In a bid to accelerate Foreign Direct Investment (FID), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has expressed the determination of the Federal Government to work with the National Assembly and other stakeholders to pass the long awaited petroleum legislation considered to be capable of providing a win-win scenario for all players in the oil and gas industry.
Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, said this while making a presentation at the 25th anniversary edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) with the theme: ‘Rethinking the Future of Extractives’ in Abuja on Tuesday.
Kyari explained that for Nigeria to make the most of the oil and gas industry, passage of the petroleum legislation was imperative as the bill has the prospect to guarantee a robust fiscal regime, protect the environment, ensure development of host communities, ensure proper alignment with other sectors and encourage investors to expand their investments in Nigeria.
“Getting the petroleum legislation passed is the right thing to do because investors will not invest their money if they are not sure of how they are going to get their investment back and what benefits can they get from their investment and how stable the investment climate is.
“We must resolve the petroleum legislation and I’m aware that this administration is working assiduously to get the law passed within the shortest frame of time,” Kyari stated.
He said the petroleum law, when passed, would create a robust fiscal regime that would make the oil industry competitive, even as he expressed optimism that International Oil Companies (IOCs) in the country would be spurred to invest more in the petroleum sector after the passage of the bill.
Mr Kyari assured that before the petroleum legislation is passed, a lot of fora would be organized to harvest inputs from relevant stakeholders, saying that the proposed law would be aligned to best practices.
He added that the oil and gas industry was the enabler of the economy as revenues from the industry largely fund the nation’s budget, saying that the NNPC was committed to the expansion of the oil and gas infrastructure corridors to increase the revenue streams available to the government.
The NNPC helmsman averred that the State oil firm was deploying several commercial solutions to leap frog the nation’s economy, stressing that the goal was to create multifaceted job opportunities for Nigerians.
Speaking earlier, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, said efforts were on to return Nigeria to a mining destination through a digitization process that would encourage investors to participate in the mining sector in a very transparent manner.