For a nation that has contributed so much to the growth and profitability of Exxon Mobil, it is wicked on the part of Mobil to disobey the laws of the land, act with impunity, corrupt our leaders and judges and plot a coup.
Words fail me. My sobs break in. The giant of Africa that awed the whole world has gone awful. This is in no small gravity due to Exxon Mobil’s influence and damage on every facet of our Nation.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
I do not wish to re-soil or drag Exxon Mobil’s name to the mud and neither do I intend to cleanse their muddy and soiled name. I only wish to reel out to the world our challenges as a nation, the role Exxon Mobil has played in determining where our ship docked at 53 and possible solutions to our economic quagmire.
Firstly, Mobil Producing Nigeria a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil is the operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) / MPN Joint Venture. Exxon Mobil takes a gargantuan 40% of the profits made from the venture while the “whole of Nigeria” takes 60%. We all know over 20 billion dollars of our profit grew wings just like the windfall of the gulf war. We should know that Exxon Mobil is the powerful thief called NNPC ravaging and plundering our resources with impunity.
Secondly, we should know that Exxon Mobil is on the verge of stealing Letters Patent RP13522 which belongs to Nigeria and it’s worth more than 150 billion dollars in royalties as right given by the Patent and Designs Act. Not only have they shared 40% of our profits, not only have they stolen over 20 billion dollars of our profit share, but they have also denied Nigerians over 150 billion dollars in royalties and are also fraudulently claiming ownership of the Letters Patent.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });
The most profitable corporation the world has ever known, Exxon Mobil is the quintessential Goliath to many a struggling David. Exxon Mobil’s world headquarters is like a military fortress in Irving, a Dallas suburb in U.S.A, hidden behind a locked, guarded steel gate and an impenetrable enclosure of fences. Towering trees permit only rare glimpses of the top of a looming black building. Some employees call it “The Death Star.”
In 2012, Exxon posted the second-highest annual corporate profit in history (surpassed only by its own 2008 record): $45 billion—more than the combined profits of Royal Dutch Shell and Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s No. 1 and 2 largest companies that year. If Exxon were a nation and its $450 billion in 2012 revenue its GDP, it would be the 27th largest economy on the planet. In many places, it is considered more powerful than the government. In 2001, President George W. Bush said of Exxon, “Nobody tells those guys what to do.”
Exxon Mobil’s cavalier attitude to the Nigerian Economy has reached its heights. This is evident in their dispositions and body language. They have no respect for our government and the laws of the land. They bribe and dictate the course of the Nigerian ship. They corrupt our leaders and bribe our judges.
In respect of the Patent RP13522 which Exxon Mobil intends to steal from a Nigerian, I write to inform Nigerians of the impending doom should the theft of the invention called the Anti-Corrosive Special Paint invented by Prof. Emeritus C.J.A Uwemedimo succeeds.
Having invented and granted the Letters Patent RP13522 by the Federal Government of Nigeria on 5th August, 1999, Prof. Emeritus C.J.A Uwemedimo became the statutory inventor of the product which will earn Nigerians direct and indirect income of over 2 Trillion Naira. With these proceeds, Nigeria can forge ahead. We can develop our country without relying on the National cake from Abuja. By subsidizing jobs, infrastructure investment, direct job creation programs, community-based job creation, reviving manufacturing and many more initiatives, the proceeds from the invention will put food on the table for Nigerians by employing the millions of unemployed youths and adult in the country. To solve all the problems facing Nigeria, the Letters patent RP13522 offers us a chance.
However, should the plot to steal the Letters Patent succeed, Nigerians will have to pay Exxon Mobil royalties worth trillions of Naira. This is not what we need.
For a nation that has contributed so much to the growth and profitability of Exxon Mobil, it is wicked on the part of Mobil to disobey the laws of the land, act with impunity, corrupt our leaders and judges and plot a coup on the Letters Patent RP13522 that offers us a chance to make Nigeria a better place.
We must stand up for our rights. The Federal Government must not betray us. The Government must also re-negotiate the profit sharing percentage of the NNPC/MPC venture. Our judges must not put personal aggrandizement before justice and Exxon Mobil must respect the laws of the land and give back to the country which has benefited them in no little measure. Perhaps mediation or arbitration would be a wiser step to take than clandestine plots to avoid payment of royalties, stealing of the Letters Patent and the murder of Intellectual Property Right in Nigeria. A good turn deserves another.
Prince Ken is a passionate writer from Lagos. He can be reached on 09093438537.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });