<\/p>\n
President Muhammadu Buhari has described Dangote Group, General Electric,
\namong others as strategic investors sustaining African economy and urged
\nthem not to relent.<\/p>\n
He called on other investors in Africa to consider the strategic nature of
\ninvestments made by the conglomerates and emulate them in order to enhance
\nthe value of the continent\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
The President made this remarks during the opening of proceedings at the
\nsixth African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE VI) which was
\norganized by the African Petroluem Producers Association (APPA) in the
\nFederal Capital.<\/p>\n
President Buhari who was represented at the occasion by his Vice,
\nProfessor Yemi Osinbajo, identified some of the companies adding the most
\nvalue to the Nigerian economy through their ingenious investment as GE,
\nDangote Group, Ladol shipyard, and Samsung, among others.<\/p>\n
According to the president, African countries should develop ingenious
\nways of promoting value addition and investment through sustainable
\npolicies in local content.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cA common approach to local content will ensure that the whole
\nof Africa benefits from economies of scale associated with our vast
\nresources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buhari noted that ongoing mega projects “like the General Electric Service
\nCentre for manufacturing rotating equipment in Calabar; the Ladol
\nindustrial free zone in Lagos \u2013 wholly indigenous, privately developed and
\nhosting the largest shipyard in West Africa; the 650,000 barrels per day
\n(bpd) Dangote indigenous refinery in Lagos and the Samsung FPSO
\nIntegration Yard in Lagos; to mention a few.\u201d were some of the most
\nstrategic to the struggling African economy.<\/p>\n
According to him, the Continent must recognize that the development of
\ndomestic refining capacity in oil and gas would remain critical to her
\nsustainable economic growth as reliance on importation would continue to
\nstunt her growth.<\/p>\n
The president also noted that Nigeria which recently announced a new
\ntimeline to end gas flaring at her oil fields was on course to see this
\nout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe use of gas in Africa\u2019s future energy mix has become imperative. If
\nAfrica must meet her future energy needs, the issue of the development of
\na robust gas infrastructure must be jointly addressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn processing Africa\u2019s hydrocarbon resource, environmental issues must be
\naccorded huge priority. Globally, over 150 billion cubic meters of
\nassociated gas is flared annually, of this figure, Africa flares an
\nestimated 40 billion cubic meters annually.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Nigeria, gas flaring amounts to about 23 billion cubic meters per
\nannum in over 100 flare sites constituting over 13 per cent of global gas
\nflaring,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
The president added that: \u201cNigeria is a member of the World Bank Global
\nGas Flaring Reduction (GCFR) Partnership and with the support of our
\nlegislature, we will sign the United Nations Agreement of \u201cZero Routine
\nFlaring by 2030\u201d although our national target is 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cI urge all APPA member countries to set realistic targets for gas
\nflare-out in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buhari also tasked African oil producing countries on developing local
\ncapacities to match Africa\u2019s desire to beneficially use her oil resources.<\/p>\n
Also speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, the Minister of State for
\nPetroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, stated that the conference offered
\nAfrican oil producers the opportunity to look deeper into their challenges
\nand come up with realistic solutions.<\/p>\n
Kachikwu noted that amongst the continent\u2019s producers\u2019 challenges in
\nmining oil, funding operations remains the most. He said in this regard:
\n\u201cIt is a new dawn for Africa and we are excited about the development. We
\nwill continue to work collaboratively because there is a lot happening in
\nthe space but also a lot of challenges that we have to overcome.<\/p>\n
He stated: \u201cThe major challenge is funding. Obviously skillsets are there
\nalready and technology is not an issue but funding remains key. “Policies
\nare also key because African governments have to develop policies that
\nwill enable backward integration into their own systems.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n