The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), has disclosed that Nigeria requires an annual injection of about $20 billion into the gas infrastructure to maximize its natural resources as the ninth-highest gas producer in the world and number one in Africa.
NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Ogbonnaya Orji, stated this on Monday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts.
The committee, chaired by Senator Ahmed Wadada, was receiving briefings on the findings of NEITI’s 16-cycle reports covering 78 firms in the extractive industries.
“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. 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 the construction of gas pipelines along and across, West African sub-region, and beyond which is a huge expenditure,” he said
The top states in solid minerals activities in 2021, according to NEITI, are Ogun, Kogi, Cross Rivers and the Federal Capital Territory.
The agency called for a review of the Solid Minerals Act to further ease up operations in the sector, just like the PIA was passed to address challenges in the oil and gas sector.
He further disclosed that $6.1 billion in outstanding revenue from royalties had yet to be collected by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
Orji again highlighted concerns about the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), stating that the absence of a clear strategy has allowed industry players to operate with minimal oversight.
He recalled that ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had set up a committee to develop an implementation framework for the PIA, but the committee failed to conclude its work before the new government took over in May 2023.
He said, “The PIA is now being implemented without a plan or strategy, we recommend that either a new committee is set up or the work of the previous one is revisited.”
Irked by the ES’ submission on uncollected revenue, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts announced plans to conduct a public hearing on revenue generation by agencies such as the NNPCL, FIRS, and NUPRC.
Senator Aliyu Wadada confirmed that the agencies would be summoned to explain their revenue operations.
“We are going to invite all of them; we will conduct a public hearing on the revenue operations,” he said.
By: Babajide Okeowo
