Nigeria: House – Country May Face Hard Times By 2014

The House of Represent-atives has warned that the Nigerian economy which largely depend on crude oil exports may witness a major shrink in five years time unless the Federal Government aggressively pursue a policy of diversification of its source of revenue.

The warning from the legislative house is coming on the heels of the enactment by the United States Congress of the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act of 2009 which aims at reducing the country’s oil imports by one-quarter in the next five years.
Chairman, House Comm-ittee on Climate Change, Hono-urable Eziuche Ubani, who spoke on behalf of the legislative chamber disclosed that the move by the US to dump oil imports and concentrate on renewable energies was in response to global warming and climate change but would ultimately have adverse effects on the Nigerian economy.

Ubani at a news conference weekend, said by the time the US, the largest consumer of Nigeria’s crude oil cuts down its demand, other Western nations and trading partners of Nigeria who had also been investing in alternative energies might follow suit.

He said that since there were several other oil-producing countries in Africa and the Middle East, the international market might witness an oil glut, leading to a crash in the price of crude oil. According to Ubani, it would be unfortunate for any country and indeed Nigeria if it does not have another viable foreign exchange earner to fall back on when crude ceases to be gold.

AllAfrica