Ghana will make history tomorrow when President John Evans Atta Mills presses the button to inaugurate the Jubilee Oil Fields and thereby officially signal the first flow of oil from the country. (See front page).
With this event, Ghana will not only enhance its stature as a member of the powerful league of petroleum producing and exporting nations but also stand on the threshold of accelerating its wealth generation that holds the potential to significantly raise the quality of life of the people.
We are happy that many Ghanaians of this generation have lived to witness the day. In making this assertion, we are only conscious of the immense roles the various regimes that have steered the affairs of this nation have played in laying the foundation for the eventual pouring of oil that we are about to witness tomorrow.
It should be pointed out that the search for oil has taken us many decades; indeed, way back to the pre-colonial era through the colonial period to the days of our hard-won freedom as the first African country south of the Sahara to break the back of colonialism.
Over this extensive period, explorations have been done, precious data gathered, analysed and preserved and the critical human resource needed to safeguard the drive to find oil in commercial quantities trained.
Under the nation’s Founder, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, many exploration activities took place, both onshore and offshore, which led to the gathering and processing of vital information on the country’s petroleum resources.
In the 1970s, the exploration of oil actually commenced in the Saltpond oil fields in the Central Region and although the oil there was not in substantial commercial quantities, it served notice of the country’s real hydrocarbon potential.
The setting up of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), under the leadership of Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, by former President Jerry John Rawlings accelerated the tempo of the search for oil and concretised efforts at exploiting the resource.
The further streamlining of the system by the Kufuor administration contributed to the discovery of oil in the Jubilee Field.
It is worth pointing out that a great deal of work, including the commercial installation of oil rigs and pipes, the building of the mammoth FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, the laying of subsea infrastructure and others, has been done in record time by the Mills administration to ensure that production commences at this time. This is a credit which all Ghanaians must justifiably be proud of and which they must collectively share in.
The most important issue about this resource is that it must be of benefit to the people. The decision to collateralise part of the revenue accruing from the oil is, for us, a step in the right direction, as it will anchor the nation to undertake massive infrastructural development.
What we believe we should do is ensure that the relevant institutions and structures that will monitor the use of the funds are empowered to work to ensure that the funds are properly utilised for what they are intended.
We are also happy to note that traditionally important sectors of our economy such as agriculture will still get the attention they deserve from the government so that we do not catch the Dutch disease.
After all, this oil find cannot have and must never be seen as having the magic wand to instantly resolve all our economic difficulties and challenges.
While we rejoice on this occasion, let us all collectively work to protect and safeguard this resource for our collective benefit.
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