VICE President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday in Ondo State declared that the country’s oil will no longer be profitable in no distant future.
He spoke during the Second National Council on Niger Delta, NCND, meeting held in Akure.
Painting a gloomy future of oil in the Niger Delta area of the country, the Vice President said; “Many countries are getting alternatives to oil, the development which would make the resource unprofitable in a few years.
Osinbajo pointed out that the United States of America, USA, which is the largest importer of Nigeria’s crude oil, would no longer need the commodity because of alternatives for oil already discovered.
Also, he stressed that Asian countries are in a desperate search for alternative to oil.
According to him Japan, China and other industrialised countries have enough electric cars and are having more electric charging points than filling stations.
Osinbajo said beside this many of the countries in Europe have set deadlines for the phasing out of hydrocarbon cars, which would make Nigeria crude oil unattractive to the international market.
Osinbajo said: “The future of oil is in decline.”
“The future of oil is declining, which is why it is the duty of all stakeholders to explore all the opportunities now and to ensure we are not constantly battling with the security of the pipelines we should have used the resources to develop other potentials of the region.
“It is the duty of this council to ensure we provide the road map for the future that will not necessarily depend on oil.
“It is obvious that oil is not going to last forever. As a matter of fact everything that we see showed that oil is declining very quietly.
“There is no reason why we should not develop other potentials apart from oil in the region. If we can do this the full potential of the region will be fulfilled and our collective vision will be realised.
The Vice President therefore, advised the stakeholders the Niger Delta to allow peace to reign so that the Federal Government can use part of the resources available in the region for the benefit of the people.
He promised that the Federal Government will ensure justice and equity to the people of the Niger Delta, adding that the vision is to ensure that the people of the region benefit from their wealth.
Speaking on the Ogoni cleanup, Osinbajo said; “It is on but might be slower than anticipated.”
He explained that the administration was applying caution so that the effort will not flop like those by past administrations.
Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu in his address requested for operational licence for deep sea mining port in Ilaje Free Trade Zone.
He said the development of the Deep Sea Mining Port would serve as the veritable potential to turn the Niger Delta Region of Ondo State into a hub for investment opportunities.
According to him this will boost greatly, the quest to provide infrastructural development of not only the areas, but also the state and Nigeria at large.