Nigeria's Gas Diplomacy: Powering Regional Unity and Prosperity

Nigeria is leveraging its vast gas reserves and regional partnerships to reshape Africa's energy future through strategic gas diplomacy, infrastructure investment, and intra-African trade.

- Kate Da Costa

Africa's energy paradox is well-documented: immense reserves of hydrocarbons, yet persistent energy poverty across the continent. Nigeria — home to the largest proven natural gas reserves in Africa, estimated at over 200 trillion cubic feet — is now positioning itself at the heart of a new energy strategy: gas diplomacy. The country seeks to use its gas wealth not merely as a commercial resource, but as a tool of regional influence, integration, and shared development.

Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, laid out this vision at the recent African Technology Conference in Accra, Ghana. In his address, he called on African leaders and institutions to pursue coordinated gas diplomacy, infrastructure interconnectivity, and regional policy harmonization. According to Ekpo, “Africa must move with urgency to build a continental gas ecosystem... pipelines, LNG hubs and interconnectors are the arteries of gas trade.”

The Strategic Shift: From Export to Integration

For decades, African gas — including Nigeria’s — has flowed eastward and northward via pipelines or been liquefied for export to global markets. While these routes generated revenue, they largely bypassed Africa's domestic needs. Ekpo argues that this dynamics must change. “The days when resource-rich African countries exported raw gas... while their closest neighbors were starved of the resource must stop,” he said.

Instead, Nigeria is spearheading a new model: prioritizing intra-African energy trade by building infrastructure that connects African nations to one another. This shift recognizes energy not just as an economic asset, but as a lever of diplomacy, peace, and development. “When we share energy, we share prosperity,” Ekpo noted.