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Tag: Ibe Kachikwu

  • We need oil to get out of oil -Osinbajo

    We need oil to get out of oil -Osinbajo

    Remarks by His Excellency, Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON at the presentation of three books by Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu in Abuja, on November  14, 2016

    I am especially pleased to be here this morning to celebrate the major intellectual and policy achievements of Dr Ibe Emmanuel Kachikwu, in his three texts on oil & gas law and policy in Nigeria.

    One, is the Compendium of Oil and Gas Cases in Nigeria, two, Legal issues in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry and the Petroleum Industry Bill: Getting to the Yes.

    These books are important, first, because oil and gas law and policy in Nigeria is notoriously underserved with quality materials. There just aren’t enough scholarly materials on the subject.

    But perhaps of greater importance is the pedigree of the author, a first class scholar, an industry expert of 30 years standing and now possibly the foremost policy person in the sector today, in his capacity as Chair of NNPC, former GMD of NNPC and the Honourable Minister of Petroleum and perhaps one should add his current position at OPEC.

    With this type of antecedents, it should be expected that the quality of thoughts and insights and the solutions that should be on offer should be unique indeed.

    I am pleased to say that from my assessment of one of the books: Legal Issues in the Petroleum Industry– which I had the pleasure to peruse, he did not disappoint.He took on the difficult issues of the defining items in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

    The law is the law, policy is what it is, but how do they work on a regular day? What are the unspoken or subtle rules? In order words, what are the practical implications of policy and legislation? How did the subsidy regime for example redefine our downstream sector and perhaps the whole industry?

    You will not find the insights that Dr Kachikwu offers in the chapters on marketing and transportation of petroleum products, divestments, negative trends in the Nigerian petroleum industry and ministerial discretion in any text book or policy manual on the subject.

    Dr Kachikwu clearly took full advantage of the rare convergence of scholarship, contemporary experience and policy wisdom to deliver what are probably today the most significant contributions to our understanding of the major issues and nuances of the Nigerian Petroleum industry. It is this uniquely versatile background that makes this publication on the subject a must read for serious participants in one form or other in the industry.

    But I will not be surprised if one of the books – The Petroleum Industry Bill: Getting to the Yes – attracts considerable attention.

    The industry has awaited this all important bill for so long and many would hope at least that they can get a sense of how the minister’s mind is working.

    (I am afraid I cannot help much on that score as I was unable to read the book before now.)

    However, I think it might be important to say that the federal government has had to deal frontally with the critical issues bedeviling the sector: the deregulation of the downstream sector and its continuing challenges, vandalism of pipelines and export facilities and the critical drop in production, gas to power issues, the urgent imperatives of local refining, cash call problems and the plans to exit that regime and empowering indigenous operators.

    As we move to diversify our economy we are acutely aware that we need oil to get out of oil. Yet our window of opportunity to benefit maximally from the petroleum industry is narrowing.

    The development in shale oil which the author spends considerable time on, the increasing breakthroughs in renewable energy use, the incredible speed of the expansion of the use of electric vehicles, -Japan now has more electric charging stations than gas stations- all point inexorably to the fact that the party might be over sooner than we expected.

    But let me just go to another issue. Very few people here know that the author, Dr Ibe Kachikwu is also a great writer of fiction. I wonder how many people know that Dr Kachikwu was the publisher of the famous Hints magazine. Hints magazine, by the way, was a romantic magazine and several of the romantic stories there, were personally authored by Dr Kachikwu himself. I am sure for those who read fiction, you might have read the Cocaine Connection which he wrote, Beneath the Boardroom and the wonderful book, Peace at Last, which really is a book about himself and his childhood.  And I think it is the book that we all ought to read because, again it deals with some of the types of problems of young people that are growing up, especially when we have issues with our parents.

    Dr Kachikwu has always proved to be a multi-tasking individual and when you look at some of the works of fiction that he has written and just the way that he has written them, -and they are such good books to read, -I am sure that many of us would agree that if he had not made a success of his first love, which is oil and gas, he probably would have been quite successful as a writer of fiction.

    Let me say that having read his latest works, especially the one that I have read, I think that we must really commend him for the very excellent work that he has done.

    Once more, let me congratulate the author. I am sure he knew that when he finally decided to write on the industry, we would not tolerate one book from him. Three books at once is certainly in keeping with his immense talents. Congratulations indeed.

