Mr Basil Ominyi, chairman of Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), has said that the group will this year spend N18 billion on various development projects in oil producing areas of the country.
Ominyi, said that the amount was N3 billion higher than N15 billion spent on development projects in 2007.
He said that successive governments at local, state and federal levels and not oil companies should be blamed for the present situation in the Niger Delta region.
Omiyi said the oil producing communities had over the years suffered neglect in many ways and that the development had been preventing the communities to move forward.
According to him, the oil companies have been acting as catalysts of development and have always been supportive of government's efforts at enhancing the quality of life of the people in the oil producing communities.
He said that the OPTs had also made over N30 billion contributions to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as part of its social corporate responsibility.
The OPTS Chairman said that the militants in the Niger Delta region had been sending wrong signals through their activities about the country to the outside world and called on the government to be decisive in dealing with oil pipeline vandals and kidnappers.
He said that the oil industry was still confronted with the problems of inadequate infrastructure, security, funding and fiscal instability among others and urged the government to address the problems.
``The energy sector is faced with various taxes compared to the other sectors of the economy. Taxes and levies we are paying in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria are far higher than what is being paid anywhere in the world,'' he said
