The Federal Government has revealed that gas is important for Nigeria’s energy transition plans, as it is a cleaner alternative to coal and oil.
This was disclosed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday at the 2021 World Energy Day Conference in Abuja, organised by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), themed: “Energy Transition: Gas as the Fuel of Choice”, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
The Vice President was represented at the event by the Minister of State for Power, Goddy Agba, who also stressed that the FG was committed to developing Nigeria’s gas sector.
What the Vice President said
The Vice President stated that Nigeria could not execute its energy transition without gas, as it enabled the transition with options for AutoGas on vehicles and even more importantly, gas power to replace dirty coal plants across the world.
“Gas is cleaner than coal or oil and initially was touted as a critical transition fuel.
“Later, climate change policy, particularly in the West, began to turn against gas with very strict policies from many lenders against even funding upstream, midstream or downstream gas projects.
“This has created the scenario we face today with insufficient gas investment without commensurate replacement… leading to scarcity and high prices,” he said.
Osinbajo also stated that the Federal Government had given the go-ahead for the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Train 7. However, Train 7 required more than N10 billion investment to keep Nigeria in the top five globally in Liquefied Natural Gas production and position the country to benefit from the critical role that gas would play in the energy transition.
He also revealed that President Buhari, on March 29, had declared 2021 as “The Year of Gas” in Nigeria, in a bid to demonstrate Nigeria’s resolve to make gas development and utilisation a national priority.
“Now, we are going a step further to dedicate this decade to industrialising Nigeria using gas.
“As part of the Decade of Gas, the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Natural Gas Pipeline set for completion in 2023, will not only allow for gas power and industries across Nigeria but will also create the ability to ramp up renewable.
“This is as we will have base load power to balance intermittent solar power plants that need to be built to meet our climate goals.”
However, he warned that there was simply not enough investment in renewable energy to support the intended accelerated pace of removal of fossil fuels, as fossil fuels satisfied 83% of primary demand for energy.
“Unfortunately, investment in fossil fuels has also dropped by 40 per cent since 2015 without the requisite ramp-up in renewable.”
He stressed that Nigeria’s energy transition would not be easy, and seamless, neither would it be done without difficult choices.
“The Economist reported that since May, the combined prices of oil, coal and gas increased by 95 per cent. It was also reported that Britain has turned back on some coal-fired power stations.
“I surely believe that the Energy Transition was not meant to make energy less available and unaffordable. These events if not handled carefully may turn global public sentiment against climate change policies,” Osinbajo said.
In case you missed it
Nairametrics reported earlier that marketers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, otherwise known as cooking gas, had warned that the 12.5kg of cooking gas, which sold for between N7,500 and N8,000, might increase to N10,000 before December if the current crisis in the sector was not addressed.
This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of the National Association of LPG Marketers (NALPGAM), Mr Bassey Essien, who insisted that the Federal Government needed to review the recently introduced import charges and Value Added Tax, or else the price of cooking gas might as well get to N10, 000 for a 12.5kg cylinder.