The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.), Mr. Mele Kyari has called for collaboration between the academia and the Oil & Gas Industry towards addressing the challenges of energy sufficiency and sustainability.
In a statement by the NNPC, Kyari made this call while speaking as a Guest Lecturer during the 2024 Faculty Lecture titled, “Energy Security, Sustainability and Profitability in Nigeria: Advances, Challenges and Opportunities,” organized by the Faculty of Science of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Wednesday.
In his lecture, Kyari highlighted the important role academic communities, such as the prestigious OAU, play in safeguarding national energy security through research and collaboration with the industry.
While pointing out the challenges hindering energy security in Nigeria to include rapid population growth, pipeline vandalism, and crude oil theft, Kyari identified energy conservation, diversification, and efficiency measures as major avenues for enhancing energy security.
Addressing the projected rapid population growth, Kyari harped on the importance of finding solutions to ensure sustainable energy security for the benefit of current and future generations.
He underscored the intensified competition for vital resources and urbanization drive, which would lead to a doubling of Nigeria’s energy demand by 2050.
On the challenges posed by pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, the GCEO observed that the issues have impacted NNPC Ltd.’s operations, stressing that the establishment of a command-and-control center has aided the detection and destruction of illegal refinery sites, removal of illegal connections, thereby addressing vandalism across operating corridors since 2021.
