The Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, on Friday, has advised the Federal Government to increase investments in the production of Liquefied Natural Gas, as earnings from gas would help tackle Nigeria’s current revenue crisis and further strengthen the nation’s economy.
The Association emphasized that, this was vital because of the rising global demand for gas, recall that it had been established that Nigeria has more gas than crude oil.
Mr. James Neminebor, ANAN’s President, expressed this in Abuja at the 2024 National Budget Workshop organised by the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria in collaboration with ANAN. The President who spoke alongside the President of CITN, Samuel Agbeluyi, during a press briefing that was held after the workshop in Abuja.
Neminebor further stressed that, “We want to advise the government that in the matter of budget, revenue generation is the most important thing. Where the revenue is well sourced, there will be enough to allocate in the budget.”
He said, “in Nigeria we emphasise so much on crude oil and leave so many things unattended to, whereas in the case of gas, the sector is not properly attended to and something urgent needed to be done.”
“The NLNG company is a direct intervention where the Federal Government owns shares and, of course, dividends are paid. If Nigeria have four of such company, that will give the Federal Government enough revenue and will positively impact on the economy.
Neminebor also stressed that, “The nation needed more than three of NLNG because gas is by far more available as reserves in this country than crude oil. The Federal Government should as a matter of importance invest in gas and have Nigeria’s revenue base expand”
The Federal Government had earlier stated in July 2023 that, Nigeria has 208.83 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, which represents 33 per cent of Africa’s total gas reserves of 620TCF. This could describe Nigeria as a gas-rich nation ranking number one in Africa in reserves with a life index of 94 years.
The CITN president corroborates ANAN’s position by adding that, “Adequate revenue is highly needed at this time because the country can’t continue to be borrowing money over and over again.
In his statement, he further stressed that, “We need to generate enough revenue to finance the budget, so we seek the understanding and cooperation of political leaders to ensure that whatever is realized should be judiciously used.”
