Tinubu pledges FG’s Commitment to Leverage Gas to Boost Economy
President Bola Tinubu on Friday pledged his administration’s commitment to leverage gas to develop Nigeria’s struggling economy.
The president, who stated this at a meeting with the board and management of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, Abuja, said plans were up to leverage domestic utilisation, processing and international export of Nigeria’s gas resources as a transition fuel to catalyse the fundamental restructuring of the nation’s economy for expansive growth during his tenure.
President Tinubu also affirmed that all impediments to the entrepreneurial progress and development of Nigeria’s industrious citizens, as well as any further impediments to business practice in the oil and gas sector, specifically, will be swiftly removed to create more opportunities for Nigerian companies and international partners to thrive on the natural and human resource bestowed on the nation.
The president told the NLNG delegation led by Edmund Daukuru, the NLNG board chairman, who is also the natural ruler of Nembe Kingdom and the NLNG managing director, Philip Mshelbila that “It is now a collaborative effort in thinking and doing. We will work with all partners to redefine the future of our economy.”
President Tinubu highlighted the position of natural gas as Nigeria’s gateway to sustainable development and prosperity, promising to build a partnership with investors that will guarantee job opportunities and skill development for Nigerian youths in the overriding best interest of the oil and gas producing environments.
The President also said, it is all about growing the pie so that Nigerians will benefit, adding that skill development will help the many restive youths who need to be carried along and employed as their lives need to be more predictable and prosperous.
President Tinubu acknowledged the difficulties faced by the NLNG, particularly on security, assuring that stakeholder, including the host communities and security agencies, will play more central roles in the resolution of troublesome points of contention for more peaceful and profitable operations on a sustainable basis.
On his part, the chairman of the board, Edmund Daukuru, informed the president that the frustrations faced by non-government stakeholders in operations were being collectively shared with the government, adding that the communities should play a greater role in ameliorating the situation, while that issues of trust between investors and host communities must be properly handled with an emphasis on end-to-end process inclusivity.
NLNG managing director, Philip Mshelbila and the delegation congratulated the president for winning the 2023 Presidential elections and setting the tone early and aggressively pursuing it with bold and correct, long-term reforms which will transform the Nigerian economy within a short period of time.
He pledged that the company had provided a new standard of efficiency in Nigerian public and private sector partnership that is worthy of emulation.
Mshelbila cited the contribution of more than $1bn to new tax revenue generation in 2022, which was achieved despite NLNG operating significantly below capacity, due to regional insecurity, as well as the changing industry tax modifications introduced by successive Finance Act amendments, adding that they commended the president’s recent action to suspend the impediment-inducing provisions in recent weeks.
