WHAT DOES IFEANYI UBAH WANT – by Frank Ofili

What does Ifeanyi Ubah, chairman of Capital Oil and Gas Limited, really want?

The other day, he claimed he could force down exchange rate of the Dollar to N200.00. Some of us were skeptical given what we know to be responsible for the yoyo nature of the Naira. It is not new. A mono-cultural oil economy can only be susceptible to the vagaries of the global economy, especially at a time global crude oil price is nose-diving.

How can a country stabilize the exchange rate of its currency if it has only one source of forex earnings? And especially when that only source is at a precipice? Any sneeze from any of the usual suspects can only result in shock to the local currency. That is what is currently happening to the Naira.

But Ifeanyi Ubah thinks otherwise. Now he is yet again claiming he can grow Nigeria’s internally generated revenue by 30 percent. He says all he needs, is for the Federal Government to approach him. Again I ask, how can one man alone grow a whole country’s internally generated revenue?

The Federal Government has so far chosen not to approach Ifeanyi Ubah; and rightly so in my opinion. Perhaps Ubah needs to be more convincing.

But beyond this, what is the duty of every good citizen? The duty every good citizen owes his nation includes among other things helping and serving his country voluntarily in time of need. Ifeanyi Ubah does not have to wait for Federal Government to beg him to her his service/help. He should offer it freely, unsolicited, as a good citizen.

And he has avenues through which he can offer it without being begged, without media hype. He has his local government chairman to start with. He can also go through his state House of Assembly member representing his constituency. His constituency’s House of Reps and Senator are there too. Not to talk of his state governor, or Minister from his state. If all these fail, he has his Godfather, Baba Iyabo himself. And Baba Iyabo has direct access to Aso Rock.

Ifeanyi Ubah can go through any or all of these people; and I am sure he has unrestricted access to them. So why does he want President Buhari to personally beg him to come give his service to his country?

What is the real reason for Ifeanyi Ubah’s new-found patriotism? Whatever Nigeria is witnessing today predates this government. So why didn’t Ubah offer his elixir to GEJ, Yar Adua, and OBJ governments? Why this government particularly?

Ifeanyi Ubah should maintain abeg. If he is so convinced about the efficacy of his economic revivalist panacea, he should put it down in a book so that posterity can benefit from it.

But something tells me he is surreptitiously looking for a way to divert attention from how Capital Oil came about. If that is the case, somebody should please tell him that he has missed it big time. At the appropriate time what will be done will be done and the truth about how some mega corporations suddenly came about would be known.