Oil, gas: NEITI understudies energy transition implication, impacts on Nigeria

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3 years ago

The Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) as part of its efforts to shape public debate and government policy on energy transition, says it has commissioned a study to examine the actual implications and impacts of the move on Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and the economy.

This was even as it stressed the need for public dialogue, to help galvanize the needed national consensus on Nigeria’s pathways to the energy transition, and increase public awareness on the risks, challenges and opportunities that are associated with the energy transition.

Speaking at the National Dialogue on Energy Transition on Thursday in Abuja, the Executive Secretary, NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya, said the study will soon be published and made available to sector stakeholders.

According to him, the dialogue program is designed to provide a multi-stakeholder platform for state and non-state actors to discuss, debate, engage and make meaningful contributions to the ongoing discourse on the transition from dirty energy sources such as; oil, gas and coal to cleaner, renewable and sustainable energy sources.

He noted that: “The global energy transition agenda is already reshaping the oil and gas landscape. Just recently, during the last United Nations Climate Conference, COP26 in Glasgow, twenty-six (26) countries and some public finance institutions announced their commitment to ending finance for overseas fossil fuel energy projects by the end of the year 2022.

“The countries, which include the U.S., the EU, UK, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, and Canada, noted that the action was informed by the mission to align their international public support towards the clean energy transition and out of unabated fossil fuels that is consistent with the 1.5°C warming limit and goals of the Paris Agreement.

“Consequently, oil and gas companies are now channelling their investments into alternative energy sources.”

Ogbonnaya further stressed the need for Nigeria to mainstream transparency and accountability mechanisms into her energy transition agenda so as to avoid the pitfalls of her past and present energy sector.

He expressed belief that the country’s energy transition journey must be driven and strictly guided by credible information and data on the country’s energy security.

However, he warned that Nigeria must not be allowed to rush into a hasty energy transition without a thorough analysis of its comparative advantage and implications on resources, economy and livelihoods of her citizens.

To this end, he said the dialogue’s outcome is expected to feed into the country’s transition plan and its implementation.

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