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President Umaru Yar‘Adua on Thursday said that Nigeria was losing about $80m in revenue daily due to insecurity in the Niger Delta
President Umaru Yar‘Adua on Thursday said that Nigeria was losing about $80m in revenue daily due to insecurity in the Niger Delta
The President, who was represented by Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), Mr Odein Ajumogobia, reiterated the resolve of his administration to develop and implement a workable master-plan for the Niger Delta region.
In an address at the opening of a two-day conference and mini exhibition on oil and gas in Port Harcourt, Yar‘Adua said that unless something was done urgently, the nation might lose its grip on offshore oil exploration in the West African sub-region.
He said that other competitors like Ghana and Equatorial Guinea were beginning to match Nigeria.
Yar‘Adua, whose worry might have been linked to recent explosion of an offshore oil rig owned by Shell at Bonga, said that the Federal Government was out to ensure a lasting solution to the Niger Delta problem.
"The Federal Government is out to do anything that will ensure peace and development of Niger Delta, as over 80 per cent of government‘s revenue comes from oil and gas, with which we hope to fund the seven-point agenda," he said.
He enjoined youths in the area to lay down their arms, which he said, was bringing bad image to the nation.
"I have sympathy for the years of deprivation and decay, which the region, that is the hub of our economy, has been exposed to,‘‘ he said.
He commended the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture and the Green Ocean Petroleum for their thoughtfulness in organising the conference.
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Energy (Gas), Mr. Emmanuel Odusina, said Nigeria‘s gas reserve was currently estimated at over 186 trillion cubic metres and that unless the problem of insecurity in the nation was addressed; harnessing the resources would be difficult.
He said that Nigeria was now rated as the seventh among gas rich nations in the world with Russia maintaining the lead and that apart from gas in the Niger Delta, a lot of the resources were abound in the Anambra and Benin basins.
The traditional ruler of Town Brass in Bayelsa State, Chief Alfred Diette Spiff, said that community leaders from the oil and gas areas would support government in any good plan it had for the development of Niger Delta.
Mr. Billy-Gillis Harry, President of PHCIMA, said the conference was organised to find ways of increasing local participation in the oil and gas sector.
News Agency of Nigeria reports that eminent scholars like Mr Timi Alaibe, Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission, and Mr Manish Mundra, Chief Executive of Eleme Petrochemical Company, would deliver papers at the conference.