The Nigerian government must guarantee peace in the country in order to ensure the development of its oil and gas industry, an aide to president Goodluck Jonathan has stated.

Speaking to This Day, Timi Alaibe, former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, said that the new administration must build on the groundwork established by former president Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

He stated that following the amnesty with Nigerian militants, oil operations have remained peaceful and production is now on the rise.

Mr Alaibe told the news source that production of oil increased from 700,000 BPD to up to 2.3 million BPD after the amnesty.

"We noticed that there is a restoration of confidence in business financing in the Niger Delta," the presidential aide said.

He added that the government aims to engage young people in the Niger Delta in order to improve its oil and gas industry to compete with "modern cities across the world".

In other news, Diezani Alison-Madueke, minister of petroleum resources in Nigeria, recently stated that the nation held 37.2 billion barrels of oil reserves and 183 trillion cubic feet of gas in January 2010.

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