Nigeria’s presidential hopeful, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has raised the alarm over Nigeria’s diminishing gains from its oil and gas sector, warning that fossil fuels will be globally irrelevant within the next two decades.
In a statement on Wednesday, Hashim urged the Nigerian government to take swift and strategic action to extract maximum value from its petroleum resources before global energy markets shift irreversibly.
“Oil and gas will be irrelevant in 20 years” Hashim said. “We must maximize the benefit of our resources now, while they still matter in the global market”.
Hashim decried Nigeria’s lack of meaningful investment in the sector over the past two decades, stating that more than half of the nation’s current oil output still depends on infrastructure developed during the military era of General Ibrahim Babangida.
“Over 50% of our oil production is from investments made under the Babangida regime. What have our democratic leaders done in the last 20 years?”, he queried.
He attributed Nigeria’s underperformance in the sector to inefficiency, corruption, and poor management, arguing that the country has failed to convert its natural wealth into meaningful economic gains.
“It’s not just about having resources, it’s about how you manage them. And we’ve failed in that regard” he said.
Hashim called for urgent reforms in energy governance and a bold commitment to economic diversification, cautioning that Nigeria risks being left behind if it fails to adapt to the rapidly changing global energy landscape.
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