Osinbajo To Niger Delta: Look Beyond Oil Now
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has charged the Niger Delta region of the country to immediately fashion out modalities of developing other potentials of the region, warning that oil will no longer be profitable in no distant future.
Speaking in Akure, the Ondo State capital, at the Second National Council on Niger Delta NCND meeting, Osibajo said, “many countries are getting alternatives to oil, the development which would make the resource unprofitable in a few years.”
The Vice President, who further painted a gloomy future of oil in the Niger Delta area of the country, disclosed that the countries that used to be the largest importers of the country’s crude oil, had moved on to source for alternatives.
Osibajo said those countries would no longer need Nigeria oil because they are in desperate search for alternatives to oil.
He said, countries like Japan and China have enough electric cars and are now having more electric charging points more than filling stations.
According to him, “many of the countries in Europe have set deadline for the phasing out of hydrocarbon cars which would make Nigeria crude oil unnecessary for the international markets.”
His words :“The future of oil is decline that is why it is the duty of all stakeholders to explore all the opportunities now and to ensure we are not constantly battling with the security of the pipelines we should use the resources to develop other potential of the region.
“It is the duty of this council now to ensure we provide the road map for the future. The future that will not necessarily depend on oil.
“It is obvious that oil is not going to last forever. As a matter of fact everything that will see showed that oil is declining very quietly.
“We have no reason why we should not develop all other potential apart of oil in the region. If we can do this the full potential of the region will be fulfill and our collective vision will be realised.”
While advising stakeholders to allow peace to reign in the region, the Vice President promised that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would ensure justice and equity to the people of the Niger Delta.
According to him, when we allow peace in the region, the Federal Government can use the resource among other resources available in the region for the benefit of the people.
He added that the present administration would ensure that the people of the region benefit from their wealth.
Speaking on the Ogoni cleanup, Osinbajo said ” it is on but that “it might be undergoing slow pace than anticipated.
He explained that the administration was applying caution so that it would not flop like efforts made by the past administration.
In his address, Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu requested from the Federal Government an approval of license for the establishment of a Deep Sea Mining Port in the Ilaje Free Trade Zone.
Akeredolu informed that the State coastline which is about 120km is the longest and the deepest in Nigeria and West Africa Sub- Region.
The governor said that the development of the Deep Sea Mining Port would serve as the veritable potential to turn the Niger Delta Region of Ondo State into a hub of investment opportunities.
According to him the mining port, if approved, does not need any dredging and can allow passage of bigger vessels due to the high depth of the coastline.
“The establishment of the mining port will also create employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths, improve the socio-economic stance of the people of the State and stimulate the development of micro and small/medium enterprises. Countries with smaller coastlines, such as Singapore, depend almost entirely on their seaports for sustenance,” the governor stated.
