Oil: How Could Liberians Settle for Only Five Percent?

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian President

By Honourable Saka
Liberians heaved a deep sigh of relief when Liberia recently announced to have discovered oil in commercial quantities, joining her West African sisters: Ghana, Nigeria and some others. Oil deposits in the West African coast have existed for decades. In my opinion, there is no discovery of oil anywhere in West Africa, but the exploitation of the oil belt that runs along the coast of the entire region which the oil executives knew about for decades but did not care to build rigs till now as they tried to gain control over the unstable situations of the Middle East at that time.

Africans must not be deceived. The oil scavengers are now looming over West Africa and if we are not careful to choose rightly between the Nigerian and Ghanaian models of exploitation, there will be no real benefit and this political bonanza could definitely be a curse for the Liberian people in the long run.

Obviously, like their Ghanaian neighbours, Liberians look forward to the prosperity that the oil and gas finds will bring to their country. If well managed, the black gold could transform the destiny of the entire country for generations to come through improved living standards.

Unfortunately, these aspirations may turn out to be a nightmare if the people do not rise up to the government to adequately scrutinize the oil agreements and set up a national platform for dialogue on the best way forward, so that together, there will be dialogue to secure a reasonable percentage share (70% and above) for the people whose interest the government claims to serve.

According to a statement issued by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, President Ellen Johnson, the American Oil company, Exxon Mobil will own a whopping 80% of the oil shares discovered in Liberia, while their Canadian neighbours, the Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (COPL), will own 20%. Many people are wondering: where does this place the people of Liberia? What share does the government of Liberia have in this oil deal? The African people would want to know.

Liberian Oil Blocks

Again, why the rush to explore the oil without first putting adequate measures in place to guard against the challenges that may accompany the oil exploration in the near future? Where is the government rushing to? Is President Ellen Johnson considering early retirement in the coming months? Has the government considered building local refineries to process the crude oil or Liberia will follow the Nigerian model where the raw crude is shipped to Europe and the refined product is shipped back to the country at ridiculous prices? Has the government considered training local engineers to take over the management of the oil industry within the shortest possible time? Why must African leaders always allow such sensitive sectors of their economy to be held hostage by a few foreign corporations?

We (Africans) have a major problem. We rush to commission most projects without taking time to plan against the unforeseeable challenges that may likely show up in the near future.

Is Liberia well-prepared to deal with corruption in the oil and gas sector? Is the government prepared to face the angry youth who are likely to take up arms as we see in Nigeria? In Nigeria, many agitated so-called rebel groups rose up and took arms to fight the corruption in the oil and gas sector, a situation which is currently out of control. Will Liberia learn some lessons from Nigeria or as usual, wait unprepared for the problems to come up before they run to NATO for solutions?

Although President Ellen Johnson has not said what would happen to the Liberian share, the President and CEO of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), Dr. Randolph McClain, explained that the negotiating team of the Liberian government secured a 5% citizens participation share in LB-13 and a further 5% royalty on oil produced from wells drilled under water depths of 1500 meters. Angered by the shocking news, Okechuku, a PhD student at Oxford University wondered:

A victim of the Liberian Civil War (Photo by Kuni Takahashi)

 When Liberia was in crisis, did the US and Canada send any help? I’m shocked at how a country's wealth is being giving away for peanuts. Is this the reason why the president was awarded the Nobel Prize some months ago? Ellen Johnson has always been the World Bank’s darling girl anyway. You don’t get a Nobel Peace Award without signing such deals.

The man is absolutely right! Of course that is the price the people pay when our leaders are given such awards by special interest foreign groups. Remember Ellen Johnson was given the Nobel Prize somewhere last year? Yeah, that was when the actual oil deal was sealed. The selfishness of our leaders is the reason for our underdevelopment. Our people must say no to all NGOs that are buying-off our leaders and our independence. It's a shame. How can a country that has suffered over a decade of economic hardship, settle for some 10% royalty in a multi-billion resource like oil?

