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business new africa bna/IntelliNews

Increasing access to gas and solar will provide home-grown skill sets to develop and manage devoted to petroleum education and should be at
householders with cleaner, healthier, more relia- the nation’s natural resources. He stressed that the forefront of preparing our manpower needs
ble sources of energy. “the narrative around energy transition has for any outcome or impact of Energy Transition.
“IFC’s support will help strengthen Sodi- further revealed the need to ensure that there He agreed on the need to add renewables to
gaz’s capabilities, bring to fruition structuring is a direct link between our petroleum educa- the global energy mix to ensure energy security,
projects, enhance its operational efficiency, and tion and the development and utilisation of our but criticised attempts by the western world to
develop households’ access to clean cooking and hydrocarbon resources, so we are able to deal demonise or de-marketing other energy sources
solar energy solutions in Burkina Faso,” said Lala with any outcome of the transition.” as well as extracting commitments and setting
Bolly, CEO of Sodigaz. Commenting on the recent enactment of the unrealistic deadlines for countries to abandon
Olivier Buyoya, IFC’s Country Manager for Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and the Decade fossil fuels.
Burkina Faso, said improving access to clean of Gas initiative, Wabote pointed out that those He advised all nations to jealously guard their
energy solutions for better economic and health developments would not only engender invest- locally available sources of energy and ensure
outcomes is a priority for IFC in Burkina Faso. ments and utilisation of the nation’s estimated they remain in their energy mix for the benefit
“IFC is proud to support a local champion’s 600 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves but also lead of their people.
ambition to support cleaner energy supply in to a boom in the gas sector, which would benefit He also highlighted two implications that
Burkina Faso through investment in renewable discerning institutions, investors, operators, and have emerged from the rush to move the world
energies and accelerating the switch to cleaner service providers. away from fossil fuels and they include Divest-
LPG from solid fuels,” he said. He added that “these scenarios require a ment, whereby western countries shift funding
IFC’s investment is supported by the Interna- robust petroleum education sector to ensure that away from the development of hydrocarbons
tional Development Association (IDA) Private our in-country skill sets are available and suffi- towards renewable energy and Energy Shortage,
Sector Window (PSW) Local Currency Facility cient to support the exploration, development, which is the decline in the supply of hydrocar-
(LCF), through guarantees and cross-currency production, and processing of hydrocarbon bons due to lack of investments and the fast pace
swaps. The IDA PSW LCF helped provide long- resources.” of the shift to renewable energies.
term financing in CFA francs that would not oth- The Executive Secretary charged educational He posited that Divestment has resulted in
erwise be readily available in the local market. institutions in Nigeria to prepare for the oppor- the emergence of indigenous companies play-
bna/IntelliNews, June 20 2022 tunities and challenges of energy transition and ing major roles in exploration and production
gas revolution by preparing robust curricu- activities “such that companies like AITEO,
Wabote: Quality education lum in petroleum education with the mindset FIRST E&P, EROTON, and others have acquired
of enabling Nigerians develop and utilise our assets and are now responsible for producing
can solve challenges of hydrocarbon resources using our home-grown about 15% of Nigeria’s oil and more than 60% of
technology. The institutions should put require domestic gas.”
energy transition, boom in greater focus on development of top-notch the international oil companies and their reluc-
However, he regretted that the divestment of
graduates to enable the development of Nige-
natural gas sector rian hydrocarbon resources – especially gas, he tance to make further investments in oil and gas
have resulted in the repatriation of capital out of
canvassed.
There is an urgent need for the Federal Govern- This he further explained, “will ensure that Nigeria. “This stifles the nation’s economy of the
ment and other stakeholders of the oil and gas we are not forced out from the development of much-needed foreign exchange with funds used
industry to intensify efforts in the promotion of hydrocarbon resources due to lack of technical as loans to acquire oil and gas assets instead of
quality petroleum education and development capability as was the case with coal development being used to develop new production assets,”
of competent manpower who would help Nige- in Enugu.” he rued.
ria meet the challenges of the ongoing energy He maintained that FUPRE is an institution NCDMB, June 18 2022
transition and expected boom in the gas sector.
This was the key recommendation by the
Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content
Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB),
Simbi Kesiye Wabote in the convocation lecture
he delivered on Friday at the Federal University
of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE) Effurun, Delta
State, titled “Defining the Value of Local Content
in Petroleum Education.”
He canvassed that as Western nations shift
their attention from oil and gas and focus on
the provision of funding, manufacturing of
equipment, and development of supply chain
to support their renewable energy sources, it
is imperative that Nigeria and other hydrocar-
bon-rich countries develop the requisite capacity
and capability to produce and utilise their fossil
fuel resources.
According to him, the ongoing debate and
the deadlines being set in respect of energy
transition underscored the need to develop

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