Delta State Governor, Sen. (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, has emphasized the need for proper monitoring of Nigeria’s crude oil production to ascertain volume and ensure transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector.
Okowa made the call while opening a two-day Retreat of the Investment Committee of Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) at Unity Hall, Government House, Asaba on Thursday.
The retreat, with “Repositioning Federation Investment for Enhanced Revenue Performance” as theme, was organised to enhance the RMAFC’s revenue generation and monitoring strategy for improved public spending.
The Governor said that to ensure effective monitoring of crude oil production and export, there was the need to deploy the latest technology such as Artificial Intelligence/Robotics to guarantee effectiveness and management of cost.
He advocated the need for the reduction in delays arising from granting of agency permits that often led to high cost of drilling and for urgent addressing of security challenges, including crude theft, kidnapping, piracy and bunkering.
According to him,there was a consensus that many oil and gas agreements reached with International Oil Companies/Operators had not been closely monitored, hence the observed low level of compliance.
He said that the agreements were formulated and signed a long time ago and did not reflect present economic realities, adding that Delta Government was particularly concerned about agreement with host communities, as a major oil producer.
He implored IOCs to keep faith with the General Memorandum of Understanding with the host communities for meaningful infrastructure development and employment generation for the purposes of peace and stability.
“Close monitoring of the implementation of these GMOUs will ensure that people-oriented projects such as construction of hospitals, provision of portable pipe-borne water, building of schools and information technology centres, as well as skills training and acquisition centres in host communities are given priority attention.
“This will engender the provision of an atmosphere conducive for the IOCs and other operators to function without let or hindrance,” Okowa stated.
He urged RMAFC’s Investment Committee to take a critical look at the seeming lack of competitiveness in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, saying that Nigeria had one of the highest production costs in the global oil industry.
