PETROLEUM RESOURCES: THE INDISPENSABILTY OF ENERGY

By Noma S Patrick

The basic science defines energy as the ability to do work. In the linguistic sense of this definition, it's easy to be misled into viewing energy as some kind of abstraction. However, in the real sense − which is of course the scientific sense − energy is actually a precisely quantifiable commodity that nations consume on daily basis in various forms and ways. Energy is the very 'victual' that nurtures the economies of the world.

Labourers working on farm fields, mines, construction sites and factories is one form of energy input into a nation's economy; machineries consuming power from gas powered plants in a factory is a form of energy sinking into the economy of a nation, electricity generated from dammed rivers and used up by the people is yet another form of energy input in the economic life of a nation. It is therefore only logical to conclude that the amount of energy powering a given economy determines how strong such an economy can be. This translates to the GDP of that economy. The standard of living of the people and the extent to which luxury is enjoyed by them are all tied to this. And, besides many other sources of energy, the major, most efficient, most effective, most dynamic and most versatile source of energy with the most flexible applications in the world today is the petroleum mineral widely known as crude oil.

America is today the world economic power chiefly for this reason. It is simply the result of the natural law of the working of things. They have a nonpareil understanding of the need for energy for economic power and hence make it a frontline conscious duty to wield, promote and advance every effort towards acquiring it, maximizing it, consuming it, educating it, researching it and developing it. Little wonder, then, that when Arden Hayes, the then five year old American genius, met the former vice president Al Gore, the gift he received from the American leader was an energy book. To America, such smarts must be tapped towards developing energy. The US has been among the top three crude oil producers in the world, continually permuting positions with Russia and Saudi Arabia. Yet the US consumes the entire quantity it produces, imports about the same amount produced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and still consume half of it.

It is therefore utterly perplexing when Nigerian leaders make comments about contemplating policies that will make the Nation shift attention from oil and gas. This in actual sense translates to “shifting attention from energy”. It is a position that smacks of the lack of understanding of how things work and the possession of a false sense of economic vision for the Nation by Nigerian leaders. And to think that they actually say this to impress the people shows how far we have gone in being collectively lost.

Energy is the very last thing any Nation can ever consider shifting attention from because the world is a world of work and work is only possible when there is constant supply of energy. Rather, a nation like ours should be talking about changing the way it uses its energy resources.

A little further look into US' energy consumption will suffice a helpful insight. Aside its crude oil consumption level, the United States is the second largest producer of coal with a net export of less than 10% of its total production. It is the largest producer of natural gas and still a net importer (meaning that it consumes more than it produces). It is still the second largest producer of renewable energy after China. It is no surprise therefore that the US is the strongest economy. This is despite the fact that the Chinese population is more than quadrupled that of the United States of America. The energy input into the US economy is far more than what a 1.2 billion population provides into the Chinese economy. Human energy is less efficient than the crude sourced energy and China’s use of the more efficient source lags behind US'.

Nigeria as a nation must understand this principle and be submissive to its motivation. We are a Nation so much blessed with the best resource any right thinking people should yearn for in the world − energy. This is what solves every problem of mankind and place Nations above others. We instead choose to sap this resource dry, earn dollars with it from people who use their head to use this energy, and at the end spend much of this money buying luxury from the same people. The nation must pursue self-sufficiency in order to have a stable economy that never wobbles simply because someone elsewhere suddenly decides to temper with equation of things.

This self-sufficiency and all the economic strength we need to flourish and secure a better future for our children is not going to be attained by taking away attention from crude oil and, consequently, energy. The main pointer to the fact that we are being innovative, creative and that our education, in science and technology especially, is counting is whether we are producing our crude for ourselves or for others. A nation can only have what to spend a vast amount of energy like the one we produce if its human resource uses its brain to create and/or assemble technologies and businesses that will use up that energy. Entrepreneurship stimulation by government through human resource development, target legislation and economic policy, infrastructural development and seed capital provision should be our focus. This is what will ultimately count as our economic strength and power in the end.

The key thing is the human capacity that is able to turn the energy into useful products. Nigeria must rise to concentrate on the technologies, innovations and human capacity that avail the means through which petroleum is used up to create value, enjoy the value so created and only sell the excess to capable buyers to exchange for the things they lack. This is very material because apart from maximizing the usefulness of petroleum with the resulting reward of an unshakable economic backbone, our human capacity is going to be developed at an exponential rate and we will become more likely to continue to be as independent as possible. It is therefore vital that Nigeria make legislations that limits crude export and maximize its utilization in-home to provide cheap energy for industrial revolution and consequently spur economic activities.

This is what ultimately determines the strength and stability of our currency and how less susceptible we can be to economic recession and downturn. We have a population big enough to use its human resources and manpower providing very affordable labour to create and produce solutions that take care of a lot of our needs, importing strictly only that which is unavailable for us.

This is the war of the modern day − economic war. The most diligent and prudent wins. With a natural gift right under our feet that is the very requisite ‘arsenal’ for this war, loosing amounts to an immeasurable folly. This is the way we should be using our energy, exchanging only strictly for the things we can not create. This way, we can become very strong as a people.