Forget NRM oil and go for citizens’ urine like Nigeria

The majority of Nigerians do not have much to show for the oil produced in their country. I fear that Ugandans may turn out to have even less.

Naturally, I will begin with the urine. If you were listening to the BBC early this week, you would have heard the story of a couple of Nigerian teenagers who have developed a method of generating energy from urine.

The biggest part of urine is, of course, water. In my recollection, the idea is to liberate the hydrogen atom from the H2O (water) molecule, and to use the hydrogen in an electrolytic cell arrangement. So, why don’t the kids use ordinary water to get their kick as baby scientists?

The secret seems to be the crystalline compound, urea, a waste product excreted in urine when your body is processing protein. Maybe the urea is working as a catalyst; maybe it is something else; but the teenagers found that the energy required to liberate the hydrogen atom in urine was less than half of that required in ordinary water. Shortcomings in my layman’s account, notwithstanding, I suppose this greater efficiency means you can make hydrogen cells more cheaply.

How about working with the unpleasant odour of urine?
The kids promptly answered that they had added yet another compound to counter that.

Unlike that dumb iron frog called Makerere University’s electric vehicle, with which I was never impressed, this teenagers’ hydrogen cell story sounds far more mature.

And the future of their project? The kids said they hoped the government of Nigeria would be interested and invest in its development for real life application.

Now, Nigeria is far more famous for its oil and corruption than its chemistry. Because of the corruption, the oil could be more of a curse than a blessing. But the same Nigeria that has produced so many powerful thieves has also nurtured those teenagers and their signals of hope. A country of creative thieves is now also a country of innovation. It is something Ugandans could draw inspiration from.

You see, when one contemplates the scale of plain robbery perpetrated in Uganda’s high government offices, it is almost impossible to think of another country where these things can happen. But watchers of the Nigerian scene and its oil sector must sometimes feel like that, and the honest citizens overcome by despair.

Uganda, too, has oil, which should start coming out in commercial quantities a few years down the road. But even if one is only endowed with a bird’s brain, it is absolutely clear that, under the ruling NRM, a lot of Uganda’s oil money will be stolen. President Museveni, who once wrongly but unabashedly claimed that Uganda’s oil was discovered by his government, just cannot get his team do it any other way. To make things worse (emphasis, not better), President Museveni is obsessed with having a home-based refinery.

First, the politics, corruption and inefficiency of NRM rule will feed into the mathematics of making the finished liquid (diesel, petrol, etc). Do not be surprised if a litre of diesel from Hoima is more costly than one from Mombasa. For “political” reasons, these products may then have to be subsidised!

Secondly, and perhaps more important, finished products are much easier to control and steal. Even if value addition is as noble a goal as the hype goes, the net effect of refining Uganda’s oil will be the mother of a thief’s dreams.

Almost useless in its crude form, oil is generally bought in bulk by multinationals. It is not ideal for easy disposal by local crooks. That is one reason Nigeria’s hoodlums have several makeshift mini-refineries in the oil areas. If Museveni’s obsession materialises, you could drive your Mafia-owned 40-ft tankers and literally siphon the stuff from the refinery tap to those now suspicious-looking semi-dormant filling stations spread across the country.

The majority of Nigerians do not have much to show for the oil produced in their country. I fear that Ugandans may turn out to have even less. But both countries have plenty of urine to which their white collars criminals are not paying any attention. With the resourcefulness of a few more teenagers, it is on this less glamorous liquid that we can pin our hope.

Allan Tacca is a novelist and socio-political
commentator. altacca@yahoo.com