Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Ibe Kachikwu, told the Senate that Nigeria is losing in excess of N3trillion annually due to the absence of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Kachikwu, during his ministerial screening yesterday, stated it was better for Nigeria not to have embarked on the PIB project than to have started and abandoned it mid-way.
He said: “The investment that we are losing on an annual basis because of lack of PIB is in excess of $15 billion (N3trn) a year and the reason simple.
“It would have been better that you didn’t start at all, than announce very flamboyantly that you were going to do PIB then step back from it, because it increases the level of uncertainty that no international investor wants to grapple with.
“So, I would urge this very revered Senate to quickly come to terms and find a way of working with us, to go ahead and pass those elements of PIB where there is no much contention.”
While allaying fears of fuel scarcity in the country, Kachikwu, a minister-designate reiterated that Nigeria has refined fuel that can last 50 days.