The Federal Government has pledged to roll out fresh incentives to support new investments in the oil and gas sector in a bid to increase revenue generation and job creation in the sector.
Senior Adviser, Downstream and Infrastructure to the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Brenda Ataga, stated this in a chat with journalists after a tour of the multi-billion naira Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder plant built by Techno Oil Limited in Lagos.
Ataga had led a 15-member Federal Government inter-ministerial team to inspect the plant ahead of its scheduled inauguration in July 2018. The multi-billion naira facility is expected to produce five million cylinders of various sizes annually and generate no fewer than 6,000 jobs for Nigerians.
Speaking to newsmen after the tour of the plant, Ataga said the Federal Government was working out a package of incentives to encourage companies like Techno Oil that are taking the risks to invest in projects geared at unlocking Nigeria’s gas potential for national growth and prosperity.
She said the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources plans to set up a unit that would liaise with the Federal Ministry of Finance to package tariff incentives for credible investors in the petroleum sector like Techno Oil.
Ataga, who lauded Techno Oil for its initiative in building the gas cylinder plant, said the Ministry of Petroleum Resources was doing everything possible to ensure that a greater percentage of Nigerians embrace the use of LPG as an alternative source of fuel for homes.
“The government is keen on ensuring that every Nigerian household embraced cooking gas rather than using firewood and other harmful energy sources as source of domestic fuel,” she said.