  • Chinese firms to invest $70bn in Nigeria’s oil sector

    The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on Wednesday said Chinese private sector companies had pledged an additional $70 billion investment in the Nigerian economy.

    Kachikwu said this while addressing State House correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    He said the Council was briefed on the outcome of the ministry’s China roadshow held in January.

    He said the $70 billion pledges were different from the ones  made  to President Buhari during his earlier visit to the Asian nation.

    The minister added that the ministry’s investment target in China was initially to raise $40 billion, which was the total cost of the nation’s infrastructure gap for the oil industry.

    He said the China roadshow, however, raised pledges of over $70 billion for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and government potential investments and loans facility.

  • Kachikwu lists strategies for economic recovery

    The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday listed seven key implementation strategies to boost the petroleum industry and enable export of refined products by 2019.

    The minister spoke at the Presidential Quarterly Business Forum between the Private Sector and the Economic Management Team (EMT) in Abuja, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    Represented by the Senior Technical Adviser in the ministry, Mr. Johnson Awoyemi, Kachikwu said peace and security in the Niger Delta region is crucial to the programme.

    He also mentioned policy and regulation, business environment and investment drive, transparency and efficiency, stakeholder management and international coordination as primary concerns of the ministry.

    The others, he said, were engaging in gas revolution as well as increasing refineries and local production capacity.

    “Oil and gas will drive diversification but the drop in oil production to 1.56 billion barrels per day from the annual estimate of 2.2 billion barrels per day will negatively affect growth,’’ NAN quoted Kachikwu as saying at the forum.

  • No plan to hike fuel price, say Kachikwu, NNPC GMD

    No plan to hike fuel price, say Kachikwu, NNPC GMD

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, on Monday denied plans to increase the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as petrol.

    They spoke separately with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The meeting followed the reports that a meeting of former GMDs of NNPC had recommended increase in fuel price, claiming that the current price is no longer sustainable.

    Baru, who was the first to emerge from the meeting, was pressed by correspondents for comments but he declined and referred journalists to the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

    Asked if there will be a review of the price, the NNPC GMD dismissed the journalists, saying: “There is nothing like that.”

    But Kachikwu who came out about 15 minutes later directed journalists to speak with Baru on the matter.

    When told that Baru had declined comments on the matter, Kachikwu said there was no memo before the Federal Government asking for a review of the fuel price.

  • FG still open to dialogue with Avengers – Kachikwu

    FG still open to dialogue with Avengers – Kachikwu

    The Federal Government on Monday said it has not closed the avenues for negotiations with the new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, saying it would explore every available opportunity for negotiation so that the group can stop bombing of oil pipelines and platforms.

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, stated this at the South-South Town Hall Meeting held at the Le Meridien Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

    Kachikwu said there was no theater in the world where conflicts have been resolved through battle, insisting that his mandate as the minister of state for petroleum was to protect oil production and to generate more revenue for the government.

    He said the government’s resolve to negotiate with the militant group was not a sign of weakness, stressing that massive bombing of a territory would not articulate a solution to the already exiting problem.

    The minister said: “There is no theater in the world where conflicts have been resolved through battle. It doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong. I have too many objectives in this portfolio and one of them is to protect production and generate the revenue because if we don’t all the things we are talking about here is just a joke.

    “I believe that massive bombing of a territory is not going to articulate solution. It has never worked because at the end of the day you will leave with the effects of that destruction. That is probably what has caused most of the problems in the world today.

    “This is not issue of weakness. We will explore every avenue for negotiation. The military strength of this country is not in doubt. I think if anybody doubted it, you will see what has happened to Boko Haram.

    “But we will first discuss. We will first negotiate but if doesn’t work we will not know what to do. But I have not seen evidence that the avenues for negotiations have closed. We are making a dramatic progress and I will like to push those frontiers.”

     

  • Government, labour meet over fuel price hike

    There was a mild drama on Monday at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) during a meeting convened between the organised labour and the Federal Government to resolve the brewing crisis caused by hike in fuel price when the leadership of labour threatened to boycott the meeting if the factional leader of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, was allowed to be part of the meeting.

    The meeting earlier slated for 3:00pm did not start until 7:10pm when the SGF led other members of the negotiating team to the conference hall.

    The government delegation was led by the SGF, David Lawal and it included Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kackukwu, Minister of State for Solid Minerals, Abubakar Bawa Bwari, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang.

