Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar has said there will be no hiding place for oil thieves and their accomplices if he becomes president.
Atiku made the pledge today when he interacted with a broad spectrum of corporate Nigeria under the aegis of the Business Dialogue Stakeholders Forum at Eko hotel in Lagos.
Atiku also said he would, in the interest of national development, confiscate all oil blocs allocated to some Nigerians who have failed to make them operational.
The former Vice President, who promised to sustain frequent interactive sessions between government and the country’s’ business class when voted to power, equally outlined the ways he would tackle what he described as an ailing economy.
“If you are not going to develop oil blocs given to you, we will take it away and give it to those who will develop it. We will also assemble the names of those involved in oil theft, publish same and prosecute them,” Atiku told the stakeholders.
On his plans to boost the oil and gas sector, Atiku recalled that under the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo the quota of oil production was earmarked for increase to four million barrels per day.
That plan, he explained, would be resuscitated and sustained beyond the projected figure, when he is voted into office next year, pointing out that in order to do this successfully, the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and any other enabling law would be invoked.
“When we were in government, we started this process. However, there were hiccups. We were unable to pass the legislation to encourage IOCs to partake in the sector. We will go back to where we started,” he said.