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.
But the world changed. Gas markets developed. Technology advanced. Demand expanded.
And still, too much of Nigeria’s gas remained beneath the ground.
That is an important reminder that resources alone do not create prosperity. A country can possess enormous natural wealth and still struggle to convert it into investment, industries, jobs and higher incomes.
What matters is whether we create the conditions that allow capital, technology and enterprise to turn those resources into productive economic activity. That has been at the heart of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reform agenda for the energy sector.
When the President assumed office in 2023, he gave us a clear mandate: understand why investment was not moving at the scale Nigeria’s resources justified, and address those constraints.
We therefore focused on the fundamentals investors consider when deciding where to commit capital: fiscal competitiveness, project costs, contracting timelines, regulatory certainty, market access and confidence that government decisions will endure.
Gas has been a particular priority. Through Presidential Directives and subsequent measures, the administration has sought to improve the investment proposition for non associated gas and other gas developments, while addressing commercial and market constraints that had kept viable resources stranded.
The results are increasingly visible. Today’s decision represents the fourth gas FID in two years. That is significant. But the real measure of these reforms is not the number of announcements we make. It is what the investments eventually make possible.
At peak production, Ima is expected to deliver approximately 300 million standard cubic feet of gas every day.
That gas can become electricity for businesses and factories. It can become fuel and feedstock for Nigerian industry. It can support fertiliser and petrochemical production. It can support exports and foreign exchange earnings.
And behind all of those numbers are people. A manufacturer able to produce more competitively. A business able to expand. A young Nigerian acquiring a new skill and earning an income. A community benefiting from new economic activity.
That is ultimately why energy investment matters.
Our objective is not simply to produce more molecules. It is to use Nigeria’s energy resources to build a more productive economy and improve the lives of our people.
I congratulate TotalEnergies and AMNI International on reaching this milestone. I also recognise the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NUPRC, NCDMB, my incredible team in the Presidency, and everyone across government and industry who has contributed to bringing the project to this stage.
Above all, I thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for setting the direction, providing the mandate and giving us the political backing required to pursue difficult reforms.
But an FID is a promise. Ultimately, the success of Ima will not be measured only in cubic feet of gas.
It will be measured in what those cubic feet make possible for the Nigerian people.
Thank you.