My governor, His Excellency Lucky Aiyedatiwa, FCA, Executive Governor of Ondo State; my big brother, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, PhD, Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil); the leadership of NAPE, ably led by my sister, Olajumoke Cecilia Ajayi, FNAPE, President of NAPE and CEO of WAEP; distinguished industry leaders, ladies and gentlemen, permit me to stand on the established protocol.

Today marks an important milestone, not only for the Ima project, but for Nigeria’s broader ambition to turn our enormous gas resources into investment, productive capacity and prosperity. Ima was discovered in 1973, more than fifty years ago. We should put that history in context. The gas market of the 1970s was very different from the one we know today. Markets were less developed, infrastructure was limited, and the technologies and commercial structures that have expanded the role of natural gas globally were still evolving.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu welcomes the $800 million Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Ima Gas Project, marking another major milestone in his administration’s drive to unlock Nigeria’s vast gas resources for investment, industrialisation, job creation and economic prosperity.