The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has called for more development of the gas infrastructure with a view to harnessing more revenues from the sector to the federation account.
The Chairman of the commission, Mr Elias Mbam, made the call in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday.
The statement was signed by Mr Christian Nwachukwu, Head of Public Relations Unit of the commission.
Mbam said that the potential of gas to revenue generation was enormous and needed to be properly exploited.
According to him, Nigeria can generate more than one billion dollars annually from the sector if relevant stakeholders can do the needful.
He said that continuous flaring of gas in the country was not in the nation’s best interest.
“Nigeria is blessed with abundance of gas deposits measuring more than two trillion cubic tonnes, thereby making it the ninth largest country in gas reserves in the world,” he added.
The chairman also said that Nigeria had not been able to fully utilise the potential.
He advised that flared gas could be converted and channelled to enhance the economy and reduce health hazards posed to oil-producing communities due to environmental pollution,
Mbam said that gas economy could be a safe haven for the country
in view of the current dwindling revenue from oil.