Nigeria may become net importer of crude oil -Experts

Experts in the oil and gas sector have warned that Nigeria may become a net importer of crude oil in view of the ongoing destruction of oil installations in the Niger Delta region.

The experts, who spoke at a stakeholders’ roundtable on the perennial fuel scarcity in Nigeria organized by the House of Representatives Committee on Civil Society Organisations and Development Partners yesterday, said unless an urgent action was taken, the country may be in for a bigger problem.

In a keynote address, the chairman of the board of the Energy Institute of Nigeria, Mr. Osten Olorunsola, said for Nigeria to move forward from the stagnation caused by over-reliance on oil, the country must avoid being stuck with past paradigms.

Declaring the event open, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who was represented by his deputy, Yussuf Suleiman Lasun, said the House was concerned about the perennial fuel scarcity, and as a way of finding solution to it, decided to organize the roundtable.

The chairman of the committee, Rep Peter Akpatason (APC, Edo), said due to the ad-hoc and nonsustainable nature of most of the measures adopted in the past, the problem of fuel scarcity had become persistent.