Governmnet urged to publish receipts of oil revenue
Participants in the 63rd Annual New Year School and Conference (ANYSC) have called for transparency in the oil and gas sector by the publication of receipts and records of revenues, as well as a tracking system for the use of these revenues.
They were of the view that the revenues accruing from oil had to be used for good roads, hospitals and schools, to promote efficiency in the transport sector and build the requisite human capital for all sectors of the economy.
In a nine point communiqué issued at the end of a week-long school and conference on the oil and gas sector in Accra, which ended last Friday, the participants also called on the government and state agencies in the oil and gas sector to use the oil revenue judiciously to enhance national development.
The week-long school and conference, which is a national event regularly held by the Institute of Continuing and Distance Education (ICDE) of the University of Ghana (UG), brought together people from all walks of life on a common platform to discuss key issues relating to the oil and gas sector.
It also offered a critical opportunity for civil society organisations, parliamentarians, the media and concerned citizens to offer alternative strategies for the efficient and effective management of oil and gas on the theme “One Year of Oil and Gas Production: Emerging Issues.”
The communique also advocated the use of oil revenue in the development of the youth and the building of their entrepreneurial skills, massive investment in infrastructural development and better social intervention programmes.
Specifically, the entrepreneurial development of the youth, the communique said, could be achieved through continuous training and technological transfer to achieve a balance between local and foreign labour in the oil sector and thereby address the unemployment problem confronting graduates from the country’s universities and polytechnics.
The participants said part of the oil revenue should be used in vocational and technical education and apprenticeship to boost the chances of the country’s youth in securing jobs in the oil and gas sector.
They said with revenues from the oil, the government must enhance social intervention programmes, including the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Programme (LEAP), the capitation grant, the school feeding programme and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Participants called on the government to invest some of the oil revenue in security equipment and best practices of maritime security from other oil-producing nations
They also advocated parliamentary oversight over the activities of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in relation to oil revenue.
Furthermore they called on local banks to build their capacities to remain relevant and competitive in the oil and gas industry.
They advocated partnerships among local banks, and also with foreign banks for the raising of sufficient capital for local companies to invest in the sector.
They asked for innovation and flexibility in the provision of financial services to enable the expansion of businesses and the creation of new ones for the employment of the teaming unemployed youth.
The participants also underscored the need for local training institutions to be equipped and supported financially and technically to develop specialised and professional programmes relevant to the field, while gender sensitivity had to be respected, particularly, in the recruitment of staff.
They underscored the need for a non-partisan public education on the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (815).
Source: Daily Graphic