By Juma Nsubuga
The minister of energy and mineral development Dr Ruth Nankabirwa has applauded President Museveni for his leadership and insistence on capacity building for Ugandans. She says this has facilitated progress of the oil and gas sector and growth of national content.
Minister Nankabirwa was at the official opening of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda’s 3rd National content conference at Serena conference center organised under the Theme: Creating lasting value through enhanced national participation to accelerate Uganda’s socio-economic transformation.
” I would also like to note that whereas the oil and gas sector is highly specialized, Uganda’s approach is to build the capacity of Ugandans and Ugandan enterprises to benefit from the sector and these efforts have been ongoing” the minister said.
She further encouraged Ugandan business enterprises to harness the opportunities presented by the oil and gas sector to build capacity to participate not only in the oil and gas sector but also in other sectors of the economy.
“Oil and gas sector has been prioritized among the sectors with the greatest multiplier effect on the economy as detailed in the national development plan( NDP)111” she said.
The minister further informed the participants that Uganda’s Oil and Gas industry has generally transitioned from the exploration and appraisal phases to the development stage leading to production.
Nankabirwa also noted that this conference has come at the right time when the discussions on how value from the oil and gas activities can continue to be retained in the economy. ” It’s important that the strategies to enhance value retention are concretized to ensure that oil and gas sector transforms the social and economic lives of ugandans” she added
