Arco boss tasks govt on petroleum sector reforms

THE Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Arco group, Alfred Okoigun, has urged the Federal Government to ensure that the oil and gas reforms are driven to a logical conclusion that would enhance optimal utilization of the natural resources.

Okiogun, who made this call at the dinner in Abuja, said the nation is blessed with abundant resources capable of turning around the economy of the country, hence the need for good management strategies.

Speaking on the challenges and opportunities of the falling oil prices, he said, “Nigeria has been endowed by nature to generate sufficient electricity for own use. I acknowledge that some reforms are currently on-going in this sector. However, government must demonstrate the political will to drive the process to a logical conclusion for the benefit of the country.

Expressing dismay over the lingering fuel importation, he said: “If all the petroleum products consumed in the country were locally refined, we will save huge costs, conserve needed foreign exchange, eliminate the probability of fraud in subsidy payments and maybe, generate additional foreign exchange from the export of refined petroleum products.

“For too long, we have held onto the notion in this country that ‘Nigerians cannot do it’. This notion has weighed us down as a nation and in times of an international crisis of the nature that we are battling with now, we simply resign to fate and watch what is happening abroad and pray for some kind of miracle.

“We should borrow a leaf from those that have broken themselves from the shackles of “If it is not foreign, it is not workable”. Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and to a large extent, India have proven the point that they can do it and they are doing it,” he said.

Applauding the impact of the Nigerian Content Law in capacity development, Okoigun said, “The law has created the platform for us to address the attempts being made in some quarters to prevent Nigerian companies from taking their rightful places in the Nigerian oil and gas sector. We request that government gives sufficient empowerment to those agencies charged with the responsibility to monitor compliance with the law in order to ensure that the law is implemented without fear or favour.”