By Habibat Aliu
Energy transition creates huge opportunities in Nigeria as it supports economic and social development, job creation, improved health, and education, the Chief Executive Officer, of Seplat Energy Plc, Roger Brown has said.
Brown said this during a panel session at the University of Dundee Alumni, Nigeria Chapter seminar held at the weekend in Lagos.
The panel session which dwelt on the topic ‘Optimizing energy security in a global transition era’ provided a platform for the panelists to x-ray the current global trajectory of the energy transition, and how energy security could be guaranteed in the face of transition, relating the subject to Nigeria’s domestic market situation.
The Seplat CEO explained that the energy transition conundrum is all about how stakeholders balance three realities of climate change and the need to decarbonize the world; the need for energy security; and the urgent need for economic development in Africa, tackling poverty and lack of access to energy.
He said: “Seplat Energy remains committed to improving Nigeria’s access to affordable and reliable energy that drives social and economic development, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We can make Nigeria a more attractive destination for global energy investment that will allow us to fund our energy transition towards lower-carbon sources of energy, such as gas to provide baseload, and renewables.
“By developing our gas industry we can transition Nigeria’s population away from expensive and polluting diesel generators, and from using biomass for cooking
“I believe we can achieve all of these development wins for Africa at a little incremental cost to the environment.”
According to Mr. Brown, we must use Nigeria’s gas resources for the direct benefit of Nigerians and use it to increase the production of grid-scale energy that will power people’s homes without choking them on diesel fumes and allow them to cook without having to collect firewood and have the risk of open fires in the home.
“This gas-fired power will also keep the lights on at night so the kids can study, and power businesses across Nigeria so they can create wealth at much lower costs,” he noted, adding that: “Increasing access to cheaper, more reliable energy creates so many positive effects that will drive economic and social development in Nigeria; access to energy supports wealth creation, improves health and will allow Nigeria to achieve development goals.”
The Seplat Energy CEP described gas as the natural transition fuel that will support a longer-term transition to renewables, saying Seplat Energy is looking at ways to combine gas-fired power generation with solar arrays, so gas can provide the essential baseload overnight.
Seplat Energy is a major supplier of gas for domestic power in Nigeria. We produce 300MMscfd, enough to power 1GW of generation. Adding ANOH and Sapele will add 2GW by 2024
The Seplat Energy CEO, who is also an alumnus of the University of Dundee commended the school’s Alumni, Nigeria Chapter for putting the event together and charting the right path for the energy industry. In turn, the Alumni congratulated Mr. Brown for his display of excellence at Seplat Energy whilst also presenting him with an award of excellence.
