Mr Bank-Anthony Okoroafor, an Energy Expert, has advised government to invest in drilling gas wells and equipping them with infrastructure needed to achieve power sufficiency in the country.
Okoroafor said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
NAN recalls that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr Ibe Kachikwu had in June led a government delegation to China on a road show to attract investors for Infrastructure development in the oil and gas sector.
During the trip, the Federal government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worth 80 billion dollars with some Chinese companies and investors to support development in the sector.
He said that government’s idea to invest in the infrastructure development in the oil and gas sector was a good step in the right direction.
“We need funds to drill gas wells and equip all infrastructure needed to achieve power sufficiency,’’ he said
According to him, to achieve sufficient development in the sector, government must be committed in meeting it cash calls obligations.
“We also have to clear all outstanding cash calls and convert all Joint Ventures (JVs) to International Joint Ventures (IJV’s) so that each IJV can now source for their own funds and carry out their projects instead of waiting for cash calls from NNPC.
“We need funds to convert all flares to power,’’ he added.
Okoroafor noted that government must stop funding projects but focus in meeting all agreement on cash calls.
He said that government should equally create enabling environment to ease doing business and ensure transparency and accountability in the system.
“They must eliminate all bottlenecks, maintain sanctity of contracts and take care of security and community associated risks,’’ he said.
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