By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme
Dr. Oladunni Owo, National President of Women in Energy, Oil & Gas (WEOG) has said that developing a long-term industry roadmap will harness Nigeria’s energy oil, gas industry to reach its full potential for growth opportunities and economic prosperity.
Speaking at the Practical Nigerian Content 2021 in Yenegoa, Dr. Oladunni, called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to develop a Roadmap for the energy, oil, and gas industry.
She insisted that there should be a developmental plan for 10 – 20 years which will serve as a Roadmap to harness the country’s oil and gas resources.
As the Western world is transiting from fossil fuels to renewables, She said, Nigeria should look inward to design its narrative for Energy Transition rather than replicating what the Western countries are doing.
“We don’t have to copy everything from the Western world because it will not work in Nigeria.”
She continued, “We need to understand that crude oil isn’t just about energy. Crudeoil is about cloth, fertilizer, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, asphalt, roads. Most of our roads aren’t even developed. The bitumen that is extracted from crude oil can also be used on our roads.
“Countries like Japan have decided to focus on Hydrogen. While some other countries are using technologies to reduce carbon emissions.”
She stressed that Nigeria is the fifth-largest oil-producing country and 5th largest gas reserve in the world, but, it spends about 13 billion dollars yearly to subsidize imported PMS, AGO, DPK among others.
“It doesn’t make sense. We need to define our narrative to reduce the capital flight and begin to look inward as the money we are going out to look for, is here.”
“The first narrative if we want to win this battle, we need to look inward. What can we do with what we have?.
“The Dangote refinery is coming up and there is some number of modular refinery in Nigeria. These are areas we need to start looking at.
“Secondly, we also need to consider funding our energy, oil, and gas projects. If we research the products we can get from crude oil, we will discover that 85% is still on manufacturing products. This is the money that BOI should give to the manufacturing industry to develop our industries.
“We need to develop a roadmap and we will realize that the fund we are looking for outside, is here in Nigeria.
“Government and private sector should work closely to design Nigeria’s energy transition narrative. Let’s design a blueprint on how we can fully utilize our energy resources.
“We need solutions for our energy industry such as establishing an energy developmental bank”.
She added that Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs are working on establishing a financial institution to support their business activities in major industries.
According to her, “It is a coalition of 52 Women associations across Nigeria. We have sent the details to Aso Rock”.