A presidential candidate on the platform of Peoples Trust [PT] in the 2019 general elections and presidential hopeful, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has raised the alarm over Nigeria’s diminishing gains from its oil and gas sector, warning that fossil fuels will be globally irrelevant within the next two decades.
Speaking in a promotional clip from “The Bridge Podcast”, ahead of the release of the show’s sixth episode, Hashim urged the Nigerian government to take swift, strategic action to extract maximum value from its petroleum resources before global energy markets shift irreversibly.
“Oil and gas will be irrelevant in 20 years,” Hashim declared.
He said: “We must maximize the benefit of our resources now, while they still matter in the global market.”
Hashim decried Nigeria’s lack of meaningful investment in the sector over the last two decades, pointing out that more than half of the nation’s current oil output still depended on infrastructure developed during the military era of General Ibrahim Babangida.
“Over 50% of our oil production is from investments made under the Babangida regime. What have our democratic leaders done in the last 20 years?” he asked.
He attributed Nigeria’s underperformance in the sector to inefficiency, corruption, and poor management, arguing that the country has failed to convert its natural wealth into meaningful economic gains.
“It’s not just about having resources. It’s about how you manage them. And we’ve failed in that regard,” he added.
Hashim concluded by calling for urgent reforms in energy governance and a bold commitment to economic diversification, cautioning that Nigeria risks being left behind if it fails to adapt to the rapidly changing global energy landscape.
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