Ghana’s Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, asserted that Nigeria needed to assume her place in the forefront of leading and promoting trade in Africa.
Speaking at Nigeria International Energy Summit in Abuja, prempeh stated that Nigeria is well positioned to champion inter-africa trade with its large population and trading abilities.
In order for Africa to become inventive, he said, the continent’s resources and energy must be generated and utilized.
He emphasized that the region would be assisted in overcoming finance obstacles for oil and gas projects by the proposed Africa Energy Bank.
“Africa is home to some of the largest gas reserves. Nigeria has about 280 trillion cubic feet of gas. Others also are significant reserves. Mozambique, Angola, Senegal, Cameroon.
“But we in Ghana are also operating our exploratory and developing for more production of oil and gas in a sustainable way.
“In the next decade, we can expect to see continued investment in natural gas infrastructure such as pipelines, liquefied natural gas terminals, power plants, and petrochemical establishments on the continent, which presents a unique opportunity for Africa to take charge of its own destiny. We in Africa should be happy about (Nigeria’s) decade of gas”, he stated.
He noted that the “whole of West Africa is hungry for security and energy. And Nigeria stands at the threshold of supplying that to the West African pipeline.
“The execution of the Niger-Morocco pipeline will also stimulate the tax payment of gas and expand the gas market of the continent, especially countries along the pipeline and within Nigeria itself.
“While the need for green energy is often regarded as a competitor for natural gas, on the contrary, the availability of cheap power from natural gas will further enhance the judicious exploitation of our green energy potential.
“This continent is blessed with huge deposits of lithium, cobalt, platinum, iron ore, magnesium and silica, which are all now regarded as green minerals and are already in high demand”.
Prempeh clarified that since Nigeria has “trade engraved in their system,” the country has nothing to fear from spearheading inter-African trade. The most adept traders in Africa are Nigerians. To encourage trade on the continent, we need to leverage it, he continued.
