Implement PIA to the letter, LCCI advises FG

THE Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the federal government to fully implement the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), to enable it to resolve the myriad of regulatory issues holding down the nation’s Oil and Gas sector.

The Chamber gave the advice in a statement, issued on Monday, by its Director General, Dr Chinyere Almona, on the nation’s  2024 Second Quarter Economic Growth Indicator.

It stated that the call has become necessary since the PIA has the legal instruments to regulate the highly volatile and vulnerable sector, as evidenced in its quarter-on-quarter decline, despite the sector’s impressive year-on-year growth.

The Chamber noted that the sector’s vulnerability calls for more regulatory prowess in dealing with issues like divestments, crude supply to local refineries, resurfacing oil theft, and pipeline vandalism.

It described the plan to hand over the Kaduna and Warri refineries to private sector operators, and the eventual refining happening in the Port Harcourt Refinery, as critical to the performance of the sector.

While commending the robust performance of nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2024, which recorded a 3.19 percent year-on-year growth in real terms, the Chamber however stressed the need for the federal government to remain proactive in addressing key areas to sustain and enhance economic growth in the remaining months of 2024.

“The industrial sector’s return to growth is encouraging, but sustaining this momentum requires targeted interventions. We urge the government to maintain the reforms and initiatives in the power sector to boost the electricity supply.

“It is well noted that the total number of electricity meters provided newly to consumers increased by 3.3 percent on a month-on-month basis to 6.1 million in July 2024 from 5.9 million recorded in June, but the registered unmetered users of about 13.1million as of July points to the need for more efforts,” it stated.

The business advocacy group also urged the government to sustain the interventions introduced in the past months, such as the import waivers to agriculture inputs, and improving security around crop production sites, to fully harness the potential of the sector, and drive more production.

On the trade sector, which has also performed very well in the past months, growing by  +0.7 percent year-on-year in Q2 ’24 against the +1.2 percent recorded in the preceding quarter, the Chamber called for more investment in port infrastructure to boost exports.

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