…Says 2.5mb/d production not enough
Oscarline Onwuemenyi
26 October 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Nigerian Association of Energy Economics (NAEE) has said the country should be targeting 4 million barrels oil production per day if it must grow the economy and catch up with the rest of the developing world.
President of the association, Prof. Wumi Iledare, said this in an interview with newsmen as part of activities to mark the World Energy Day 2016.
Nigeria produces between 2.2 and 2.5 million barrels oil per day with over 70 percent of it exported, except when there are militant attacks and force majeure.
But Iledare said had Nigeria’s economy been actually growing the way it is supposed to, 2.5m barrels oil production per day should only be used to service the local economy.
He said, “I gave the example of the US with 300 million people. They are consuming in their economy 16 to 18 million barrels per day. We cannot use our oil for money, we should use our oil for power and 2.5 million barrels per day cannot generate the electricity that we need to grow our economy.”
The World Energy Day was celebrated on October 22. NAEE said it was investing heavily to create awareness on access to energy in the country.
Speaking on the importance of access to energy, Iledare said Nigeria was a good example of a country that produced energy but did not consume enough of it and the more reason its economy was not expanding.
He advised the government to provide the policy tools that would attract investment that will grow the economy.
“Does Energy Commission of Nigeria really belong to the Ministry of Science and Technology? I don’t know,” he said, adding that, “If we are going to be thinking about energy access we have got to be thinking about the positioning of our institutions to make sure they deliver the mandate.”
