Business
Stakeholder Advises FG On Economy
Managing Director of Atlas Petroleum and Investment Company Limited, Dr Gabriel Pepple has advised the Federal Government on the need for the diversification of the economy through a well thought out policy.
Pepple stated this in Opobo Town while speaking to The Tide on the need for government to reposition the economy through other sectors.
He maintained that with the current economic crunch in Nigeria, due to what appears to be prolonged slump in oil prices leading to dwindling revenue, the nation cannot afford to delay the implementation of a well thought out policy on the diversification of her economy.
He said that nations such as Saudi Arabia, China and Malaysia have placed emphasis on the development of viable and sustainable petro-chemical industries and effect of their far-sighted policy decisions and implementation.
He stressed that even Japan and India that are non-oil and gas producing countries had a head-start in the establishment of petro-chemical industries complexes to the extent that they have now been posting huge revenue from local consumption and exportation of petro-chemical raw materials and finished products.
He added that in spite of their situations, Japan is the world’s third largest producer of petro-chemicals and chemicals products despite joining the chemical components League of Nations in such areas as far back as 1955, India in its own case is the 6th largest producer of petro-chemicals in the world and holds the third position in Asia.
He observed that comparatively, Saudi Arabia exports 100 million tones of petro-chemical products while Nigeria’s production figure is less than one million, a quantity not enough to feed the local industries in need of petro-chemical raw materials.
He maintained that despite the fact that the main raw material which is gas needed to produce ethylene, propylene, carbon black etc, are available in abundance in Nigeria, the nation depends largely on foreign imports for its petro-chemical needs and therefore the country is yet to ultilise the opportunity of abundant natural resources to venture into a veritable area of diversification that can create massive job opportunities.
Pepple identified the cankerworm of corruption as a militating factor against the attempts to develop the country’s petro-chemical industry and called for decisive measures by government to block all avenues through which funds disappear into private pockets.
Bethel Sam Toby
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