The Director General, Energy Commission of Nigeria, Dr Mustapha Abdullahi has stated that, the government wants Nigeria to be a hydrogen hub that would not just utilise, but export to other African countries.
The ECN Boss stated this in Abuja at the opening of a 3-day Summit on Low-Carbon Hydrogen Economy organised by the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and the European Union (EU).
Dr Mustapha Abdullahi explained that the global hydrogen market was predicted to reach 50 billion dollars in the coming decades, stressing that Nigeria should leverage its massive natural gas reserves to produce blue hydrogen and create a new economic opportunity while working toward cleaner alternatives.
According to him, “We have over 209 trillion cubic feet below the surface as reserves. What we are trying to do is to create another economy to utilise that gas.
“We want Nigeria to be a hydrogen hub where we cannot just utilise, but export to other African countries.
Speaking on why ECN conveyed the Summit, the DG said the Energy Commission of Nigeria exists to look beyond the next budget cycle and the next election – to plan for the energy decisions whose consequences will be felt in 2040 and in 2060.
“Hydrogen is precisely that kind of decision. It is not a technology we are testing. It is an economy we are choosing to build, or choosing to leave to others.
Speaking on ECN’S institutional track record, Dr Mustapha said, “This is not a position the Commission has arrived at suddenly. Nigeria’s National Energy Policy was first approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2003, and a new edition – alongside the National Energy Master Plan – was approved again in 2022.
“Both named hydrogen as a clean energy carrier within Nigeria’s energy future. What changed in the years since, is not our interest – it is our capacity to act on it. In 2023, this Commission inaugurated its Hydrogen Committee, and that Committee commenced its work immediately.
“Today, the Energy Commission of Nigeria serves as the Project Executing Entity for Nigeria’s Child Project under the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s Global Clean Hydrogen Programme – one of only nine countries worldwide selected into that programme’s first phase.
“Under it, this Commission is already executing technical assistance for green hydrogen pilot demonstration.
“This Summit is not Nigeria’s starting point on hydrogen. It is Nigeria’s acceleration point. Nigeria’s Hydrogen Leapfrog begins here.
While speaking at the Summit, Nigeria’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr Kingsley Udey said the Federal Government is determined to provide the enabling environment for effective utilisation of the nation’s abundant low-carbon hydrogen energy resources under its energy diversification initiatives.
As part of the blueprints towards achieving the objective, Udey said that a national hydrogen policy draft had reached an advanced stage and would become operational as soon as possible.
The Minister, represented by Dr Mukhtar Muhammad, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, described Nigeria’s hydrogen as a critical component of the nation’s clean energy transition plan.
“This government commits to ensuring that the regulatory clarity our agencies require to act, is not the obstacle to achieving economic diversification,” he said.
The Minister noted the technical support from Germany and UNIDO, but cautioned that necessary regulatory work and licensing, belonged strictly to Nigerian institutions.
“Our partners have offered Nigeria a door; they have not offered to walk through it on our behalf.
Mr Godfrey Ogbemudia, Programme Manager for Energy at the European Union Delegation, said that clean hydrogen offers immense opportunities for Nigeria to meet its net-zero and renewable targets.
“We are not only just interested in the knowledge that you are going to get. How does this translate into concrete investment?
“How does this help Nigeria meet its energy target? That is what we will be looking forward to see and we are going to follow this up strictly,” he said.
The Statistician-General of the Federation, Mr Semiu Adeniran, emphasised that low-carbon hydrogen was revolutionary for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors like manufacturing and transport.
Represented by Kazeem Fatai, a Senior Statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics, Adeniran warned that successful transition frameworks should be evidence-based and economically viable.
“The development of a successful hydrogen ecosystem demands an entirely new baseline of robust statistics.
“We need high fidelity data tracking energy input-output ratios, infrastructure factor flows, green jobs, and crucially disaggregated data on industrial process,” he said.
Etiosa Uyigue, Executive Director of the Community Research and Development Centre, stated that the EU-funded project actively supports multiple core government agencies.
He listed the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency and the Rural Electrification Agency among institutions receiving crucial capacity building and data collection support.
“The overall objective of the project is to support the government efforts to achieve the energy transition goals,” He said
A low-carbon hydrogen economy is an economic model that uses hydrogen as a primary energy carrier and industrial raw material, produced with significantly reduced or net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
It is a critical component of global net-zero strategies designed to eliminate pollution from sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as aviation, shipping, and heavy manufacturing (e.g., steel and cement)
The economic importance of a low-carbon hydrogen economy lies in its ability to decarbonize energy-intensive industries, generate new jobs through infrastructure development, and enhance global energy security by diversifying fuel supplies.
It acts as a critical economic enabler for a sustainable green transition.
Middle-Belt Times 