Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachukwu has promised that new refineries would soon be built beside the existing ones to curb shortage of petroleum products in the country.
Apart from tackling the scarcity in the country, when fully operational, he said that Nigeria would also stand a chance to export the product to other countries.
Kachukwu was speaking in Kaduna Tuesday, at the Federal Ministry of Information organized town hall meeting.
The Minister of information, Lai Muhammed in his speech, said that the Federal Ministry of Information decided to organize the townhall meeting to intimate Nigerians how government had fared in the last 11 months.
The Minister noted, “Nigerians voted for us believing that we will carry out our promises. So how have we fared so far? Well, we campaigned on three broad areas: to tackle insecurity, fight corruption and revive the economy.”
On the fight against insecurity, he said, “I am happy to inform this gathering that we have performed a rare feat by subduing Boko Haram, making it impossible for the group to carry out any more spectacular attacks as it did in the past when it virtually strolled into Abuja to attack the Police Headquarters and the UN Complex.
“Some will argue that the insurgents are still carrying out sporadic suicide bombings and other attacks, even though they are now very few. Well, our answer to that is simple: by its very nature, no insurgency ends suddenly. They taper off with time. Insurgencies are not conventional wars and no agreements are signed to silence the guns.”
On the fight against corruption, the Minister explained, “today, Nigerians are less tolerant of corruption and corrupt people than before. This is because we have raised the bar in the fight against this cankerworm. We have also brought to the attention of Nigerians the cost of corruption. Thanks to the sensitization campaign we lunched earlier this year; Nigerians now know the cost of corruption, instead of just talking about it in the abstract.
“Let me state here that the revelations from the 2.1 billion dollars are just a tip of the iceberg, because the total funds involved in the arms purchase is 15 billion dollars! Now, those who pocketed the money meant for upgrading the power infrastructure also succeeded in putting Nigerians in darkness.
“Of course the government is also diligently prosecuting those alleged to have looted our commonwealth. With the support of the Judiciary, these cases will be disposed of expeditiously.
“On the economy, this administration has decided to turn the disaster of the fall in the price of oil to a blessing by working to diversify our economy away from oil.
“Agriculture, Solid Minerals, Culture and Tourism are some of the sectors we are currently working to rejuvenate so they can earn huge revenues for the country and create jobs.
“While these efforts are on, the administration has decided to plug all financial leakages through the Treasury Singles Account (TSA), into which trillions have accrued so far.”
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