Nigeria’s Minister of petroleum resources, gas, ekperikpe ekpo has acknowledged the impactful contribution of president bola tinubu to the development of the energy sector. The minister who spoke during a session at the opening of a 4-day International energy summit which officially opened in Nigeria’s federal capital on monday, said the unwavering support of the president through his commitment to economic reforms, energy security, and industrialisation continues to shape the direction of Nigeria’s gas-led development agenda.
While commending the organisers of the 2026 Nigeria International Energy summit for placing local content in the gas industry at the heart of conversation on Africa’s industrial future, said this focus was not only timely but necessary.
“The Summit’s theme, energy for peace and prosperity: securing our shared future resonates strongly with the gas sector” the minister noted.
“Natural gas is not only critical to energy security and a pragmatic transition to lower-carbon systems, it is fundamentally backbone of industrialisation and economic resilience” the minister further declared.
The minister in his speech who noted that africa, and particularly for Nigeria, gas represents the country’s most immediate, scalable and inclusive pathway to economic diversification, industrialisation growth, and shared prosperity however noted, that unlocking this potential requires more than abundant reserves, infrastructure development, or policy declarations, but rather a deliberate and strategic shift in how the country conceive, design, and implement local content across the gas value chain.
The minister said the gas sector must move towards developing robust indigenous capacity across engineering and project execution, gas processing, pipeline construction, operations and maintenance, fabrication, LNG and FLNG services, gas-based manufacturing, and downstream utilization.
The minister who declared that gas still remains the cornerstone of Nigeria’s energy transition plan and the broader industrial agenda said the gas value chain offers unparalleled opportunities for job creation, industrial clustering, and regional integration.
“These opportunities, however, can only be sustained if local companies possess the requisite skills, technology, financing, and governance standards to compete at scale” The minister said.
Ekperikpe Ekpo in his concluding remarks said government must continue to provide clear, stable, and coordinated policy signals that reward capability development and long-term investment.
“Industry operators must imbibe local capacity development into project design, not as an afterthought, but as a core value driver” As part of efforts to grow the gas sector in Nigeria, and elsewhere across the continent.
