USA Africa Dialogue Series - GHANA CRUDE OIL - COCOA CURSE AND GOLD CURSE

GHANA CRUDE OIL -  COCOA CURSE AND COLD CURSE

 

Ghananians should not compare with Nigeria and talk of Nigerian oil "curse" as if Ghana has had it so good untill the recent modest gain in elections. Ghana has been producing Cocoa and Gold for over 50 years and yet Ghana is still one of the poorest countries on earth,  and depends heavily on international donors and hand out for its survival and why is it like that. Just like Nigeria has mismanaged its oil and gas revenue for over 50 years, the same thing has happened in Ghana for over 50 years when Ghana despite being the world largest cocoa producer and one of the largest producers of Gold in Africa, Ghana mismanaged its Cocoa and gold revenue for over 50 years. Within 30 years Countries in Asia and south America were producing fruits like banana, orange, rice, like costa Rico, Thailand and Colombia etc. and yet these countries are well developed and are medium range nations and they did it with fruits and vegetable export, so why did Ghana fail with Cocoa and Gold production for over 50 years and why.

 

When 15 to 20  years ago Cameroon, chad, Angola, Gabon, Sudan etc in Africa,  all discovered oil in commercial quantity, all of them keep saying the same thing and the same mantra " We will not be like Nigeria with our new crude oil discovery" but look at today none of them has done better than Nigeria and infact Nigeria is better than them all put together. The question to Ghana, Cameroon,Chad,  Sudan, Angola, Gabon is, What did you do with your natural resources and other producct to better your people before and after oil discovery and the answer is nothing - zero -nil. Africans should focus on how to get ride of corruption and thieves in African leadership instead of making comparizons that hold no water.

 

Another issues is how does Ghana think that it will prosper when it is sorrounded by almost 300 million unstable and desparate poor countries and people around it. The same thing happended with Ivory coast when its so call boom, and it was surrounded by 300 million poor and desparet and unstable countries like Sierra Leon, Liberia, Mali etc. The same thing happended to Nigeria in the 1970s when it was booming and surrounded by 300 million people unstable poor countries. The same thing has happended in Kenya when it was booming and sorrounded by unstable Somalia, Ruwanda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, congo, Burundi etc and what happended eventually Kenya, Ivory coast, Nigeria, Zimbabwe,  etc all came crashing down and collapsed, because Africans leaders do not know how to have a marshall plan for the whole of Africa like in Europe,Eastern Europe, South America and Asia,  so that every country will grow and up lifted in the same level and make growth reach every corner at the same time. When a country of 30 million people like Ghana is booming and relatively poor like Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast and surrounded by 3oo milion poor and unstable countries and people eventually with immigration, refugees and unbalanced setup structurally, it is impossible for that country to survive being a relative poor country itself.

 

African countries like Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Conngo.,South Africa are fooling themselves by thinking that when a country of population of about 30 million people is booming and experiencing growth,  and yet are surrounded by 500 million poor and unstable desparate Africans, and they think the growth will continue. It will not but rather those 500 million people around it will pull it down eventually. What Africa needs is universal growth plan for West Africa region, all East Africa Region, All South African Region and all North African region at the same time to sustain the growth.

 

Ghana is not all that Gold like we think. Ghana is a very poor country  and corrupt country both in human and material resources. Ghana has been mismanaged in the last  50 years like Nigeria untill about just 5 years ago that Ghana started showing very small sign of improvement by conducting good elections. Ghana is still a very corrupt and poor country. Check the follwing facts below because the is no camparisons between the two countries. It is too lopsided.
 
(1) Ghana GDP (Total Worth of Ghana) in purchasing power is 30 -35 billion dollars
(2) Nigeria GDP (Total Worth of Nigeria) in  purchasing power 350 billion - 400 billion Dollars

 (3) Ghana population is  about 25 million people and Nigeria population is about  170 million people.

(4) Nigeria already discovered  oil and gas fieldl 50 years ago now is  capable of producing 5 million barrels a day now if well managed, but still,

(5) Nigeria has huge reserve of oil and gas fields discovered and  untouched for future savings in Anambra Basin, Benin Basin, Edo basin and Kogi/Benue River Basin with reserve of alomost  10 million barrells a day of of oil and gas deposit already explored and discovered and just siting there for future reserve use.

(6) In Nigeria Kano State, Rivers State, Lagos State, Ogun State, Anambra State, Abia State, Delta State,Bayela state, Oyo State each of these ten states has a bigger economy each than Ghana.These Ten States each in Nigeria has larger economy than Ghana.

