PIAC urges government to speed up development of petroleum resources

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has entreated the government to speed up the sustainable development of petroleum resources to reverse the decline in the production of petroleum products.

Nasir Alpha Mohammed, the Vice Chairman of PIAC, said the government should put in place the necessary measures to attract new investors into the sector and ensure the early completion of ongoing projects.

Petroleum production in Ghana had been on the decline over the past few years, he said, hence the need for massive investment to discover additional oilfields.

Mr Mohammed said this at a forum organised by PIAC in Wa for stakeholders in the Upper West Region to make inputs into the management and utilisation of petroleum revenues in the country.

Heads of departments and agencies, the security services, representatives of political parties, district chief executives, civil society organisations, and traditional leaders, among others, participated.

In a presentation on the petroleum revenue management and utilisation for 2022, Mr Mohammed said out of a total of $1,428,760,076.93 revenues realised in 2022, GH¢33,750,184.39 went to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.

GHȻ526,308,309.00 went into the Annual Budget Funding Amount to support government’s projects in the communities.

An excess of GHȻ407 million also went to the Ghana Stabilisation Fund as a reserve for the Government to support the economy in times of unanticipated petroleum revenue shortfalls and fiscal imbalances.

“Successive governments have dipped their hands into this fund (Ghana Stabilisation Fund) such that when COVID-19 hit us, we were running outside looking for money when we could have relied on this particular fund,” he said.