President Muhammadu Buhari has called on other investors and countries in Africa to consider the strategic nature of investments made by Dangote Group and General Electric (GE), among others, and emulate them in order to enhance the value of the continent’s economy.
Buhari made the statement when he opened proceedings on Monday at the sixth African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE VI) held in Abuja by the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA).
The president who was represented at the event by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), identified some of the companies adding the most value to the Nigerian economy through their ingenious investment as GE, Dangote Group, Ladol Shipyard and Samsung.
According to the president, African countries should develop ingenious ways of promoting value addition and investments through sustainable policies in local content.
He added: “A common approach to local content will ensure that the whole of Africa benefits from economies of scale associated with our vast resources.”
Buhari noted that ongoing mega projects like the General Electric service centre for manufacturing rotating equipment in Calabar; the Ladol industrial free zone in Lagos – a wholly indigenous, privately developed and hosting the largest shipyard in West Africa; the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) Dangote Refinery in Lagos; and the Samsung FPSO integration yard in Lagos, are some of the most strategic investment to an emancipated African economy.
He stressed that the continent must recognise that the development of domestic refining capacity in the oil and gas sector would remain critical to sustainable economic growth.
The president also noted that Nigeria, which recently announced a new timeline to end gas flaring at her oil fields, was on course to see this out.
“The use of gas in Africa’s future energy mix has become imperative. If Africa must meet her future energy needs, the issue of the development of a robust gas infrastructure must be jointly addressed.
“In processing Africa’s hydrocarbon resources, environmental issues must be accorded huge priority.
“Globally, over 150 billion cubic metres of associated gas is flared annually. Of this figure, Africa flares an estimated 40 billion cubic metres annually.
“In Nigeria, gas flaring amounts to about 23 billion cubic metres per annum in over 100 flare sites constituting over 13 per cent of global gas flaring,” he said.
The president added that “Nigeria is a member of the World Bank Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GCFR) partnership and with the support of our legislature, we will sign the United Nations Agreement on Zero Routine Flaring by 2030, although our national target is 2020”.
“I urge all APPA member countries to set realistic targets for gas flare-out in the region,” he added.
Buhari also tasked African oil producing countries on developing local capacities to match Africa’s desire to beneficially use her oil resources.
Also speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, stated that the conference offered African oil producers, the opportunity to look deeper into their challenges and come up with realistic solutions.
Kachikwu noted that some of the biggest challenges encountered by producers in the oil and gas sector on the continent included funding.
“We will continue to work collaboratively because there is a lot happening in that space but also a lot of challenges that we have to overcome. The major challenge is funding.
“Obviously, the skillsets are there already and technology is not an issue but funding remains key.
“Policies are also key because African governments have to develop policies that will enable backward integration into their own systems,” he said.
-Thisday
