Nigeria must use oil wealth to prepare for future – Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said Nigeria must use its oil wealth to prepare for a future when the world no longer runs on fossil fuels.

The Vice-President stated this at the 55th anniversary of the Oil Producers Trade Section of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos.

He said Nigeria, as a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), needed to develop renewable energy and help other businesses flourish to adjust to the reality of the dwindling significance of fossil fuels.

“It is no longer a question of if but when,” Osinbajo said, referring to global efforts to shift away from oil as a fuel.

“Oil-rich countries, such as ourselves, have an obligation to prepare for a destiny that may well be beyond oil,” he said.

He said the government had long galked of diversifying Africa’s largest economy away from reliance on oil, but earnings from output of crude still provide two-thirds of state revenue.

UCJ, UNILORIN.