Abuja — The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, says he has inaugurates a three-tier committee to help develop a roadmap for the implementation of gas powered economy in the county.
Sylva disclosed this at the ongoing 4th Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja on Thursday.
The theme of the conference is ” From Crisis to Opportunities, new approach to future of hydrocarbon”
The minister said that the committees include committee of sponsors, a steering committee and a working team.
”From the feedback I got, stakeholders and the Nigerian people are fully in support of the government’s natural gas agenda and the quest to use the resources to turn country around.
” We cannot afford any delay and we need to hit the iron while it is red hot.
” I want to believe that the roadmap and action plan to deliver on the expectations of a gas powered economy by 2030 developed from the earlier meeting is part of the agenda of the session.
“In this regard, on June 2nd, I inaugurated the three tier structures to develop this roadmap comprising of a committee of sponsors, a. steering committee and a Working team.
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“The committee of sponsors is to be chaired by the Minister of State for Petroleum, the Group Managing of the NNPC, Chairman of Oil Producting Trade (OPTS), Managing Director of the NLNG, Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and a representative of Minister of Finance as a member,” he said.
According to him, a consultant will provide programme and project management services across the three tiers.
He added that the final roadmap would be a combination of all efforts and previous work done by the ministry, NNPC, DPR, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), NIPS among others and would be coordinated by the consultant into one consolidated report.
”I want to see a holistic roadmap and action plan that provides the appropriate leverage for the way forward in delivering the decade of gas vision.
“The critical milestone that must be achieved should be clearly stated with short to medium and long term strategies. There should be defined and detailed activities, actions, timelines and shared responsibilities,” he added.
He assured that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources was ready to play its part and follow its shared responsibility through.
He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari had demonstrated enough zeal to leave no doubt that his vision of using the country’s vast natural gas resources to lift Nigeria into the league of top industrialised nations in the next decade is not a matter of rhetoric.
“I do not expect everything in this journey to be a smooth sail, however, with the kind of determination I have seen so far demonstrated by his administration on natural gas related issues, there is no challenge along the way that will be too difficult to surmount,” he added.
