The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) has expressed its willingness to work with the Government of Zanzibar, the private sector and civil society to support ongoing efforts to ensure that citizens benefit from oil and gas resources.
The institute's co-director for the African region, Silas Olang, said this when he introduced NRGI to the Government, Private Sector and Civil Society Organizations at the invitation of the Zanzibar Oil and Gas Service Providers Association (ZAOGS).
"We have come to Zanzibar to introduce NRGI to stakeholders and articulate our commitment to work with all stakeholders to ensure this sector is beneficial to the people of Zanzibar and the Nation," said Silas.
He said experience showed the oil and gas sector was facing many challenges including corruption in the supply chain, the distribution of revenue from the resource, environmental degradation if there was no control, conflicts within the community that needed to be addressed in the early stages.
In discussions with the stakeholders, Silas also outlined how to use the revenue generated from those resources especially in investments in other areas of the economy because the resources are being used and depleted.
He also talked about how to manage the expectations of the people, not to use oil wealth to get into huge debts, to make good use of revenue because 90 percent of the countries that produce those resources are poor.
"More than one billion people from oil-rich countries are poor due to poor distribution of revenue from these resources, so we must be vigilant and learn from the mistakes of others," he said.
He said as NRGI has extensive experience in the sector, it is ready to share its experience with Zanzibar stakeholders to prepare to benefit from these resources.
In his remarks, the Founder and Chairman of ZAOGS, the Honorary Ambassador of Brazil to Tanzania, Abdulsamad Abdulrahmi described how the institution is committed to ensuring that Zanzibar benefits from various economic opportunities including oil and gas economy.
He said ZAOGS will continue to work with various stakeholders including NRGI to ensure Zanzibar is economically open in the near future.
“NRGI is an important stakeholder in this sector here in Zanzibar, we have worked together to build the capacity of institutions dealing with the extractive industry in mainland Tanzania and now we have brought them to Zanzibar. We are doing this to support the goals of the President of Zanzibar, Dr. Hussein Mwinyi to ensure that Zanzibar fulfills its 2050 Development Agenda and the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said the Ambassador.
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