Is this all that our forefathers died for? Is this the hope and the dream the government sought to build when the people gave out their mandate? But more seriously, how much of this 10% will end up in the offshore accounts of many of these negotiating teams? This still remains unclear.
  
Meanwhile at the moment, although early indications are positive, the exact extent of oil deposits found in the country still remains unknown. Leaders have already settled for peanuts from big oil corporations as they hand over the oil reserves to the western firms with virtually nothing left for the ordinary Liberian in the near future.

The Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (COPL) recently disclosed offering the politicians, a mere U$45m in cash toward the purchase of block 13 of Liberia's oil industry, a move which will see Liberia lose billions of dollars every year to the COPL. I wonder why these politicians will just sell the oil reserves for merely $45m when the actual oil deposit is yet unknown. How many of the poor Liberian families will benefit from the $45m given to the politicians?

Liberian politicians have been blinded by the mere $45millon they received as signature fee, forgetting about the long term financial loses, the environmental damage and all the hardships the country will endure while their foreign donors bag a whopping 95% profit shares on a monthly basis! Why are African leaders keen on the few millions today, while they ignore the billions which the big oil companies will be reaping in the coming years?
 

President Johnson sells off the dignity of liberians

Why are such sensitive agreements held in the corridors of secrecy when the destiny of entire generations depends on them? Why must the good people of Liberia allow a few selfish, greedy and corrupt politicians to negotiate on their behalf in camera?
For a country like Liberia which had been plunged into civil war and suffered decades of economic hardship, seeing the need to put such oil agreements in the public domain, and discussing them in consultation with leaders of the regional block would have been a better decision. But as usual, African leaders never consult their colleagues during such critical moments. Only a few millions into their offshore accounts and the agreement is sealed, leaving the poor masses to their fate.
Will Liberia Repeat Nigeria and Ghana’s Mistakes?

In Nigeria for instance, as western oil companies loot some $140 Billion a year of the country’s oil, two-thirds of the country’s 160 million people live on less than $2 a day. Western oil companies are literally looting Nigeria’s oil, paying as little as a 9% royalty. Simply put, at $100 a barrel, the western oil companies get $91 and Nigeria only gets $9. Or more shockingly, Big Oil makes $140 billion a year vs. Nigeria’s $10 Billion, writes Thomas C. Mountain as he reveals the shocking reasons why many Nigerians remain the poorest in Africa despite the country’s plenteous oil and gas.
Ghana's Oil Has Been Sold Off Already.

Former Prez of  Ghana John Kufuor, another puppet of the West

 Today in Ghana, when Tullow Oils makes a profit of $3 billion, Ghana gets only $3 million out of that. Can this agreement truly better the lives of Ghanaians? Yet, former president Kuffuor, the man who recently suggested that bad leadership is Africa’s problem, was the same president who signed this oil agreement with foreign firms. This is what happens when foreign corporations are allowed to secretly finance our politicians into power during election periods!

African citizenry must rebel against such dangerous oil agreements. Legislations must be introduced to ban all politicians from sourcing for funds from abroad during elections periods. The country’s planners should not neglect other sectors of the economy. They should diversify to avoid exogenous shocks due to volatility in the prices of oil on the international markets.

Privatization of state resources must cease with immediate effect. Governments cannot continue with the habit of selling off every strategic resource without adequate long term planning. African leaders must train more engineers to help build our industries so that we can manage the exploitation of our resources. Africans must develop the habit of managing their own affairs.
 

Late Venezuelan President Commandante Hugo Chavez

This is the beginning of a long walk to perpetual poverty and economic impoverishment in Liberia as Big Oil corporations begin to loot Liberian worth. For very $100billion of profits made by the oil corporations, Liberians will only get some few $100 million donations.

