The Association of Local Distributors of Gas has called on policymakers, investors, regulators, and operators to stop debating the country’s resource wealth and start delivering it to homes and businesses, a rebuke of the chronic gap between Africa’s largest proven gas reserves and one of its most underserved domestic energy markets.
The demand came at the second edition of the ALDG Business Forum, convened June 4 at the Petroleum Technology Development Fund building in Abuja. The gathering drew government officials, development finance institutions, technology providers, and industry operators under a theme that captured the sector’s frustration: “From Gas Abundance to Gas Access: Reassessing Nigeria’s Gas Distribution Imperatives.”
Nigeria sits atop roughly 215 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves — more than any other country on the continent. Yet widespread energy poverty persists, pipeline networks remain underdeveloped, and domestic utilisation has failed to keep pace with the scale of the resource. The contradiction has become a defining tension in the country’s energy policy.
“Nigeria cannot afford to remain a footnote in its own gas story,” said Kehinde Alabi, chairman of the association. “We have the reserves, we have the policy frameworks, and increasingly we have the investor appetite. What we need now is ruthless execution from the wellhead to the household.”
