Vice-President Kashim Shettima has sought partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline (AAGP) to connect Nigeria to Morocco and other African countries.
Shettima spoke during a bilateral meeting with President of WEF, Mr Børge Brende, on the sidelines of the ongoing annual meeting of WEF in Davos, Switzerland.
He noted that connecting the pipeline would transport natural gas from Nigeria to North Africa and Europe as well as improve energy security and economic growth in the region.
The vice-president also emphasised the need for the recharging of Lake Chad to tackle the global food security crisis and other existential threats.
He also called for collaboration with WEF to foster economic development and growth in the country and on the continent.
Shettima said Nigeria would be in a vantage position to take advantage of the WEF platform to develop the gas project.
He pointed out that the move would address the geopolitical challenges in Europe and the growing demand for energy due to artificial intelligence, data mining and storage.
” We seek your collaboration in fundamental areas. One is on the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline (AAGP) which will connect Nigeria to Morocco and other African countries.
” The pipeline will transport natural gas from Nigeria to North Africa and Europe and is expected to improve energy security and economic growth in the region.
“With the geopolitical challenges in Europe from Russian gas problems and the rising demand for energy because of artificial intelligence, data mining and storage, we will be in a vantage position to take advantage of this opportunity.
“A lot of littoral states in West Africa who have discovered gas are more than willing to plug into the system and feed their gas to other end users.
” We are also exploring the area of undersea passage of the pipelines for it to be a win-win for everyone. We want to use the WEF platform,” he said.
According to Shettima, Nigeria is a country blessed with gas and exploring every option to maximise available opportunities for economic growth and wealth creation for its growing population.
“Nigeria is a gas nation than an oil nation. Because of our population, we either take care of the young men and women, our average is 16.9, or they take care of us in the next 10 or 20 years down the line.
” This is why we are in a hurry to develop in our enlightened self-interest. Gas provides us with the utmost opportunity to generate wealth for our people,” he noted.
On recharging of the Lake Chad, Shettima said apart from addressing the food security crisis, it would also put Nigeria in a vantage position to generate clean energy and combat terrorism.
” There is an incestuous relationship between economy and ecology in the Sahelian region.
” The challenges of Boko Haram and ISWAP might not be disconnected from the realities of existential threats we are facing.
” The Lake Chad hitherto was 25,000 square kilometres but it has shrunk to 2,000 square kilometres.
” There is the issue of the recharging of the Lake Chad from the Congo River basin which is the second largest river basin in the world, and the water is flowing into the Atlantic.
” We want to use your platform to recharge the Lake Chad. This will help us to successfully generate clean energy, a significant amount of hydropower annually, he said.
The vice president said there would be a canal of 2, 400 kilometres that would change the agricultural landscape of the sub-region.
This, he added, would address the food security crisis facing the global community.
Shettima also informed the WEF president about the ongoing reforms being undertaken by the Bola Tinubu administration.
He added that President Tinubu had returned Nigeria to the part of sustained economic growth.
“Most importantly, we are talking about the present. My leader and my boss, President Bola Tinubu is someone who also grew up in the finance ecosystem.
” He was a financial controller for ExxonMobil; he was a transformative leader in Lagos State and in Nigeria, he is the most disruptive leader we have had in half a century.
“From the first week in office, he did the right thing – from the subsidy removal to the alignment of the exchange rates, tax reforms and so many ongoing reform efforts.
” Our economy has turned the corner, we have crossed the Rubicon and we’re now on the path to sustained economic growth,” he stated.
The vice-president invited the WEF President to Nigeria to meet with the president while also intimating him of Nigeria’s readiness to host the WEF Africa.
Shettima noted that apart from being the biggest economy in the continent, Nigeria remained the most populous nation in Africa with 250 million people.
