Nigeria, by now, should be earning more from gas than petroleum, President Muhammadu Buhari has said, when he hosted the Special Envoy of President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, at State House, Abuja.
Spokesman to the president on Media & Publicity, Femi Adeshina qouted him as saying that the programme for exploiting gas reserves was abandoned half-way.
The Special Envoy and Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, Gabriel Mbega Obiang Lima, had brought a message from his President on the forthcoming meeting of Heads of State of gas exporting nations, which Equatorial Guinea would be hosting.
President Buhari declared: “We share a lot of things in common with Equatorial Guinea. These include geographical neighbourliness and neighbourliness in terms of resources.
“Nigeria is more of a gas producing, rather than oil producing country. That fact had long been established. If we had followed our own plans, laid out in the 1970s, for the gas sector, we should have had 12 trains by early 1980s, instead of being on just six trains now.”
The Special Envoy thanked Nigeria for the support she gave Equatorial Guinea to host the first summit of gas exporting countries in the world, taking place on African soil.