PIAC demands national policy on spending oil revenue

Major (retired) Daniel Sowah Ablorh-Quarcoo, Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), has called on government to develop a national policy to guide the spending of the country’s oil revenue to ensure development.

He said there was the need to spend oil revenue on particular projects that would have impact on the lives of the citizenry, to signal that the country was producing oil in commercial quantities.

Major (Rtd) Ablorh-Quarcoo made the call at the fourth public meeting of PIAC in Tamale to present PIACs Report on the management of the country's petroleum revenue for the mid-yea, that is, from January to June, 2013.

According to the Report, total petroleum produced from January to June 2013 was 18,955,117 barrels, out of which government through the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, lifted 3,982,956 barrels representing 21.2 per cent.

He said the high expectations of the citizenry about the country's oil industry must not be dashed, adding, as of now, we cannot feel anything to show that oil is being produced in the country.

Major (Rtd) Ablorh-Quarcoo said members of the public have been asking about the impact of the oil industry on their lives, and noted that this must be a challenge to government to work to reverse the trend.

He said spending the oil revenue without a comprehensive national policy could spell doom for the country, as the oil reserves would be depleted, but there would be nothing in terms of concrete projects to show for it.

He urged government to take PIACs recommendations seriously and implement them, because they would help to improve the management of the country's oil revenue.

In a speech read on his behalf, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed Muniru, Northern Regional Minister, entreated businesses in the region to acquaint themselves with the recently passed Local Content Legislative Instrument to expand their investments.

Some members of the public who attended the meeting urged government to spend the oil revenues judiciously to benefit the entire citizenry.