Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe
Kachikwu, on Monday stated that his memo to President Muhammadu Buhari was not bordered
on fraud but on governance on the best way to move the oil and gas sector
forward in the country.
He, however, expressed deep confidence in President
Buhari as a thorough, clean and meticulous leader whose interest is to better
the lots of Nigerians.
Kachikwu, who stated this in Owerri, Imo State capital, while
speaking on the third day of a three-day
second edition of the Nigerian Content Workshop organised by the Nigerian
Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), decried the conversation by
Nigerians in the issue contained in his letter as such did not border on fraud
but in governance on way forward.
"The conversation has been largely misunderstood to border
on fraud. It was not on fraud, but on governance and suggested ways to go about
it. I think a lot of people got it wrong. People dwell much on issues of
sensationalism and leave the main substance. I think the Group Managing
Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr.
Maikanti Baru, and I are working together as the president had directed to move
forward," he said.
According to him, President Buhari has urged the two of us to
find ways of working together to remove doubt and rift. He is a decent man and
what he wants to achieve in this country is to live a legacy for posterity. He
is a sincere leader, so nobody should accuse him of engaging in fraud.
He commended the leadership of NCDMB manned by its Executive
Secretary, Simbi Wakote, for scoring high in her activities to promote Nigerian
content in oil and gas sector of the nation's economy.
"NCDMB is blessed in terms of quality of personnel in
that parastatal. They have done well in ensuring that things move well in this
area. Simbi has made the institution
very stronger, and I congratulate you and your folk," he said.
The minister however observed that not much local content had
been engaged in the offshore and enjoined NCDMB to move in that direction.
He announced that by next year, the facilities in Port
Harcourt and Kaduna would be available for use to train unskilled Nigerians to
acquire skill training in the oil and gas sector, adding that the Petroleum Trust
Development Fund (PTDF) and the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) would take
on that.
In his remarks, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola
Saraki, stated that major reasons for the current Senate to pass the Petroleum
Industry Governance Bill (PIB) after 17 years of its introduction was to
enhance exploitation and exploration of petroleum resources in the country for
the benefit of Nigerians.
He noted also that when the bill is signed into law,
it would promote the development of Nigerian content in the oil industry and
encourage investment in petroleum industry.
Saraki who was represented by the Chairman, Senate Committee
on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Senator Tayo Alasoadura pointed out that the
bill which was split into four parts giving the green light that the Petroleum
Industry Administration Bill, Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill and Petroleum Host
Community Bill have all gone through second reading and would also be quickened
for their passage.
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