The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke has urged Public Affairs Managers in the Ministry and its Parastatals to redouble their efforts on highlighting the achievements and activities of the Ministry, to bridge any existing communication gap between the Ministry and the public.Speaking on behalf of the Minister at the inauguration of the Forum of Heads of Public Affairs in the Ministry at the Boardroom , Engr. Goni M. Sheikh, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, directed that mechanisms must be put in place for accurately monitoring and measuring critical public opinion on Government plans,

activities and impact, with a view to continually improving on our service delivery.He stated that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had initiated a number of reforms in the sector with the aim of enhancing the benefits Nigerians derived from petroleum resources. He charged the Forum to put together a comprehensive communication strategy to proactively engage and involve all relevant stakeholders in the industry in the process of arriving at some of these policy decisions, as well as in their implementation. He added that “emphasis must now be on collaboration, co-operation and synergy between all Public Affairs Units in the Ministry and its Parastatals to deliver consistently focused, holistic, cohesive and dynamic representation of the projects and programmes of the Ministry and its Agencies.

Present at the inauguration of the Forum were Directors in the Ministry and Heads of Public Affairs from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) and Petroleum Training Institute (PTI).