From Uche Usim, Abuja

Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday canvassed for investments around cleaner, low-cost energy in Nigeria, describing it as necessary for energy security, prosperity and global competitiveness.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2021 Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference in Abuja, the Vice President, who was represented by the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva noted that the critical assessment of the perspective on Nigeria’s preparedness for oil and gas industry stability and growth in the wake of energy transition dynamics cannot be over emphasized.

He thus maintained that the Federal Government was encouraging Industry players to critically focus on Nigeria’s vast natural gas resources as a transition fuel that will function as a bridge between the dominant ‘dirty’ fossil fuels of today and the cleaner energy of tomorrow. According to him, natural gas has the intrinsic abilities to meet the increasing global requirements for cleaner primary energy use, while at the same time enabling much needed domestic industrialization for rapid economic growth in very few endowed countries such as Nigeria.

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He said the government was not unmindful of the peculiar challenges confronting the gains from oil and gas operations in Nigeria like infrastructural deficiency, insecurity and high operational cost.

“The government is working conscientiously to tackle all without lagging behind on our path to meeting the global demands that our signatory to international protocols on cleaner energy have placed on us.

“Despite the current global challenges in the Industry, the government has been supporting the aggressive implementation of the nationwide gas infrastructure blueprint. This informed our recent declaration of the year 2021-2030 as “the Decade of Gas” after the successful kickoff with the National Gas Expansion Programme in 2020.

“The passed PIB is a watershed moment for our nation. Let me assure you that the Bill when transmitted to the Presidency for assent will receive necessary and timely consideration. Infrastructural development, security issues, high cost of operations and other various issues are well covered in this all encompassed Bill. I can assure you that when the eventual Act is fully operational, its governance, administrative and fiscal provisions will be one of the most attractive in Africa”, Osinbajo stated.