Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said that Nigeria’s target to have no fresh pipeline breaks and zero militancy acts in the oil-bearing Niger Delta region was working.
In October 2016, Kachikwu said the government was looking to record no oil pipeline breaks in 2017, as well as drastically reducing violence in the Niger Delta. This was following the country’s inability to produce as much oil as it wanted in 2016, on account of militancy in the Niger Delta.
But giving an update on the target so far at the just concluded maiden edition of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunities Fair (NOGOF) which the Nigerian Content Development Management Board (NCDMB) initiated and organized in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, the minister stated that so far, no fresh pipeline breaks or oil assets vandalism have been recorded in the industry.
He attributed the relative cease-fire to the ongoing dialogue between the government, militants and stakeholders in the region, and said the process would have to be improved on to ensure that the target is sustained.
“In terms of oil production, save for scheduled non-violent shutdowns and repair works in the industry, we have not recorded any disruptions. So far, I can say that the zero militancy target we have set for ourselves in 2017 his working, quite an ambitious plan but we have to put ourselves to it,” said Kachikwu in his remarks at the occasion.
In October 2016, the minister said in Abuja: “Our target is to have an incident reduction by 90 per cent by 2018 and to target zero militancy and shut down by middle of 2017.
“Whatever shutdown experienced by the middle of next year (2017) we expect it to be production slippages and not militancy issues. We must resolve current militancy problems and bring back production to 2.2million barrels per day.”
He also reiterated in Uyo the need for Nigeria to quickly segue from just an oil exporting country to one that derives maximum value from her hydrocarbons.
According to him, “We need to begin to refine, we need to begin to create petrochemical industries in this country, and we need to limit the amount of raw products that go out of this country. And this is a responsibility not just for NNPC portion of crude. The business model cannot continue to remain to drill, to produce and to export, it must be to drill, to refine and to export.”
“The model dynamics have got to change and over the next couple of years as the policies roll out, you are going to see incentive schemes geared towards making deepened participation in the oil and gas sector,” he added.
