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Ghana Crude Oil - Cocoa Curse And Gold Curse

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 Source: Africa Today

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*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

Columnist: Africa Today