President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) is the second biggest achievement in Nigeria’s energy sector.
The president made the statement during the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) which he declared open on Monday at the presidential villa. The Act was signed into law in August 2021.
Represented by Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the President emphasized the accomplishments of his administration in the energy sector, stating that he had documented them for the benefit of future governments.
Buhari encouraged industry stakeholders to support and cooperate with the incoming administration, just as he had been supported by them. “We ensured there’s an adaptive framework for the indigenous companies to take advantage of the investment by the international oil companies,” he said.
He also noted that the indigenous companies grew their capacity tremendously, and are now considered for about 5% of national oil and gas production, which has increased from 2% in 2010.
The President, who is also the Petroleum Minister, reiterated that energy will remain the top priority of his administration until his last day in office.
“The first task we combated is the issue of funding and sanitizing the oil and gas sector; we then proceeded to exit the federal government from joint registrar cash go-funding. This freed the federal government from the shoes of funding the oil sector,” Buhari said.
He further emphasized that passing the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was the second biggest achievement in the energy sector. “For decades, we were told that because of various vested interests, it would be nearly impossible to pass the bill, but we made it happen,” Buhari said.
Also speaking at the event, Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said the company is investing in critical projects such as the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline and the OB3 gas interconnector to support five billion standard cubic feet per day (bscf/d) of domestic gas utilization.
Kyari also mentioned that the national oil company is investing in five gigawatts of power-generating capacity by developing power plant projects along the AKK pipeline corridor and across the country to complement the existing ones.
“In addition to our existing upstream activities, we are also deepening exploration activities of the nation’s frontier basins using the best industry standards and technologies which are already yielding results such as the Kolmani discovery,” he said.
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