Nigeria Needs 2.4million Barrel Per Day To Boost Economic Growth

The President of the Nigeria Association for Energy Economics, NAEE, Wumi Iledare, on Wednesday, April 20, said that Nigeria needs to boost its crude oil production to more than 2.4 million barrels per day, bpd, to stabilize the economy.

Iledare, who spoke during a pre-conference media briefing in Abuja, said the upcoming 9th NAEE/IAEE international conference holding next week in Abuja, would address how the country could ramp-up its crude oil production and how proceeds from it could be used to energise the economy.

He said although the 2.4m bpd is not enough to sustain the economy, or even grow it, resource management is vital because studies have shown that emerging economies often experience economic degression when oil prices are good because they tend to be lacking in capacity to manage the boom.

Iledare said the purpose of the conference is to explore the energy supply options for energising emerging economies like Nigeria, adding that the low oil prices should not be viewed in bad light but as an opportunity to diversify the economy and do away with petroleum subsidy.

“In our opinion, low oil prices offers Nigeria an opportunity to cut wastage in spending, set aside fiscal irresponsibility, reduce overdependence on oil and get rid of bloated governance spending expenses,“ he said.