By Innocent Obasi
The Federal Executive (FEC) has approved N117 billion for the construction of the Oloibiri oil museum and research centre in Bayelsa state. Oloibiri located in the Ogbia local government area of the state is the first oil well discovered in Nigeria in 1958.
Timipre Sylva, the minister of state for petroleum resources, made the disclosure while briefing State House correspondents after the weekly council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.
Sylva said the contract was awarded to Julius Berger Plc, at the sum of N117 billion, with a completion timeframe of 30 months.
The minister described the development as a significant accomplishment, noting that it will leave a lasting legacy for President Buhari in the Niger Delta.
On government efforts to ensure the petroleum scarcity will not have an impact on the general elections, he said it’s quite unfortunate, but assured that every hand is on the deck to address the situation.
“The Ministry of Petroleum is not in control of all the factors that lead to scarcity in the sense that there are forex issues as well as other issues.
“But at the moment today, there is supply, but unfortunately, we are experiencing some bottlenecks with the distribution and movement of the product to various destinations for now.
“I want to assure you that everything is being done. The NNPC Limited, NMDPRA (Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority), the marketers, everybody’s hands are on deck to ensure that this problem is resolved and to also inform you today we had a briefing from INEC and INEC has also engaged NNPC and NNPC has assured INEC that petroleum products supply to INEC will not be a problem and so that will not likely affect the election at all,” the minister explained.
Responding to inquiries on the steps taken to lessen the difficulty caused by the fuel scarcity, Sylva said the ministry has reports of profiteering by marketers, and he has directed NMDPRA to sanction anybody who profiteers in this kind of situation.
“We cannot stand by and watch our citizens being exploited by marketers. But of course, I’m given that directive and I don’t know if it has not taken effect; I don’t know the details of how far that directive has been carried out, but I’m going to still further give that directive, if that is still the situation, but definitely, we are not paying a blind eye at all,” he said.
