Monitor quantities of oil produced - Prof Aheto

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

A Chartered Accountant and Lawyer, Prof. John B.K. Aheto, has called for what he describes as an oversight board that will closely monitor the quantity of oil to be drilled from the Jubilee Fields.
He also called for the strengthening of communities living near the oil exploration centres to enable them to monitor and perform oversight responsibilities on the activities and effects of the exploration on the inhabitants and the communities at large.
Prof. Aheto made the call at a lecture organised by the Ga Society (GANDS) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) in Accra on the topic; “Ensuring transparency in the management of Ghana’s oil revenue: The role of the Accountant”.
The lecture forms part of the activities lined up to mark the week long celebrations of the GANDS, a branch of the institute.
Prof. Aheto said there was also the need for the Parliamentary Select Committee on Energy to be resourced to enable it to give legislative backing to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
He said the country must learn lessons from the mining sector and apply them to its emerging petroleum sector, adding that we “must extend our EITI endorsement in the mining sector to the oil and gas sector.”
In his view the delays in passing the bills on the Petroleum Revenue Bill and the Freedom of Information Bill are worrying signals.
On transparency in the management of the oil revenue, Prof. Aheto said “the negative conditions often summarised as the “resource curse” can in fact be avoided. Transparency and accountability are fundamental to the natural resource success.”
“Government should be encouraged to provide a steady flow of up-to-date and credible information to the citizens, not just on revenues collected, as emphasised by the EITI, but also on the reserves, production and prices; and also on licences and fiscal regimes for private investors,” he added.
According to him, transparency as a governance tool goes beyond the transparent process of choosing a model of revenue management but encompasses “all aspects of the oil sector - from policy, legislation, upstream to downstream operations, payments and revenues collections and administration and revenue utilisation if the country was to escape what he termed as the ‘resource trap’ syndrome.”
In an interview with the Graphic Business shortly after the lecture, Prof Aheto disagreed with suggestions that Ghana’s oil should be collaterilised, citing the volatility of oil prices in the international market as the reason behind his point.
“The prices of oil, gas, and minerals are quite volatile - twice as volatile than other commodities” he said and questioned; “ to collaterilise at what price?”
On the proposed Heritage Fund, he said funds put into the fund should not be used but left for the future generation alone to use. “Once we agree to set up a Development Fund and a Heritage Fund for the oil revenue, we should not try to mix the two” Prof Aheto said.
Prof Aheto was, however, mindful of the difficulties associated with saving in developing countries in the light of the immense social needs.
He said “there will always be an inter-generational equity; where our children will suffer the inefficient management of the oil revenue and benefit from our astute management of the revenues”.
Prof Aheto was also of the view that the too much talk about the oil was not helpful, adding that it made many assume that the problems of the country would soon be over.
With Ghana's short term drilling capacity of 120,000 barrels per day as against Nigeria's 2.5 million barrels per day, Prof Aheto asked; “If in Nigeria, people queue to buy petrol, how can we say our problems will be over in Ghana?”