By Yemie ADEOYE
PISHON Oil Limited, the indigenous company handling Nigeria International Oil and Gas Awards (NIOGAS) concept has concluded plans for the 2010 edition of the awards.

The National President of NIOGAS, Basil Ojukwu, made this known in a chat with Vanguard  in Lagos, stressing that the award seeks to give accolade and bestow encomium on all deserving organisations, institutions, governments and individuals who have contributed positively  to the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

According to him, the annual awards programme, which has a lecture as its integral component shall provide another opportunity for stakeholders meet and have discussions on topical issues on petroleum matters that involves national development.

He said, “Nigeria is the six largest oil producing nation on earth as exploration in the country dates back to the 1950s, when the first oil well was dug by Shell Petroleum Company at Oloibiri in the present state of Bayelsa. Petroleum usually described as black gold is undoubtedly one of the most important natural resources on earth.

Oil including gas and other petroleum derivatives combined are major factor in world economy, and their vital role in production and in the sustenance of industry, infrastructure and industrial development cannot be ignored or underestimated”. His words “In Nigeria , the most populous black nation in the world, oil has been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it can be rightly said that 95 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign earnings is from oil and that international trade, infrastructural development and several other government activities have been primarily dependent on income from petroleum resources.

On the other hand, many other viable and meaningful natural resources endowed on the nation have been neglected or remain under_utilised. The exploration of oil and gas in Nigeria has also brought about serious agitation from the indigenes of the areas where oil is deposited. Before now, the poeples’welfare was neglected and many negative effects took place.

Agitation against major oil companies gradually escalated to become militancy. Despite al these, some individuals, companies and stakeholders are bracing up to the challenges and in so many ways are contributing positively to the development o the sector. Some companies have become proactively involved in socially responsible community activities to alleviate poverty in the oil region.