The Chief Executive Officer of the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), Mr. Bamanga Jada, has revealed that the agency is currently facilitating the establishment of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) processing plants in Onne and Liberty Free Zones with a total storage capacity of 70,000 metric tonnes.

He disclosed that when completed, the projects would enhance access to clean cooking gas for over 200,000 homes and ensure environmental sustainability.

Giving his opening remarks at the 3rd special economic zones annual meeting in Lagos, he stated that President Bola Tinubu’s reforms are driving positive results in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Free Zones.

Jada stated that “in response to Mr. President’s priority projects and initiatives, OGFZA partnered with an investor to establish a CNG conversion centre in the Onne/Ikpokiri, reducing logistics costs by up to 70 percent while promoting cleaner fuel alternatives.”

According to him, the dedicated Oil and Gas Special Economic Zones scheme was created in Nigeria four years after the Export Processing Zone concept was first adopted in Nigeria.

He stated that the idea of the oil and gas SEZs was to drive efficiency through specialisation that would accelerate investments in the sector, creating sources of wealth, facilitating skills and technology transfer, and providing employment opportunities to host communities.

He revealed that since the first oil and gas free zone was established in 1996 at Onne/Ikpokiri Rivers State, the scheme has contributed over $24.6 billion in direct investments into the economy, and Nigeria has become self-sufficient in specialised and highly sophisticated technologies like mud engineering, specialised welding & fabrication, ocean-going vessels (OGVs), shipbuilding, pipe coating, valve & Christmas tree assembling, and many others.

He added that the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority over the years has ensured that up to 31,404 Nigerians were trained in high-tech petroleum industry skills, some of which were under the ITF program.

This collaborative effort between agencies of government helped to fast-track the capacity building and empowerment of Nigerian employees of OGFZ companies in areas that were previously considered as exclusive for foreign expatriates.

“The good news is that, today, key reputable multinational oil and gas companies that operate in our Zones no longer depend on foreigners for high-responsibility roles. Hence, Nigerians are now the current Chief Executive Officers of Baker Hughes, TechnipFMC, Tenaris, Pipe Coaters, etc.,” he added.