A ban has been proposed on the export of Nigeria ’s crude oil and further flaring of gas by experts at the Oil and Gas International Conference which held in Port Harcourt recently.
In an effort to effect the proposal, Houses of Assembly in the oil-producing states have been urged to pass resolutions on the ban. The Rivers State House of Assembly, for instance, has been mandated to undertake the task of educating and convincing the other state parliaments in the region to start a lobby at the National Assembly so a bill would be passed banning export of crude oil/gas and gas flaring.
Managing director of the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority, Noble Abe, who chaired the two-day international conference organised by the Rivers State House of Assembly Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, while proposing the ban with support from participants, said Nigeria would never achieve industrialisation unless export of crude is banned. “We have over 6000 products derivable from oil and gas, and all we do is export jobs thinking we are exporting mere crude. Every barrel of crude oil and every cubic feet of gas we export is a drain and a setback,†he lamented.