…As Kachikwu urges haste on PIB
Oscarline Onwuemenyi
17 November 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) has tasked the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to take advantage of the local content in its effort to deliver on its mandate.
The Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Tayo Alasoadura, who stated this on Wednesday while on an oversight function at the ministry headquarters, Abuja, noted the need for the oil sector to use local contents than relying on foreign machinery and import, regretted the non-utilisation of local content in the oil sector which is in large quantity in the country.
Alasoadura said the committee was at the ministry as part of its oversight function to ascertain the level of compliance of the 2015 budget implementation, adding that the exercise was not to witch-hunt anybody, but to assist the ministry to deliver on its mandate.
Sen. Alasoadura further noted that efforts are being made to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), even as he urged the ministry to develop a strategy to resolve the Niger Delta crisis, which it said have adversely affected oil production in the region.
The committee asked the petroleum ministry to take advantage of the availability of bitumen in some parts of the country.
Fielding questions from the members of the committee, Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachukwu who reeled out some of the challenges of the ministry urged the senate to hasten the consideration of the PIB.
On the Niger Delta crisis, the minister stated that the ministry is doing everything possible to resolve the crisis as it had met with the leaders of the region on the way forward.