The member of the House of Representatives for Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency of Benue State, Rt. Hon Mrs Dorothy Mato was in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates on December 7, 2017 for an oversight on Oil and Gas of House Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) at Emirates Concord Hotel & Residence, Deira, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The meeting was to explore various ways of making the Nigerian Oil and Gas sector to be robust through impact-driven legislation and reforms that will not only create more jobs for Nigerian youths but will lead to effective productivity.
She says the most serious economic problem in Nigeria is homegrown corruption. But the problem is certainly exacerbated by the economic imperialism of multinational corporations looking to exploit the weak economic regulation and the vast abundance of resources for taking in Nigeria. If Nigerians want to have access to those resources, they will have to stand up for themselves, and soon.
"The people who benefit from Nigeria's vast oil reserves are the Swiss bankers, American and European stockholders of Shell, Mobil, Chevron, Agip, Total and a handful of other multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria. There are as well the shareholders of the petrochemical firms that use that oil, some rulers of Nigeria are essentially being bribed to give the multinational oil companies a free hand, and the handful of Nigerians and expatriates who have relatively good jobs working in Nigeria in the oil field.
"The people who benefit the least are those whose oil this is, the people of Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States, who live daily with the disruption, the noise, the pollution, and the corruption that the oil industry has spawned. They see little of the money. It goes elsewhere.
"The solution has to come from Abuja. And the only way that will happen is if all the Nigerian people demand it in a way the leaders cannot ignore. There must be a proper accounting of the monies the oil extraction industry generates, and it must be spent where it is needed, not just in the home regions of the leaders". She said.
No comments