By Faridat Salifu
Stakeholders in the gas industry have called on the Federal Government to implement Nigeria’s National Gas Plan to achieve the nation’s net-zero emissions target by 2060.
The call was made at a one-day capacity development workshop for media and civil society organizations (CSOs) held recently in Abuja.
The Executive Director of the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), Faith Nwafishi, highlighted the critical role of gas as a transition fuel in Nigeria’s journey towards net-zero emissions.
The workshop, organized by CTA in collaboration with the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), was themed “Right-Sizing Nigeria’s National Gas Plans for Non-Power Uses.”
Nwadishi highlighted the ambitious targets set by Nigeria and stressed the importance of moving from planning to implementation.
“We have an Energy Transition Plan and the Climate Change Act, but Nigeria has historically struggled with implementation despite having good plans,” she noted.
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She underscored the need to build public capacity and understanding of the issues to ensure accountability in policy implementation.
“2060 is still a long way off, but without proper planning, we risk continuously shifting the goalpost for ending gas flaring in the country,” Nwadishi said.
She advocated for enhancing the public’s understanding of gas utilization plans to foster robust advocacy and informed public discourse. “This will help steer Nigeria’s gas strategies towards more sustainable and appropriately scaled uses.”
A senior programme officer at NRGI Nigeria, Tengi George lkolii, echoed Nwadishi’s view, urging the government to align its Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) ambitions with realistic capacities for gas expansion.
“The government proposes to ramp up gas production, utilization, and export to support industrialization, boost domestic energy supply, and enhance economic activity,” George-Ikoli stated.
He emphasized that these efforts are crucial for improving the lives of the half of Nigeria’s population living in extreme poverty.
The workshop concluded with a call for the Federal Government to take decisive steps towards implementing the National Gas Plan, thereby ensuring that Nigeria’s gas strategies are both sustainable and effectively scaled to meet the country’s long-term energy and environmental goals.
