As the Federal Government plans bids for about 15 marginal oil fields in Akwa Ibom, a former manager of Schlumberger, an international oilfield services company, has advised Akwa Ibom government and people to position themselves for the business.
Mr Etido Inyang in an exclusive chat with Midweek Pioneer, said, "We cannot allow the external forces only to come and take these prolific fields from ExxonMobil and Total.
"I will recommend that our eminent sons and daughters should stand up. Equally, our state government should also be involved as a producer of oil - set up a team that will go for bid rounds for the marginal fields, so that we can have our sons and daughters trained in the production of oil and send them out to work for the people.
The chairman of Ibom Power Company Limited (IPCL) who said he "still believes in oil, maintained that the world has not produced anything to challenge the oil and gas yet.
If not, you look at 27; 27 has just been signed in for the LNG to sign in. That will enhance the cost of gas in Nigeria; that means, other countries are still in need of gas.
"If there's any technology that is taking the place of oil and gas, then it will not be profitable. It's about the only contract Nigeria is signing to be able to go through these doldrums. Even in COVID, they signed that contract. I still believe, yeah, in future, call it 10 to 20 years, there could be a technology that will come up. We know about solar, we know about thermal and others but it is not commercial enough to challenge the production of oil and gas, the former commissioner for special duties also said.
He lauded Gov Udom Emmanuel on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and for setting up a Post COVID-19 Economic Team in the state, saying he was confident that with the number of funding experts in the committee, the state would pluck from the numerous offers by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
"The CBN is doing funding for post COVID-19; funding for farm estate owners and all of that. Somebody needs to take that and drill it down, form a desk where farmers can go and get tutored on how to unpluck these because these are immediate monies that are available, if not other states will take it. We don't have a quota for it. There's no quota for it. It's for the whole country. One state can take advantage of it all depending on the ingenuity of how you tailor your own process, Inyang said.
He also suggested training and how people can strategise and take advantage, of the various offers of post COVID-19 in the world.
"We need to train people to actually understand what has happened to the world, and then you look at opportunities that are there like what is going on in ICT - now that everybody is doing zoom meetings and all of that. Pluck the minds of the middle class people; that is not about going to Lagos, you stay in Akwa Ibom and do whatever you want to do, he added.
Inyang harped the Emmanuel's administration power for all project, saying, "Power for all is not just for people to have power or get the refrigerators, irons in their houses functioning and all of that. No! Power for all is going to make a lot more sense, in terms of what we're able to attract the SMEs of this world into Akwa Ibom; we're going to take advantage of the power for all and create industrial clusters. That is coming right on time where other states are going to have issues of power. People are going to relocate from other states to Akwa Ibom. Whatever we were talking before, this is what we have to do now. The post COVID-19 economic committee should strategise and fast-track for these things to be able to take effect.
http://www.pioneernewsonline.com/news/6029/a-ibom-govt-urged-to-take-advantage-of-fg-s-planned-bids-for-oil-fields. Akwa Ibom let do it.
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