How best to utilise Nigeria’s gas resources to impact the economy — Petroleum Minister

 Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, says Indorama-Nigeria presents a very good example of how the abundant gas resources in the country could be effectively utilised to impact the economy positively.

The Minister who took a tour of the company’s petrochemicals and fertilizer plants in Eleme, Rivers State yesterday, Thursday, October 9, 2020, said it was heartwarming for Nigeria to have Indorama utilising gas in a true sense of value-addition.

Chief Sylva, who spoke to journalists after the visit, said the purpose of his visit was to see how the company was utilising gas to create value in different sectors of the Nigerian economy.

“What I have seen here is heartwarming for this country. I have had a lesson in value addition. I was here by 2005 in the old Eleme Petrochemicals Company and I saw the plant, an ailing plant at that time.

“But what I have seen here today is very marvelous, a lot has happened here, they have added a lot of trains, and added fertilizer Urea plant and other facilities.”

The Minister said the federal government was also very happy to see that Indorama-Nigeria is living well and peacefully with its host communities.

Answering further questions from journalists, the Minister said: “I must say that this is very welcome value addition to our economy, they are doing very well. They have invested over $3 billion and plan to invest over $6 billion in the Nigerian economy.”

The Minister said Indorama’s over $3 billion investment has really helped Nigeria through creation of job opportunities, revenue to government, as well as supply of petrochemicals and fertilizers.

Chief Sylva said that Indorama is already partnering with the Nigerian government in supplying Urea fertilizer to the government (Presidential Fertilizer Initiative) and that has really helped in no small way in developing the rice production sector.

“You can see that in just few years, Nigeria has become self-sufficient in Rice and that is also because of the huge support we get from Indorama.”

“They have also created a lot of jobs here and a lot of value here. We are very happy with them and we hope that this can be replicated everywhere around the country”.

“I have always said that gas is the way to diversify our economy and I have seen it practically today because the polymers (petrochemicals) they produce here is raw material for other industries; and the fertilizer they produce is raw material for the agricultural sector”.

“You can see that effective gas utilisation is at the foundation of expanding our economy and we hope that this can be replicated in other parts of Nigeria.”

The Minister said he had also noted the challenges facing the company and promised that government would look into them.

The Minister and his entourage were received at the Indorama Petrochemicals Complex by top officials of the company led by the Managing Director, Mr. Manish Mundra.

He assured the Minister that Indorama-Nigeria was focused on its vision of building the largest petrochemicals and fertilizer hub of Africa in Nigeria!