Ade Wale
Passionate about journalism and reporting unreported or underreported news worthy stories, Ade Wale is creating a niche for himself in journalism.
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Nigeria will be great-Samuel Kporaro

The cleric said that Nigerian states must be aware that as they are as large or even larger than certain sovereign countries, they should act like sovereign states and compete among themselves with the help of comparative advantage. According to him, if the north cannot produce wheat but can produce enough sorghum or millet, then it's high time we think out of the box and try to produce millet bread or bread made of sorghum. He said he had read about failed wheat production programs in the past from the north of Nigeria but argued that using millet or sorghum instead of wheat will not kill Nigerians. He emphasized that even if it were possible to make corn bread, Nigerians should start to do so as it will not kill them but will in fact help them.

He said that Nigeria will not stop importation of wheat but will instead have to reduce the amount of wheat used in anything that wheat is used for. He said that Nigeria has areas with near temperate climatic conditions and such areas have their functions. He said Nigeria cannot continue to depend on crude oil for sustenance.

When asked about his talk about building three refineries in the three senatorial districts of Delta State if ever elected as Governor of the state, the cleric said that the proposal and plan still holds true. He said the state in such a situation will both be acting as a sovereign state and as a business organization. It will rely on the license for oil exploration and production already obtained by Oando from the federal government to explore and exploit for crude oil and natural gas while as a different business entity, the state will obtain license from the federal government to enable it build the three refineries as proposed. The cleric said the licenses will increase the revenue accruing to the federation account as monies will be paid to obtain approval and license to build and operate refineries. According to the cleric, the licenses will be renewed based on Nigerian laws relating to the petroleum industry in Nigeria and these license renewal will inject money into the federation account.

When asked about how profitable it will be for a state to engage itself in petroleum exploration, production and processing, the cleric replied that the refined petroleum products will be sold to other states in Nigeria and as the business expands, to other states of the world such as the Bahamas, Liberia, etc. He then said that if refined petroleum products is to be sold in and to Kogi state, licenses will be obtained from Kogi state to build petroleum stations that do not belong to Oando even though the petroleum stations will be branded as though belonging to Oando. According to him, if Oando is to obtain the refined products and sell in it's own retail outlets then it must buy the product from Delta State. He then said the land to build a retail outlet (not belonging to Oando) in for example, Kogi state, will be bought and wealth redistributed from Delta State to the landowner from Kogi state who owns the desired land. He said a native from Kogi state who knows that his state doesn't have the amount and quality of crude oil and gas that Delta State has will seriously go to school, devote time to study and skills acquisition knowing that unlike the previous years when a person will graduate and find it difficult to get a well paying job, as soon as he graduates and comes to work in the refinery in Delta State as an expatriate or just as an expert engineer, technician, top management staff, etc, he will be speedily employed because we know that for the plan to make Delta State very wealthy to be successful and sustainable will be only possible if we have dedicated and competent hands not our youths who don't care about dedication and competence but depend on quota and indigenes slot to get a job. The cleric said such indigenous youths will kill the prosperity of the state. He said the dedicated and competent experts who are indigenous to other states are most needed because they will always act with a sense that a little mistake from them that would have been ignored if they were indigenous to Delta State could cost them their income and promotion and so will always outperform and increase productivity and innovation and that is what is needed. There will also be redistribution of wealth as these non-indigenous individuals will be paid and they will remit some part of their salaries to their parents or relatives in their home state of origin. Some will even build estates and establish big business in their home state.

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