President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, said his regime’s drive for economic diversification using the oil and gas industry as a pivot remained on track.
According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President spoke at the virtual inauguration of the National Oil and Gas Excellence Centre at the Department of Petroleum Resources headquarters, Lagos.
The statement was titled “President Buhari inaugurates Excellence Centre, says Nigeria will maintain position as the regional leader in the oil and gas industry.”
Adesina quoted the President as saying that Nigeria will strengthen its position as the regional leader in the oil and gas industry.
Buhari added that his regime will spare no effort in ensuring maximum benefit from the nation’s huge natural resources.
He also pledged that the Federal Government will continue to leverage oil and gas for development and pursue economic diversification across all sectors.
He said, ”You would recall that at the beginning of this administration, we set a clear roadmap for the oil and gas sector in order to increase value from the nation’s huge resource potentials and create opportunities for investors, both local and foreign when I declared that: ‘Nigeria is Open for Business!’
”I am delighted that since then, we have witnessed major Final Investment Decisions in the sector such as the AKK Pipeline project, the NLNG Train-7 project, and the completion of the 5,000 barrels per day Waltersmith Modular refinery.
”Our renewed drive for economic diversification using the oil and gas industry as a pivot remains on track as we expand government revenues and deploy it to grow our Gross Domestic Product, generate employment and contribute to eliminating poverty in Nigeria.
”This National Oil and Gas Excellence Centre will serve as an integrated resource complex to drive safety, value and cost efficiency in the industry. It is therefore another milestone in the development of the oil and gas sector and the realisation of greater value for the country.”
While stressing the importance of the Integrated Centre in enhancing the contribution of the oil and gas sector to the nation’s GDP as well as strengthening Nigeria’s position as the regional leader in the industry, the President noted that the centre has opened a new set of opportunities for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry in terms of investments, cost reduction, safety in operations and capacity development.
