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PORTRAIT OF THE "OIL DOCTOR"

 

This is one portrait every parent, school leavers, admission seekers, university undergraduates, fresh carrier seeking graduates and everyone who cares must study and hang in a neat corner of their hearts.

 

Dr. Salifu Odiba, an indigene of Kogi State is a 35-year old graduate of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Jos (UNIJOS). He gained admission into the university in 1996 and graduated in 2004 with a dream to own his hospital some day.

Dr. Odiba

In 2006 he abandoned the stethoscope and veered off into a life on the fast lane, joining a pipeline vandalism cartel.

Odiba did his compulsory National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC) in Bauchi State and then got a job at Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission where he worked for six months. He was sacked for reasons yet unknown.

It was in 2006 he moved to Kogi State where he joined the vandalism cartel. As a cartel member, he got a job at the Federal Medical Centre receiving N90, 000. 00 monthly as a part time staff. He considered the amount too meagre to meet his needs and so stuck to the business of the criminal cartel. Upon his arrest by the Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism, Force Headquarters, Odiba said he was attracted to the illegal business because it was lucrative. Odiba also said he even had a part-time job at another hospital but the commission he received was too little.

 

For his role in the cartel, Odiba said he acted as a middleman between the vandals and buyers.

He said although he never destroyed a pipeline, he was actively involved in the business and soon became popular so much so that people call him Oil Doctor. He justified the name saying that "I always had ready buyers for all kinds of petroleum products". He was usually paid commission by pipeline vandals and buyers after he had sold the products. In their operations Odiba's cartel could siphone and sell up to 17 trucks (containing 33, 000 Litres) of petroleum products in one night.

“People started calling me ‘oil doctor’ because I always had ready buyers for all kinds of petroleum products. Oil business is very lucrative especially in Kogi State where as many as 17 trucks of petroleum products could be siphoned and sold in one night,” he said.

Odiba is of the opinion that medical profession is no longer as prestigious as it was due to the “large number” of people practising it and that "People don’t visit hospitals like before. as many Nigerians prefer to take self medication these days”.

Odiba was arrested by policemen in Lokoja, Kogi State and paraded in December 2012 on his way to finalize a deal with a contact who claimed to have large quantities of oil in a barge for sale.

Dr. Odiba was arrested in December 2011 for a similar offence in Kaduna, and spent his Christmas in detention after which he was released when investigation revealed that he played a minor role in the crime. Here is another Christmas and he is spending it in police net again.

 

POSTCRIPT

 

This portrait shows that you can study what is considered the best course and not be satisfied. In fact you can get the best degree from the university and still dump that certificate for something else. I know not a few university-trained doctors, laywers, accountants, bankers, engineers and other professionals who have long dumped their degrees for legimate businesses that have served as better alternatives to the best courses they studied in the university.

Odiba's latest case is a proof that it is not only miscreants that are into the illegitimate business of pipelaine vandalism. The business is very lucrative because a tanker of crude oil could be bought illegally for as low as N800, 000 and resold at N5m during scarcity. This is economic sabotage which carries a carries a life sentence. A word is enough for the wise!

Odiba's story is adapted from The Punch.