The Federal Government has condemned the refusal of international oil companies to fund more oil and gas projects in Nigeria.

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, while delivering his keynote address at the Oil Producers Trade Section’s 60th anniversary celebration in Lagos on Thursday, described the decision as “problematic.”

According to Osinbajo, de-funding of gas projects in order to force gas-rich countries like Nigeria to stop using gas and use renewables was “faulty”.

“The most consequential subject globally in the next few decades will undoubtedly be climate change. Already, it is evident from so many adverse climate occurrences, floods, desertification, rising water levels, and record high temperatures that there is a global climate crisis.

“The obvious, if difficult solution to the crisis is to stop carbon emissions and use green energy. The staple wisdom is that coal and fossil fuels are major pollutants. That being the case, it is proposed that countries and corporations should gradually reduce the use of these high pollutants and instead use renewable energy such as solar and wind, hydro and completely stop the use of these carbon emitters by the agreed target date of 2050.

“Now, most countries including Nigeria, of course, agree that we must reduce global emissions to zero, in our case by 2060. We are major victims of the effects of climate change, but there are a few important issues that we have flagged to our wealthier brother-countries in the Global North. The first is that we, in the developing world, are faced with two, not one crisis. One is climate change  and the other is extreme poverty, the cause and consequence of which is energy poverty. Or the fact that lack of access to electricity for millions is a cause of deepening poverty.

“The second is that African countries are the least emitters of carbon today. Less than one percent of cumulative C02 emissions and even if we triple electricity consumption in African countries (aside from South Africa) solely through the use of natural gas, this would add just 0.6% to global emissions. So, a lot of the flooding and adverse weather events that we are experiencing here are from emissions caused by the wealthier countries.