The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, has called for collaboration between academia and the oil and gas industry towards addressing the challenges of energy sufficiency and sustainability.

Kyari made the call while speaking as a guest lecturer at the 2024 Faculty Lecture organised 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 OAU, play in safeguarding national energy security through research and collaboration with the industry.

While listing the challenges hindering energy security in Nigeria to include rapid population growth, pipeline vandalism, and crude oil theft, the NNPCL boss identified energy conservation, diversification, and efficiency measures as major avenues for enhancing energy security.

Addressing the projected rapid population growth, he harped on the importance of finding solutions to ensure sustainable energy security for the benefit of current and future generations.

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On the challenges posed by pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, Kyari stated that the issues have impacted NNPCL’s operations, stressing that the establishment of a command-and-control centre has aided the detection and destruction of illegal refinery sites, removal of illegal connections, thereby addressing vandalism since 2021.

“The centre provides livestreaming of surveillance data to security forces, contributing to the detection and destruction of over 5,686 Illegal Refinery (IR) sites and the removal of 4,480 Illegal Connections (ICs) from 2021 to the present,” Kyari was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the NNPCL spokesman, Olufemi Soneye.

The NNPCL boss, while acknowledging the severity of vandalism and oil theft, hinted at a strategic shift, focusing on increased products trucking, and storage in underground tankages at NNPC filling stations nationwide.

While underscoring NNPCL’s transformation into a fully commercial limited liability energy company following the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021, Kyari said the removal of fuel subsidy has allowed the company to play a more active commercial role, ensuring profitability, and delivering greater value to Nigerians.

The Star