…………Tackling energy poverty critical to global future fuel – Sylva
By Chibisi Ohakah, Abuja
Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has said that the African continent is bedeviled with energy poverty, which he said was a critical enabler to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17.
Sylva who spoke at the Fifth Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2022), held that the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change together provided an integrated pathway toward a more equitable and sustainable future.
“For countries such as Nigeria that is rich in natural resources, but still energy poor, the transition must not come at the expense of affordable and reliable energy for people, cities, and industry.
“On the contrary, it must be inclusive, equitable, and just, which means preserving the right to sustainable development and poverty eradication as enshrined in global treaties such as the Paris accord.
“It is evident that what makes the most sense from the point of view of balancing energy security with environmental sustainability is the use of gas as a transition fuel,” the minister said.
According to him, natural gas has the biggest capacity help African governments achieve set development objectives. He explained that it is for the same reason why Nigerian government embraced the gas resource and declared years 2021-2030 as Nigeria’s Decade of Gas.
He stressed that in showing commitment to the declaration, Nigeria has ensured that the Decade of Gas has become an integral part of the federal government’s oil and gas road map.
Sylva said his ministry had embarked on a critical pathway to ensure that the over 200 Trillion Standard Cubic Feet (TSCF) proven reserves of Natural gas in Nigeria was marshalled to engender domestic economic growth and development beyond 2030.
“Thus, we are driving to make natural gas our dominant primary energy source for use in the medium to Long term. Thankfully, our reliable partner, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) is not backing out. They are fully backing this initiative all the way,” the minister said.
The ministry, he pointed out, had inaugurated the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) to expand Nigeria’s domestic utilization, as part of the National Gas Policy, the National Gas Flare Commercialization Programme, as well as specific provisions in the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 that elevates liquefied petroleum gas as the fuel of choice compared to other competing fuels.
With this programme, he said it had established a 20 million Cylinder Injection Scheme; five-10 million of these were to be introduced in pilot states this year. “We have also established an LPG Energy Fund in the order of 50 million dollars in its first phase, in partnership with AFREXIMBANK.
LPG is set to be part of the destination as it is being used as a precursor for green hydrogen with zero emission. An eventual move to bio-LPG will allow countries like Nigeria to keep existing infrastructure in place, capitalize on already existing supply and distribution chains and reach net-zero at far lower cost,” he said.
By Chibisi Ohakah, Abuja
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