FG seeks collaboration to boost energy abundance, says Olu Verheijen

Olu Verheijen, special adviser to the president on energy, has said the federal government is seeking collaboration with commercial and industrial sectors to enable energy abundance for Nigerians.

She disclosed this at the 2024 energy group event hosted by the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) on Thursday. The event was themed ‘Securing Nigeria’s Energy Future: The Way Forward’.

“We want to seek energy abundance for Nigerians and we are prioritising the productive use of power, and gas and also to collaborate with commercial and industrial sectors to improve energy infrastructure essential for economic development,” Verheijen said.

“As a nation, we are an energy giant if we look at the resources, however, energy poverty and insecurity have become a major challenge to our ability to grow our economy and diversify that,” she added.

While citing what the government has done, she noted, “We have made sure we clarify the roles of the regulators to know who does what and that has attracted investment in the upstream sector.

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“The fiscal incentives were particularly focused on because as the energy transition is accelerating we need to make sure that the opportunity in gas which is its multiplier effect in the economy can be monetised to drive the economy.

“We made sure that we can attract investment and we have been able to attract $550 million in investment as a direct result of those actions.

“We engaged service providers recently to see how we can improve the competitive tension to make sure that more service providers are in this and drive down the cost of doing business,” she said.

The founding MD of Latimer Energy also noted that Nigeria’s energy portfolio needs to be diversified.

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“We need to diversify to more LPG, more compressed natural gas and this is not only for transportation but for clean cooking. We have issued fiscal incentives, tax waivers, and VAT waivers, and since the end of last year, we have been able to attract over $500 million in investment in midstream, downstream value chains.

“On the power side, we need to have a commercially viable value chain so we have made sure that the tariffs that people pay are what they can pay, cost-reflective tariffs, targeted subsidies to protect the poor and valuable,” she said.

Tony Attah, CEO of Renaissance said securing energy in Nigeria for the oil and gas sector is typically an energy transition, infrastructure, social security, and funding is a major challenge for the sector.

“In Africa, the situation is not different because Africa is relying on Nigeria to get it right and so far Nigeria has been struggling,” he said.

“Nigeria is resource-rich and energy-poor,” Attah stated while adding that there is no source of energy that is not available in Nigeria.

Ray Atelly, president and chairman of the council of NBCC said the chamber was set up in 1997 and has created a platform used to push issues such as the ‘Securing Nigeria’s Energy Future’ that is important to corporate Nigerians.

“This is a platform where we give the government an alternative viewpoint so that as they make policies, they take corrective steps,” he stated.