Many countries the world over have found themselves suffering from the oil curse immediately after the natural resource is found and explored within their territories.

The government of Uganda has already announced that sometime in 2025, the country will witness the first commercial production of its estimated 6.5 billion barrels of oil, 1.4 billion of which is estimated to be recoverable.

Already several companies are working around the clock to ensure that this deadline is met.

Along the oil production, are the refineries and East African Crude Oil Pipeline, which will transport the resource to the coast for onward exportation.

Reports indicate that at the peak, Uganda will be producing at least 230,000 barrels of oil daily.

Despite all these developments, some activists have expressed concern over the negative impacts of oil production in Uganda. The activists insist oil has come as a curse to Ugandans who were displaced to pave the way for the pipeline as well as to the ecosystem.

Investors are being discouraged from sinking their money in the various opportunities that come along with oil production over alleged rampant corruption and other evils.

However, the good news is that the much-trusted State House Investors Protection Unit (SHIPU) led by Col Edith Nakalema has been roped into the production process.

During a recent joint press briefing by both Nakalema and the Chief Executive Officer of Uganda National Oil Company, Proscovia Nabbanja, Ugandans were assured that their interests in the oil sector will be protected.

 “Government is not only committed to deliver the first oil but it is also looking forward to ensuring that the interests of Ugandans are projected so that they benefit from the oil,” Nakalema said. 

 “Every investment should be protected to ensure steady progress of our motherland,” Afande Nakalema re-echoed.

It should be noted the oil proceeds are expected to break the country’s aid bondage whereby every penny that comes from global superpowers and other agencies arrives with strings attached, irrespective of Uganda’s sovereignty.

For instance out of the current sh52.7 trillion budget for financial year 2023/24, only sh29.7 trillion is locally sourced. The rest of the budget is coming through borrowing, mostly from international lenders.

To reverse this situation, it will take the commitment of government anti-corruption watch bodies to ensure that every oil shilling and dollar counts.

We already know that Nakalema and her team, together with other bodies have been doing wonderful work fighting corruption and we hope they will triple the energy.

In the same spirit of ensuring that government investments are protected, the private investors who will put their resources into oil-related ventures should also be protected.

To put this into context, the oil and gas value chain addition is divided into three segments upstream, midstream, and downstream.

The first two are highly technical given that they involve drilling and related construction as well as the 1400km pipeline.

However, the downstream has a vast number of opportunities for hundreds if not thousands of investors. Downstream mainly involves the provision of goods such as food and services like transport, accommodation, insurance, health services, security, sports, tourism, entertainment etc.

SHIPU should think about both foreign and local investors who will throng the western region and Uganda at large to ensure that oil does not become a curse for the government, its nationals, as well as the friendly foreign community.

The writer is a businessman