The Managing Director of Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), Engr. Adeleye Falade, has called for stronger governance, predictable regulation and sustained investment to unlock Nigeria’s vast gas reserves and translate them into economic prosperity.
Falade made the call on Wednesday while delivering a keynote address titled “How Regulation and Governance Have Impacted Gas Development in Nigeria: Roadmap for the Way Forward” at the 5th edition of the PENGASSAN Energy and Labour Summit in Abuja.
He said Nigeria has an estimated 600 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas potential, but continues to face a major gap between the availability of the resource and its utilisation.
According to him, significant volumes of associated gas are still flared, while gas production and utilisation remain below the country’s potential.
He noted that more than 37 per cent of Nigerians lacked access to electricity as of 2024, while several gas-based industries continued to struggle with reliable gas supply.
“What Nigeria struggles with is a gas and conversion issue. While we possess some of the largest reserves in the world, the critical question remains: How do we transform these resources into electricity that powers our homes, gas that fuels our industries, jobs for our citizens, foreign exchange for the economy and prosperity for our nation?” he asked.
Falade said the country’s challenge was not the absence of natural resources, but its ability to create the institutions, infrastructure, commercial frameworks and human capacity required to convert those resources into value.
He described the situation as the “Nigerian gas paradox,” noting that while the country is rich in gas resources and a major LNG exporter, several gas-based value chains, including power, fertiliser, petrochemicals, LPG and manufacturing, remained underdeveloped.
“Geology creates opportunity; governance determines the outcome. Countries don’t prosper simply because they discover natural resources. They prosper when they create the institutions, the infrastructure, the commercial frameworks and the human capability required to convert those resources into value,” he said.
The NLNG chief executive, however, acknowledged that Nigeria had made significant progress through regulatory reforms, citing the National Gas Policy of 2017, the Decade of Gas Initiative launched in 2021, and the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021.
He said the PIA represented one of the most significant restructurings of Nigeria’s petroleum fiscal and regulatory framework, stressing that the success of such reforms would ultimately depend on effective implementation.
Falade said investors needed clarity and certainty before committing capital to large-scale gas projects.
“Investors want to know that the rules are clear, fiscal terms are competitive, contracts are respected, and regulatory processes are transparent and predictable,” he said.
He explained that predictable regulation reduces investment risks, which in turn lowers the cost of capital and makes more projects commercially viable.
“When you see good regulations, it should not be merely seen as an administrative requirement, but as a key part of a nation’s investment infrastructure,” he said.
Highlighting NLNG’s experience, Falade said the company had demonstrated what stable governance, long-term commercial arrangements and stakeholder alignment could achieve in Nigeria’s gas sector.
He said since commencing operations in 1999, NLNG had grown into a six-train facility with a capacity of 22 million metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG and 5 million MTPA of NGLs.
According to him, the company had loaded more than 6,000 LNG cargoes, built an asset base valued at over $22.9 billion, generated more than $149.6 billion in revenue, paid over $7.2 billion in dividends, and contributed more than $10.8 billion in taxes over its more than 25 years of operation.
Falade stressed that the figures represented more than corporate achievements, as they translated into jobs, government revenue, foreign exchange and broader economic value for Nigeria.
He called for continued collaboration among government, regulators, investors, labour and other stakeholders to address bottlenecks limiting gas development and ensure that Nigeria’s abundant gas resources are fully converted into economic opportunities.
“The size of the resource is not the same as the value that is created from it. The difference is in governance, investment, but also in execution,” he said.
