Yemisi Izuora
The Federal Government is taking new measures to deploy more gas to boost manufacturing in the South East part of the country.
To facilitate this, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, and the five southeast governors would be part of a stakeholders’ forum to discuss the possibility of boosting the manufacturing and trade sectors in the South East through gas utilisation.
The event expected to be hosted by Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State in Owerri this week will focus on the country’s plans to maximise its 203.16 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas.
In a statement at the weekend the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria Limited (GACN) said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is backing the event and that the Group Mana ging Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, would lead stakeholders in the country’s oil and gas sector to the meeting.
The Federal Government had put Nigeria’s total gas reserves as of January 1 at 203.16 trillion cubic feet (TCF). This represents a marginal increase of 1.16tcf or 0.57 per cent from the 202tcf recorded in 2019. The reserves are made up of 100.69tcf of Associated Gas (AG) and 102.47TCF of Non-Associated Gas (NAG).
Despite its huge resources, many Nigerians are wallowing in poverty and deprivation.
The Chairman of GACN, Mansur Sambo, said the forum would provide stakeholders the opportunity to proffer solutions to the problems of the South East’s industrial sector.
According to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GACN, Olalekan Ogunleye, the organisation is happy with the opportunity to collaborate with the South East business community and stakeholders to boost the economic development of the country.
He said over 500 companies are expected to be represented at the event.