 

(7) Nigeria with a large land mass 10 times the the size of Ghana land mass has abundant mineral and commodites resources other than oil and gas which is the largest reserves in commodities and mineral deposit combined in Africa today and are in export market now and with huge potential for expansion.

 

(8) LIST OF EXPORTABLE MINERALS FROM NIGERIA

Cassaiterite, Columbite, Gelena, Gold, Iron-ore", Ilemmite, Lead-Zinc, Manganese, Moleybdenite, Asbestos, Limestone, Coal, Lignite, Emerald, Aquamarine, Ruby, Sapphire, Granite, Marble

(9) LIST OF EXPORTABLE  COMMODITIES FROM NIGERIA

Cocoa, Coffee, Cashewnuts,Rubber, Kolanuts, Palm kernel, Coconuts, Cotton, Ginger, Charcoal, Cow horns and hooves, TimberCimelina, Shrimps,, and prawns, Sheanut, Sesame seed.

(10) Corruption i is endemic in Ghana despite their showing good face and conducting good election. Corruption is a big problem in Ghana, Example is the recent world cup Tournamant in South Africa, when Ghananian Players did quite well, but as they came back  to Ghana, corrupt officials in Ghananian Football Association stole the world cup players money (fees) and some of the players have not been paid in full till today, and Ghana footbal body has been suspened by the Government,  and investigation is on going and FIFA has suspended Ghana from International competition for corrupt practices. Corruption in official circle is a common everyday thing in Ghana just like in Nigeria and all African countries.

(11) Ghana will be producing about  two hundred thousans barrells of oil in about two years if they are lucky, but then Ghana has to be given quotas by OPEC and international oil cartel politics and Ghana may be able to sell only half of that. For example Nigeria can produce 5 million barrels  of oil a day now, but because of OPEC quotas and international oil cartel politics Nigeria can only sell half of that  2.5 million barrels in the world market today in the world market.

(12) If  Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, Sudan and all these African countries that produces oil do not follow OPEC Quotas and Internationl Oil Cartel Mafias politics their oil can become useless, because no body will buy it. The reason is that Saudi Arabia  can produce and flood the world with 10 million barrels a day, Iran can produce  and flood the world with  10 million barrels a day, Russia Can produce  and flood the world with  10 million barrels a day, Kuwait can produce 10 million barrells  a day, Venezuela and all the Middle East countries can flood the world market with oil and sell them for only 10 dollars  a barrels and they will still make their money, but the poor African oil producing countries will be useless if they do not obey or follow OPEC and International oil cartel politics, because they cartels  and the Western World have the technology, money and investment to control oil production and distribution every where in the world today.

(13)But  because of OPEC  quotas and the International oil politcs every country is given a quotas so that they will be stability in oil production and  international oil market so that every country will get something based on their production level instead of oil war that will destroy less powerful  oil producing countries. OPEC and the International oil politics is like price control agency.

(14) It will take Ghana about  50 years years to repay the oil investment by international oil investors in Ghana now before Ghana can even come close to Nigeria as an oil producing country, because Nigeria oil fields took 50 years to discover and to get to this level.

(15) Ghana cannot compare to Nigeria in any tangible thing now or in the near future, yes they have been conducting good elections and thats its for a small poor country,  and Ghanaians and their leaders should stop camparing with Nigeria what they have not been able to do with cocoa and Gold.

 

NIGERIA POTENTIAL TO BE AFRICA NUMBER ONE ECONOMY IN 20 YEARS

 culled from BLOOMBERG News - New York  December 2010

Goldman Sachs's Mboweni Says Nigeria May Become Africa's New `Gold Rush'

Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, will be the next "gold rush" on the continent as investors take advantage of a booming economy, former South African central bank Governor Tito Mboweni said.
Nigeria's gross domestic product will overtake South Africa's in the next three decades, Mboweni, who is now an adviser for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said in an interview in Johannesburg on Oct. 8. Its economy of $169 billion compares with South Africa's $286 billion, according to World Bank data.
"Nigeria is going to be Africa's growth story for the next 15 to 20 years," Mboweni said after returning from a visit to Nigeria's capital, Abuja, and the commercial hub, Lagos, as part of a delegation from Goldman Sachs.
The West African nation, the continent's most populous with 140 million people, is targeting economic growth of 10 percent in the coming years as it boosts spending on power plants and attracts more investment, Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga, a former Goldman Sachs executive, said Sept. 3. The government is preparing to sell its first Eurobond of $500 million this year.
Goldman Sachs, which doesn't have an office in Nigeria, is bidding to advise on the sale of state-owned power-generation and distribution companies, the Bureau of Public Enterprises said on Aug. 31. The government hasn't said who will manage the Eurobond sale yet.
Mboweni is also chairman of Nampak Ltd., Africa's biggest packaging maker, which is benefiting from its business in Nigeria, he said. Nampak manufactures bottles for Guinness beer and cigarette packages in the country.
Banking Crisis
Nigeria has previously failed to convert its oil wealth into economic development. In its latest crisis, central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi, who took office in June last year, fired the chief executive officers of eight of the 24 commercial lenders and pumped 620 billion naira ($4 billion) to bail out 10 of them as the industry risked collapse. Sanusi said on Sept. 21 that the economy will probably expand 7.8 percent this year, up from 7 percent in 2009.
Nigeria has oil production capacity of more than 3 million barrels a day, Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said on Sept. 27, making it the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' sixth-largest supplier. Oil accounts for more than 80 percent of government revenue, according to the Finance Ministry.
There are a number of good, young technocrats in Nigeria's government who will help sort out the "chaos" in the country, Mboweni said.
'Good Job'
A former labor minister in President Nelson Mandela's first Cabinet in 1994, Mboweni, 51, left the South African Reserve Bank in November after a decade at its helm, declining PresidentJacob Zuma's offer to serve a third term. He was named chairman of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Africa's biggest gold producer, on Feb. 24, three weeks after he was appointed to the same position at Nampak.
Mboweni, who is a patron of the South African Ballet Theater, is currently raising $130 million for a planned specialist children's hospital in Johannesburg.
The Reserve Bank of South Africa is doing a "good job," Mboweni said. Interest rate increases between June 2006 and June 2008 helped to curb price gains, he said.
Inflation has been inside the central bank's 3 percent to 6 percent target range since February, easing to an annual 3.5 percent in August.
Union Criticism
Mboweni was criticized by South African labor unions for not cutting interest rates fast enough in 2009, which they said prolonged the economy's first recession in 17 years. He lowered thebenchmark rate six times to 7 percent between December 2008 and August 2009. His replacement, Gill Marcus, has cut the rate by 1 percentage point since then.
In his new role at Goldman Sachs, Mboweni said he has met with foreign investors, who raised concerns about calls from the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress to nationalize the country's mines. His response to them is that the "center will hold" in the ANC, he said.
The ANC agreed at its National General Council meeting, which ended on Sept. 24, to study nationalizing mines and other key industries over the next two years. The ANC Youth League, led by Julius Malema, argued at the meeting that South Africa didn't derive enough benefit from mining, which generates 30 percent of export revenue in the country." Unquote


Africa Today
 
 
 
 
 
 
If Nigeria collapsed in similar manner, and its own graduates had to shine shoes or panhandle in Lome, as Ghanaian ones did..." - "Mr. Seyi Olu Awofeso" awofeso@mwebafrica.com

Uhm!

Are our "own Nigerian graduates", professionals, former lecturers and even a number of senior directors and bank managers not already doing same (or even worse) in Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, today - driving taxi cabs, doing janitorial work, meguards, and washing dead bodies...even in places like Cairo, Tripoli, Johannesburg and maybe Accra and Lome already?

How much PROOF do we still need that the "Giant of Africa" has already been brought to its knees - even if most of us refuse to recognize this FACT, and that it is merely "a thorough-going illusion that keeps Nigeria in recklessness - that the oil in Nigeria is infinite and the world will rather stump up bail-out cash than risk Nigeria's inevitable collapse at its current form..?" - "Mr. Seyi Olu Awofeso" awofeso@mwebafrica.com

When we are actually virtually on the brink of COLLAPSE and major NATIONAL DISASTER!

Dr. Valentine Ojo
Tall Timbers, MD

 

On Wed 12/15/10 2:24 PM , "Mr. Seyi Olu Awofeso" awofeso@mwebafrica.com sent:

 
Dear Collins, 
 
I agree with you on all points. I can only add that the wrenching poverty of famine that Ghana suffered in the 1970s will hardly allow the people to accept a looting dictator in future. If Nigeria collapsed in similar manner, and its own graduates had to shine shoes or panhandle in Lome, as Ghanaian ones did, all philosophies against looting in Nigeria shall have been fully learned; never to be forgotten. But a thorough-going illusion keeps Nigeria in recklessness still - that the oil in Nigeria is infinite and the world will rather stump up bail-out cash than risk Nigeria's inevitable collapse at its current form.
 
Seyi
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: COLLINS EZEBUIHE
To: nigeria360@yahoogroups.com ; newnaijapolitics@yahoogroups.com ; Imo Forum ; nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 7:52 PM
Subject: RE: [Nigeria360::Live] Ghana starts Crude Oil Production [2 Attachments]

 
Dear Seyi:
 
As long as Ghanains continue to live a modest life, they will have little
or no problems with their Oil. But if they are tempted to live large like Nigerians,
the "Oli curse" will surely set in, and corruption and its offsprings might actually be
worse there than it is in Nigeria.
 
