Nasarawa State Governor Engr. Abdullahi Sule, says for Nigeria to realize its full potential it should discover more of its gas reserves and explore them.
He added that the country’s future is in its abundant gas reserve, hence the Federal Government should discover and explore more oil and gas reserves, especially in the frontier basins
Sule who said this when he hosted the chairman of Upstream Regulatory Commission (URC), Dr. Isa Moddibo, at the Government House, Lafia, added that Nigeria’s future is in gas and not oil, even though it has 40bn barrels of oil in reserve.
“Nigeria is mostly not seen as an oil country like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Kuwait, but as a gas country that has oil,” he said,
“In the 1970s, Bolivia was like Nigeria, with investors going there in search of oil but only to find gas.
“However, in the 1990s, Brazil’s economy changed for the better and the country began to look for gas to feed its industries. There was no gas in Brazil. Now, gas in Bolivia has become gold.”
Sule said that like Bolivia, Nigeria must get its act right, adding that by the time countries like Ghana, Cameroun, Chad, and others in West Africa become industrialized, they will turn to Nigeria for the supply of gas.
“If Nigeria is smart, it will make a discovery in Nasarawa, Borno, Sokoto, Benin, Anambra basins. These discoveries will be the country’s security…these are the fields the country will protect in case of insecurity.”
Earlier, Moddibo, said the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) came to be in
order to ensure an environment for transparency and accountability in
the management of the oil and gas sector of the country.
He disclosed that there are oil and gas in commercial quantities in Nasarawa and Bauchi state, adding that Nigeria stands the chance to develop her gas potentials to become Africa’s gas hub in no distant
future.
