Ex – Minister Laments Nigeria’s Dependence On Foreign Technology To Explore Oil 

A former Minister of Petroleum and Mingi the 12 of Nembe Kingdom in Bayelsa State, King Edmund Dakoru, has expressed disappointment over Nigeria’s continuous dependence on foreign technology for oil exploration.
The monarch noted that since the discovery of oil in commercial quantity the country has been dependent on foreign technology for oil exploration.
He also expressed disappointment over the country’s dependence on foreign manpower otherwise known as expatriates to explore oil, after 70 years of oil activities in the country.
King Dakoru made this remark recently, while speaking to newsmen at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, on arrival from Abuja.
“If we (Nigeria) had learned the road very well since 70 years now, we would have been having a better chance and advantage in oil exploration.
“The area of technology is a global matter. It is between the buyer and seller, and that is the really the issue.
“Nigeria really needs to ask herself certain questions, and that is, ‘why is it that we cannot be anything without a foreign input? Can’t we stand on our own and build up gradually without foreign input?
“In agriculture, you put the seed in the ground, but you can not control the climate, you can not tell which year will bring good rain or draught and when you plant, you will wait for the harvest season.
“But in oil, if the science is correct, any day you drill, you will get what you are looking for, but in agriculture, even when the science is correct, no one can control the weather, even the weather forecasters have not been getting it all right, because it is nature, and no one is in control of the weather.
“ Let us not quarrel about the cake, but let’s bake a bigger cake. Let’s think on how to bake a bigger cake.
“ Where have we been that we can not step into the gap that the foreigners are leaving, I always ask.
“Something that started in 1956, about 70 years now, why are we not able to step in and bake the cake, but we are always waiting for outsiders to come and bake it for us.
“Can we say we don’t have enough expertise or can not raise capital? Oil is probably if you take the technology apart, technology is foreign, and you have to bring it and it is not sitting in a particular place.
“ It is not only in America. Some parts are made in America, some may come from Asia, France, and even Brazil”, Dakoru said.

By: Corlins Walter