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By Chukwuma Umeorah
Minister of State (Gas), Petroleum Resources, Ekperikpe Ekpo, has expressed his commitment to unlocking Nigeria’s vast gas resources for economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.
Ekpo, spoke after his inauguration, yesterday, in Abuja by President Bola Tinubu. He expressed gratitude to the president for the opportunity to serve the nation, emphasising the pivotal role of the gas ministry in driving Nigeria’s energy transformation.
“It is a privilege to serve our great nation in this capacity. I am also grateful to the President for finding me worthy of representing his government in this very noble task of setting out a clear and concise agenda and robust implementation roadmap for the exploitation of Nigeria’s enormous, yet untapped gas resources.”
He underscored the need to develop an economically viable and environmentally sustainable gas utilisation framework to boost revenue generation and improve access to energy.
“The removal of fuel subsidy has placed the responsibility of providing a sustainable alternative to PMS on us in the ministry. I am committed to ensuring that together, we would deliver on this wondrous task of building an economically viable and environmentally sustainable gas utilization framework and developing of infrastructure for the benefit of Nigeria and Nigerians.”
Ekpo further outlined immediate short-term strategies, including the examination of compressed natural gas for the mass-transit sector and its eventual expansion to power generation infrastructures.
“In the course of the next few weeks and months, I would receive briefings from relevant MDAs and reevaluate same with the view to ascertaining the actual status of Nigeria’s gas exploration and utilization, state of infrastructural delivery, level of access/barriers, current transactions and projects within the gas industry.”
This, he believes, would not only cut transportation costs, but also have positive cascading effect on lowering food prices and alleviating inflation, thus improving the living conditions of Nigerians.
He said: “Nigeria’s proven natural gas reserves bless the country as one of the nations with the greatest gas reserves globally. It is certain that harnessing this would stimulate the domestic economy in addition optimizing the domestic utilization of gas, it would support hundreds of thousands of jobs within the local economy.”
Ekpo pledged that he and his team would collaborate with relevant agencies to assess Nigeria’s gas exploration, infrastructure status, access levels, ongoing projects, and transactions.
“This comprehensive evaluation will lay the foundation for harnessing Nigeria’s gas industry potential, strengthening the entire gas value chain from exploration to distribution,” he assured.
