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From Uche Usim, Abuja
With gas becoming the toast of the energy transition agenda, President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, are lobbying other West African governments to allow a Nigerian head the multi-billion dollar West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project, Nigeria being a major gas nation. The Federal Government’s desires were strongly canvassed on Tuesday at the meeting of the Committee of Ministers (CoM) WAGP held in Abuja.
Speaking at the event attended by the ministers of Energy of Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic; representative of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), ECOWAS Commissioner for Energy and Mines, the Director General of WAGPA, among others, Sylva referred the delegates to section 4(2) of Article IV of the WAGPA Treaty to resolve the issue of the appointment of the Director General for members.
“If section 4(2) of Article IV of the Treaty is to the effect that Nigeria is qualified, then, there need not be further objection against what section 4(2) of Article IV of the Treaty plainly stated.
“I am also happy that this meeting will give us yet another opportunity to listen to presentations from WAGPA and WAPCo on the project performance and the status of the ongoing reforms. These presentations will enable us assess performance of the project and the level of achievements made so far on the project and the challenges that will require our urgent attention as Committee of Ministers, the highest Authority of the WAGP”, he said.
Sylva added that the meeting was held at an auspicious time as it offered member nations with stakes in the WAGPA project a huge chance to fill the energy lacuna and gas scarcity created by the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“It is our collective responsibility to ensure the success of the project, no matter how difficult it may sometimes be. As we all know, the ECOWAS Commission has initiated the West African Gas Pipeline Expansion Project (WAGPEP) and is currently working with the Nigeria- Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) Project for possible synergy between the two projects. I also know that WAPCo and WAGPA are working closely with the entities to provide technical assistance and experience to achieve the synergy”, he added.
