PIAC educates public on use, management of country's oil revenue

The Public Interest and Accountability Com­mittee (PIAC) has held public fora in Ningo-Prampram and Shai-Osudoku both in the Greater Accra Region to create public awareness on the use and management of the country’s oil revenue.

Held last Tuesday and Friday respectively, the events created a platform for the committee to shed light on its 2023 annual report and for stakeholders to ask questions about the coun­try’s petroleum proceeds.

The participants, including journalists were briefed on mat­ters related to the operations of PIAC and its interventions in the districts, as well as how the committee could collaborate with the media going forward.

The public awareness event was in line with the PIAC mandate under Section 51 of the Petroleum Revenue Man­agement Act (PRMA) 2011 (Act 815) to inform the citizenry about the oil funds to safeguard public interest.

Addressing the participants at the Prampram, the chairperson of the PIAC, Emerita Professor Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf, highlighted the 2023 Annual Report.

She said crude oil output from Ghana’s three main fields totalled just 48.25 million barrels last year, a 9.2 per cent annual drop from the 2019 peak of 71.44 million barrels.

She said that, as a result, Ghana’s share of petroleum revenues for 2023 declined by 25.65 per cent due to a decrease in oil production for the fourth consecutive year, due to natural factors, and lower global prices.

The country, per the report, earned $1.06 billion last year (2023) compared to $1.42 bil­lion in the previous year (2022), which was the highest since the country started commercial oil production in 2010.

The report, she said, recom­mended that the government and the relevant regulatory bodies should take appropriate steps to reverse the production decline in existing fields and en­sure investments in unexploited fields.

Responding to stakeholder concerns regarding the alloca­tion of the oil revenue for de­velopment, Odeefuo Amoakwa Boadu VIII, the Omanhene of the Breman Asikuma Tradition­al Area in the Central Region, explained that it was for this reason that the committee had held the public forum to elicit feedback.

He said that PIAC is a citi­zen-based institution and that they have the mandate to always seek the views of citizens as mandated by law, holding con­sultations twice a year.