By Lawrence Olaoye
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the inability of past leaders to follow the nation’s program for the exploitation of gas reserves was responsible for the low earnings from the resources.
According to a statement made available to newsmen yesterday by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, the President made the observation while receiving Special Envoy of President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, at State House.
He noted that if Nigeria had followed her own programme for exploiting its gas reserves, the country would have been earning more money from the product than from petroleum now.
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.
Buhari declared: “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 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 she gave Equatorial Guinea to host the first summit of gas exporting countries in the world, taking place on African soil.
Never miss a moment! Get the stories shaping Nigeria, delivered straight to your phone. Follow Peoplesdaily Newspaper on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive reports, and the headlines everyone will be talking about, before anyone else.
