Recent studies of the financial performance of the federal government by the Economic Study team (EST) of Business Hilights have confirmed that the prevailing exemption of Nigeria in the recent agreement by OPEC to cut production so as to maintain rising oil price is the oxygen pipeline for the economy as it is now.
Moreover, the agreement worked better for the economy at a time the hostilities in the Niger Delta is dropping due to effective peace mission by the Vice president some week ago.
Today, Nigeria’s production capacity per day has risen to about 2.1mbpd which means more money for the federal government and more money for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to be pumping into the interbank market to squeeze currency speculators.
Only recently, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, told Oxford Business Group (OBG) that higher oil prices and a long-term plan for production are spearheading Nigeria’s efforts to get its hydrocarbons sector back on track.
Commenting in a wide-ranging interview with the global research and consultancy firm, Kachikwu said that the agreement made in December by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers to cut production with a view to stabilising prices was already yielding results for the country.
Kachukwu noted that “The resurge in prices is a fundamental driver behind Nigeria’s push for investment as international oil companies are planning new projects in the country,” stressing that “Since the agreement was made, external confidence in the country is higher, while the business environment here is improving.”
The minister also talked to OBG about the broad-based challenges that Nigeria faces in its bid to attract new investors, which he said ranged from militancy and corruption to multi-taxation.
According to him, “We are focusing on all of these issues, with a view to solving them and proving that Nigeria is more commercially viable than in the past,” he said.
“Once we are able to do that and stabilise the situation we can achieve our long-term goal of boosting income.
