The
Chief Executive Officer/Publisher, Energy Today, a specialised petroleum
industry newspaper, Mr. Emeka Obidike, has said that liberalising the petroleum
sector is the key to enhancing growth and development in the industry.

Obidike,
who spoke at the inauguration of the weekly newspaper in Lagos recently, said
the government needed to encourage private investors to build refineries in the
country.

He
said, “The way out of the petroleum problem in the country is for the regulator
to liberalise the system and encourage investors to go into the system and
build refineries. Few months ago, a neighbouring country, Niger, set up a
refinery. Some states in the North, as a result, procure their petroleum
products from Niger. If such a country could do that, what stops us?

“The
banks are there; they should not shy away from their core duty. We should not
create an impression that except you have $10bn, you cannot set up a refinery.
That policy makes it extremely difficult for investors to come in. Nigeria has
what it takes to do this. There should also be a long-term loan for that aspect
of the economy to thrive.”

The
publisher, however, said the aim of introducing Energy Today was to bridge the
existing information gap in the sector by giving quality information to the
public and major players, especially operators and regulators.

He
listed some of the agencies to include the Ministry of Petroleum Resources,
Department of Petroleum Resources, Standards Organisation of Nigeria and
Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, among others.

Obidike
said, “I am both a major player and stakeholder in the industry. By my office,
I am the Secretary, Lubricant Producers Association of Nigeria. Because of my
passion for the industry, making sure that things are done rightly led me into
newspaper publication.

“A
lot of people want to air their views but are constrained may be because the
regular newspapers are not specialised, because there are so much news about
oil and gas but we have limited space for them.”

According
to him, the paper will focus on balanced reportage of issues in the sector.

He
said the way out of the petroleum quagmire in Nigeria was for the government to
liberalise the industry.

The
Principal Partner, Lubeservices Associates, Mr. Kayode Sote, who reviewed the
newspaper, said government needed to do something worthwhile and urgently about
the declining state of the nation’s oil and gas industry.

He
said although government policies were meant to stimulate and promote
investment opportunities and diverse business potential in the nation’s
economy, the oil and gas industry “is characterised by peculiar complexities
and secrecy,” which, he said, would not augur well for the nation.

Sote
queried why Nigeria’s oil and gas industry was still being dominated by foreign
companies and wondered what the future held for the country in terms of
investment opportunities.

He
suggested that government could bring back the moribund refineries to full
operation by leasing them to private companies.

He
said the existing refineries were insufficient and urged the government to
allow new ones to be built.

Sote
supported the view that for new refineries to be built, the government must
deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industry.

He
said the current deregulation process was “mischievous” and he had lost
confidence in it.

“Money
removed from subsidy should be ploughed back into physical infrastructural
development so that people can see,” he added.