A more than 60 percent drop in global oil prices since 2014 has hammered Nigeria’s economy and triggered a currency crisis, leaving it short of funds to pay for imports of oil products.
Browsing: Kachikwu
According to him, Nigeria cannot develop when it imports all it needs, adding that except the nation’s industries were brought back on track, the country’s aspiration to prosperity will remain a mirage.
Kachikwu said that, “I think anybody who wants to survive in this climate today would need to put on the thinking cap. It is not business as usual, but people are going to survive. The nice thing about adversity is that you get to make huge successes also.”
“In terms of volumes, I think we are producing at 100 per cent. Before the Shell pipeline incident which happened about a week ago, we were already hitting about 2.3mbpd up from about 2.18mbpd.”
“Nigeria is, therefore, ready and accessible for investments from all interested countries, individuals and partners. Let me assure you that your investments are secured in Nigeria and a high return on investment is assured.”
The minister said already, the situation was beginning to wear down the capacity of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to meet the country’s fuel consumption which is officially put at 40 million litres per day.
Top among those affected was former Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, GPAD, Ohi Alegbe, who was redeployed to the Corporate Social Responsibility unit in the Group Managing Director’s office as Group General Manager.
Kachikwu noted that when the 650,000 refinery planned by Dangote Group comes on stream by 2020, it would boost domestic refining capacity, adding that the policy was to drive the oil marketers to invest in the industry going forward.
The minister said, “I must apologise that we didn’t take some senate leadership along the path of this restructuring, but if you look at the draft of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) sent to us for our input, you will discover that the restructuring was within the suggestion we made.”
As at the time of going to press, no official word has come from the NNPC management on the situation.