    The labour delegation included President of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, President of the Trade Union Congress, Bobboi Kaigama, General Secretaries of both the NLC and TUC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson and Comrade Simeso Amachree, Deputy President of the NLC and TUC, Najim Yaseem and Austin Etafo and the President of PENGASSAN, Comrade Francis Olabode Johnson.

    However, the factional leader of the NLC, Ajaero and his deputy, who is also the president of NUPENG, Igwe Achese, who were present at the SGF office were not allowed into the meeting as they were asked to stay out and await their turn to meet with the government team.

    The president of NLC and TUC led out their team from the conference hall of the SGF office, insisting that Ajaero and his team should not be part of the meeting since the issue for discussion was not about electricity and pleas by Dr. Kachikwu to get them into the meeting proved abortive.

    Addressing the meeting before going into a closed door section, the SGF said the decision to deregulate the petroleum sector was taken in the best interest of Nigerians, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari empathizes with Nigerians over the short time consequences of the decision.

     

  • Nigeria loses .8m barrels daily to vandalism – Kachikwu

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday said Nigeria’s crude oil production had declined from 2.2 million barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day due to pipeline vandalism.

    This, he said, translated to loss of 800,000 barrels of oil by the country daily.

    The minister made this known at a special session of the House of Representatives convened over the recent petrol price hike, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    He condemned the incessant attacks on oil installations in the country, saying “we declined from 2.2 million barrels which was the focus of the 2016 budget to 1.4 million barrels as of today’.”

    He, however, expressed the ministry’s commitment to ensuring that destroyed facilities were repaired and effectively protected.

    “We are going to work hard to see how we will get these issues resolved and get our production back,’’ the minister said.

    Kachikwu restated the need to develop infrastructure, which he described as “key’’ to promoting increased and efficient crude oil production.

    “There are still a whole lot of things we need to pay attention to, infrastructure is key, but we have not as a country over the last 20 years invested in infrastructure in the oil sector.

    “Our pipelines are 35 years old and none has been replaced; we have not been able to put gas infrastructure in place, our refineries are next to comatose and old and we are working hard on them.

    “Our critical facilities are at a breakdown stage, so no serious infrastructure has taken place.

    “No country in the world will expect that the price system in the country will benefit its citizens if it doesn’t invest in infrastructure.

    “So, the energy we put on PMS we need to begin to focus on building massive infrastructure all over the country. I know how much efforts it has taken to pump products from the south to the north, to the east and to the west.

    “It has been one battle after another, but the time has come to invest in proper pipelines, proper tracking, proper buried levels and begin to move with the world,’’ he said.

  • Reps bar Kachikwu from plenary

    Reps bar Kachikwu from plenary

    Members of the opposition in the House of Representatives vehemently opposed the admittance of the Minister of State (Petroleum Resources), Ibe Kachikwu into the chamber Monday afternoon.

    Kachikwu was scheduled to address the lawmakers Monday on the latest development over hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

    However, trouble started when plenary resumed and time for the Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila to move for the admittance of the Minister into the Chamber.

    After the motion was seconded, the Speaker put the question but the nays were more than the ayes.

    The Speaker ruled in favour of the ayes before banging the gavel but before he could drop the gavel, “No, no, All we are saying, save Nigeria and APC shame” rent the air.

    After about three minutes, the Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila and Chief Whip, Ado Doguwa approached the Speaker for consultation.

    The Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun, who was seen placating his colleagues and the Minority Leader, Leo Ogor later joined the Speaker’s consultation group.

    The chanting and flag waving went on for another 20 minutes before the Speaker was able to rally the members.

    Before he recognized the Minority Leader Ogor after the noise had subsided, the Speaker said,  “This is the beauty of democracy,  we disagree to agree”.

    He then acknowledged Ogor, who moved that the House dissolve into Executive session.

    The House went into the session without the Minister being admitted.

     

  • Nigerians react to N145 fuel price

    Nigerians react to N145 fuel price

    Nigerians on Wednesday reacted to the new pump price announced by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu.
    Recalled that the Federal Government has approved an increase of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) normally referred to as petrol to be sold not more than N145 per litre effective from 11th May, 2015.
    The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) is expected to accordingly announce the new price. Recall that the product was selling for N86.50 per litre.
    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu revealed this to the State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
    Find the reactions below: