The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, on Wednesday, revealed that the 1,100 km pipeline it is currently constructing will triple the country’s consumption of gas.

Speaking on the sidelines of a tour of the $14bn refinery in Lagos, Dangote, noted that the pipeline will provide Nigeria with 3 Bcf of gas, in contrast with the country’s existing consumption of 1 Bcf of gas.

“We are doing a gas pipeline through the sea, 550 km each for two lines, which is about 1,100km from Bonny to here (Dangote Industries Free Zone, Lekki, Lagos state). And that will give us three billion cubic feet of gas. At the moment, the entire consumption of Nigeria is one billion cubic feet. So, we are going to triple that all at a stretch.We are going to evacuate through the gas pipeline. Anybody who has a gas can tap into our gas pipeline”, he said.

Nigeria has been suffering from gas supply shortage to its power plants as it relies on gas for approximately 80 % of the electricity it generates.

Natural gas is gradually becoming the fuel of choice for power generation worldwide according to the Minister of State for Petroleum and Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

He told Punch that Nigeria is aware of this fact and cannot be an exemption to the gas-to-power revolution as it is currently confronted with power generation challenges.

Anita Fatunji