OVER the years, Ghana has made some strides in the practice of democracy, sporting activities and other areas of human endeavour thus making her a showpiece and worthy of emulation by other countries on the continent.
However, Ghana’s emerging oil industry serves as a test case for her achievements — a test she must pass if the industry is properly harnessed and managed.
Already, there are very high expectations that the moment the first “black gold” is poured out from the ground, many of the numerous problems confronting the nation will be a thing of the past.
But this feat cannot be achieved in isolation and calls for all hands on deck. It is about time all the stakeholders in the oil industry began to make available to the entire population relevant information about what exactly to expect from the oil find.
Compared to other oil-producing countries in the world, Ghana’s resource base does not appear to be big but if properly managed, it can go a long way to address some of the challenges that confront the country.
First of all, the government must take steps to manage the high expectations of the people otherwise these expectations, if not properly managed, will lead to frustration among the large army of the unemployed youth.
It is, thus, refreshing that a Ghana Petroleum Account and a Ghana Petroleum Fund are to be set up by the government to respectively serve as a single destination collection account for all petroleum revenues due and collected on behalf of the state and also to smoothen government spending and preserve part of the value of the oil capital while living on the interest.
The proposals, according to the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, when he spoke at the Graphic Business Roundtable in Accra yesterday is captured under the draft Oil Revenue Management Bill and will make it easier to monitor the inflows and outflows of petroleum revenues and ensure transparency and accountability of oil resources.
Quite apart from that, there is also another issue of security in the communities where the oil reserve is located. We know that the government has already procured two vessels for the Ghana Navy to assist them patrol the high seas, including the area where the oil has been found, to make sure that saboteurs do not take over the oil industry and ruin it.
This calls for capacity building of our people in the area of skills training to enable them not only to be gainfully employed but to see the whole oil industry as a very crucial national asset.
The DAILY GRAPHIC considers this pertinent in view of the useful lessons that we can draw from our next door neighbour, Nigeria, where residents from the Niger Delta have persistently taken over some of that country’s oil resources amidst violence.
It is also important to learn relevant lessons from the oil spillage in the Gulf of Mexico where the activities of oil companies have caused extensive damage to the environment. It will also be worthwhile to adopt the polluter pays policy in managing the environment so that those who cause damage to our marine resources are made to pay for it.
Our oil resource should be used for the benefit of the people in such areas as healthcare delivery, education, and agricultural activities so that Ghana can derive the maximum benefit from the oil find.
The DAILY GRAPHIC advises that there should be no limited disclosure when it comes to the oil revenue and that all facts and data should be made available to the people so that they can hold the leaders accountable for the use of the oil revenue.
Surely, Ghanaians do not expect the oil to be a curse but rather a huge benefit to our people.
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