…Wants oil price to remain low
President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji
Aliko Dangote, has vowed to crash the price of fertilizer before the
end next year, so as to boost agricultural production and guarantee
food security in the country.
Speaking at a forum in Abuja, Dangote
stated that Nigeria’s fertilizer production would rise by about
three million tonnes, while it would be easily accessible by farmers
across the country.
Dangote also commended the Federal
Government, noting that it is the government’s agricultural and
fertilizer policies that would make the commodity cheaper and
available.
He said, “Government has actually
done quite a lot, and I think by the end of next year or so, you will
buy fertilizer even cheaper than what you are buying today. Secondly,
we will be begging you to buy. There won’t be scarcity of
fertilizer anymore.
 |
| Alhaji Aliko Dangote |
“We have three million tonnes of
capacity coming into the market by the end of next year and this is
also thanks to the policies of the Federal Government.”
In addition, Dangote said he supports a
low crude oil price regime, stating that if the price of the
commodity improves, current efforts aimed at diversifying the economy
would be jettisoned.
He said, “We need to be very serious.
People who are hoping that crude oil is going to go back up to around
$70 and $80 per barrel, it is not just going to happen. There is so
much oil everywhere and I think, at $53 per barrel, it is a temporary
measure.
“If crude oil gets to $90 per barrel,
none of us would talk about recession again; we would go back to our
normal ways. For us to go through this long haul of low oil price
would help push us into the real sector which is agriculture,
construction and all others.”
Speaking in the same vein, Group
Managing Director of Nestoil Limited, Mr. Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi,
explained that at the current low oil price regime, emphasis in the
oil and gas industry would be on local content.
According to him, at the low price,
Nigerian operators can produce better and at cheaper rates, adding
that the Federal Government need to change its policies in the
industry and increase its partnership with the private sector.
He said, “Over the years, what I see
is going to happen is that as the price of oil is coming down, things
are going to go local. I mean, what percentage of the production cost
we are saving; because our cost of production has to be low. How do
you get it done? You have to use locals. You do not have to go fly in
people from France, the United States to come and produce oil in
Nigeria and put the cost as part of production.
“Nigerians can do it cheaper and even
better, but they have not been that plan to transfer this technology
to Nigeria. Yes, you might not be able to transfer technology, but
Nigerians have also acquired some of those technology. Nigerians have
developed certain capacities, but they are not being utilized.
“Government needs to change its
politics. The capacity is there; they can come and see. We had been
inviting government to come and see what we have done in-country, but
nobody cares. I believe that this new government would look at things
differently and they would care.”
He further stated that the economic
recession has helped operators to start looking inwards and focus on
cutting costs.
He said, “The only way the economic
situation has helped us is that it has made us to start to looking
inwards; looking at how to cut costs, because cost of projects are
now being reduced. We are looking at how to do projects cheaper
without much exposure. Because the margins for the man giving one the
project is very low, because oil price has dropped.
“For us, it has made us to be more
innovative, to start looking at different ways of doing things and
putting a certain level of cost-control to make sure that we cut cost
and keep it at the minimum. That is why we say that if things improve
in the future, some of us would come out stronger.”
No comments:
Post a Comment