President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday observed that if Nigeria had followed its own programme for exploiting its gas reserves, the country would have been earning more money from the product than from petroleum now.
He made the declaration when he hosted Special Envoy of President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, at State House, Abuja.
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According to a statement issued by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President(Media and Publicity, the Special Envoy and Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, Gabriel Mbega Obiang Lima, had brought a message from his President on the forthcoming meeting of Heads of State of gas exporting nations, which Equatorial Guinea would be hosting.
The statement quoted Buhari as saying: “We share a lot of things in common with Equatorial Guinea. These include geographical neighbourliness and neighbourliness in terms of resources. Nigeria is more of a gas-producing, rather than an oil-producing country. That fact had long been established. If we had followed our own plans, laid out in the 1970s, for the gas sector, we should have had 12 trains by early 1980s, instead of being on just six trains now.”
The Special Envoy thanked Nigeria for the support it gave Equatorial Guinea to host the first summit of gas exporting countries in the world, taking place on African soil.