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’Femi Asu
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), said on Thursday that his regime had achieved success in stemming corruption and sharp practices in the nation’s oil and gas industry.
Buhari said when he was elected into office in 2015, the industry was in a very dire situation, worsened by a backlog of joint venture cash call arrears, production sharing contract disputes, security challenges and mounting fuel subsidies.
“The industry was in need of reforms to attract more investments and generate the needed revenue to support the nation’s economic growth,” he said at the virtual public presentation of four books by a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu.
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday gave insights into how the reforms initiated by his administration in 2015 saved the oil and gas industry from total collapse.
He stated that the payments of huge cash call backlog owed the country’s Joint Venture (JV) partners took off a huge burden from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) while the current transparency drive in the oil corporation was also a product of the reforms.
The president, at the presentation of four books written by a former Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, explained that the sector, which accounts for a huge source of foreign exchange for Nigeria, was in dire straits when he took over.
Buhari Says His Administration Has Curbed Corruption In Oil Sector thebreakingtimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thebreakingtimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The inauguration of the NOGEC came at a time Nigeria and the rest of the world are raising concerns over depleting oil revenue and the breakthrough in alternative forms of energy, including renewable and solar energy.
To underscore the damage done to the Nigerian economy which is heavily reliant on oil, Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, in May 2020, announced that the national revenue target fell by N125.52 billion in the first quarter of 2020 to N940.91bn.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, hinted at this paradigm shift when in December 2020, at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) roundtable session, he said NNPC was putting measures in place to reduce the cost of crude oil production to create market for the country’s crude.
House of Representatives promises to pass PIB by April 1 min read
The House of Representatives says it will pass the Petroleum Industry Bill in April.
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila gave the assurance at a public hearing on a bill seeking to provide legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry.
He also assured all Nigerians that the PIB to be passed into law would accommodate all views and ensure Nigeria competes favourably in the world’s oil and gas industry.
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