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NG News: Oil and gas reforms not cosmetic, says Egbogah
By Yetunde Ebosele, Energy reporter
- The Guardian -

THE nation's oil and gas sector may be on its track to greatness as the National Energy Council sub-committee set up by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to review its status has promised to leave no stone unturned towards achieving set objectives.

Speaking with The Guardian recently in Lagos, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah, who is also a member of the committee, said the task before the council was enormous, adding that the ultimate goal before the committee was to see the oil and gas sector at per with that of other developed countries.

According to him, the committee going by the quality of persons aboard it would help recommend adequate measures to be employed to bring about the needed growth and versatility that seems to have eluded the sector in time past.

Egbogah, who spoke on sundry issues as regards the oil and gas industry said the positive repositioning of the sector is part of the seven-point agenda of the Umaru Yar' Adua administration.

"We believe we will leave no stone unturned and that by the time we finished the process, we would be able to bring Nigeria oil and gas industry into the beaming light of the 21st century in the world's oil and gas industry. In the reform agenda, we intend to keep the country abreast with the processes being made as we forge ahead in a quest that is expected to bring about enormous change to oil and gas business in Nigeria. So, I want to assure you that the process we want to follow would not be cosmetics because by the time we are through with our work, you will see that Nigeria oil and gas industry has been brought to the current situation of the 21st century," Egbogah said.

The council was inaugurated in September by President Yar'Adua to help reorganise all the policy regulatory, operational and commercial organs of the oil and gas sector to correspond with international best practices.

Based on the mandate given the sub-committee, it was charged specifically with the implementation of the new National Oil and Gas Policy as enshrined in the Oil and Gas Sector Reform Implementation (OGIC) report.

The committee by the mandate given it is also expected to supervise the emergence of an institutional framework that would govern the operations of the industry, including the emergence of the new national directorate for more effective policy formation for the industry.