I miss Chavez, I miss Gadhafi. These leaders showed oil-rich Africans the way, but due to corruption and selfishness, our leaders will not follow their steps. Ghanaians have already settled for some 10% share in their most-talked about oil. Nigerians have quietly accepted 9% for more than 50yrs. Liberians must never settle for 5%! Anything less than 70% must be rejected by the people.

This is the only way we can fight poverty and say enough to the foreign corporations who continue to enrich themselves with African resources while the African people wallow in poverty.

It’s time we said enough is enough!

Source: Ocnus.net

Ghana produces more Gold by 17% in 2012

Bars of Ghanaian Gold

Gold production in Ghana climbed to 4.2 million ounces from 3.6 million ounces in 2011, the 2012 figure beats the commission's forecast of 3.9 million ounces.

 

According to Ghana Minerals Commission, the increase in output was mainly due to rising prices that encouraged higher output by companies.

Gold prices averaged $1,668 an ounce in 2012 from $1,572 an ounce a year earlier. Production climbed to 4.2 million ounces from 3.6 million ounces in 2011, The 2012 figure beats the commission’s forecast of 3.9 million ounces.

Australian miner Adamus Resources poured its first gold in January last year. Newmont’s second gold mine at Akyem, located about 125 kilometres (80 miles) northwest of Accra is expected to start commercial production in 2013 with as much as 450,000 ounces annually.

Bauxite rose to 662,925 metric tons in 2012 from 410,918 tons a year earlier, Diamond output fell to 215,118 carats from 283,368 carat.

Johannesburg-based miners AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Gold Fields Ltd also operate in Ghana, which has West Africa’s second-biggest economy after Nigeria.

Ghana produced 2.97 million ounces of gold in 2010. Output was originally seen rising in 2011 but in the end shrunk as a number of firms focused on longer-term maintenance and expansion projects rather than maximising existing production.

Neo-Imperialistic trash!

Napoleon Bonaparte

By Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Why is it that France, from time to time, gets ideas above its station? Why is it that French Presidents, increasingly, start acting like failed Napoleons? Why is it that British Prime Ministers, while acting like war criminals, like to emulate the arch-war criminal, Churchill? Read on...

It is common knowledge that Napoleon, that French abomination who failed in his murderous attempt to spread French culture across Europe, liked to write letters to his lover, Josephine, asking her not to wash before they met so that he could smell the stench of her sweat, and...

 In plain English, a dirty little... Frenchman. It is also common knowledge that every time a Frenchman gets ideas above his station, Germany teaches him his place. In plain English, French foreign policy is as effective as the Maginot Line. Bluster, bravado, BANG!!

He who turns and runs away, comes back to run another day.

And as regards Churchill, the war criminal of the First World War, hated by London taxi drivers because he was known as a stingy son of a bitch; he sent millions to their deaths in 1914-1918 through utter incompetence (Gallipoli), his speeches were oiled with champagne and brandy, his legacy was the disintegration of the British Empire which he claimed to support. I say...this here is ours, and that there is yours, eh what? Bring me a ruler to draw a nice straight line on a map...

French President Francois Hollande

 And here we have François Hollande and David Cameron on yet another imperialist venture, this time trying to arm the Syrian terrorists who wish to murder men, women and children, impose Sharia law and kick Russia out of the Mediterranean, in return for greyish promises from Cameron and Hollande and their master across the seas.

And here we have the dynamic duo yet again, after they attempted to destroy the Jamahiriya in Libya, now threatening to "go it alone" after failing to convince their European Union peers to lift the arms embargo and provide the Syrian terrorists with weapons.

True, the Ministries of Defence in the UK and France will crow that they can provide tens of thousands of jobs and so wow, let's supply Indonesia with hundreds of millions of dollars of military hardware as they slaughter the Maubere population in East Timor. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it happened. It happened and was documented in this column...

