President Muhammadu Buhari has described Dangote Group, General Electric,
among others as strategic investors sustaining African economy and urged
them not to relent.
He called on other investors in Africa to consider the strategic nature of
investments made by the conglomerates and emulate them in order to enhance
the value of the continent’s economy.
The President made this remarks during the opening of proceedings at the
sixth African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE VI) which was
organized by the African Petroluem Producers Association (APPA) in the
Federal Capital.
President Buhari who was represented at the occasion by his Vice,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, identified some of the companies adding the most
value to the Nigerian economy through their ingenious investment as GE,
Dangote Group, Ladol shipyard, and Samsung, among others.
According to the president, African countries should develop ingenious
ways of promoting value addition and investment through sustainable
policies in local content.
He added: “A common approach to local content will ensure that the whole
of Africa benefits from economies of scale associated with our vast
resources.”
Buhari noted that ongoing mega projects “like the General Electric Service
Centre for manufacturing rotating equipment in Calabar; the Ladol
industrial free zone in Lagos – wholly indigenous, privately developed and
hosting the largest shipyard in West Africa; the 650,000 barrels per day
(bpd) Dangote indigenous refinery in Lagos and the Samsung FPSO
Integration Yard in Lagos; to mention a few.” were some of the most
strategic to the struggling African economy.
According to him, the Continent must recognize that the development of
domestic refining capacity in oil and gas would remain critical to her
sustainable economic growth as reliance on importation would continue to
stunt her growth.
The president also noted that Nigeria which recently announced a new
timeline to end gas flaring at her oil fields was on course to see this
out.
“The use of gas in Africa’s future energy mix has become imperative. If
Africa must meet her future energy needs, the issue of the development of
a robust gas infrastructure must be jointly addressed.
“In processing Africa’s hydrocarbon resource, environmental issues must be
accorded huge priority. Globally, over 150 billion cubic meters of
associated gas is flared annually, of this figure, Africa flares an
estimated 40 billion cubic meters annually.
“In Nigeria, gas flaring amounts to about 23 billion cubic meters per
annum in over 100 flare sites constituting over 13 per cent of global gas
flaring,” he explained.
The president added that: “Nigeria is a member of the World Bank Global
Gas Flaring Reduction (GCFR) Partnership and with the support of our
legislature, we will sign the United Nations Agreement of “Zero Routine
Flaring by 2030” although our national target is 2020.
“I urge all APPA member countries to set realistic targets for gas
flare-out in the region.”
Buhari also tasked African oil producing countries on developing local
capacities to match Africa’s desire to beneficially use her oil resources.
Also speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, the Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, stated that the conference offered
African oil producers the opportunity to look deeper into their challenges
and come up with realistic solutions.
Kachikwu noted that amongst the continent’s producers’ challenges in
mining oil, funding operations remains the most. He said in this regard:
“It is a new dawn for Africa and we are excited about the development. We
will continue to work collaboratively because there is a lot happening in
the space but also a lot of challenges that we have to overcome.
He stated: “The major challenge is funding. Obviously skillsets are there
already and technology is not an issue but funding remains key. “Policies
are also key because African governments have to develop policies that
will enable backward integration into their own systems.”