Expert urges Tinubu to suspend $27bn Atlantic gas pipeline over commercial risks
Energy expert Dan Kunle urged President Bola Tinubu to halt further commitments to the proposed $27 billion (about ₦43.2 trillion) Atlantic Gas Pipeline, warning the project lacks commercial justification and risks becoming a costly national asset with limited returns. In an open letter dated 23 July 2026 – his third such appeal in three weeks – Kunle noted that the Economic Community of West African States unanimously endorsed the pipeline on 19 July after signing an Intergovernmental Agreement in Lungi, Sierra Leone. He called the deal a "Memorandum of Misunderstanding," stressing that political ambition outpaces economic reality.
Kunle highlighted major obstacles: Nigeria’s vast gas reserves remain largely undeveloped and unavailable for export while domestic power plants and industries face supply shortages; financing the roughly 7,000‑kilometre line that would cross more than a dozen West African nations raises serious legal, fiscal and geopolitical risks, as the pipeline is only as strong as its weakest treaty or jurisdiction. He argued that converting gas into electricity, fertilisers, petrochemicals, methanol and steel would yield greater national value than exporting raw gas, and noted that Nigeria has repeatedly exported crude while importing refined products – a mistake it must not repeat with gas. Liquefied natural gas, he said, offers a flexible alternative.
He urged the Presidency to direct the Presidential Petroleum Reform and Value Optimisation Taskforce, chaired by Fola Adeola, to conduct an independent commercial, financial and strategic review. The pipeline should proceed only if privately funded, backed by enforceable commercial deals and shown to deliver superior benefits versus alternatives, and only after Nigeria publishes a national gas plan securing domestic supply for decades, with any export limited to genuine surplus.
As Nigeria weighs its gas strategy, will prioritising domestic power and industry over costly export pipelines deliver stronger economic gains, or could flexible LNG exports provide a balanced path?