Antaih Violin, the Community Relations Officer, Nigeria Gas Processing and Transportation Company, said Nigeria’s gas deposit would last for 20 generations.
Violin said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday on the sidelines of ongoing 10th Nigerian Gas Association International Conference and Exhibition.
He described Nigeria as a gas nation, saying that the country had gas in abundance.
He said that the country had had continued to sell gas to Ghana and other neighbouring countries, adding that the transaction had been sustained because Nigeria had enough gas.
Violin said: “In a lay man’s term, the NNPC subsidiary has enough gas for use domestically and to sell. There is abundant gas and shortage is not a problem.
“Nigeria is a gas nation, it has gas in abundance. If we can conveniently give gas to Ghana and other neighbouring countries, imagine what we have in our reserves.
“Shortage is not a problem for the NGPTC. We have more than 1.85 trillion cubic feet and that is enough to last 20 generations.
“So, there is no question of gas running out. It’s a question of what will we do with it? With this conference I am optimistic that we will have a policy that will restructure the gas sector.”
Violin explained that with the unbundling of the gas sector by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation into NGPTC and the Nigeria Gas Marketing Company Limited, more revenue would flow into the nation’s coffers.
He said that the three-day conference, which would end on Wednesday, was necessary, not just as another talk shop, but would showcase Nigeria’s gas viability.
Violin said that the draft of a new gas policy would emerge from the conference.
According to him, the proposed policy will checkmate administrative processes, cut bureaucratic bottlenecks so that the nation can begin to make headway in other sectors like power.
He said: “It will regulate and put in place frameworks that will block leakages and re-position the sector to do business in line with World’s best practices.
“If we begin to harness this gift of ours well, it will project us as a serious business partner among the comity of gas nations.”
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