With her abundant proven gas reserve of over 208 trillion standard cubic feet (TCF), Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, says Nigeria has no reason to have anything to do with energy poverty.
The Minister stated this on Thursday in Abuja at a one-day Internal stakeholders’ Workshop involving the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the agencies under its supervision aimed at repositioning the Nigerian Gas Sector for optimal performance.
In line with the present administration’s agenda to unlock the country’s abundant gas resources for economic development and poverty eradication, Ekpo said the engagement with the internal stakeholders in the gas sector was a follow-up to an earlier one held with the external stakeholders which comprised the various Associations and Groups operating across the Gas Value Chain, on February 6, 2024.
The engagement with the external stakeholders, according to the Minister provided a platform for him to hear and interface with them to understand the problems and challenges the industry operators were facing.
Having heard from the industry operators, Ekpo said he expected that as policymakers, regulators, and policy implementers the Ministry and her agencies would internalize the feedback from the stakeholders and customers to proffer workable solutions to tackle the issues bedeviling the nation’s gas sector.
Stressing the imperative to tackle these challenges head-on, the Minister informed participants at the workshop that in a bid to ensure maximum performance and accountability in government, the present administration, through the office of the Special Adviser on Policy and Coordination, had released the Presidential Priorities and Ministerial Deliverables for 2023–2027 to create a performance tracking mechanism for the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the Agencies under his purview.
He said the theme for the Workshop “Harnessing Nigeria’s Proven Gas Reserves for Economic Growth and Development”, was apt and provided a platform to galvanize actions and take necessary steps to release Nigeria’s abundant gas reserves to accelerate industrialization and develop the economy for the good of the teeming population.
The Minister disclosed that the government has taken steps to tackle the rising price of cooking gas in the country, adding that as an incentive, the government had withdrawn all taxes and levies from the importation of gas-related equipment.
He said there were interactions with critical sectors to ensure there was no exportation of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), adding that all LPG products produced within the country would have to be domesticated, to increase the volume available for distribution to force down the price.
The Minister said he was in contact with the regulators, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to work out ways to bring the situation under control.
“We are in a constant meeting, almost on a daily basis, and the producers of gas, like ExxonMobil, Chevron Nigeria, and Shell Petroleum Development Company. So, there is that hope that things will turn around soon,” he said.
“It is part of it that we are having this engagement to know what is wrong and address it once and for all,” he added.
With regards to converting vehicles to compressed natural gas (CNG), the Minister recalled the inauguration of a Presidential initiative with a mandate to achieve that objective, adding that he has been interfacing with the committee to ensure that the target was realized.
“We are meeting with the regulators daily to ensure we crash the price of gas in the country,” he said.
In her presentation at the workshop, the Director of Gas in the Ministry, Oluremi Komolafe, highlighted the submissions and expectations of the various associations and groups operating in the gas sector at the consultation meeting held on February 6, 2024 and the recommended solutions.
Other highlights of the workshop were presentations by the Heads of various Agencies of the Ministry and the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria as well as panel discussions where sectorial issues were discussed and solutions proffered.
