The Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, has said that Nigeria must have the petroleum industry legislation in place to be able to accelerate foreign direct investment (FID) drive.
He said the Corporation is determined to work with stakeholders to push for the early passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill as it will provide a win-win scenario for all players in the oil and gas industry in the country.
Making a presentation at the 25th-anniversary edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) with the theme: ‘Rethinking the Future of Extractives’ in Abuja on Tuesday, Mele Kyari pointed out that the bill has the prospect to guarantee a robust fiscal regime, protect the environment, ensure development of host communities, ensure proper alignment with other sectors and encourage investors to expand their investments in Nigeria.
“Getting the petroleum legislation passed is the right thing to do because investors will not invest their money if they are not sure of how they are going to get their investment back and what benefits can they get from their investment and how stable the investment climate is.
“We must resolve the petroleum legislation and am aware that this administration is working assiduously to get the law passed within the shortest frame of time,” Kyari told the summit.
He also stressed that when the bill becomes law, it would create a robust fiscal regime that would make the oil and gas industry competitive. Kyari expressed optimism that international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria would also be spurred to invest more in the petroleum sector.
The NNPC boss, however, said that for the bill to become law, Nigerians should welcome conferences and summits targeted at harvesting inputs from relevant stakeholders that would enable the lawmakers to make the best decisions on the bill.
According to him, whereas the oil and gas industry is the nation’s cash cow, and as such the enabler of both the national budget and the economy, the NNPC was committed to the expansion of infrastructure in the sector in other to increase the revenue streams available to the government. He further informed that the NNPC was deploying several commercial solutions to leapfrog the nation’s economy, by creating multifaceted job opportunities for Nigerians.
He said the Nigerian government is working hard to ensure energy security for the nation, even as the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano pipeline, dubbed the AKK, would be delivered shortly to promote the growth of petrochemical companies in the country.
He revealed that there are ongoing gas projects that upon completion would deliver huge value for the national economy, adding that the domestic gas obligation would be delivered. The NNPC GMD revealed that the federal government had put in place efficient security strategies to mitigate security concerns around oil and gas installations in the country.
Chibisi Ohakah
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