…says FG can’t afford to fail Nigerians<\/p>\n
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Yakubu Dogara, has
\nstated that the \u00fdHouse of Representatives investigation of the Oil Swap
\nAgreement contract of the NNPC\u00fd is not aimed at witch-hunting any person
\nbut aimed at reviewing and repositioning the oil sector to make it more
\nproductive.<\/p>\n
Speaking while declaring a public hearing by\u00fd the House Ad-Hoc Committee
\ninvestigating the Oil Swap Agreement contract of the NNPC open at the
\nNational Assembly, Dogara said it has become imperative, with the free
\nfall of price of crude oil in the international market, to improve on the
\navailable resources\u00fd and utilise the oil to drive the economy in order to
\nstimulate development in the country.<\/p>\n
He explained, “Our goal here is not to witch-hunt, no! It is essentially a
\ndiagnostic review with the aim of repositioning the oil sector to perform
\nits role as a major primer of the nation\u2019s development. \u00fdThe issue of
\ntransparency in the management of the oil sector considering its
\nsignificance to the economy of Nigeria is at the very heart of our
\nnation\u2019s development challenge, especially at this time of dwindling
\nrevenue resulting from the continued drop in oil prices. As at yesterday,
\noil, I understand, was trading at $28 dollar from about $114 it traded as
\nat September, 2014. You don\u2019t have to be an economist to observe that if
\nwe do not improve on the management of available resources and effective
\nutilsation of oil\/petroleum resources to drive the economy, our
\ndevelopmental aspirations will continue to emaciate. It is in recognition
\nof this pivotal role which the oil sector plays in aiding development that
\nthe present House of Representatives decided to place enormous emphasis on
\nthe improvement of the sector especially, and to insist on the
\ntransparent, professional, and efficient management of all resources. This
\nis the only way the Change Agenda of this administration can be
\nactualise.”<\/p>\n
\u00fdHe further explained that the essence of the investigation is to expose
\nabuses and losses to the Nigerian nation with a view to revitalise the
\nsector to make it more efficient and transparency driven, against the
\nbackdrop that public investment that has been made in the oil sector and
\nthe returns Nigerians have enjoyed from the sector between 2010 to date do
\nnot tally and other issues surrounding the nation’s oil management
\ncompany, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).<\/p>\n
\u00fd”It is hard to put in words the level of frustration Nigerians have had
\nto face with the NNPC and indeed the oil industry; the impact of this on
\nthe wider economy and the level of inefficiency in the entire energy value
\nchain. We have an opportunity now to right the wrongs of the past. It
\nstarts from our doing a thorough job of this assignment.<\/p>\n
“If we could pause to imagine for one moment what the effect of a vibrant
\noil sector driven by efficiency and innovation, would mean to the Nigeria
\nenergy sector, power, textile industry, rice mills, the manufacturing
\nstart-ups, assembly plants, manufacturing, agribusiness development in
\ngeneral, aviation, communication, cost of doing business, insecurity,
\nservice delivery, technology adoption, life expectancy of Nigerians both
\nin the rural and urban areas, SMEs and unemployment, etc. The implications
\nand ramifications are immense, indeed they are enormous. Therefore, we
\ncannot afford to fail, Nigerians will not afford half measures.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
…says FG can’t afford to fail Nigerians The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Yakubu Dogara, has stated that the \u00fdHouse of Representatives investigation of the Oil Swap…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n