By BIMBOLA OYESOLA
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has listed Dangote Group, General Electric, among others as strategic investors sustaining African economy urging them not to relent.
Buhari called on other investors in Africa to consider the strategic nature of investments made by the conglomerates and emulate them in order to enhance the value of the continent’s economy.
The President made this remarks during the opening of proceedings at the sixth African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE VI) which was organised by the African Petroluem Producers Association (APPA) in the Federal Capital.
Represented at the occasion by his Vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Buhari identified some of the companies adding the most value to the Nigerian economy through their ingenious investment to include GE, Dangote Group, Ladol Shipyard and Samsung among others.
According to the president, African countries should develop ingenious ways of promoting value addition and investment through sustainable policies in local content.
He added: “A common approach to local content will ensure that the whole of Africa benefits from economies of scale associated with our vast resources.”
He noted that ongoing mega projects “like the General Electric Service Centre for manufacturing rotating equipment in Calabar; the Ladol industrial free zone in Lagos – wholly indigenous, privately developed and hosting the largest shipyard in West Africa; the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) Dangote indigenous refinery in Lagos and the Samsung FPSO Integration Yard in Lagos; to mention a few.” were some of the most strategic to the struggling African economy.
The Nigerian leader said the continent must recognise that the development of domestic refining capacity in oil and gas would remain critical to her sustainable economic growth as reliance on importation would continue to stunt her growth.
The president also noted that Nigeria which recently announced a new time line to end gas flaring at her oil fields was on course to see this out.
“The use of gas in Africa’s future energy mix has become imperative. If Africa must meet her future energy needs, the issue of the development of a robust gas infrastructure must be jointly addressed.
“In processing Africa’s hydrocarbon resource, environmental issues must be accorded huge priority. Globally, over 150 billion cubic meters of associated gas is flared annually, of this figure, Africa flares an estimated 40 billion cubic meters annually.
In Nigeria, gas flaring amounts to about 23 billion cubic meters per annum in over 100 flare sites constituting over 13 per cent of global gas flaring,” he explained.
The president pointed out that Nigeria is still a member of the World Bank Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GCFR) Partnership and with the support of our legislature, we will sign the United Nations Agreement of “Zero Routine Flaring by 2030” although our national target is 2020.
“I urge all APPA member countries to set realistic targets for gas flare-out in the region.”