Sen. Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, has called for technology transfer initiative that can help young engineers to deepen their technical proficiency.Akpabio made the call at the 2022 Annual Public Lecture organised by the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Bwari Branch, on Thursday in Abuja.The theme of the lecture was: ”Inclusive Energy Transition: The Key Issues, Investment Opportunities and Bariers Towards Actualising the Decade of Gas Initiative in Nigeria.”He said that with technology transfer, young engineers could become employers of labour and own construction firms that could compete with Julius Berger among others.He said there was no misgiving in admitting that as a professional body, there were still some noticeable gaps, as young engineers are more theoretically grounded than practically equipped.” I look forward to when we will have wholly owned Nigerian construction firms in the likes of Julius Berger, CCECC, Setraco, Mothercat among others in Nigeria.“There is a need to expose them to frequent trainings and re-trainings to make them to compete favourably with their counterparts all over the world.“Engineering is critical to a vast facet of our national life; it is a profession that permeates every facet of our lives.“Indeed, there is hardly an aspect of life that does not need input from engineering even if minimally; that is why engineering continues to occupy a critical role in national development.“Your gathering for the 2022 public lecture with focus on the gas sector demonstrates the group’s understanding of the time and its determination to contribute to National Economic Growth.“With consistent rubbing of minds as the case of this public lecture, I foresee greater horizon for the NSE and indeed our engineers.“| have no reservation in asserting that the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has made the NSE proud,” he said.He said that the current administration had achieved revolution in the building of public infrastructure, as the rail lines have been constructed and trains are coming into life.“The administration has been adjudged as having constructed more roads than any other administration since our return to democracy.“The Second Niger Bridge which had long enjoyed more political rhetoric than action, is now visually evidential with work progressing at appreciable speed.”As a governor, I engaged 17 indigenous construction companies and they did not disappoint.“I foresee our engineers building our roads, building our rails, building and manning our power stations, building our automobiles and all other needs engineering can offer.”Only then shall we say that the NSE has come full cycle and Nigeria has fully come of age,” he said.Speaking, Mr Tasiu Gidari-Wudil, the National President, NSE, said that the significance of the oil and gas sector could not be over emphasised as it served as a major part of the nation’s economy.“I am looking forward to seeing when all cars in Nigeria run on gas, it is already happening and I challenge my fellow engineers to come up with more unique and economic designs in this regard,” he said.Dr Halimat Adediran, the Chairman NSE, Bwari Branch, said the public lecture was in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.Adediran said that the theme was apt as all nations of the world that were signatories to the Paris Accord on Climate Change had the mandate to drastically reduce and eventually ensure zero emission of greenhouse gasses by 2060.“The time for us to start this transition to cleaner source of energy is now, hence year 2021 to 2030 was declared the “Decade of Gas” in Nigeria.“It will interest you all to know that Nigeria has more of gas deposit than crude oil.“We have the largest on this continent with approximately 206.53TCF of proven gas reserves worth over 803.4 trillion dollars as at 1st of January, 2021 and we are in the top 10 globally.The total domestic gas demand requirement (DGDR) in Nigeria stands at 4.482 billion Standard Cubic per day.“Nigeria cannot continue to depend solely on crude oil for her foreign exchange earnings after COVID-19 pandemic clearly showed us the grave limitations due to our total reliance on crude oil as a major driver of our economy,” she said.She said that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by the current administration had generous fiscal provisions aimed at attracting investment in gas exploitation and exploration.She added that, “Ultimately, we should begin to make concerted efforts for Nigeria to migrate from an energy importing nation to an energy exporting nation, just as Egypt already did.“The PIA is a game changer for us as a people and all stakeholders but some of us are still oblivious of its enormous opportunities.”
