The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has commended Dr Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum, over Nigeria’s hosting of the International Petroleum Summit (NIPS).
NANS President Chinonso Obasi said in a statement issued in Abuja that the hosting a summit of such magnitude for the first time was a good omen for the Nigerian economy.
The theme of the maiden summit is “Deepening collaboration in the African Oil and Gas Industry: Challenges and Opportunities for Investment”.
Obasi said he considered it a unique opportunity to woo investors to Nigeria and Africa’s oil and gas sector.
“In the past, most Nigerian energy and petroleum industry players spent huge foreign exchange to attend the popular Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, U.S.
“Today, Kachikwu has changed the narrative by conceptualising and hosting the new Nigeria OTC, that seeks to bring investors and players in the sector to Africa for the first time.
“I will also like to acknowledge the Minister of State for the opportunity given to NANS to be part of the unique event.”
He said he believed the opportunity provided by the summit would foster greatness for the Nigerian petroleum sector.
Kachikwu, had earlier at a break-out session of the summit on Monday, said that multinational oil firms would soon stop shipping out the crude oil they produced in Nigeria.
According to him, the government is planning to put in place frameworks for multinational oil and gas firms to build refineries in Nigeria, thereby processing a substantial amount of crude produced from its oil fields.
“We will get to a point where Nigeria, definitely, would be a major supplier of refined petroleum products.
“It just has to happen. Nothing else makes sense. We are also saying directly to oil companies that a time would also come when we would not be open to see them move around all the crude oil they produce in Nigeria.
“We will like to see integrated refining and integrated processing here. It gives us more jobs and creates more investments,” Kachikwu said.
