Chairman of Lubcon Group and a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kwara State, Jani Ibrahim, spoke with Anayo Okolie, on the roles of technocrats in government. Excerpts:

There are speculations that you may contest the Kwara State governorship race. Is it true?

People in Kwara State have known me as someone who is interested in giving back to the society and that is exemplified by the time and efforts that we are making in the state since to establish our business, development and set up industries. There have been a lot of clamour which have been on for many years for me to show interest in the political programme of our state. The clamour has been on by the youths, society and community elders including market women and traders.

They have been clamouring but you know it is not something one will just jump at. It requires a widespread consultations will all the stakeholders in the state starting with family, friends, relations, youths, women groups and other stakeholders. So, I know that the pressure is heavy but it is something that above other things, we have committed to prayers. We pray that the almighty God will guide whatever actions we take.

If elected, how do you intend to add values?

Well, coming from the private corporate sector background, it accords you a lot of advantages because for you to be successful in the private sector means that you have certain rudiments and these rudiments are things you bring into governance because if you look at public sector, the people coming from private sector into public sector have done extremely well and that is why today, we have the phenomenon of technocrats in government and they done extremely well in their areas of competencies.

So, coming from a private sector background into government, it is a major attribute and that will help in the governance of the state and there are so many examples that are available for us to see how they have performed. I think it is a major strength.

What is your take on the agitation of the people of Kwara South to retain power come 2015?

I think it is the issue of equity that is taking people to that point but above all, what we are looking at competence – people who have the capacity; people who have the knowledge to be able to drive the state to a higher level. I think the way the country is going we need to engage people who are competent to do the job.

I quite appreciate that there are sentimental issues as to where people come from but at the end of the day, wherever you come from does not matter because you have to govern the whole state and do it equitably.

As someone familiar with the oil industry, what is your view on PIB?

Well, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is a bill that we feel the National Assembly should quickly work on and see to its passage because of the investment opportunities that the bill will attract. So, the earlier the bill is debated and passed, the better for the industry because it will also afford certain aspect of deregulation in the industry and allow players to come onboard to do certain things especially in the downstream and with the issue of refining and refineries. So, the passage of that bill will allow investors to come in and participate fully in other sectors of the petroleum sector in Nigeria.

Are you in support of the privatisation of NNPC?

No! I think Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) takes care of all the issues right from the National Oil Company to the downstream operation and that is the purpose of the Petroleum Industry Bill and not necessary the privatisation of NNPC as an entity. The Petroleum Industry Bill is a very broad base bill that has a lot of good items in it and which we highly recommend that the National Assembly should look at it and take a position on it quickly.

How do you see the revolution in the downstream sector?

Well, the downstream sector is quite an exciting sector. For instance, when you look at the lubricant sector of the downstream sector of the economy, it was completely deregulated as far back as 1992. Government is not involved in the lubricant sub-sector of the downstream and the sector has fared very well; prices have been stable, competition has helped to improve quality and reduce prices. It is a very good revolution in the downstream sector but we feel that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill will allow us to go mainstream and that is in terms of refining and also in terms of petrol chemical which is the area that the country needs to strengthen and its potential in terms of gas, utilisation of gas feeds. This is an area that will very be welcome if the Petroleum Industry Bill is passed.