The Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari has lamented the low investment in Nigeria’s energy industry stating that the country received less than 3% of total investment inflow to Africa in the last ten years.
The GCEO said this in a presentation at the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) Public Wealth Management Conference, which was held in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to him, energy is critical to the country’s industrialisation across diverse sectors of the economy referencing agriculture.
He stated, “If you don’t have energy, you don’t have agriculture. You can do all the agriculture, but you can’t take it to the market, you may not be able to preserve it, you can’t even export it. So, all those indices are connected to the ability to create energy”
Furthermore, he highlighted the nation’s energy gap, marked by around 70% of its population lacking clean cooking fuels and over 50% without access to electricity. This situation points to a pressing need for improved energy infrastructure to address the widespread deficiency.
Speaking on The key obstacles to achieving energy security include limited investment due to business environment uncertainties and the impact of multiple taxation. He stated that in the last decade, Nigeria received less than 3% of Africa’s total energy sector investments, highlighting its challenges in attracting essential energy development funds.
