finish.

Arowomuwa and Amizi people of Ikwuano are my village people, and we have a way of expressing things in such kind of scenario: if you did not mind the hair when you beat me in the head, when I have the opportunity to hit you in the buttocks, I will not mind the shit. That is the village people in action; they go all out when they need to. The broth which is cooking between Africa’s richest man and the disgraced former boss of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, would surely be eaten by someone, somehow. Forget the ‘resignation’ by Farouk from his position at NMDPRA; the fight has just started and it is going to be a long-drawn battle. It is going to be a long one because NMDPRA is still there as an institution, and the movers of the policies which got Dangote on the edge are still everywhere there. Don’t forget that they have been in a long battle over regulations in the downstream sector of the Nigerian petroleum industry for over one year.

Dangote is one of the most common names on Nigerian lips everywhere. His ventures into sugar, salt, cement and manufacturing made it so. If you don’t buy Dangote salt, you probably have his sugar at home. Aliko Dangote is one of the biggest, if not the biggest brand in Nigeria and, perhaps, Africa. However, as big as Dangote is, he still widened his net and made an ambitious investment in petroleum refining. He didn’t even stand just at the periphery of the business. He went really deep and came up with the largest single-train petroleum refinery in the world, which he built in Lagos, Nigeria. That is a testament to many things Nigeria and Nigerians aspired to. But this achievement by Dangote is not one which could alter the already established tracks of the ‘owners’ of the sector. In other words, ‘you may be big, but we can cut you to size’.

Dangote came with a view to end the awkward reality of Nigeria being the only crude-exporting country in the world which imports all its petrol needs for local consumption. It is the same with other finished petroleum products. So, on the surface, Dangote is out to end the ugly fuel scarcity ritual in Nigeria and also force down the price of the product in the country. Through this, he is sure to change our foreign exchange story and, by extension, strengthen our wobbling economy. He is also aiming at creating a revolution in the Nigerian energy market and in the West African sub-region. He has invested in seeing that the Nigerian system works.

Farouk Ahmed, on the other hand, was a public servant in charge of the Nigerian Mainstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority. He was heading a very influential and powerful agency which is one of the most important players in the Nigerian petroleum industry. However, he was still an appointed government official, unlike Dangote. He knows that Dangote knows things in that sector, and that he knows people.

Dangote also sounded like OdolayeAremu in this instance. OdolayeAremu is a bard who described himself as Ajé Kwara ikii-bosan. The Kwara Dog which does not bark for nothing. That metaphor points to the fact that Dangote does not speak jujune words when it comes to his businesses, especially his baby, the refinery. He does not bark when there is no reason, and the sounds he makes are beyond superficial. I think he must be taken more seriously than we are witnessing. It should trigger a flurry of activities in the EFCC, the ICPC, and the Petroleum Ministry. The NNPC too and the government should take more interest than the resignation, which appears to be a dead end for obvious corruption.

Dangote is a private citizen with influence and I think more Nigerians trust him more than they would trust government officials when issues like these are on the table. I know that hordes of Nigerians will agree that plenty of public officials, especially in those agencies in charge of the Nigerian petroleum sector, have little or no integrity. Dangote’s village style might help us in the long run.