The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Monday in Abuja declared that the country needs $200 billion to make it the highest gas producer in Africa, and the ninth highest globally.
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, while presenting the agency`s 2021 – 2023 reports on Oil, Gas and Solid Minerals to the Senate Committee on Public Accounts led by Senator Aliyu Wadada Ahmed (SDP, Nasarawa), regretted the absence of required infrastructure to maximise gas in the country.
According to Dr Orji, “Based on NEITI’s findings, Nigeria needs to invest at least $20billion per year into gas infrastructure for a period of ten years.
“The only thing that Qatar Energy does is gas processing through required infrastructure.
“So, in Nigeria, what we need is to invest in gas infrastructure to evacuate gas. And our study shows that we need an initial investment of $20 billion annually for 10 years to be able to generate the kind of gas infrastructure required to provide gas for the whole of Africa and beyond.
This, of course, will require construction of gas pipelines along and across,West African sub-region, and beyond which is a huge expenditure.”
When asked on what NEITI is doing on alleged $8.5billion unremitted into the consolidated revenue fund by Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Federal Inland Revenue Service and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission in 2023, the Agency`s Head disclosed that the Economic and Financial Crime Commission ( EFCC) is already probing the agencies involved.
He however added that the Solid Minerals sector is not giving the country desired revenue as yearly proceeds from the sector is less than 1% to GDP.
The NEITI Executive Secretary`s pleas however did not pacify the dissatisfied Senator Wadada led Committee which described as “unacceptable and ridiculous” the less than 1% annual contribution of proceeds from solid minerals to the GDP.
The Chairman and members of the committee said NEITI’s report on solid minerals is not reflective of what is going on in the solid mineral sector, wondering why States such as Ogun, Osun, Kogi, Edo, Ebonyi, Rivers, Cross Rivers and FCT were mentioned in the report leaving out Nasarawa, Zamfara, Kebbi, Plateau, Bauchi among others.
He said “this definitely must not continue, there must be a complete overhaul of the sector.”
