Oil: Buhari to use additional income for infrastructural development

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will ensure that proceeds from rising oil prices will be put to good use.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, hit a session high of $71.05 per barrel – the highest since early December 2014 – before dipping back to $70.99 by 0440 GMT. That was still up 46 cents, or 0.7 percent from the last close.

Price have been supported by supply restrictions led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia, the world’s biggest oil producer, which started last year and are set to last throughout 2018.

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In a series of tweets on Saturday, Buhari said the additional income from oil would be used to finance infrastructural projects such as roads, rail and power.

“I want to assure Nigerians that every additional income that comes to the Federal Government in 2018, from the rising price of crude oil, will be deployed to infrastructure projects: roads, rail, and power, for the benefit of all our people,” Buhari tweeted.

“We will not repeat the mistakes of the past, when as a country we failed to fully utilize rising oil prices to develop our infrastructure. Our administration’s pledge to you is that we will make every Naira count, for the development of Nigeria.”