The Nigerian government says the rehabilitation of all the Refineries to boost local production of premium motor spirit, PMS, will be concluded before the end of the present administration.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva said works are going on in the refineries and government intends to partner with the private sector to build more refineries.
Sylva was speaking at a media parley with the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital.
’’Though the country presently produce about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day despite some challenges, the OPEC ceiling only allow Nigeria to produce 1.5 million barrels per day,” Sylva said.
He stated that President Buhari’s government would ensure that cross border smuggling of premium motor spirit is curbed, to boost the availability of the product.
He added that’’As part of efforts to reform the upstream and downstream sectors of the Nigerian economy, the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB had passed the second reading and is presently at the committee stage in both chambers of the National Assembly.”
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mele Kyari said that effective management of the Oil sector is pivotal to the nation’s economic growth.
He said that ’’the NNPC is a wholly owned corporation by the people of this country, that means it has over 200 million Shareholders who have a right to know what we are doing.’’
The President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mustapha Isah called on the government to double its effort to discourage the importation of petrol into the country.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
