The Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, has said that the investment in Trans-Morroco pipelines will engender prosperity in Nigeria and other partner countries.

He said plans had been concluded to fix the Trans-Morocco Pipelines from Nigeria across 11 countries to Morocco, for onward transmission to the rest of the world.

Kyari disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking at the 11th Nigerian Content Forum which was held in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, with the theme, “Deepening the Nigerian Content Opportunities in the Decades of the Gas.”

The GMD lamented that despite sitting on billions of gas resources, the country lacked the capacity to develop it to maximum utilisation to feed the Liquified Natural Gas ( LNG) and other gas plants in the country.

“Gas resources provide the opportunity to power the global economy in a sustainable manner because gas is the enabler of energy transition. That is why we are focusing with our partners on making sure we create the necessary infrastructure to bring gas on the surface, process it and convert to the value it can give. Therefore, in deepening gas utilization, we decided to focus on in-country utilization, and that’s critical to us,” he said

In his keynote address, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board, Engr. Simbi Wabote, said  the launching of 10-year Strategy Roadmap in November 2017 was aimed at increasing Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry to 70 per cent by 2027.

Wabote, while giving a feedback on the journey since the launch of the Strategic roadmap, said that the NCDMB was proud of the achievements recorded in the last five years despite the general and specific challenges faced across the oil and gas industry locally and globally.

“We are proud of the achievements realized in the last 5 years despite the general and specific challenges faced across the oil and gas industry locally and globally.”

In his remarks, Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom said the theme of the conference was apt because it drew attention to gas utilisation, while fostering the growth of Nigerian Content Implementation within the energy industry.

Emmanuel, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Mr Moses Ekpo, said since there had been a global shift from fossil fuel to renewable energies, industry players in the country had to continually engage in discussions to ensure that the country is ready for this transition.