The introduction of technology in the nation’s oil and gas industry will enhance transparency and accountability, writes Jackson Onyukwu
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), is the statutory regulatory agency for petroleum in Nigeria. Oil is the main foreign exchange earner for the nation. Therefore oil is the fiscal breath of Nigeria.
This explains why all eyes are on crude oil. Government officials are watching. Nigerians can’t stop talking crude and its value chain. This places a huge burden on DPR. It must be alert and alive to its duties otherwise the nation loses. From its journey in 1971 functioning with different names under different ministries through 1988 when it was renamed DPR and given full autonomy to regulate the petroleum industry till late 2019, DPR has discharged its responsibility to the best of its ability. But question marks still persisted on its ability and courage to stop the haemorrhage in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the industry globally associated with scam and opaque dealings. Oil business is globally regarded as messy and murky. The miasma that hallmarks its operations is not limited to Nigeria. Different countries have tried to innovate various ways to contain cases of theft in the industry.