The Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has encouraged stakeholders to take advantage and opportunities in gas value chain for sustainable business growth.
Mr Ogbugo Ukoha, the Executive Director of NMDPRA, Distribution System, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, made the call at the stakeholders engagement on gas utilisation in Nigeria on Monday in Yola.
Ukoha, who was represented by Mr Yusuf Sheriff, NMDPRA Regional Controller, Maiduguri, appreciated the stakeholders for attending the forum.
He said the objective of the engagement is to enlighten end-user category on the need to urgently obtain the requisite petroleum storage license and to engender the transition from white products to gas at last mile.
Mr Elvis Duriji, NMDPRA’s Head of Gas, said ‘gas is acceptable all over the world, it is accessible, affordable and by its nature is clean than diesel’.
He also discouraged them from illegal operations for a successful and sustainable business growth in the sector.
In his goodwill message, Alhaji Aminu Adamu, North East Zonal Chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), commended NMDPRA for carrying them along for the engagement.
He expressed the need for the agency to simplify the message in local languages for easy understanding as most of the members were not literate.
According to him, this will help to accelerate the understanding of the message towards achieving the goals of the engagement and for their members to key in to the system.
Prof. Sanusi Ibrahim, the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, said the conversation is a welcome development as they used 33,000 liters of diesel in a month to power generator.
“I am very sure and hopeful if sufficient information is taken to community level and other stakeholders at the lower level everybody will embrace it,” he said.
According to him, he understands that the gas is of less cost, effective, easy to manage and free from some of the risks associated with diesel and other petroleum products.
