Nigerian govt to support Senegal in revamp of oil sector

The Federal Government on Monday, pledged to support Senegal over a comprehensive revamp of its oil industry for economic development.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that Senegal, in 2014, discovered the acclaimed largest deep-water off-shore oil deposit in the world, with production expected to commence in 2023.

In order to harness this potential, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, pledged to assist the Senegalese Government since Nigeria possesses extensive experience in the petroleum industry.

Sylva made this assertion when he received a Senegalese delegation led by Minister of Petroleum, Aissatou Sophie Gladima, in Abuja.

He disclosed that when oil exploration started in Nigeria jobs in the sector were exclusively for foreigners, explaining that with deliberate policy and effort, local content has grown to 43 percent with the government targeting 73 percent by 2027.

He said Nigeria was ready to share these experiences to ensure that mistakes made at the early state were not made by African countries.

Read also: How Distressed Oil Sector Loans Damaged Diamond Bank

“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 of our development. That’s why we are happy that you are here today”, Sylva stated.

He observed that in the oil and gas sector “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 learnt, a lot of mistakes have been made”.

He noted that Nigeria have been in oil production for over 60 years which puts it in the position to assist other countries in Africa.

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