In the case of the same Ghana, it is just a big State named a nation by Britain. Therefore,
it will be easy for a Dictator to put all Ghanains in his side pocket, and their much talked about
unity will become casualty! I hope not.
 
Ndewo.
 
Collins Ezebuihe.
 

 

To: nigeria360@yahoogroups.com; NewnaijaPolitics@yahoogroups.com
From: awofeso@mwebafrica.com
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:28:54 +0100
Subject: [Nigeria360::Live] Ghana starts Crude Oil Production

 
Ghana begins pumping oil for first time
 Ghana's offshore oil fields are estimated to contain about 3bn barrels
The West African nation of Ghana has begun to pump its first commercial oil after the discovery of the offshore Jubilee Field three years ago.
President John Atta Mills turned on the valve at an offshore platform.
A consortium led by UK-based Tullow Oil hopes to produce 55,000 barrels per day, increasing to 120,000 barrels in six months.
Ghana, one of Africa's most stable countries, is expected to earn $400m (£254m) in the first year.
Wearing safety gear and blue overalls, the president opened the valve in a televised ceremony some 60km (40 miles) off the coast from the town of Takoradi, Reuters news agency reports.
The discovery of oil off Ghana's coast has raised questions about whether Ghana can escape the "resource curse", where discoveries of valuable commodities fuel conflict and corruption instead of funding development.

Analysts have raised concerns about the lack of laws to manage oil revenue and the lack of an independent regulator for the sector.
The government has said it is working to get an oil bill passed.
The government has forecast that the oil will boost Ghana's economic growth rate from 5% this year to as much as 12% next year.
Production is eventually expected to bring in $1bn a year.
The Jubilee Field is estimated to hold 1.5bn barrels of oil. A second offshore field was discovered in September that is believed to hold another 1.4bn barrels.
The fields are some of the largest oil deposits found in recent years.
Learning from mistakes Observers say militant insurgency like that in nearby Nigeria's Niger Delta is unlikely as long as the government manages expectations.

Analysis
David Amanor BBC News, Accra

It is a momentous day for Ghana - barely three years after that first vial of oil was presented to former President John Kufour.
Hopes are high, tempered by a fair amount of realism - most people seem to understand oil production is unlikely in itself to bring about lower fuel prices and that it will take time for real benefits to accrue.
The government is currently negotiating huge multi-billion dollar loans for infrastructure developments, using oil as collateral, which has met with some stiff opposition from the parliamentary minority and other civil society groups. "We've looked at the experiences of other countries and it has not been positive," says Mohammed Amin Adam of campaign group Publish What You Pay.
Other concerns are focussed on how the oil money is spent rather than when. "Politicians' decisions tend to be very short-term and short-sighted," says Kofi Bentil of Ghanaian think-tank Imani.

"Transparency to population is very important," said Stephen Hayes, head of the Corporate Council on Africa - a group of some 180 mainly US firms that invest in Africa.
"They also have a fairly transparent society compared to other countries dealing in oil - so they've got a better opportunity to get it right," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa.
He says lessons can be learnt from others' mistakes and points out that Ghana's economy is more diversified than other oil-producing countries in Africa. It earns billions from cocoa and gold.
"The oil revenues expected only represents 6% of their economy - compare that to Nigeria where oil revenue represents 92% of the economy or Angola where it's almost 100%," he said.
"It indicates they won't be dependent on oil revenue... and are in a far better position to manage it more wisely."
The BBC's David Amanor in the capital, Accra, says there a positive mood about the pumping of the country's first oil - and plenty of advice about how the revenue should be spent.
"I'm very much excited because maybe that will be able to solve some of problems for us," a lottery-ticket seller said.
"The first area should be education, secondly agriculture and thirdly health."

 Campaigners hope fishermen who may lose their livelihoods will be given other job opportunities
Another man said the move was a blessing for him and the country.
"It's going to benefit me so I'm really excited. I've completed school but I've not found any work to do - I hope oil will help me to get a job."
Our reporter says Ghana also has a growing civil society community which is anxious to ensure environmental and development considerations are given a voice in the area where the oil is being bumped.
"A lot of the fishermen are now moving away because of the oil rig - they cannot fish within a certain parameter," says Adwoa Bame from the Women's Initiative for Self-Empowerment group.
"The men go out and bring the fish to the fishmongers, who are normally women," she told the BBC.
"So we need to look at how we can develop programmes that can sustain these communities in terms of livelihoods."

 

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