Oil In Tranquil Waters

Some weeks ago I, among others, was cock-a-hoop about the prospect of oil in the waters of Sierra Leone. Now, here was a resource, we were thinking, wells from which we were, in time, to drink deep and long to refresh our impoverished souls. We had a sense that things were about to get better, much better, for the country. Wherever the price of crude went, it was going to take us to places we hadn’t been before, and we would be glad. But in the midst of all that celebratory back- and thigh-slapping, there was an undercurrent of unease that there was a possibility, ever so slight, that we were being handed a poisoned chalice. We look fearfully down the coast at the experience of our neighbor and big brother, Nigeria, and mutter invocations that please, God, let not our case be like theirs.

The great expectations that Big Brov, Naija, anticipated from its considerable resources of light sweet have not been altogether unalloyed. Apart from everything else, there has been an ugly civil war sparked by the former Eastern Region’s decision to secede from the union because it perceived that the oil revenues from its ground and deltas were going disproportionately elsewhere in the Federation. (That, as it happens, is a road we, too, have trod before. Never again!)

But although, in the end, the Nigerian federation prevailed and has survived in a new incarnation, there remains a simmering resentment among the peoples of the Delta region who feel that they are still not getting their due, whilst the environment is being re-shaped into a brutal wasteland, with no relief at all in sight for its peoples.

These environmental dangers are what are inducing me to step back a little from the rosy economic prospects that oil has brought to so many other countries, especially outside Africa: As one watches the heroic efforts of scientists, technicians, government departments that command vast resources of know-how and money, try to contain the oil now being spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, one cannot help but wonder how such a disaster could be handled in a poorly-resourced country like ours if such an incident were to occur in the waters and shoreline of southern Sierra Leone. We should wonder, for example, if such an incident (never an accident; these events are all too predictable) were to occur, what would be the logistics of shipping appropriate equipment across thousand of miles of ocean to deal with the uncontrolled gushing? Who would be responsible for clearing up the mess? Who would take responsibility for restoring those golden beaches to their legendary beauty?  And who would pay for the loss and restoration of all the marine species devastated by toxic stuff pouring into the sea? The nascent tourism industry that is so much talked about these days would be dead in the water. The mind boggles.

These questions require answers before we give open-ended licenses to powerful international operators who give no second thought when they stamp their devices and desires on the powerless. We have the right to expect that those bearing the responsibility for protecting our interests must stand true to their national obligations even before serious drilling starts. The question is, can they put national interest first and resist the sweet talk of multi-national companies with deep pockets? One wonders.

Tell Fren Tru