Economic growth: ACCI harps on enhancing Nigeria’s gas infrastructure
Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has stressed the importance of enhancing nation’s gas infrastructure for accelerated economic development.
The President of ACCI, Dr Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, said this at a news briefing on Friday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was to herald the 2nd Domestic Gas and Gas Infrastructure Summit (DGGIS’23) scheduled for Oct. 24 to 25 at the Abuja Trade and Convention Centre.
The summit has as its theme,“Building a Sustainable, Resilient Gas, and Renewable Energy Sector in Nigeria and Beyond”
According to Abubakar, the summit will bring together stakeholders in the energy and business sectors to discuss countless topics in the Gas sector.
“DGGIS has consistently delivered its promise to promote the critical discussion of various issues centred on rejuvenating the Nigerian gas industry.
“Its primary objective is to enhance domestic gas utilisation and the infrastructure needed to make the Nigerian gas industry globally competitive.
“Globally, natural gas has already replaced coal as the fuel of choice for electricity production, with climate and air quality benefits.
“ The rapid decrease in the cost of solar, wind and other renewable energy technologies makes these an even better alternative than gas in more and more locations,” he said.
According to the president, gas has a special role in the energy transition as a backup to a renewable-based power system.
He said, based on research, Nigeria currently accounted for 33 per cent of the total gas reserves in Africa.
“With a reserve base of 36.97 billion barrels of oil and 208.83 trillion cubic feet of gas, which represents 33 per cent of Africa’s total gas reserves of 620TCF.
“ Nigeria can be described as a gas-rich nation ranking number one in Africa in reserves with a life index of 94 years,” Abubakar said.
The ACCI boss then reiterated the commitment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to leverage the domestic utilisation, processing and international export of Nigeria’s massive gas resources.
Abubakar said Tinubu was committed to advancing the oil and gas sector as it was key to the country’s growth and development.
He said the conference was a platform to discuss the future of the Nigerian gas industry and, therefore, urged the media to help create awareness of the importance of the coming summit.
Meanwhile, the Chairman ACCI Energy Trade Group, Chinedu Maduakoh, said the summit would showcase the huge opportunities to be tapped in the gas space.
Maduakoh said that as much as the trend was shifting towards renewable energy, Africa and Nigeria especially could not abandon its gas deposits.
“Yes, there is a push by the Europeans and Americans to go cleaner using wind, solar and the rest, but what happens to our gas deposits?
“In Africa, we have abundant deposit of gas that is being discovered. Nigeria also has about the seventh or eighth largest gas deposit in the world.
`So are we going to abandon it because of the renewables, when we know there are lots of potentials for us to still use our fossil fuels?
“We can actually utilise it to achieve our developmental ambitions in the country,” he said.
On the impact of the summit’s first edition, he said it began the awareness creation of the various opportunities in the gas sector in terms of utilisation.
Maduakoh said following the recent decision by the government on subsidy; the summit would pave the way for Nigerians to consider a cheaper alternative like gas.
According to him, the summit will impact the price of gas products in the market.
“We have a large deposit of gas, which is much cheaper than petrol, and we are saying let us use this to develop and build the country.
“We are here again to create that awareness on the use and opportunities there is in the gas space, and that Nigerians should start thinking gas and building infrastructure on gas,” he said.
“The summit brings together government policymakers and the private sector as well to engage and interact.
“And once that engagement, everybody sees the opportunities and ensures we keep building more infrastructure to bring down prices of domestic gas especially, that affects the average Nigeria.
On funding sources, he said the Bank of Industry and CBN had programmes for those interested in gas investment.
“We even have the private equity companies and venture capitalists looking for gas investment opportunities.
“So this is why we are holding the summit to create that opportunity and let people know that in the gas space, there are huge opportunities to be tapped,” he added.
