Nigeria’s ambitions to monetise its vast natural gas reserves will stall unless the country urgently fixes its domestic energy market, Olu Arowolo Verheijen, Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Oil and Gas has said.
Delivering her keynote address at the 44th Annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE 2026) in Lagos, Verheijen stressed that the bankability of gas developments relies entirely on the strength of the market at the other end of the pipeline.
She underscored that resolving legacy debts across the electricity value chain, improving metering, strengthening revenue collection and ensuring reliable payments to suppliers are not merely power-sector interventions, but rather fundamental requirements for sustainable gas development and national industrialisation.
Emphasising the relationshi between hydrocarbon supply and domestic consumption, the Special Adviser noted that gas offers a far-reaching industrial opportunity through electricity generation, manufacturing, agricultural processing, and export-oriented industries.
However, she warned that market access, sustainable pricing, and dependable customer arrangements must advance hand-in-hand with fiscal and regulatory reforms.
“Nigeria’s ability to monetise its gas resources will depend as much on the reliability of its domestic energy market as on its capacity to develop additional reserves,” Verheijen stated, pointing to the necessity of protecting vulnerable consumers through targeted support while establishing transparent commercial arrangements that encourage supply and improve service delivery.
