The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Amb. Gabriel Aduda, says funding and technology are key to sustainable energy transition in the country.
Aduda said this at the ongoing 2023 Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week conference in Abuja.
According to him, as the country transits to the use of gas, it is important to raise funds for the acquisition of appropriate technology to drive its energy transition.
He said :“ So if gas is our transition fuel, we should receive every encouragement to be able to move with that.
“Integrated Petroleum Geoscience (IPG) is taking over, but what are we doing to draw funds to be able to build up the technology we require to run with it?.
“While IPGs are acquiring assets, they should build capacities that will take over, develop and continue to keep them producing.
“To acquire technology takes a lot of money and nobody is going to hand over technology to you for free.”
The permanent secretary decried the bias African countries face in accessing funds in the international market.
He said: “How fair then is it that when we talk about debt to GDP ratio and we see countries in Europe where their debt to GDP ratio is over 200 per cent and you come back to Africa, where you see anywhere between 50 and 80per cent.
“Yet those countries in Europe are able to draw from international financial institutions at one to two per cent; because you are an African country you are a risk nation, and you drove from nine per cent. How fair is that?.”
Aduda therefore said if the world was really serious about energy transition, it was important to fund the process, invest in infrastructure and the entire value chain.
The permanent secretary further said acquisitions and transfers and cooperation was also important factors for sustainable energy transition, as such Africa and Nigeria must define its terms when collaborating.
“We are blessed with resources, but you need to guard these resources jealously, and use the same resources to participate in the global stage.
“Cooperation is a must, no man can go it alone. We are talking about the AKK, we are talking about the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline and recently we started another discussion.
“So we will look at what pays us best and fastest and puts money in our pockets as that is necessary to be able to even fund a transition agenda itself,” he said.
Aduda commended the organisers and charged the participants to build the capacity of those who will sustain and develop the sector.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria
