Ghana avoiding trap of oil money ending up in private than public coffers—Akufo-Addo
Ghanaian President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 2019 State of the Nation Address in Parliament in Accra, has said the fight against corruption in the oil industry is being intensified to make sure that “we do not fall into the same trap of the oil money benefitting individual officials to the detriment of the state and the general public”.
He revealed that as part of winning the corruption war in oil and gas, the government had established a National Register of Contracts (NRC) on which all the Petroleum Agreements signed by the Government have been published.
He said, “Whereas there is no avoiding the fact that the oil industry, unfortunately, has a reputation for corruption,” he explained that NRC has therefore provided a platform for citizens to scrutinise the oil contracts signed by government, and accords with the international call for contract transparency.
According to him, “We have also passed the General Petroleum Regulations, which provide for the disclosure of beneficial ownership information of companies operating in Ghana’s oil and gas industry.”
“This would ensure that people do not hide in the shadows to appropriate oil blocks to themselves, at the expense of the citizens of Ghana.
“The interest of major oil companies in Ghana has become dramatic. Today, oil companies such as the American giant, ExxonMobil, and the Norwegian conglomerate, Aker, have signed petroleum exploration agreements with Ghana.
“Through the launch of the ‘Ghana Oil & Gas Licensing Rounds 2018’, the bidding process for the allocation of new petroleum rights to prospective investors, the first such exercise in our history, other global players such as BP, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, and Total has expressed interest in coming to Ghana.
“Be it in the oil industry or manufacturing or retail, every day demonstrates the urgent need for our own businesses to develop and flourish. We have put in place the mechanisms to train young entrepreneurs and to help established businesses with a stimulus package to expand their companies,” President Akufo-Addo noted.
