THE CITIZEN
“This is probably the best time in Ghana’s post-independence history for it to get hold of an asset of this nature,” Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi of Ghana’s Centre for Democratic Development said of a stability fostered by nearly two decades of multi-party politics.
“But that is where it ends. From where I stand the rest is indeed worrying,” he said of still-unanswered questions over how President John Atta Mills’ government will ensure the money is used to the best advantage of the nation of 23 million.
Ghana’s offshore Jubilee field is set to hit an initial output target of 120,000 barrels a day by mid-2011, making the country sub-Saharan Africa’s seventh biggest exporter, and go on to double that in a second phase of production by 2013.
Total oil reserves are currently put at 1.5 billion barrels with recent new finds seen adding to that potential. Added to that are the field’s estimated 800 billion cubic feet of gas, according to London-listed operator Tullow Oil Plc.
For lessons on how not to manage the oil, Ghana has only to look at nearby Nigeria, whose much bigger reserves have triggered internal conflict, corruption and the paradox of declining living standards for millions of Nigerians.
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