About 62 per cent of citizens in Nigeria lacked access to electricity, while 90 per cent had no access to modern cooking fuels, the Federal Government has said.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who disclosed this during his address at the ongoing 2022 Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja, said the government was also working hard to minimise gas flaring in Nigeria.
He said, “Previous studies have presented Nigeria as an energy poor country. 62 per cent of Nigerians lack access to electricity and 90 per cent lack access to modern cooking fuels.
“Our government is working on many initiatives to tackle these challenges, one of which is the gas to power initiative aimed at minimising gas flaring and harnessing our gas resources to electricity to meet Nigeria’s electricity demands.”
The Nigerian power sector is currently confronted with many challenges, notable among them is the lack of gas required to fire-up gas-powered electricity generating plants.
This has contributed to abysmal supply of electricity to over 200 million residents of Nigeria, as power producers struggle to provide between 3,500 megawatts to 4,000MW of electricity on the national grid daily.
But Sylva told participants at the 2022 NOG on Tuesday that “it is very worthy to note that the Federal Government is providing a lot of enablers, which are needed to realise the full potential of the gas sector.”
He added, “This includes the development of critical infrastructures and systems such as the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) Gas Pipeline, Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline, and Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code.”
Sylva said the Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code provided streamlined operational and fiscal terms for third-party use of gas distribution and transmission infrastructures.
The minister noted that one of the most important provisions of the PIA for the gas sector was the establishment of the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, which shall have the power to make equity investments into relevant gas infrastructure projects.
This, he said, would consequently encourage private sector investment through participation and risk sharing.