UK Premiere David Cmeron

François Hollande and David Cameron indeed emulate Napoleon and Churchill, Britain's version of everyone knows who... and like Napoleon and Churchill they both show a total disrespect for international law. You do not arm, aid and abet terrorists engaged in undermining the government of a sovereign state. It is illegal and it is proscribed as such under international law.

But then again, after Iraq, after Libya, who believes a word Paris and London say? And if they are not war criminals, then who is? But don't worry, The Hague ICC will never prosecute them... why, they are above the law, aren't they?

Development means Education

By Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

The answer to the world's problems today lies not in deployment of troops and military hardware, not in strafing civilian structures so that contracts can be handed out among cronies, not in choosing a defenceless victim to destroy to create jobs at home, but rather, in development. And this means education.

And when we speak about education, we are speaking about gender equality because if we wish to describe our societies as progressive and inclusive, which work against marginalization and exclusion, then gender equality has to mean more than one pat-on-the-back, jump-on-the-bandwagon day in a year (International Women's Day, March 8). Only by including women in our societies, from the earliest stage - primary education - can we achieve sustainable development through the empowerment of women and gender equality policies.

However, in today's world, in the year 2013, barriers continue to exist, preventing women from having the same access as men to resources, rights, endowments and opportunities. In most countries, women are less likely than men to participate in the labor market; the percentage of female to male enrolment in primary and secondary education remains unequal. In some regions, the participation rates for males in the labor market exceed women's by over 50 per cent; women are more like to be engaged in vulnerable jobs; worldwide, the participation of women in the labor market, compared to men, is 68%.

 In a word, inequality. It starts at the beginning (primary education) and carries on right through the active professional period into old age. Women are less likely to receive an education, up to seventy per cent in some regions suffer some form of abuse, they are more likely to be victims of harassment, they are more likely to have dangerous jobs, they are more likely to be victims of human trafficking, they are more likely to be asked at the job interview "you aren't planning on having a family, ARE you?"

The good news is that statistics are improving but there remains far more to be done. A further positive step was taken this week at the Global Consultation on Education in the Post-2015 Development Agenda (March 18, in Dakar, Senegal), which commits itself to two fundamental principles:

Firstly, the right to quality education is a fundamental human right; secondly, education is envisaged as a public asset, therefore the State is the custodian of principles of education, paying attention to gender and social equality. In this way, we may yet achieve the Millennium Development Goals in 2015, under which six principles were drawn up by the initiative Education for All (EFA):

Goal 1
Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

Goal 2
Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.

Goal 3
Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.

Goal 4
Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.

Goal 5
Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.

Goal 6
Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.

As usual, for every step taken forward, in other areas we slip back and UNESCO itself describes EFA as "an unfinished agenda" with millions of youths remaining illiterate, children out of school, drop-rates and learning difficulties soaring and the ensuing marginalization rates remaining high in many societies.

For the post-2015 agenda, UNESCO defends four basic principles, namely:

1. Concern for peace and sustainable development should be at the centre of efforts to promote inclusive and equitable development beyond 2015. Education for global citizenship is already included in many countries' curricula - but it needs to become a measureable goal.

2. Any post-2015 development framework must be of universal relevance and mobilize all countries, regardless of their -development status, around a common framework of goals aimed at inclusive and sustainable development.

3. The link between education and other development sectors must be strengthened: Education is an enabler for reaching all the Millennium Development Goals, but it is also dependent on progress in other policy areas.

4. A framework for learning in the 21st century must be elaborated that promotes the development of inclusive lifelong learning systems. 

By concentrating on education as a key driver towards sustainable development, insisting that gender equality be a reality and not a distant chimera, will our societies achieve the required levels of development to surpass our tremendous problems. Let us be honest: would so many men be killing each other and destroying infrastructures with weapons if more women were in positions of responsibility?

If not, then why are there only around 20% of women represented in national Parliaments?

Sources: UNO Millennium Development Goals

UNESCO Education for All

World Bank