Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Funsho Kupolokun says Nigeria loses about $4.5 billion to inappropriate gas regulators and uncoordinated price regime in the nation's oil and gas sector.

On a visit to the Senate President, David Mark on Wednesday in Abuja, the NNPC GMD urged the National Assembly to speed up the passage of oil and gas related bills currently before it, to enable the country reap fully from the booming global oil and gas market. In a statement made available to The Guardian by NNPC's General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, Kupolokun said a quick passage of the Gas Fiscal Bill, the Local Content Bill and other oil and gas legislations before the law-making body will reinvigorate the sector.

Kupolokun, who was accompanied on the visit by some top management staff of the corporation, stressed that the absence of these bills was robbing the country of potential foreign exchange earnings and hindering the introduction of a local content policy into the inner workings of the industry. He reiterated that without the Local Content Bill in place, government's desire to domesticate oil and gas goods and services in the country would be an uphill task.