The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, on
Monday said Nigeria’s gas sector has the potential to create millions of
jobs, bring about industrialisation as well as generate more revenue for
the government.
For these reasons, Gbajabiamila said, the country must do all it could
to correct all anomalies in the sector.
Declaring open a public hearing on the ‘Inclusion of Gas Terms in
Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) organized by the Joint House
Committee on Gas Resources, Petroleum Resources (upstream) and Petroleum
Resources (downstream) on Tuesday at the National Assembly, the Speaker
said he believed the panel would do justice to the matter.
“For too long, Nigeria’s natural gas resources have existed almost as an
afterthought both as a matter of policymaking and as a focus of
investment and exploration. Given the potential of natural gas for
industrialisation, job creation and revenue generation for the
government, this is a significant error that ought now to be corrected
with all urgency.
“It falls to this Joint Committee of the House of Representatives to
articulate the way forward and to do so, taking into account the
concerns of all the stakeholders and the expectations of the Nigerian
people.
“The Public Hearing we have gathered for today is an important part of
the Joint Committee’s assignment. It is also an opportunity for
stakeholders from across the oil and gas sector and the country to
present information, and contribute ideas that will help the Joint
Committee arrive at the proper conclusions and propose effective
solutions.
“This Public Hearing ought to have happened and the Joint Committee’s
assignment should have been completed long before now. However, we have
had to adjust plans and make modifications to accommodate the new
realities imposed due to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Nonetheless I am certain that the assignment will shortly be completed,
and a report presented to the House for consideration and adoption,” he
said.
Earlier in an opening remark, the lead chairman of the Joint Committee,
Rep. Nicholas Mutu, who chairs the Committee on Gas Resources, said the
public hearing was an opportunity to offer practical suggestions for a
structured bouquet of incentives that would attract investors to the
sector and provide access to finance and profit-sharing.
He said: “Nigeria’s enormous gas reserves demand a robust public policy
to drive gas development and boost the Nigerian economy, create jobs,
stimulate incomes for gas value-chain resources and earn revenue for the
government.”
On his part, one of the co-chairmen of the Joint Committee, Rep.
Abdullahi Mahmud Gaya, who heads the Committee on Petroleum
(downstream), thanked the Speaker for attending the event and promised
that the panel would do a diligent job.