Sopuruchi Onwuka

Commercial investors and industry captains in the nation’s petroleum industry have demanded government to strengthen policy pillars that guarantee profitability of investments in realizing the country’s key objective of developing the domestic gas market.

Delegated and panel debaters at the just concluded 2025 NAEC Annual Energy Conference hosted in Lagos called on government to take a role in developing robust channels that take gas to the last mile consumers and ensure commercial returns to investors.

Panelists who examined the challenges affecting realization of targets in the domestic gas industry were drawn from leading indigenous independent companies including Sahara Group, Neconde Energy Limited, Rainoil Limited and Eterna Plc. And they emphasized that time is ripe for the domestic gas market to provide compelling signals for viability of investments.

They made it clear that any valid policy initiative for the domestic gas market must give priority attention to ensuring that gas investments in the country are bankable.

They maintained that bankability support remains one of the best ways “Accessing Financing And Investment For Gas.”

Managing Director of Sahara Power Group, Mr. Kola Adesina said that Africa needs to adopt collaborative policies, sustained multi-stakeholder investments, and bold reforms in the quest of addressing the continent’s low energy access.

Mr Adesina whose views were delivered at the event said the continent’s pressing energy challenges require immediate action involving African nations and international partners to adequately power underserved regions, promote renewable energy adoption, and improve energy efficiency across the continent.

Acting Managing Director and Gas Asset manager at Neconde Energy, Engr Chichi Emenike, stressed that commerciality of investments in providing gas to the domestic market has become critical in making projects bankable.

She stated that the bankability of gas investments in providing the molecules that power electricity generation plants and fire home cooking requires that the capital deployed in providing the products returns to the investor with some margins.

All the panelists agreed that time has come for the domestic gas market to provide compelling signals for commercial return, challenging government’s policy and programme drivers and regulators to play their roles in providing common infrastructure and facilities that take gas to the last mile customers.

Chief Executive Officer of Eterna Plc, Mr Olumide Adeosun, who explained the frustration of the retail investors in the chain, stated that switching from traditional fuels to cleaner gas options requires capital investments from poor households in the country.

He also decried the low domestic gas cylinder and cooker production capacity at a time when the country was driving massive gas penetration initiatives. He stated that the cost of switching from traditional fuels, including kerosene, deters millions of Nigerian homes from the adoption of gas for domestic application.

Panellists agreed that other programmes aimed at deepening the market should include policies that accelerate the adoption of gas for diverse applications by making it easier and more affordable for consumers.

The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas (PiCNG) Initiative which targets to popularize use of natural gas as alternative fuel for transportation in the country has not gained any level of traction with the motoring public because of the prohibitive cost of converting internal combustion engines to run on gas.

The main concerns, according to earlier surveys conducted by our correspondents, are the high cost of conversion, availability of gas refuels outlets along major highways in the country, and sustainability of CNG supply in the market.

To address the cost of conversion, Mr Adeosun proposed that government should incentivize conversion of heavy vehicles and industrial equipment to run on CNG while the mostly older vehicles that dominate private and local transit could be addressed later.

He also called on government to directly intervene with supply of adoption kits including gas cylinders, stoves and cookers to mainly rural and low income Nigerian homes to enable them overcome the cost of switching from dirtier kitchen fuels.

He, again, called for policies that make inclusion of gas reticulation infrastructure and facilities in future and existing residential estates mandatory in order to create more structured demand for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) for home applications.

Without developing the last mile demand centers through robust infrastructural development that connects the market with consumers, the panelists argue that the key objectives of the prevailing campaign for gas penetration might not be realized in good time.