Black Gold on The Gold Coast

In June 2007, UK firm Tullow Oil announced the discovery of 600 million barrels of  light oil offshore from Ghana. Reserves in the Mahogany exploration well were far greater than the 250 million barrels forecasted.Tullow co owns the Western Cape block where the exploration took place withAnadarko Petroleum ,a US company.The discovery is said to be one of the biggest oil finds in Africa in recent times.

Once again, the Gold Coast  has now become the proverbial El Dorado, where Black gold- oil is now the new gold dust!

I grew up a few miles onshore where this discovery was made and went to high school in the Cape Coast. I feel a strong connection to this place and I am curious to see how this affect the lives of the people in the area and the society.

Ghana   has enjoyed political stability over the past 16 years after much turbulence in the past( I grew up in a military regime) and is now  a refuge for other neighbors in the subregion escaping  conflict. Will this  Black gold change this stability?- Our neighbors in Nigeria have had oil  for eons  and what do we see- violence that results in pipelines being destroyed, kidnappings and hostage situations and gross corruption in the government.

Our current President John Atta Mills was recently quoted at saying that the oil and natural gas in Ghana is solely for the benefit of the Ghanaian people.

Well President Mills whilst I support wholeheartly your convictions on this, how can you ensure that the people overseeing this are held accountable  to this? What guidelines, checks and balances have been set up to make sure that the oil exploration companies  and energy services companies associated are in accordance with this ideal- that the oil and natural gas in Ghana will be for the benefit of Ghanaians.

Will the average child in Sekondi ,Takoradi (where I grew up) or any other area on the Western Cape see their lives drastically improve in the next few years? Will we see better roads between Takoradi and Accra , better hospitals and clinics, any access to technology  and internet in the public schools in future. How will the youth be trained to have jobs and careers in our emerging oil exploration and energy sector?

Most people often look to the immediate end gain and are probably doing so in this case i.e Ghana could be grossing $1billion in oil revenue by next year!

Let  all Ghanaians be diligent and ask - how can this be my city of gold?!Our  El Dorado, where black gold (oil) reigns!