Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has said that the Federal Government was aggressively implementing the nationwide gas infrastructure blueprint to deepen gas utilisation in Nigeria.
Sylva made this known on Wednesday, while delivering a keynote address at the 5th Edition of the Sub-Saharan African International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference organised by Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN).
The three-day virtual conference has as its theme: ” Post COVID-19: From Global Crises to Global Opportunities.”
According to the minister, as the world is transiting to cleaner sources of energy, Nigeria’s focus would be to use its vast natural gas resources to help battle global warming and foster national development.
He said: “As you are aware, we recently declared 2021 to 2030 ‘the Decade of Gas’ development in Nigeria after making laudable achievements and successes in 2020 ‘the Year of Gas’. “This represents another formidable opportunity point post-COVID-19, for industry players to add significant value for sustained growth and development.”
Sylva said developing domestic gas utilisation would not only cushion the effects of deregulation of the downstream sector, but also stimulate economic growth.
According to him, it will also improve Nigeria’s energy mix, drive investments and create enormous job opportunities for Nigerians.
“To this end, despite the global COVID-19 challenges, we have embarked on the most aggressive implementation of the nationwide gas infrastructure blueprint, constructing critical integrated gas pipeline system across the nation…”