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By Adewale Sanyaolu
Nigeria has recorded four final investment decisions (FIDs) on gas projects in less than two years, while average daily gas production has risen from about seven billion cubic feet to eight billion cubic feet, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy (Oil and Gas), Mrs. Olu Arowolo Verheijen, has disclosed.
She stated this on Wednesday at the Africa Interviews Sustainability Forum 2026 in Lagos, themed “Energy Security and Africa’s Energy Transition: Defining the Role of Gas”.
Verheijen attributed the development to reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration aimed at removing investment barriers and unlocking the country’s gas resources for industrialisation, electricity generation and economic growth.
Nigeria holds more than 200 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves, but Verheijen said sustained investment was needed to convert the resource into industrial growth, jobs and higher incomes.
“A country can sit on enormous natural wealth and fail to turn it into energy to power industry, industries that create jobs and jobs that help us grow incomes,” she said.
She disclosed that the four FIDs were recorded within less than two years, including the Ima project in September 2026, while indigenous producers were playing an increasingly significant role in domestic gas supply.
Verheijen said President Tinubu had mandated his administration to identify and address the factors preventing investment from matching Nigeria’s economic potential.
“When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office in 2023, he gave us a very clear mandate. Understand why investment has not moved at the pace of Nigeria’s potential and fix it,” she said.
She described gas as central to the administration’s reform agenda because of its importance to power generation, manufacturing, fertiliser production, transportation and cleaner household cooking.
Verheijen also disclosed that the Federal Government had settled more than N100 billion in longstanding gas debts since January 2026 under the Presidential Power Sector Financial Reforms Programme.
She said the government had also introduced import duty waivers and zero-rated value-added tax measures for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and gas cylinders to encourage cleaner cooking and reduce dependence on firewood.
“A gas-rich nation cannot be comfortable while families remain stuck in the age of firewood,” she said.
On Africa’s energy transition, Verheijen urged countries to prioritise energy security, industrialisation and job creation while pursuing environmental sustainability.
“For Africa, the energy transition must mean transformation, molecules converted into megawatts, fertilizer, petrochemicals, cleaner mobility, manufacturing, jobs and exports,” she said.
She maintained that African countries should determine the pace of their energy transitions in line with their development priorities and economic circumstances, rather than have those decisions imposed by external interests.
Verheijen also called for measures to monitor and reduce methane emissions and ensure that communities hosting gas projects benefit meaningfully from resource development.
She urged stakeholders to sustain investment and reform efforts, stressing that Nigeria’s gas resources must translate into lasting economic and social benefits.
“History will not ask what we possessed, it will ask what we did with it and whether we turned it into lasting prosperity for our people,” she said.
