President Bola Tinubu has called for a stronger and better co-operation with the United States, as Nigeria and the rest of the world move in the quest for renewable and other sources of clean energy.
He made the call during a meeting with United States Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Energy Resources, Ambassador Geoffrey Praytt, at the State House, Abuja.
President Tinubu presented his perspectives to the US delegation on the role of Nigeria as an oil-producing country and the importance of revenue from fossil oil to national economic well-being.
Nigeria, according to him, will honour all its obligations to climate change and quest for clean energy.
President Tinubu appealed to the United States and other developed nations to recognise that Nigeria and Africa had a challenge of poverty that must be addressed, saying that in the race for energy transition, the world must have a right balance between the fossil fuel and green energy.
“Nigeria is an oil producing nation and a developing economy that needs revenue from fossil fuel for growth and development. The new energy we are talking about represents just 5% of global energy requirements. We must find the right balance between new energy and fossil fuel because we have problem of poverty in Africa,” he said.
On the nexus between the problem of poverty in Africa and fragility of democracy on the continent, President Tinubu advised the United States to work with Nigeria to protect the government of the people.
He also urged the Assistant Secretary of State to impress on his home government the urgency of responding to the needs of Nigeria.
Earlier, Ambassador Praytt extolled the bold economic initiatives already taken by President Tinubu with respect to fuel subsidy removal and unification of multiple foreign exchange rates.
He said he was in the country partly to inform the President that President Joe Biden was in support of the steps taken so far by Nigeria to reduce the impact of fossil fuel.
“We are very happy with our work with NNPCL and your team. Your new Special Adviser on Energy is already doing very well,” the US Envoy said.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari told the President that the Energy Industry in Nigeria had been engaging the US Department of Energy on the energy transition.
Kyari acknowledged the support the Nigerian government received from the US Department of Energy to develop the Petroleum Industry Act.
