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Experts Demand Optimized Nigerian Gas Sector, Target 6.5 Million Jobs

…mull creation of Ministry of Gas, clear gas policies

By Deborah James

In a bid to exploit the Nigerian gas market, which is tipped to be bigger than crude oil, experts have advised the federal government to create an enabling environment for the gas sector to thrive and provide over 6.5 million jobs.

Speaking at a maritime business roundtable meeting organized by Zoe Maritime Resources Limited on Thursday, the veterans also emphasized the need for political will, clearer gas policies and laws, while also suggesting the creation of a distinct Federal Ministry of Gas to expedite the sector’s growth.

Experts Demand Optimized Nigerian Gas Sector, Target 6.5 Million Jobs
The Chairperson of Zoe Maritime Resources, Barr. (Mrs.) Oritsematosan Edodo-Emore (left) presenting a certificate to one of the speakers at the Maritime Business Roundtable Meeting, on Thursday.

At the event themed: “Maximizing Gas Utilization in Nigeria’s Blue Economy,” the Group Managing Director, Navy Holdings Limited, Rear Admiral Hamza Ibrahim, opined that the creation of a Ministry of Gas would expedite developments.

He, however, observed that gas is already playing a crucial role as the soul in the value chain of ship design, construction and general functioning of the shipyard in Nigeria.

“Currently, without gas there is nothing you can do to power your equipment. Gas to any shipyard is the soul as it is necessary for welding, just as much as it is needed in a dockyard or any ship maintenance facility to run industrial filtration systems. Gas is needed for domestic purposes.”

“Actively, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is looking at reducing the sulfur content of the fuels for ships. This has created a new way of thinking with gas-driven engines one of the topmost alternatives to drive shipping industry. Gas is naturally quite essential for any maintenance facility because it is like the soul; the energy you require to drive a lot of processes. This gas sector, if well developed, has the potential to create more than 6.5million jobs in Nigeria,” Rear Admiral Ibrahim explained.

He asserted that the federal government’s will power would be required to actualise the maximum utilisation of gas, even as he noted tht the level of policy framework, infrastructure and fiscal incentives will show the level of the government’s will.

Meanwhile, the CEO, Dateline Energy, Wilson Opuwe observed that there are lots of challenges to the environment in areas where gas exploration activities are carried out.

“From my standpoint, the process of extracting, processing and usage for our daily lives. For this fuel we are talking about to harness the blue economy, the practitioners should also provide incentives. We need the government to think about their own part of the solid support to give to the practitioners and the steps and ways of actualising, processing gas, for commercialisation, utilisation and exploit which is possibly part of the foreign currency earner of our economy,” Wilson said.

Experts Demand Optimized Nigerian Gas Sector, Target 6.5 Million Jobs
A section of panelists speaking at the Maritime Business Roundtable Meeting.

Speaking from the perspective of ship builders, the Admiral Superintendent, Naval Dockyard Ltd, Rear Admiral, Abolaji Orederu, stated that access to waterfront is essential for building of gas carriers in Nigeria.

“The issue of infrastructure is a major problem. When you are building a coastal barge one of the number one requirement is to have a water front facility, because you want to launch into water, that is not common. The few waterfront facilities we have are used for different kinds of activities.”

“Furthermore, the technical capacity is what we have to improve upon. We need certifications, we have people who have a lot of competence but without certification. In terms of equipments we need high precision equipments for dockyards. One major issue of infrastructure is that some are capital intensive,” he said.

Earlier, the convener and Chairperson of Zoe Maritime Resources, Barr. (Mrs.) Oritsematosan Edodo-Emore noted that the essence of the conference was to maximize gas utilization in Nigeria’s blue economy.

“The Maritime business roundtable breakfast meeting was held to discourse the benefits of gas in the development of the blue economy. It is always a great pleasure to be at an event like this and to have people of such high caliber in front of us and sharing ideas on how we should move different aspects of the Nigerian economy forward and especially the maritime industry which we are in,” Edodo-Emore said.

According to her, the recent establishment of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has given Nigeria the impetus to critically focus on the maritime industry and harness the enormous potentials.

“It is important to determine what energy should be in the blue economy. This energy must be clean, must be accessible, must be available, it be sustainable and must be efficient. We have the Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) answer this call,” she remarked.

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