2024-08-30 15:47:07
The Director General of the National Hydrocarbons and Mines Office (ONHYM) stressed that the strategic project of the Afro-Atlantic Gas Pipeline (Nigeria-Morocco) is progressing in an “extremely favorable” way thanks to the commitment of all the countries that traverse it, Amina Benhaddra.
The project, which stems from the vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, and has the support of President Bola Tinubu, is of real strategic importance and will help accelerate countries’ access to energy in an African sub-region where some countries have electrification rates below 40 percent, Ms Benkhadra said in a statement to MAP on the sidelines of a regional workshop to review and validate the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) and Host Country Agreement (HGA) for the project (27-30 August).
“This flagship project symbolizes the importance of South-South cooperation and will contribute to economic and social development through the development of different sectors, especially mining, taking into account the rich resources of critical minerals that span the country,” explained the manager.
After stating that these countries need sustainable energy in order to develop, Ms. Benhadera explained that the implementation of this project will contribute to sustained growth and job creation and will therefore be a factor of stabilization for young people in the sub-continent.
Ms. Benhadera believes that the Afro-Atlantic Gas Pipeline project will also contribute to the further integration of the African sub-region. Unfortunately, Africa remains the least integrated continent in the world, although there is no doubt that any integration is a vehicle for growth and development.
This is why, according to Ms. Benhadera, the Afro-Atlantic Gas Pipeline (Nigeria-Morocco), beyond being a simple transportation and energy access project, remains a major project that will guarantee political, economic and social stability in this part of Africa and will also contribute to strengthening energy security in Africa and between the continent and Europe.
Ms. Benkhadra continued that the Afro-Atlantic Gas Pipeline will also make it possible to export gas to Europe, and therefore, by allowing diversification of supply sources, it will be a factor in reducing Europe’s gas dependence on its other suppliers.
On the other hand, she welcomed the holding of this workshop in Abidjan dedicated to the review and validation of the IGA and HGA of the gas pipeline project, recalling that this working meeting follows the progress made in the strategic project of the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline.
“Today we are meeting in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, at the expert level from the 13 countries involved in the project to finalize the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) or agreement between the treaty countries and the project company that must be signed by all the countries and the HGA as the government,” she noted.
“We are delighted by the presence of experts and representatives from all these countries, which demonstrates their desire and commitment to contribute to the execution and realization of a project as strategic and structural as the Afro-Atlantic Gas Pipeline (Nigeria Morocco),” she said.
She stressed that the IGA is a fundamental component in the development of such large cross-border projects, as it will lay all the conditions for the management and governance of the project between all cross-border countries, recalling that the agreement on this intergovernmental project has been prepared for more than a year between ONHYM and NNPC and was the subject of several workshops held in Rabat and Marrakech in 2023 and 2024.
Finally, she noted that today, with the full participation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the project, “we are in fact in the final phase of exchanges with all the countries represented by experts, Ministries of Energy and representatives of national companies”.
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