By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Federal Government has declared 2021 to 2030 ‘Decade of Gas’ as the National Gas Expansion Programme records its one year of launch.
The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who spoke in Owerri at the opening ceremony of the NGEP consultative forum on Monday said that the programme would lift no fewer than one hundred million Nigerians out of poverty.
Sylva said that the Federal Government was committed to giving jobs to millions of young Nigerians.
He said, “Counting the impacts of the programme on our socioeconomic space within the first year of its launching, the administration further stepped up its commitment to industrialising Nigeria through gas utilisation by declaring year 2021 to 2030 ‘Decade of Gas’.
“With proven gas reserves of over 200 million cubic feet and natural gas presents an opportunity for the nation to use gas as the catalyst for its socio economic renaissance.”
The minister lauded the Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, whom he said had played a major role in projecting the NGEP.
Sylva expressed hope that the programme would have positive effect on the economy of the country.
Uzodimma represented by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Paul Emeziem, said the state would continue to partner the Federal Government in its efforts to provide more jobs to the teeming youths of the country.
