The federal government has pledged its support to efforts by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN) to expand gas utilisation in the south-east region to boost industrialisation.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, disclosed this at a gathering of over 500 participants at the recent South East Gas Utilisation Forum organised by GACN in Owerri, Imo State.
Sylva said the vision is “To see that we as a country prioritise utilizing our natural gas resources domestically to create jobs, grow the economy, increase government revenue, attract investments and industrialise the country, all to the benefit of its citizens.”
Group Managing Director of the NNPC Mallam Mele Kyari, who was represented by NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, Engr. Yusuf Usman said, “Evidently, the South East business community is well placed to key into the federal government’s economic development plan to move Nigeria from being a crude oil export-based economy to attractive oil and gas-based industrial economy.”
The board chairman of GACN, Engr. Mansur Sadiq Sambo said: “Evidently, the South East is a thriving commercial hub and this GACN initiative and developmental focus is therefore well understood given that GACN’s core mandate is to drive the expansion of gas utilization in Nigeria.”
“As natural gas becomes available for industrial use and power generation within the region, the states will be better positioned and able to attract more local and foreign industries and investors into the Eastern corridor,” President of the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) Mrs Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, said.
GACN held a workshop, in September, to update the Master Gas Sale and Aggregation Agreements to reflect current market realities and ensure equitable risk allocation between parties to such agreements.
