White Paper, whitewash

“If you can keep your head, when all about you are losing their, its possible you haven’t grasped the situation”. Jean Kerr 

A White Paper is a document usually prepared by governments which outlines their positions on major policy issues or initiatives, some of which sometimes culminate in legislations. Derived from the old tradition of being printed or covered in white paper, this administrative instrument is usually a detailed outline of decisions and plans of government, and is, in most cases, released to the public. White papers are products of elaborate politicking, and every stage from the selection of the committees to draft them, to the deliberations of the drafting committee, to the discussions of the draft by the highest decision-making body is informed by powerful interests of the administration which started the process in the first place. Drafts of white paper are purely advisory, and governments at the highest levels accept, amend or reject proposals made at drafting stages.

A popular misconception is that all reports submitted by committees of inquiry, technical or administration panels, advisory committees or task forces must be further processed by white papers. Government can choose whether to deliberate upon and take decisions on reports directly, or set up an advisory committee, which is really what White Paper Drafting Committees are, to suggest lines of action. The work of a drafting committee becomes a White Paper only when government deliberates on it, and decides on its recommendations. In some instances, many decisions in white papers require legislation, while others only outline intentions and plans for further administrative action or policy initiation or review. In almost all instances, White Paper drafting committees do not undertake activities beyond advising on recommendations or other contents of reports, even if there are good grounds for doing so. They do not, for instance, undertake additional investigation, or verification, and they do not undertake fresh assignments. They can, and do advise on additional work on parts of reports.

White Papers therefore almost never offend the basic interests of leaders which appoint them. Generally, the degree to which governments respond positively or negatively to recommendations and other submissions of reports is largely a reflection of their perception over how their core interests will be affected. White Papers serve the purpose of availing governments the benefits of additional technical or administrative advise before it takes decisions. They also help to buy time, a precious commodity which can always be invoked to delay decision-making. They are also used to totally discredit reports governments do not like.

The White Paper Drafting Committees recently appointed by President Jonathan on the report submitted by Malam Nuhu Ribadu and two others represent one of the extremes in terms of the value which administrations attach to the work of white paper drafting committees. This is the extreme that will make them the least useful in terms of adding value to the decision-making process, as opposed to those which maximize the quality of the output. White Papers drafted by Ministers suffer from the basic drawback that the views they contain are essentially those the administration holds already. All White Papers come back to the Federal Executive Council for deliberations and decisions, the same Council where Ministers who draft them will be sitting, facing other Ministers and the President whose decisions, interests and fates hang on their recommendations. They will all be drafted in a fairly familiar context, in circumstances known to those who draft them, and with a mindset which cautions that when dealing with Ministers of Petroleum, Finance and Justice, and powerful people like Steven Oronsaye, it is best to toe the familiar line. The work of these White Paper drafting Committees is to reinforce government position on deregulation, on refineries, on financing of operations, on payment of subsidies, on recoveries of funds, and on a number of other issues on which the position of the administration is already familiar.

The White Paper drafting committee which is to look into the report shot down by Mr Steven Oronsaye during presentation is likely to have the easiest task of the three. Both Mr Oronsaye and the President’s spokespersons have said the report is fatally flawed from carrying data which is incomplete and unreliable. Key organizations implicated by the report such as the NNPC have taken up pages to cast doubts on the reliability of the report. The media has been awash with justifications for the action of Mr Oronsaye, who referred to the committee in the third person when discussing its work. Other members of the committee insist that accusations of a flawed process used in compiling the report is to divert attention from its substance.

It is very likely that the Ministers who will draft a White Paper for consideration of the President and their colleagues will pay appropriate attention to the fall-out and media war being waged around the report. They are most likely going to focus attention on the contents of the report, but will without doubt accord substantial importance to a paragraph in the forwarding letter which suggested that not all the data in the report could be verified owing to lack of time. They will not have the time, the capacity or the approval to undertake such verification. They are likely to toe the line of least resistance by drawing attention to what is already widely known: the position of government to the effect that it cannot compel persons and organizations to refund money because there is no sufficient basis to do so.

Nigerians should not expect much from the three White Paper drafting committees set up to advise government on what to do with extremely important reports on reforms of the oil and gas sector. The White Papers will buy government a little time, but are unlikely to change positions of government. But the report of the Nuhu Ribadu committee cannot be salvaged by a White Paper. The only way it can be of any value is if the administration hands it over to another committee with sufficient integrity, competence and capacity to assess its value, and undertake whatever additional verification is needed. A White Paper on the Nuhu Ribadu committee report is very likely to be heavily influenced by the same interests that torpedoed it, and to describe it as whitewash will do an injustice to whitewashing exercises.