Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State (Oil) Petroleum Resources, has assured Nigerians of increased oil production on a sustainable basis.
Lokpobiri gave the assurance in Abuja on Monday while addressing stakeholders on his assumption of duty, shortly after taking his oath of office.
Lokpobiri and his counterpart, Mr Ekperipe Ekpo, Minister of State (Gas), Petroleum Resources, were among the ministers inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu at the State House on Monday.
Lokpobiri, while stating that he believed in action, and would spend more time in the field, also promised to work together with the regulatory agencies and stakeholders to boost oil production for the benefit of Nigerians.
“I have got more energy, and I have come to utilise that energy to revamp the petroleum sector.
“I am here with one agenda, which is to increase oil production and in order to increase it, we need to work together to achieve the desired results.
“I am here to provide the leadership so that we can go to the Creeks and resolve all the problems,” he assured.
His counterpart, Ekpo, who expressed gratitude to the President for finding him and others worthy to serve, said he would be committed to a sustainable gas requisite framework and development of gas infrastructure for the benefit of Nigerians.
Ekpo said Nigeria’s proven natural gas reserves positioned the nation as one of the countries with the greatest reserves, and harnessing the gas reserves would stimulate the domestic economy, gas utilisation and support thousands of jobs for economic growth.
He promised to work tirelessly to translate the potentials into realities, for economic advancement.
“With the removal of fuel subsidy, the enormous responsibility of providing an alternative to fuel rests on the ministry,” he said.
He said in line with the presidential approval of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Initiative, and as an immediate strategy, the ministry would examine the utilisation of CNG for mass transit sector and associating power-generating infrastructure.
“This will support the economy in many ways, including scaling down the cost of transportation which will cause multiplier effects, lower food cost and reverse inflationary trend leading to measurable improvement in living conditions of Nigerians,” he added.
According to him, post-COVID era and current Russian-Ukraine war have caused imbalances in the global gas industry.
He said in the next few months, he would be receiving briefings from relevant ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) with the view to ascertaining the actual status of Nigeria’s gas exploration and utilisation, state of infrastructure delivery, level of access and projects within the gas industry.
He therefore urged the National Assembly to grant the ministry needed legislative support to achieve the responsibilities set before the ministry.
