Nigeria must get out of paying so-called cash calls to joint ventures with oil and gas companies, according to the country’s Finance Minister.
Kemi Adeosun said the move would be necessary if the country was to have any chance of pulling its ailing economy out of recession.
The minister said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has spent $360million on cash calls this month, which dwarfed the country’s 41 billion naira income from oil production over the same period.
The NNPC also owes several billion in back debt to oil companies from unpaid cash calls, which oil workers unions say is stalling the creation of jobs and investment.
Adeosun told a press conference:”We are already working to see how we can get out of the cash calls. And that is very fundamental to the economy
“We are working with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and NNPC … that’s a long-term plan: To allow those joint ventures to borrow money that they need rather than taking money out of the federation account.”
Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy is currently trying to boost tax revenues and the non-oil income to fund a record $30billion budget aimed at reviving the West African country that has been hit by lower oil prices.
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