VISION 20:2020: LUKMAN LISTS STRATEGIC PROGRAMMES FOR PETROLEUM SECTOR.
Four strategic programmes have been identified as major drivers of the Nigerian petroleum sector’s input in the realization of the Federal Government’s economic vision of making the country one of the twenty developed economies in the world by 2020.
The programmes centre on the Petroleum Industry Bill, Gas Masterplan; Policy of deregulation of the downstream sector of the industry and the Local Content Initiative.
Speaking recently at the Aret Adams Memorial Lecture organized by the Aret Adams Foundation in Lagos on the topic, Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry: Its Contribution to Achieving Vision 20:2020, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman said that the current extant petroleum laws which the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill seeks to replace do not take into cognizance developments in the industry in the last ten to fifty years. He noted that one of the strong assets of the proposed legislation is to promote transparency.
According to Lukman, “the best way to fight corruption is to remove confidentiality for all procedures, contracts and payments. Text of all licenses, leases, contracts and any changes to such documents should no longer be confidential.” He further said that “all petroleum geological, geophysical, technical and well data should be accessible for all interested persons in a national data base.”
Dr. Lukman assured that the bill, when passed into law would achieve four central objectives. These include to simplify the collection of government revenue; to cream off windfall profits in case of high oil prices; to collect more revenues from large profitable fields in deep offshore waters; and to create Nigerian employment and business opportunities by encouraging investment in small oil and gas fields.
Assuring on a level playing field under the new regime to be introduced by the bill when passed into law, the Minister promised that the new tariff regime would ensure that government revenue are not compromised for all streams in the industry, emphasizing that, there are plans to establish electronic information system to track activities in the industry.
Speaking on the deregulation of the downstream sector, the Minister disclosed that there was wide acceptability among Nigerians on the need for the programme. He said however, that, the current regulation of the downstream sector only benefits a few. “Apart from the huge government subsidy that benefits only a few people, and thus further entrenching inequality in the society, a regulated downstream regime cannot attract investors to the sector.”
He thus submitted that one of the benefits of the downstream sector deregulation would be to free the sector from encumbrances which have so far made it unattractive to investors. He guaranteed adequate investments in the refinery business once the deregulation programme takes off, promising it would introduce new opportunities for employment with other attendant multiplier effects on the national economy; ultimately for the vision 20:2020.
On the gas Masterplan as a strategic programme, Dr. Lukman stated that the Gas Masterplan would boost economic development by making gas available to local industries as well as promote increased gas production for export as a foreign exchange earner for the country.
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