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Interview:Corporate Nigeria (CN) talks to
Dr. Emmanuel O. Egbogah (OON), Special Adviser to the President on Petroleum Matters
Extensive Knowledge
CN: Dr Egbogah, as Special Adviser to the President on Petroleum Matters you play a key role in shaping the policy for one of Nigeria's most important resources. Can you describe your responsibilities in this role?
Dr Egbogah: I advise Mr President holistically on matters of oil and gas resources planning, exploration, development, exploitation, processing, transportation, management, asset valuation, economics, policy regulation, strategy, governance, legal and regulatory framework, fiscal systems/regimes and petroleum arrangements, financing and all issues pertaining to the orderly development of the nation’s petroleum resources. I have been leading the effort in the comprehensive reform of the public sector of the oil and gas industry resulting in the preparation of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), a bill that coalesces all existing 16 laws into one comprehensive, all-encompassing legislation, which captures all the experience of past more than 50 years in addressing all institutional matters: policy, structure, legal and governance. The PIB is viewed as an integrated, viable, functional, sovereign enterprise with geostrategic capacity and global market understanding equaling sustainable economic development.
The PIB which is currently in the National Assembly for passage into law represents a truly unique Nigerian institutional structure for the energy sector with strong, stable legal and fiscal aspects supplemented with built-in mechanisms for transparency and accountability, which, in the aftermath of the near-collapse of the global financial system, have become the essential tools to secure investment and capital flows into Nigeria. It also provides for an open and robust sector, more competitive, technically and scientifically proficient, and oriented to host-community involvement, local content and indigenous participation objectives as well as local and international best practices.
What needs to be done to raise the profitability of the natural gas industry in Nigeria?
The most important thing is the setting up of a commercial framework for gas to power which has resulted in the approval of a new gas pricing which has been most welcomed by all the industry players and new investors as a sure way to encourage investment in gas development. The government, in recognition of the impact that the multiplier effect of gas has on the domestic economy has embarked on the reform of the gas sector through the development and implementation of a Gas Master Plan, which provides a structured and holistic framework for enhancing gas availability and sustainability of supply in Nigeria and for export.
