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NNPC without political interference: Kachikwu and Baru reach consensus

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has met with the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru on Tuesday for the first time since their reported disagreement broke out and the primary fruit of the meeting was establishing a petroleum industry regulator free from the whims of politics.

Kachikwu and Baru met at a breakout session at the ongoing 23rd Nigerian Economic Summit and spoke on the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill. Ibe Kachikwu noted that it was also important for the industry to have a Minister who would not be very powerful seeing that change of office was an unavoidable thing and no one could be a Minister for as long as they wanted. He added that there should be systems built to drive the petroleum industry.

While moderating the panel discussion on energy at the breakout session of the summit alongside the NNPC GMD, the Minister stated that the government was working to ensure an improved bill that would eventually be passed and that would meet the aspirations of major and minor stakeholders alike.

“We are still working to make it better. By the time the Senate and the entire National Assembly finishes what they are doing, we are going to see a much stronger and a much larger independent regulator.

“Whatever model of the PIB that we are pushing, the point that Dr. Baru made is very, very key to see an independent regulator with very enormous powers, with less of political interference so that individuals can do their work and also whittling down the powers of the minister so that these institutions can work and work well.

“The reality is that no one will work as a minister forever. You are going to hand over that portfolio. We should be looking for the system surviving and being able to work well. So it’s something that we are working with the National Assembly very hard on and I think if you look at the issues that come up, there is a lot of emphasis on that independence.

“The Federal Government will develop policies that ensure that the global decline in fossil energy does not take Nigeria unawares. The government is already thinking in that direction. The Federal Government is currently dealing with the fundamentals of ensuring that the refineries work, and ensuring availability of energy sources to meet our day to day energy needs.

“The NNPC will have to take over the commercial aspects, because they are going to be the one deploying it. As the refineries get kitted up, we will continue to look at new fossil development programmes, and will see a need to pump out policies that will enable Nigerians see the advantages in terms of costs.”

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