The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, Mele Kyari, has lamented that Nigeria is not promoted to the world in a manner that will encourage investors.
He lamented that some people seem to be paid to promote the country in a manner that will not encourage investors to come to the country, describing it as a huge cultural challenge.
Kyari who was a guest lecturer at the Faculty of Science 2024 lecture of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, Wednesday, spoke on “Energy security, sustainability and profitability in Nigeria: Advances, challenges and opportunity.”
He also lamented that 75 percent of Nigerians don’t have access to clean cooking fuel while about 50 percent don’t have access to electricity.
Kyari noted that a semblance of sanity is returning to Nigeria, saying “There must be total alignment of all of us.”
He said, “About 75 percent of the country doesn’t have access to clean cooking fuel. People depend on charcoal, pulling down the trees and burning them, because they don’t have a choice. About 50 percent don’t have access to electricity in Nigeria. Until we close this gap, we can’t talk about sustainability.
“The country is now focusing on gas to power because the world has accepted gas. If there are countries that enjoy uninterrupted electricity, and we say we enjoy eighteen hours of supply, our effort as a country is to close the disparity in the availability of electricity.
“We do not promote our country in a manner that will encourage investors. It is a huge cultural challenge. The reality is that people are paid to do this,” Kyari said.
He also blames the lack of access to resources for the rising cases of criminalities, saying that “when people don’t have access to resources, they will resort to criminalities as we have in Nigeria today.”
The Dean, Faculty of Science, OAU, Prof Olufemi Adesina, said the faculty, through the Centre of Excellence for Combined Energy Smart Innovations and Technologies (CoE-CESIT), seeks to attract and develop expertise in emerging areas of energy science and technology research relevant to addressing both industry and educational needs.
He said the faculty is poised to be part of a national digitization project to increase hydrocarbon reserves and boost production and also to develop a waste-heat recovery system as part of decarbonizing strategies for the oil and gas industry.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adebayo Bamire, stated that the CoE-CESIT intends to be on the leading edge of new smart petroleum and energy systems technology and offer a wide array of resources to the country, including training opportunities, cutting-edge research, commercialization, development-based research, through industrial partnership.
