President Buhari Lauds Dangote, GE, Samsung, Others as Most Strategic Investors in Economic Growth
President
Muhammadu Buhari has described Dangote Group, General Electric, among
others, as strategic investors sustaining African economy.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Speaking during the opening of proceedings at the sixth African
Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE VI), President Muhammadu Buhari
has described Dangote Group, General Electric, among others, as
strategic investors sustaining African economy and urged them not to
relent.
The president who spoke at the event organized by the African
Petroluem Producers Association (APPA) in the Federal Capital, called on
other investors in Africa to consider the strategic nature of
investments made by the conglomerates and emulate them in order to
enhance the value of the continent’s economy.
President Buhari, who was represented at the occasion by his Vice,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, identified some of the companies adding the
most value to the Nigerian economy through their ingenious investment as
GE, Dangote Group, Ladol shipyard, and Samsung, among others.
According to the President, African countries should develop
ingenious ways of promoting value addition and investment through
sustainable policies in local content. He added: "A common approach
to local content will ensure that the whole of Africa benefits from
economies of scale associated with our vast resources."
He noted that ongoing mega projects 'like the General Electric
Service Centre for manufacturing rotating equipment in Calabar; the
Ladol industrial free zone in Lagos – wholly indigenous, privately
developed and hosting the largest shipyard in West Africa, the 650,000
barrels per day (bpd) Dangote indigenous refinery in Lagos and the
Samsung FPSO Integration Yard in Lagos; to mention a few,' were some of
the most strategic initiatives to the struggling African economy.
According to him, the continent must recognize that the development
of domestic refining capacity in oil and gas would remain critical to
her sustainable economic growth as reliance on importation would
continue to stunt her growth.
The president also noted that Nigeria which recently announced a
new timeline to end gas flaring at her oil fields was on course to see
this out.
"The use of gas in Africa’s future energy mix has become
imperative. If Africa must meet her future energy needs, the issue of
the development of a robust gas infrastructure must be jointly
addressed.
"In processing Africa’s hydrocarbon resource, environmental
issues must be accorded huge priority. Globally, over 150 billion cubic
meters of associated gas is flared annually, of this figure, Africa
flares an estimated 40 billion cubic meters annually.
"In Nigeria, gas flaring amounts to about 23 billion cubic
meters per annum in over 100 flare sites constituting over 13 per cent
of global gas flaring,” he explained.
"Nigeria is a member of the World Bank Global Gas Flaring
Reduction (GCFR) Partnership and with the support of our legislature, we
will sign the United Nations Agreement of ‘Zero Routine Flaring by
2030’, although our national target is 2020. I urge all APPA member
countries to set realistic targets for gas flare-out in the region."
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