The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative announced on Monday that Nigeria, ranked as the ninth largest gas producer globally and the top producer in Africa, would need to invest $20 billion annually into its gas infrastructure.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, made this disclosure in the 2021–2023 report on Oil, Gas, and Solid Minerals, which he presented to the Senate Public Accounts Committee chaired by Senator Aliyu Ahmed.
Orji said, “Based on NEITI’s findings , Nigeria needs to invest at least $20 billion per year into gas infrastructure for a period of ten years. The only thing that Qatar Energy does is gas processing through required infrastructure.
” So, in Nigeria, what we need is to invest in gas infrastructure to evacuate gas. And our study shows that we need an initial investment of $20 billion annually for 10 years to be able to generate the kind of gas infrastructure required to provide gas for the whole of Africa and beyond.
“This of course , will require construction of gas pipelines along and across,West African sub-region, and beyond which is a huge expenditure.”
The Senate panel also expressed dissatisfaction, declaring that the less than 1 per cent contribution of proceeds from solid minerals to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product annually was unacceptable.
The Senate panel questioned Dr. Orji on what actions NEITI would take regarding the alleged $8.5 billion that was not remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission in 2023.
The NEITI boss, Dr. Orji, revealed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was already investigating the agencies involved in the alleged $8.5 billion non-remittance.
He also pointed out that the solid minerals sector was not generating the expected revenue, with its yearly contribution to GDP remaining below 1 percent.
However, the chairman and members of the committee expressed dissatisfaction with this explanation, stating that NEITI’s report on solid minerals did not accurately reflect the current state of the sector.
The committee members expressed concern over the NEITI report’s limited scope, questioning why only Ogun, Osun, Kogi, Edo, Ebonyi, Rivers, Cross River states, and the Federal Capital Territory were mentioned.
They pointed out that states like Nasarawa, Zamfara, Kebbi, Plateau, Bauchi, and others were excluded, raising doubts about the report’s comprehensiveness and accuracy in reflecting the full extent of the solid minerals sector.