An oil and gas expert has blamed the insecurity of upstream assets and oil theft as the biggest problems affecting the industry in Nigeria.
He said reforms in the sector have been ineffective for the past 20 years due to inefficiency, corruption and a transactional leadership mindset. “The way forward is to go back to the core objectives of the PIA Act and be determined to follow not only the letters of the law but the intent, particularly aligning the assigned responsibilities of the three anchor institutions to the objectives of the Act.
“The industry reform that took more than 20 years to fashion has not been as effective as anticipated because of the apparent flaws in the implementation process.“Hitherto, Nigeria’s oil and gas industry operations have added significant value to the national economy. In the immediate years after the war ended in 1970, the industry contributed more than 20 to the national Gross Domestic Product, GDP. Then, oil was looked at as the engine to drive economic output.