Nigeria Spends $10bn Annually On Petroleum Products Importation – Dr Abe

Despite being the sixth largest crude oil exporting nation among the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nigeria spends $10 billion annually on importation of refined petroleum products.

This was revealed in a lecture presented by the Managing Director of the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority  (OGFZ), Dr Noble Abe during the visit of the Minister of Commence and Industry, Senator Martins Kuye, to the headquarters of the  free zone last Monday.

Dr Abe said Nigeria is the only country in such a contradictory situation as the nation was yet to leverage the vast energy reserves to enhance its industrial base through active productive activities.

With the Nigerian economy completely dependent on the capital-intensive oil sector, he hinted that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was still about 25 per cent out of about 95 per cent of the foreign exchange earnings.

This, he noted, accounts for the low human capital development index in the country.

Dr Abe, who acknowledged that the country is faced with pertinent challenges, such as decline in international financial flows through direct foreign investment, said this negatively affects the country’s trade and fiscal balances stressing that the oil and gas free zone offers great opportunities  for Nigeria’s economic breakthrough.

He said Nigeria should take advantage of the comparative advantage in its abundant energy reserves to enhance its productive base through the development of allied industries.

Dr Abe also called on the Federal Government to provide the necessary infrastructure and incentives for the free zone to achieve its economic goals.

He sited countries like Singapore and Malaysia as examples of nations that leveraged on their comparative advantages in their resource base to develop their economies.

The OGFZ boss also emphasized that Nigeria was more favourably disposed to be the centre of global attraction in investment opportunities given the diverse resources available in the country, especially in the energy sector. 

Beemene Taneh