•To begin exportation of fuel by 2019
He said when completed as planned by 2018, Nigeria will, for the first time, start exporting refined petroleum products.
He also unveiled the government’s plan to provide every household with free gas cylinder before the end of next year, to stop dependence on kerosene for cooking.
The minister who is also the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), spoke at a town hall meeting organised by the Federal Ministry of Information in Kaduna.
The minister said the Federal Government would in the next few days unveil a new policy to address fuel subsidy.
“We are coming up with a policy in the next few days that will allow us develop the price modulation that allows us swing our price along with international pricing.
“We are now transiting into fuel modulating pricing because we do not have sufficient foreign exchange to continue fuel importation we have been doing.
“Therefore, NNPC has to produce about 100 per cent of the product, that is the cause of the scarcity.
“The Federal Government has struggled to offset about N600 billion subsidy balance when the administration came into power.”
On oil exploration in Northern Nigeria, the minister said the government had invited investors to explore for oil in the region.
“I am one of those who believe that with modern technology, oil and gas exist in every part of Nigeria,” Kachikwu said.
According to him, research conducted in the last six months revealed that there are oil and gas in the North.
“We are putting a lot of investment and we are inviting people to invest money. We have set up a department which is doing three things for the North,” the minister said, adding: “First, we are going bullishly and trying to find oil and it is in our own interest, especially given the problems we find with pipelines.
“We are focusing on clean energy, solar; we should be able to provide sufficient solar energy in the northern part of this country.”
According to Kachikwu, “the refineries to be built will take advantage of the shared facilities.
“And if we do this, by 2018, if all our refineries are working, we will drop importation by 60 per cent. And by 2019, if the four located refineries begin to work and I’m sure they will, we will actually begin to export petroleum product for the first time in this country.
“Let me start by apologising for the difficulties you’ve been experiencing in terms of getting fuel.
“Having arrived Kaduna this morning from Lagos, I did a quick tour of Kaduna metropolis. Although the situation is improving, but I felt sad still that some areas around the metropolis are not getting the product, especially that you have a refinery.
“But the realities about the situation is that wherever I turn when I was appointed I found problems.
“This is the first time we have two refineries working simultaneously in the last eight years. For the first time in 20 years we are working to restructure the NNPC.
“Do I want to see the problems continue? No. There is a lot of improvement but there is a lot of work required. And in the next three months, I assure you that you will see great improvement in terms of fuel supply.
“Most importantly, we need to begin to develop massive infrastructural support in this country. The pipelines must get to work, got to get investors to invest in them because we do not have the money to build them up.
“For the upstream sector where production has been climbing down, our target is to move production up to 2.3 million barrels, but I am personally committed to 2.5 million barrels.
“The blowing of pipelines cannot drive us back; we are committed. The days of hopelessness have passed, the days of careless expenditure have passed, the days of corruption are going, and we are heading to the future were we can deliver a country we can all be proud of,” he said.
Kachikwu spoke of plans to improve our marketing outlets. He said: “We are building about 700 marketing outlets all over the country, one per local government. And we are asking the state governments to give us land to do this. We are building multi big stations with shopping malls, which will beef up activities in the local government areas.
“We have the concept of providing free gas cylinders to every Nigerian household, which will be rolled out next year so that we can pull Nigerians away from the use of kerosene to cleaner fuel.”
However, before rounding off his address, Kachikwu asked everybody in the hall to stand up, holding hands together and recite the following: “We are Nigerians, we are made by our common destiny, our purpose, our country is blessed in ways unimaginable. We as Nigerians are not limited by hope, not limited by resources, not limited by talent, not limited by aspirations. Our nation has had its challenges but we remain abundantly blessed, so, today, this moment, now going forward, we join hands across our land, hands across our tribes, hands across our religion, hands to our leaders and our followers. And as Nigerians unite in struggle, we have decided to build the Nigeria of our dreams, a Nigeria of less criticism but creativity, a Nigeria of abundance not scarcity, a Nigeria unified not fractioned, a Nigeria transparent not fraudulent, a Nigeria with abundant dreams, aspirations and delivery. Today, this moment, we stand on treasure of history to build the new Nigeria of our dreams.”
No comments:
Post a Comment