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DELTA TO ASSIST COMMUNITIES WITH EQUITY SHARES IN OIL SECTOR
The Governor stated this in Abuja, at a two- day summit on Liquefied Petroleum Gas popularly called cooking gas, organized by the Senate Committee on Gas Resources in conjunction with Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources. Uduaghan who was chairman of the Third Plenary Session of the Summit, the first to be organised in the country, charged indigenes of oil producing communities to invest in oil production in order to get themselves in the forefront of resources within their region. Besides, he said that such steps would place them in a position to be able to address and ameliorate the effect of environmental degradation suffered by the communities in the region. The governor who described adequate funding as key to communities’ participation in oil exploration said he was happy the Federal government had shown concern over oil producing communities’ agitation to participate in the oil sector. Said the governor “The Federal government is concerned about communities’ participation in oil business … that communities should have equity participation in the oil industry” Expressing optimism that oil producing communities will soon have a sense of belonging in their God given wealth, Dr. Uduaghan said “I believe strongly that Nigeria is moving strongly to that direction,” noting that a sense of belonging will check the spate of agitation by the communities. He disclosed that governors of states in the Niger Delta raised alarm over certain provisions in the Petroleum Industry Bill considered inimical to the interest of the region, stressing that he was happy that law makers from the region worked hard to include in the Bill, provisions that are considered favourable. The Governor who commended some persons from Niger Delta who resigned their jobs in oil companies to set up oil related firms of their own, add that investment opportunities were still abound in the oil industry. “Let us look at opportunities available. the Oil and Gas business is not for Chevron or Shell alone, nothing stops anybody in the oil producing communities from becoming the managing director/chief executive officer of an oil company” “ he said. At the summit a case was made for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as an affordable, easily available and environment friendly source of energy. The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark who represented President Umaru Yar’Adua stressed the need for key players in the petroleum industry to develop the will to make cooking gas widely available to Nigerians at affordable prices. The minister of Petroleum Resources, Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman disclosed that the Federal Government would soon come out with incentives to boost automobile and household consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas and encourage private sector to invest in cylinders production Plants and storage of cooking gas. The chairman of the senate committee on Gas Resources, Senator Osita Izunaso decried the low consumption of cooking gas by Nigerians adding that in spite of the abundance of the product in the country Nigeria’s consumption of one hundred metric tonnes of cooking gas annually was the lowest in the West African sub region. He gave assurance that the National Assembly will come up with ways that will boost the production and consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas in the country. The Summit which had as its theme ” Promoting and Expanding Domestic consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas in Nigeria” was attended by National and the State House of Assembly members.   
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