Nigeria Should Hasten To Develop Its Gas Infrastructure- LCCI

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has advised the federal government to hasten the completion of ongoing gas infrastructure and further deepen its economic diversification initiative with greater emphasis on agriculture.

Michael Olawale-Cole, president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, said on Sunday that Nigeria should seize opportunities from the Russia-Ukraine war to develop its gas value chain.

He said that now Russia’s oil and gas had been rejected as part of sanctions for invading Ukraine the country should have been a major harvester of gas by Europe.

The LCCI president asked the Government to expedite the completion of projects like the planned Trans-Saharan gas pipeline from Nigeria to Algeria.

“With this, we can explore the opportunity of exporting gas to Europe,” Olawale-Cole said.

“We should also target Trans-Saharan and European markets with the ongoing construction of the Ajaokuta, Kaduna, Kano Gas Pipeline, popularly known as AKK gas pipeline.

“Arising from the calamities of this war, Nigeria can explore emerging opportunities to earn huge foreign exchange inflow in the medium to long-term.”

On rising wheat prices, Olawale-Cole encouraged the Government to open up its reserves to boost supply of grains and stabilise prices in the short term.

He also recommended that the government intervene by initiating imports from other sources outside the war zones.

“The war between Ukraine and Russia will likely make the world’s hunger crisis even tougher to fight as the countries are two of the world’s major suppliers of grains like wheat,” he said.

“Nigeria’s food supply will surely come under some pressure as it imported 4 percent of wheat from Ukraine and 27 per cent of wheat from Russia in 2021.

“However, the most sustainable solution is for the government to boost local production of these grains to levels that meet local demand.”

He called on Government to deploy diplomacy in reaching out to well-meaning world powers towards a speedy resolution of this crisis.

This, he said, was because the duration of the war was a critical variable in determining the extent of damage that may occur.

The LCCI president emphasised the need for more efforts to speed up the evacuation of Nigerians from the war-torn region