Nigeria Seeks Global Support For African Atlantic Gas Pipeline Project

The Nigerian government has called for collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to foster economic development and growth in the country and on the African continent.

The Vice President, Kashim Shettima, particularly, sought support with WEF on the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline (AAGP) in the bid to connect Nigeria to Morocco and other African countries as well as the recharging of Lake Chad to tackle the global food security crisis and other existential threats.

Naijaonpoint reports that Senator Shettima, stated this on Thursday during a bilateral meeting with the President of WEF, Mr. Børge Brende, on the sidelines of the ongoing annual meeting of WEF in Davos, Switzerland.

On the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline, Shettima said Nigeria would be in a vantage position to take advantage of the WEF platform to develop the gas project, pointing out that this would address the geopolitical challenges in Europe and the growing demand for energy due to artificial intelligence, data mining and storage.

“We seek your collaboration in fundamental areas. One is on the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline (AAGP) which will connect Nigeria to Morocco and other African countries. The pipeline will transport natural gas from Nigeria to North Africa and Europe and is expected to improve energy security and economic growth in the region.

“With the geopolitical challenges in Europe from Russian gas problems and the rising demand for energy because of artificial intelligence, data mining and storage, we will be in a vantage position to take advantage of this opportunity.

“A lot of littoral states in West Africa who have discovered gas are more than willing to plug into the system and feed their gas to other end users. We are also exploring the area of undersea passage of the pipelines for it to be a win-win for everyone. We want to use the WEF platform,” he said.

The Vice President told the WEF President that while Nigeria was blessed with gas, the nation was exploring every option to maximize available opportunities for economic growth and create wealth for its growing population.

“Nigeria is a gas nation than an oil nation. Because of our population, we either take care of the young men and women, (our average is 16.9), or they take care of us in the next ten or twenty years down the line. This is why we are in a hurry to develop in our enlightened self-interest. Gas provides us with the utmost opportunity to generate wealth for our people,” he noted.

Recharging Lake Chad

On recharging Lake Chad, he explained that apart from addressing the food security crisis, it would also put Nigeria in a vantage position to generate clean energy and combat terrorism.

“There is an incestuous relationship between economy and ecology in the Sahelian region. The challenges of Boko Haram and ISWAP might not be disconnected from the realities of existential threats we are facing.

“The Lake Chad hitherto was 25,000 sq. km but it has shrunk to 2,000 sq. km. There is the issue of the recharging of the Lake Chad from the Congo River basin which is the second largest river basin in the world, and the water is flowing into the Atlantic. We want to use your platform to recharge the Lake Chad.

“This will help us to successfully generate clean energy, a significant amount of hydropower annually, and there will be a canal of 2400 kilometres that will change the agricultural landscape of that sub-region. This will address the food security crisis that the world is facing,” he stated.

Tinubu’s Policies Put Nigeria on Sustained Growth

The Vice President stressed that ongoing reforms being undertaken by the administration of President Bola Tinubu have returned Nigeria to the part of sustained economic growth.

“Most importantly, we are talking about the present. My leader and my boss, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is someone who also grew up in the finance ecosystem. He was a financial controller for ExxonMobil; he was a transformative leader in Lagos State and in Nigeria, he is the most disruptive leader we have had in half a century.

“From the first week in office, he did the right thing – from the subsidy removal to the alignment of the exchange rates, tax reforms, and so many ongoing reform efforts. Our economy has turned the corner, we have crossed the Rubicon and we’re now on the path to sustained economic growth,” he stated.

The Vice President invited the WEF President to Nigeria to meet with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while also intimating him of Nigeria’s readiness to host the WEF Africa.

Underscoring why fostering collaboration with WEF is germane to the growth of Africa, Shettima noted that apart from being the biggest economy in the continent, Nigeria remains the most populous nation in Africa, with 250 million people.

“And by 2050, we will be the third most populous nation on earth, surpassing the United States. By the end of the century, Nigeria will be the most populous nation on earth,” he added.