Nigeria’s oil and gas sector has been under the control of a few interest groups who have locked it down for so long, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said.
He, however, stated that the Federal Government, through his ministry, was working hard to unlock the sector by showing more interested persons the various layer of opportunities in the industry.
Kachikwu stated this on Thursday at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources in Abuja, while receiving the ‘New Nigerian Oil and Gas Sector Governance Policy’ report that was put together by professional Nigerians in the Diaspora from the Aberdeen Contingent.
The minister said one of the ways of unlocking the sector was through the 7BigWins policy that was released recently by the ministry.
He stated, “The whole essence of this 7BigWins is to point people to opportunity layers lying in the system and also take a collaborative responsibility to help people who really want to play in the field. The oil sector has been too locked down by a few interest groups for so long, positively or negatively. But the time has come to open it up to Nigerians.
“We’ve devoted ourselves to a level of openness because the resource isn’t ours; we are just gatekeepers in the management of this resource, and so, it is our responsibility to help every Nigerian who has an idea, no matter how mundane, to see how that idea can come to fruition.”
Kachikwu added, “So, as many companies that we can bring into this sector and any other sector for that matter, as many people as we can bring in with respect to creating employment, we will do that.
“During the Offshore Technology Conference, I announced the concept of Project 100, which is trying to identify 100 Nigerians with skills, capacity and the energy required to make in-roads into certain sectors. And I’ve told the ministry to identify their handicaps and how we can help them to get to the finish line. That’s something that I’m going to be working on very seriously.”
The minister observed that Nigeria had limitless human and material resources of international repute, adding, “When you have those resources, you really will not understand why this country should not do far better than what it has done.”
A member of the Aberdeen Contingent and Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, Dr. Paul Eke, told the minister that over 70 Nigerian oil and gas professionals convened a conference before coming out with the report that was presented to the ministry.
He stated that if recommendations contained in the report were implemented, there would be significant improvement in the oil and gas sector in the short term, adding that the government should be willing to collaborate with professionals within and outside Nigeria in order to move the sector forward.
