Embrace Oil Deregulation, Minister Urges Nigerians

The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku has charged Nigerians to embrace deregulation in the oil sector saying it was the only way the sector could grow.

Maku who gave the charge during an interview said that the entire policy of deregulation had been misunderstood, especially as it affected the oil sector of the economy.

Maku argued that deregulation had worked in other sectors of the economy like aviation, telecommunications, and broadcasting and as such would work in the oil sector as well.

“I think honestly that this policy has been misunderstood. We are talking about deregulation and we have tried deregulation in other sectors and it has succeeded. That is what is giving us the courage, the encouragement to go into it. First we tried it in aviation in the 90s; when Nigerian Airways was the only airline here and nobody had the right to float an airline in Nigeria, then deregulation came, people were afraid,” Maku noted.

“Today you go to the airport, airlines are still being established now; you no longer wait at the airport, so today the aviation industry has grown and is growing. Because the private sector is where the most investable capital is located now so to free this sector, what we have had in aviation is what we would witness,’’ he stressed.

The minister further cited example with the broadcasting sector where the private sector was given licenses to float media outfits and as such more media houses came up and employment was generated as well as revenue in form of tax.

He also mentioned the telecommunications sector where Nitel used to be a monopoly with about 400,000 unreliable trunk lines which generated no income to government, but expenses.

“Today, telecoms deregulation has brought about a new revolution in Nigeria: from 400,000 analogue lines we now have close to 90 million new lines that Nigerians on the farm, in the markets, everywhere today are communicating with the rest of the world, advancing the economy. “Where you have to travel on foot or hire a vehicle to go, you simply make a phone call and save the money of transportation. People stay in their houses now to do their businesses using their telephone.”

“Today the telecoms companies have emerged as the highest tax paying companies in Nigeria over and above banks. We derive tens of billions of Naira today from tax paid by telecom companies whereas government before was spending huge money to sustain Nitel that didn’t generate a Kobo.

Maku stressed that considering the level of economic advancement achieved in other sectors that had been deregulated; such successes should also be expected from oil sector deregulation, adding  “if we don’t do this, this country will not make progress.”