FOLASADE Yemi-Esan, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources on Monday urged oil and gas stakeholders to collate accurate, up-to-date data for the industry. Esan said this at the opening of the Organisation of Petroleum Conference (OPEC) Data Management Training Workshop in Abuja.

According to her, the ministry is working with other stakeholders including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Debt Management Office, and National Bureau of Statistics, among others to ensure that data collation is accessible and current.

“I was taken aback when someone at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit said we do not have data. I was ashamed. We should address having credible data that we can utilise internally.

“Students, people that need data should be able to get it. You have to work with us to have a repository of credible data that will help us in planning,’’ she said.

Dr Aliyu Gusau, the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), said the workshop would acquaint officers of the ministry and other agencies involved in the compilation of the Annual OPEC questionnaire.

“PTDF would ensure that its capacity building interventions are retained in the country,’’ Gusau said.

Mr Adedapo Adelaja, Head of Data Services in OPEC said “lack of data transparency will hinder the growth of the country.

“If necessary funding is secured, we will go round member countries to train on correctness, completeness and timeliness of data’’.

The OPEC Governor, Dr Omar Farouk, who spoke to newsmen on the sidelines of the event, said the objective of the workshop was to gather agencies that collate data and train them on OPEC standards.

“Record of data and accuracy of data hasn’t been good for a while but in the last three years, things have changed.

“As OPEC, there is one national source; we do not want to know from what agency data is collated.’’

He explained that OPEC collected data from member countries monthly and yearly and information sought comprises Population, Electricity production, GDP, Gasoline report, and Crude oil production among others.

The workshop, which will be conducted in all OPEC member countries, will end on Feb. 27. (NAN)

– Feb.  26, 2018 @ 16:05 GMT |