President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed appreciation to Nigerians and Organized Labour for restraint, understanding and patience as his government tackles myriad of economic challenges facing the country.
Speaking at the virtual unveiling of the National Gas Expansion Programme and National Auto-gas Roll-out Initiative, at the State House Abuja, on Tuesday, the President assured that the Federal Government was working hard to ameliorate the situation.
He said: “Let me now express my deep appreciation to Nigerians for their patience, and Organized Labour for its maturity and patriotism as we collectively navigate these global economic and other challenges.’’
Buhari urged Nigerians to embrace the use of gas as an alternative to fuel, noting that: “It is no longer news that the vast Natural Gas resources, which Nigeria is endowed with has hitherto been used sub-optimally as a result of a dearth of gas processing facilities and infrastructural connectivity for effective and optimal domestic utilization.
“As I mentioned, with a proven reserve of about 203 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) and additional upside of 600 TCF ranking Nigeria as the 9th in the world currently, the need for domestic gas expansion and utilization is apparent.’’
President Buhari noted that the deregulation of the downstream sector had exposed many to price volatilities in the global market, urging attention to more affordable alternative for energy, especially with Nigeria’s heavy reserve.
A statement by his Senior Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, quoted him as saying: “Therefore, the roll-out of the National Gas Expansion Programme, Auto-gas initiative is coming at the right time, especially in light of global crude oil market fluctuations coupled with the full deregulation of the local PMS market.
“These developments have made it imperative to focus on gas as an alternative fuel to move Nigeria from the conventional dependence on white products for autos and prime-movers of industrial applications, to cleaner, more available, accessible and affordable energy source.
“The outcome will not only cushion the effect of the downstream deregulation that this government has to painfully implement, but also create new markets and enormous job opportunities for our people.’’
The President also posited that the auto-gas initiative will lead to increased domestic gas utilization and enrich the trajectory of national economic growth and development, adding: “I therefore encourage everyone to embrace gas in form of LPG, CNG and LNG as an alternative fuel for autos and other prime-movers.’’
Buhari directed the Minister of State Petroleum Resources to commence the process of hand over of mass transit buses to Organized Labour “as part of our government’s pledge to continue providing support that will ease the transportation challenges Nigerians are facing at this time.’’
In his remarks at the event, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva said the Ministry was focusing on development of skills, technology and manpower as well as growth in the utilisation of LPG, CNG and LNG.
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He explained that the National Gas Expansion programme which was initiated this year to boost the utilization of gas in the short and medium term “is expected to create two million jobs per annum, promote skills acquisition and enhance technology transfer in addition to growing the nation’s GDP.”
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kolo Kyari in his own comments, informed that from 2016 to 2019, the Federal Government had spent over three trillion Naira subsidizing the pump price of petroleum products particularly PMS, insisting that the subsidy regime did not benefit the masses that the President is passionate about.
According to the statement, he stated that the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic had made it impossible to continue with the onerous subsidy regime.
