Vice President Shettima Expresses Disappointment In Nigeria’s $5 Billion Income From Natural Gas

Kashim Shettima, vice president of Nigeria, has expressed his disappointment in the income the country has generated from producing natural gas, which is only $5 billion.

The politician, who thinks this amount is too low, is convinced that the country has a huge potential in the gas sector and has even compared it to Egypt.

Represented by Sodiq Wanka, president on energy and power infrastructure at the Office of Vice President, at the 6th Value Chain Energy Magazine Annual Lecture & Awards in Abuja on Thursday, Shettima said $5 billion is 40% lower than what Egypt makes even though the latter only has around 30% of Nigeria's reserves, Punch reported.

The vice president also shared that Nigeria's "production to reserve ratio is less than a third of Egypt's, less than a quarter of Algeria's and around 10% of Malaysia's," adding that the gas sector requires a huge investment to ensure that its potential is maximized.

He explained that the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine conflict resulted in several nations, including members of the European Union (EU), shopping for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). However, Nigeria's largest LNG assets were operating significantly below capacity because the gas supply was inadequate at the time.

"The impact of truly exploiting the nation's gas reserves cannot be overstated. Gas is critical to the nation's power supply, not only accounting for 80 percent of power generation today but expected to be the dominant power generation source by the end of this decade," Shettima said.

Shettima went on to explain that gas is a critical transition fuel for Nigeria's ambitious climate targets of being net zero by 2060.

According to the vice president, there are a number of industries that are gas-based, while others require gas to power their industries such as fertilizer, methanol, cement and consumer goods.

Musa Bashir Usman, publisher and CEO of Value Chain Media Group, also spoke at the event, urging the government to join hands with industry players to move forward with more production.

He stressed "the critical importance of developing the midstream gas sector as an integral part of our energy transition journey," and said that to achieve energy goals as a nation, everyone should consciously invest in infrastructure that facilitates the smooth transition of gas production from the upstream value chain to the downstream end.

Meanwhile, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, emir of Kano State, praised the federal government, the NNPC Limited and others involved in the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline project during the event. He emphasized that this project will help communities, as well as the country's economic linkages along the corridor.