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I listened to the �Time with David� Programme on TV3 AND I agreed with the guest, Mr. Jacob Hobenu, As a Financial Analyst, he as advising the Government against putting the 1 billion oil revenue in the Consolidated fund and spending it on Social Service Programmes like Health and Education. Instead he wants the Government to form a Quasi-Government Investment Company to invest the revenue in high yielding projects like tolled roads to recoup the investment. I agree with the brilliant young man. It's time politicians begin to listen to technocrats and business minded people like Mr. Hobenu, if we want to prosper as a nation. I am glad to note that others also agree with Mr. Hobenu. The Chronicle in its editorial of 2l" and 22'" September supported this line of thinking. According to the paper,Accra alone needs 20 flyovers. Coming from the Western Region, I can also say good and well tolled roads can be bulk in the cocoa and timber growing areas. The roads are so bad that one wonders how the politicians feel when they drive on them to go and campaign for votes. The Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis is not as big as Accra, but very soon the city will be overcrowded by the influx of people and vehicles because of the oil find. How many flyovers shall be needed to accommodate the influx? Let's think about housing, where will the people live? Are we going to wait until we get slums like Sodom and Gomorrah in Takoradi before we start thinking of a solution? I am, therefore, suggesting that the oil revenue should also be put in housing, since people will continuously pay rent for us to recoup the investment. In Western region alone, Ghana's oil revenue can be multiplied several times over, if this concept of Quasi-Government Investment Company is adopted. There will also be a massive tax collection and job and business opportunity. The Quasi-Government Investment Company can invest in the Petrochemical Industry through foreign investment partners. The numerous fallout from small and medium scale industries from the Petrochemical industry to be established by Ghanaians in the plastic, paints, adhesive, synthetic fibres, wax, lubricants, insecticides, polythene and bitumen industries is numerous. The investment company can also partner" investors to start a fertilizer industry. Apart from giving jobs to the people directly and generating tax for government, there will be cheap fertilizer to improve the nation's agriculture, especially in the vast Northern Region where grains can be produced massively for home consumption and export. Let's think of the massive employment that the northern population can derive from this gesture, especially if processing plants are built to add value to the produce. Still in the Western Region, the Investment Company can partner other local and foreign investors to harness the rich potentials in clay and limestone in Namili in the Jomoro District, near Half Assini, with proven reserve at 21 million tones, salt in commercial quantities along the coast of Adjoa, Apowa, Amanfu- Kuma and Funko in the Ahanta West District, kaolin, bauxite, diamond and gold exists in the Wassa Amenfi East District while Princess Town in Ahanta West District has industrial granites reserve. Large gold deposits at Akoti, Akotombra and Sefwi Wiawso and along the banks of the Tano River can also be capitalized by the same arrangement. At the Nzema-East District, silica, sand and stone deposits in commercial quantities together with the 24 square miles of iron deposit at Oppong-Mansol Valley in the Wassa Amenfi East District can be developed by the investment company and their partners. In the other regions, other potentials can be identified and capitalized through the investment partnership arrangement If we utilize our oil revenue this way, we shall multiply our earnings several times over for the benefit of present generation and posterity. Economists have said that Ghana's total annual expenditure (for now) amounts to 9billion dollars. Loans and grants form part of this expenditure while we derive the rest from internally generated revenue. With the exploration of oil still ongoing, we shall earn more with time. If the country is expecting to reap lbillion dollars per annum, revenue from the oil find (with the current statistics), of what benefit shall the Ibillion dollars be to the people of this country if we put it straight into the consolidated fund and spend them on social services However, if we tow the Line of the Quasi-Government Investment Company concept, there will be job openings in the Construction Industry, Hotels, Restaurants, Furniture, Banking, Printing and Publishing, Technical and Engineering, Administration, Agriculture and many more industries. If more new companies and their employees are paying taxes to Government, Ghana can reap a possible 10 billion dollar a month. Let's think seriously about Mr. Jacob Hobenu's proposal. MANAGING EXPECTATIONS By now, most Ghanaians are expecting an upswing change in our finances as soon as oil sales take place. What a misplaced expectations! As a country we should intensify our efforts on how to manage our expectations. Our Nigerian neighbours abandoned their traditional foreign revenue earners such as palm produce, groundnut, coal, tin etc and embraced the oil industry with both hands. Today, oil revenue forms 90% of the country's total income. Should we also do that? No. what we should do is to start educating ourselves about the industry and what it can offer us as a people. That means we should start managing our expectations. Whereas a school of thought posits that we should manage the expectations by playing down on people's expectations. I strongly believe that we should manage expectations by directing people's minds to the massive opportunities the business has to offer. THE OPPORTUNITIES The opportunities in the oil industry is various but not immediate. They will manifest gradually over a period of time. That should be the first lesson we should learn. The next lesson we should learn about the opportunities will be the type of businesses the oil find will bring. The oil and gas industry revolve around the following areas: the upstream, the downstream sector and the ancillary services and related self employment.