Namibia’s Minister of Mines and Energy Tom Alweendo has called the discovery of oil in Namibia a blessing if the right polices are implemented.
“We know of countries where the discovery of oil became a curse and there are also countries where the discovery became a blessing,” he said. “I would like to believe that we all want our discovery to be a blessing rather than a curse.”
“For it to be a blessing hinges mostly on our policy environment, especially our institutional and political aspects of it,” Alweendo told a press briefing.
“It has been proven that countries with strong institutions, a stable political system and an effective legal framework were able to manage their oil revenue with a positive impact on the economy and for the benefit of their citizens,” he said.
“I have reason to believe that our institutions, our political system, and our legal framework are such that there is no reason why the oil discovery should not be a blessing,” the minister said.
“While the discovery is good news for all of us, we need to understand that we will not have a production of crude oil tomorrow. We need to be aware that more analytical work needs to be done before the construction of the platforms to extract the oil commences,” he said. Enditem
