The Tinubu administration will prioritise gas development to play a major role in Nigeria’s industrialization.
This was disclosed by Ms Olu Verheijen, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, on Wednesday at the opening of the “Decade of Gas” secretariat in Abuja.
The “Decade of Gas” programme is a Federal Government project designed to ensure that Nigeria extracts natural gas as one of its main sources of energy for power and gas-based industries on commercial bases.
A long journey
Ms Olu Verheijen, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, said It has been a long journey with gas in this Nigeria.
Verheijen said that the president placed a high premium on gas and as such was committed to seeing the country utilise it to its fullest, adding:
- “We have gone from being a major exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), to looking into our future, when gas is going to play a big role in the industrialisation of our country”
Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive, of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), said that the country was working towards becoming more of a gas-based country for local consumption and export, he added:
- “It is a matter of empowering Nigeria on the utilisation of gas, so the sponsor’s group agreed that there should be a secretariat.
- “In the past, this project was coordinated by Shell as a sponsor group and they thought that the ideal location should be a regulator and NMDPRA being the Midstream regulator was chosen as the host of the secretariat.
- “That is why we are here to commence the process of taking over and informing the former secretariat of the Energy office in Jabi,”.
The coordinator of the project, Mr Ed Ebong, said the projects would be the deciding factor of the country’s future if the right policy framework were put in place, he also said:
- “A lot of work has been done; projects have been identified and we are now in the process of sitting with the operators to bring the issues to the surface; that is for the gas supply.
- “We also need to provide comfort to the investors by clearing the areas of about US$ 1 billion that the gas companies owe for gas supply in the past and that is the clear priority.
- “Gas will not get to where it will get to if we do not begin to build physical and virtual pipelines.
Ebong added that Physical pipelines are physical lines, while virtual pipelines will enable Nigeria to have Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) operators that can move gas from where it is today to the areas where it is needed.
- “The last is building capacity and these are those that will work in the gas sector,” he said
