President Goodluck Jonathan has begun moves to raise domestic petroleum refining capacity for the country in a bid to reduce importation of petroleum products.
Speaking when he received a delegation of Brazilian investors at the State House yesterday, the President assured them of government willingness to raise local production by issuing licenses for private refineries.
The delegation led by Chairman of the Voigt Group, Mr. Reuben Voigt, is in the country to explore means of investing in various sectors that include housing, power, petroleum refining and oil spillage clearing.
President Jonathan told the delegation that with four refineries, Nigeria is unable to provide enough petroleum products for its domestic use saying, "we are willing to approve applications for refining licenses."
He said Nigeria is "still a green area in terms of investments and government has opened up sectors of the economy, which were previously restricted to private sector investments."
The President therefore directed Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to hold discussions with the Voigt Group to explore areas of mutual cooperation.
In his speech earlier, Mr. Voigt said his firm is donating 120,000 housing units to Nigeria in the next three years while exploring areas of investment.
The delegation was led to the State House by Mrs. Ngozi Olajeme of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).
Related stories: Nigeria is the highest exporter of crude oil in Africa
Video - Reaction to reinstated fuel subsidy
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
No comments:
Post a Comment