Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
One of Nigeria’s vocal economists, Mr Pat Utomi, has called on the federal government to consider the value it could get from listing the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited on two foreign stock exchanges to boost production and use proceeds to fund productive assets.
Mr Utomi, who is the founder of the Centre for Values and Leadership, made this disclosure as a guest on Arise News on Monday while sharing insights on how to save the Nigerian currency amid current headwinds.
“Even look at our shareholding in NLNG, it is probably one of the most successful companies on the continent today. We can go to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) [or] New York Stock Exchange and list.
“We can pledge a percentage of that value that has come out of NLNG and use it to shore up finances if we are going to get all that new money coming in into real productive assets…,” he said, warning against the need to borrow.
NLNG was incorporated as a Limited Liability Company on May 17, 1989, to harness Nigeria’s vast natural gas resources and produce Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) for export.
As an independent incorporated joint venture, NLNG is largely owned by Nigeria through Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited which has a 49 per cent controlling stake while others like Shell Gas B.V. have 25.6 per cent, TotalEnegies Gaz & Electricité Holdings (15 per cent), and Eni International N.A. N.V. S.àr.l (10.4 per cent).
He also called on the need to consider other alternative means to raise funds, including the exports of agricultural commodities like sesame seeds and rubber, which he said are available in certain parts of the country.
“What we should do is take a couple of components in the motor car, for instance, rubber, where we have serious comparative advantage and roll it across Southern Nigeria as if it was the only thing,” adding that the country should have deals with foreign car makers like Peugeot, Volkswagen, among others, to become the primary rubber supplier into their global supply chains.
“We will make 20x more money than we are making from crude oil and we will have jobs of quality,” he added.
