The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, says the absence of a stable fiscal environment is inhibiting the growth of the Nigerian petroleum industry, especially the upstream sector.
While hosting members of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) who were on an oversight visit to the corporation, he called calling for speedy passage of Petroleum Industry Bill.
The PIB was first introduced to Nigeria’s National Assembly in December 2008, to increase transparency in the NNPC and the country’s share of oil revenue.
In a statement issued by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division at the NNPC, Dr. Kennie Obateru, the GMD said, “We need to act quickly to move from this unstable situation to a very stable one. The only way is for us to get the PIB to work, so that countries and investors can work with us.”
Stating the need for foreign capital in the upstream sector, Kyari said the only way to attract it was to have stable laws and a friendly business environment that could guarantee cost recovery and a decent return on investment.
He asserted that uncertainty in the sector created by the long delay in the passage of the PIB led to a number of divestments from the country in the recent past.
However, Kyari said the drive by the NNPC management to entrench the culture of transparency in the corporation improved its business fortunes and credit-worthiness.
The committee chairman, Musa Adar, expressed his committee’s readiness to support the corporation in the discharge of its duties without hindrance.
