Nigeria promises to assist Senegal to grow oil, gas industry
By Eyo Nsima
Nigeria has promised to assist Senegal, to develop its oil and gas industry, in the spirit of regional cooperation.
The Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who made the promise when he received a Senegalese delegation led by Minister of Petroleum, Aissatou Sophie Gladima, in Abuja, said: “We as Africans have to work together in order to chart a way forward. We cannot continue to depend on Europe and the outside world.
“In fact, it has been proven over and over again that they cannot be responsible for our development. We have to take full responsibility for our development. That’s why we are happy that you are here today.”
He also said: “We definitely have some advantages as a country because we have been in this sector for a very long time. And a lot of lessons have been learned, a lot of mistakes have been made.
“When oil production started in Nigeria, Nigerians were completely spectators. We were not part of the production activities. Every position was occupied by expatriates and our communities were just on-lookers to their activities.”
He added: “But since then, a lot has happened, and there has been a lot of capacity building in Nigeria and today we can tell you that a significant percentage of Nigeria’s crude is being produced by Nigerian companies and also the Nigerian involvement even in the international oil companies has increased significantly to the extent that some of the IOCs now have Nigerians as Managing Director in the Nigerian subsidiaries”, he stated.
