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Gas crucial to economy growth
By John Ofikhenua, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari promised on Monday that his administration would use the nation’s abundant gas resources for industrialisation.
Buhari said the rising global demand for cleaner energy sources offers Nigeria an opportunity to exploit gas resources, adding: “we intend to seize this opportunity.”
He spoke at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) 2021 Pre-Summit Conference and official launch of the Decade of Gas in Abuja.
The President explained to participants at the Conference why his administration has prioritised gas development with remarkable progress.
Pointing out that Nigeria is a gas nation with a little oil, the President however, lamented that the country had focused more on oil over the years.
He said “that is the paradox” that his administration “decided to confront when we declared the year 2020 as The Year of Gas in Nigeria.
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According to him, the declaration is ‘‘ a bold statement to demonstrate the resolve of this administration that gas development and utilisation should be a national priority to stimulate economic growth, further improve Nigeria’s energy mix, drive investments, and provide the much-needed jobs for our citizens.”
Buhari said before the declaration of Year 2020 as The Year of Gas, his administration “ had shown commitment to the development of Nigeria’s vast gas resources and strengthening of the gas value chain by reviewing and gazetting policies and regulations to enhance operations in the sector as encapsulated in the National Gas Policy of 2017.”
The President pointed out that ‘‘after a thorough review of these laudable achievements and successes in the gas space, we acknowledged that Nigeria still has more work to do in the gas space.”
The decision, he explained, led the Federal Government to begin a more proactive push towards gas development.
Enumerating what his administration has done to energise the sector, Buhari said the development of gas infrastructure has commenced along with the domestic utilisation of LPG and CNG, as well as the process of commercialising gas flares, development of industrial and transport gas markets and increasing gas to power.
His words: ‘‘We also kick started other policies and projects like the National Gas Expansion Programme, Autogas policy, and the construction of the 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline.
Buhari described the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) as the Federal Government’s arrowhead in the reduction of gas flaring in Nigeria.
“NLNG, which contributes about one percent to GDP has generated $114 billion in revenues over the years, $9 billion in taxes, $18 billion in dividends to the Federal Government and $15 billion in Feed Gas Purchase.”
He said that these achievements were accomplished with 100 percent Nigerian Management and 95 percent Nigerian workforce.
The idea behind the pre-summit conference themed, “Towards a Gas Powered Economy by 2030,” he explained, is the realisation of a pledge that his administration would fully utilise the enormous gas resources in the country to uplift the economy and drive industrialisation.
But setting the tone for the development of the industry in the next ten years, he said given the country’s 600 trillion cubic feet of gas reserve, the commodity has the enormous potential to diversify Nigeria’s economy.
He praised NLNG for winning the award for outstanding business strategy in 2020 and for going ahead with Train 7 during the COVID-19 era.
The President charged “other relevant MDAs on the need to partner the International Oil Companies, indigenous oil companies, and financial institutions to actualise the dream of fully utilising our gas resources to uplift our economy.”
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva said that the National Assembly had confirmed its resolve to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in April.
“I am happy with the support given to us by the National Assembly,” Sylva said, urging all stakeholders to “transit to the willing seller, willing buyer” policy.
The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, said that technology and innovation were facilitating a new energy transition aimed at decarbonising the world and safeguarding the climate.
He added ”But renewable energy sources of solar and wind, a key component of the new energy mix are influenced by seasons and are non-transportable to demand centres that are short of wind or sun.
“A transition fuels is therefore necessary and clearly unavoidable. As a part of the clean energy drive, natural gas, and by extension, blue hydrogen will therefore be heavily dependent upon to provide a significant proportion of global energy mix as well as guaranteed feedstock to gas-based industries.
“Our effort at monetising the huge gas resources has been modest but clearly spurred to higher level by numerous policy and industry interventions since 2016 culminating in the declaration of year 2020 as year of gas and now progressing with the decade of gas from year 2021.”
