by Azeez Adeniyi

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has said few interest groups have been in control of the oil and gas sector for a long time.

Kachikwu said this while receiving a report compiled by professional Nigerians in Diaspora in Abuja.

He said the government will open up the sector to every Nigerian.

[Read Also: FG WILL REVOKE LICENSES OF SOME OIL REFINERIES – KACHIKWU]

The minister said this would be achieved through the 7BigWins initiative launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016.

“The oil sector has been too locked down by a few interest groups for so long, positively or negatively but the time has come to open it up to Nigerians,” he said.

“We’ve devoted ourselves to a level of openness because the resource isn’t ours, we are just gatekeepers in the management of this resource and so it is our responsibility to help every Nigerian who has an idea, no matter how mundane, to see how that idea can come to fruition,” he added.

“During the Offshore Technology Conference, I announced the concept of Project 100, which is trying to identify 100 Nigerians with skill, capacity and the energy required to make in-roads into certain sectors. And I’ve told the ministry to identify their handicaps and how we can help them to get to the finish line. That’s something that I’m going to be working on very seriously.”

Azeez