Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timpre Sylva, has said that Nigeria is willing to assist the Senegalese government in its efforts to develop the oil and gas sector of her economy.
Receiving the Senegalese Energy Minister, Aissitou Sophie Gladima and her delegation in Abuja, on Monday, Sylva said that African countries needed to come together for the development of the region and reduce their dependence on foreign partners.
“We as Africans must come together to work together in order to chart the way forward; we cannot continue to depend on Europe and the outside world.
“In fact, it has been proven that they cannot be responsible for our development, we have to take full responsibility of our development and that is why we are very happy that you are here today,’’ he said
Sylva assured the delegation that Senegal would learn from Nigeria’s decades of experience in the oil industry and her mistakes too.
The Nigerian minister recalled that oil exploration and production activities started in Nigeria in 1937, while commercial crude oil discovery was only made in 1950s and that the first cargo of crude oil left Nigeria in 1958.
According to him, Nigerians were mere spectators during the early stages of oil production activities and that today, Nigerian companies are also engaged in crude oil production in the country.
He also told his guests that Nigeria has grown a global Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company that is wholly manned by Nigerians and that Nigeria is in a position to impact some of these experiences to other African countries.
Speaking on the progress made in the field of local content, Sylva said that Nigeria had grown its local content from three percent in the past 10 years to about 43 percent and 70 percent by 2027.
He assured that Nigeria would support the Senegal energy sector to grow and urged the country to join the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO).
Responding, Gladima said that her country was willing to partner with Nigeria to gain from its wealth of experience in the oil and gas sector.
She noted that Senegal will gain from over 50 years of oil production experience of Nigeria since Senegal is just beginning to grow its own industry.
According to the Senegalese Minister, Nigeria’s support will be needed in such areas as security management in the oil industry, organization of the National Oil Company (NOC), local content regulation and NOC strategies.
The Minister also expressed her country’s interest in joining the African oil producers group for the development of the oil industry in Senegal.
GIK/APA