The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Malam Mele Kyari has said the country has the potential to grow more than $1 trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the target of President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking at the ongoing 2025 Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja, he said $1 trillion GDP growth is too small for Nigeria.
According to him, it is the oil and gas sector that can drive the economy to surpassing the target.
He noted that the journey towards exceeding the $1 trillion GDP is already on course from gas infrastructure development and gas delivery to the domestic market.
He was responding to the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) Chairman, Mr. Abdurasak Isa.
Kyari said: “And I hear the ambassador said we go into the $1 trillion GDP. I think that is too small. That is not very ambitious. I think we can do better than this. I am sure we know that 1 trillion is maybe the balance sheet of one company somewhere.
“We will do better than this. This country has potential for doing this, and this industry will surely be the biggest contributor to this development, and that’s already happening, building gas infrastructure in our country, delivering gas into our domestic market.”
He said gas is not just transition fuel; it is also an alternative fuel.
He said the investment decisions that are taken today are due to the Executive Order of President Tinubu that allowed the changes.
Kyari said the other has culminated in ease of business, ease of procurement and serves as incentive to investment.
On the ongoing tax reforms in the country, he said the industry players always complain not just about introduction of taxes but the bureaucracy involved in the payment.
He however said the tax reforms are “clarifying issues, easing administration of taxes, reducing the number of taxes on the table, and ultimately allowing investors to have a long sight around their investment and what can come out of it.”
Kyari said already operators can now see return on their investments in the industry because there is a stable environment.
He said stability has attracted some investors to return to the country.
Kyari said: “Investors have seen that when they put their money in our country today, in our businesses, particularly in the oil and gas sector, they can get back their money.
“They can get their returns. And there is also a stable physical environment that will give them a long term view of their investment. And I’m sure that is why you are seeing a number of investors coming back into our country.”
Meanwhile, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary General, Haitham Al Ghais, said the investment needs of the oil industry are sizable, with cumulative investment requirements amounting to $17.4 trillion from now to 2050.
He said Africa is home to five of the top 30 oil producing countries, and it is proven oil reserves amount to around 120 billion barrels.
He urged the summit to discuss how it can unlock the potential that this great continent brims with, and how to create the investment enabling environment that attracts the requisite amount of capital to really fully utilize and realize that potential.
He said OPEC liaison department is to contribute to long term, long term stability in the oil market.
“We do this because we know that it’s a prerequisite for investors to plan in the short, medium and the long term,” he said.
