The Senate has faulted the extractive operational model of international oil companies in Nigeria for failing to develop local manufacturing as is the case in other countries.
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDPKogi Central), chairman of the Senate committee on local content, raised the concern during an interactive session meeting with a delegation from the National Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) on Wednesday.
The committee specifically noted that Chevron, from its crude oil exploration in Saudi Arabia, also manufactures polypropylene, one of the waste products from gas to produce syringes which fetches Saudi Arabia $6 billion annually.
It added that Exxon oil does the same in the United States of America (USA), thereby making the country the third-largest producer of polypropylene.
The committee, therefore, wondered why the same international oil companies exploring crude oil in Nigeria do not go the extra mile to use waste products from crude oil for manufacturing needed products in the country.
The lacuna in the operational model of the International Oil companies according to the committee, led to the collapse of Jubilee Syringe Plant in Bayelsa due to a lack of the needed raw materials like polypropylene.
The chairman, while noting the NCDMB’s claim of not having the power to make the international oil companies diversify their mode of operations, resolved to invite the oil companies to give explanations on why they are turning Nigeria into an extractive zone and not manufacturing one, as done in other climes.
“We cannot just allow the oil companies to turn Nigeria to just an extractive zone as far as exploration of crude oil is concerned but a manufacturing one as well with attendant economic value
“This committee shall summon the affected oil companies to appear before it to explain why what is happening in Saudi Arabia, USA etc, can be replicated in Nigeria”, she said.
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