More than six years into the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, one of his appointees, Farouk Ahmed, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NPRA), has blamed the rising price of cooking gas to poor investment into the gas sector over the years.
According to a report in the Vanguard Newspaper, Ahmed made the claim on Monday, October 18 during his inauguration as CEO of NPRA. Also at the event, Gbenga Komolafe was inaugurated the CEO of the Upstream Regulatory Commission.
According to Ahmed, the hike in the price of cooking gas was due to poor investment into the gas sector over the years, saying with the abundance of gas, Nigeria should not struggle with gas supply.
The price of cooking gas has doubled in the last one year, forcing Nigerians to pay for the essential commodity with pains.
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At the event, Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, challenged the CEOs on the growth of the oil and gas industry..
The Minister said government expected exponential growth in the industry with the coming of the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA.
Sylva explained that with the inauguration of the heads of the new regulators, other regulators that existed before the PIA no longer exist.
He tasked the CEOs on the need for smooth take off of the agencies, adding that “from the effective date of the PIA, those agencies were in place.
“But unfortunately there were no leadership so they could not take off. But now there is nothing to wait for.”
Sylva also stated that he was expecting a lot of growth and development of the industry, saying the industry had been stagnated for a long time because the process of passing the PIA had been very arduous, having taken over 20 years.