The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Monday said the Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Natural Gas company has generated $114bn revenues for the country.
He said this at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit 2021 Pre-Summit Conference and official inauguration of the Decade of Gas in Abuja, adding that the NLNG was contributing one per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
This came as the Managing Director, NLNG, Tony Attah, announced that the ongoing Train-7 project being handled by the company would attract $10bn to Nigeria.
Buhari, who spoke virtually from the State House, said, “The NLNG, which contributes about one per cent to GDP, has generated $114bn in revenues over the years; $9bn in taxes, $18bn in dividends to the Federal Government and $15bn in feed gas purchase.”
The President noted that these achievements were accomplished with 100 per cent Nigerian management and 95 per cent Nigerian workforce.
The Decade of Gas conference organised by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources brought operators and other stakeholders together to deliberate on how to power the Nigerian economy using gas.
Buhari said the Federal Government would fully utilise the enormous gas resources in the country to uplift the economy and drive industrialisation.
“The rising global demand for cleaner energy sources has offered Nigeria an opportunity to exploit gas resources for the good of the country. We intend to seize this opportunity,” he stated.
Buhari told participants at the pre-summit that the major objective of government for the gas sector was to transform Nigeria into an industrialised nation with gas playing a major role.
This, he said, had been demonstrated through enhanced accelerated gas revolution, as he noted that the development of gas infrastructure had commenced along with the domestic utilisation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas and Compressed Natural Gas.
Buhari also stated that the process of commercialising gas flares, development of industrial and transport gas markets, and increasing gas to power were currently ongoing.
On his part, the NLNG boss stated that Nigeria through the gas company had been playing a leading role in the gas sector in Africa and globally.
“Our Train-7 project alone will attract about $10bn into the country with very significant revenue generation for government and our shareholders, in addition to over 12,000 jobs for Nigerians,” Attah stated.
According to him, Nigeria’s proven gas reserves was 200 trillion cubic feet with an additional 600tcf that was yet to be proven.
In his goodwill message to the pre-summit virtual conference Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo stressed the need to harness the potential that gas presents for Nigeria’s industrialisation.
The Minister who was represented by his Technical Adviser, Kamal Bakrin, said gas could become a source of competitive advantage for Nigeria’s manufacturing sector.
He said the manufacturing sector could be a dominant job creator and source of foreign exchange for the country with an affordable source of gas.
https://punchng.com/nigeria-plans-transformation-to-industrialised-nation-through-gas-buhari/
