… lauds OPTS At 60 for its Resilience
The vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has said for Nigeria to achieve net –zero emission in 2060 and Transit into Green Energy fully she would require over $400 million or $10 million annually.
He said the transition to Green Energy plan is designed to deal with three crises of Climatic Change
The vice President who was speaking at the 60th anniversary of the Oil Producing Trade Group OPTS of the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), held at Eko Hotel and Suits, Lagos, urged members of the group to up their game in the journey to Green Energy .“You must be involved more actively in the conversation.”
He said: “When Nigeria gets this fund, in addition to capital flow from both government and private sector, local and international, it would then be able to address majority of the issues relating to Climatic Change in the country. Nigeria has made a case that it should be on the G7 panel partnerships which will attract significant funding.”
The plan explained he said, is anchored on certain key objectives including lifting 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, bringing modern energy services to the full to the population, increasing economic growth and managing the expected long-term job loses oil and gas sector due to global decarbonisation.
“The plan also recognized the role natural gas must play in the short term and medium term to facilitate the establishment of base energy capacity and address the issue of Liquefied Petroleum Gas( LPG)
Gas is of course, critical to integrating a greater share of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix. Also natural gas, methane is an important chemical of its own, especially for the production of ammonia for fertilizers “
Narrating his conversations with the World Bank, United State Representative on Climatic Change and U.S Treasury Secretary, he stated that their discussions were based on how to ensure that Africa’s largest economy, and in fact, the biggest producer of fossil fuel could be assisted to fund the programme in a manner that it would work and make sense.
He advised that it is important that Nigeria participate fully in the global carbon finance market in addition to all its funding expectations.” We have to participate fully in all the financial resources available, the global finance market is one
He said the voluntary carbon market can play a significant role in achieving the objectives of this programme.
He said also given the escalating debt profile of many developing countries including Nigeria, made worse by Covid 19 and Russian invasions of Ukraine, he said, there should be debt for climate swap in the climate financing mix, whereby bilateral and multilateral debts are forgiven by creditors in exchange for a commitment by the debtors to use some outstanding debts for certain climate actions. So we can increase the fiscal space of climate-related investment and ease our debt pressure at the same time.
Also speaking as the chairman of the OPTS, Ricky Kennedy and chairman of Chevron Nigeria, said that despite the challenges confronting the industry, there are opportunities for improvement and growth. “That is what we see in OPTS. Working with the government at all levels, we have the responsibility and commitment as a group to get the right policies for our people and the country.”
The OPTS chairman who was represented by Osagie Okunbor, who is the vice chairman and also chairman of Shell’s Group of Companies in Nigeria, said the group which started with Shell, Chevron, and ExxonMobil in 1962 has evolved as a group and become partners with Nigeria in the development of a sector that is key to the nation’s economy.
The 29-member group has 21 indigenous producers who are homegrown
“Our strength is not solely numerical. OPTS is also a credible voice in Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas industry. We use this voice responsibly to strengthen the long-term health of the industry, thus the Nigerian economy. Our long-term success has resulted from our partnership and collaboration with companies from across the industry, the government, and other stakeholders to address critical and common industry issues”
Speaking about the impact the OPTS has made so far, the association stated: “ There is no doubt Nigeria has grown over time, and so has the oil and gas industry, which has consistently responded positively. OPTS members have demonstrated resilience and commitment in the face of economic, security environmental, and funding challenges. We have continued to make a significant contribution to Nigeria