A retired Director of the Nigerian Upstream Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), now Petroleum Regulatory Commission (PRC), Ben Anene Osuno, has said that lack of accountability is one of the reasons the petroleum industry is in shambles.
He stated this at a colloquium organised in his honour to mark his 88th birthday scheduled to be held in a few days’ time.
“In those days, there were daily, weekly, monthly and yearly reports. I don’t know how people say they don’t know what is being produced,” Osuno said.
Osuno, who was also Nigeria’s Governor to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from 1979-1990, said the country’s crude oil had reduced from 2.4 million barrels per day in the 90s to less than 1.7 million currently, despite that the country has more people and funds to do the job.
He said: “The current delay caused by the number of regulators in both the downstream and upstream sectors has made granting approvals more cumbersome and expensive.
Osuno said that some years ago, the country was producing 2.4 mbpd and very few companies were working without problems, but today, there are more firms and much more money.
