 It is a very great pleasure to join you at this year's International Energy Summit, and I'm especially pleased that I have the more exciting role of opening the exhibition and being able to walk around and see the current local and global developments in the sector. The theme of this year's summit is, as ambitious as usual, global perspectives for a sustainable future. And I don't think we can really expect any less, given both the caliber of representation at these summits every year, and perhaps more importantly, the share importance of the subject for the socioeconomic future of our nation and our world. In the past few years, I've had the privilege of chairing our government's energy transition working group, and in that capacity and working with a strong interministerial team and several energy sector players, many of whom are in this room, it has become increasingly clear to me that Nigeria has a crucial and strategic role in delivering the sustainable energy future that Africa, and indeed the world, must have in the next few years. Second is that it is the key sector, the key sector actors, such as are gathered in this room today, who must do a lot of the heavy lifting to get us there. The truth is no other sector of our economy is as crucial to the transition to a more sustainable future as the oil and gas sector. There's no other sector, at least as far as our own country is concerned. But what is that future? Let me say first what it is not. It must not be a future where Africa remains at the bottom of the food chain in the brave new world of sustainable energy. Certainly not, but we must admit that today we have the largest number of individuals without access to power, the largest number of people without access to clean cooking fuels, and we need rapid industrialization to get millions of our people out of poverty. And we must do all of this without worsening the global warming situation, which is why some of us have argued that there is a need for some clarity as to where we are in the transition journey. And what we need to be doing, because there are two existential crisis for us, Africans, and of course our own country, Nigeria. The first of course is global warming and all its implications. And the second is the energy, the lack of energy access, the energy poverty that we have, and which has also, which also results in millions of our people being extremely poor. So there's no question at all that for us in this part of the world, both must go simultaneously. We must think in terms of transition to cleaner fuels, to renewable energy, and at the same time access to power so that we can also have access to development for our people. And that is why some, you know, and I'm sure many of us in this room would agree that gas must remain an important transition fuel. Gas cannot, we cannot accept the position as has been offered by some of the global north countries that gas is one of those fuels that must be defunded, or that gas project should be defunded in order to enable, you know, faster progress towards the clean, towards the renewable energy transition that we expect. So we expect that we on our part must think in terms of both. We cannot simply say, well, this is only about renewable energy and transition to cleaner fuels. For us also, gas is crucial. And the reason why gas is crucial is not just because we have such huge amounts of gas. It is also because it is possibly the only clean cooking option for us. And clean cooking is an important aspect, an important component of the entire, of the entire clean energy agenda. It is crucial. We cannot, I mean, we in this part of the world cannot do without it. LPG is crucial for clean cooking. So even when we talk about renewable energy for clean cooking, we also think in terms of LPG and all the other clean cooking options. So the future is not in Africa. And I think that this is also important. We must not see Africa as the victim. And we must not continue to repeat the notion that Africa is a victim in this whole process of sustainable energy or the journey towards sustainable energy. We are not, in fact, the victims. We can, in fact, become the principal players. It is our nation and our continent that will drive the next stage of global economic progress. And we can do so by becoming the first truly green civilization in the world. How? How can we achieve that? First by recognizing the opportunity early and intentionally developing all the potential around our natural resources, including natural gas, of course, solar and biofuels. We must, in particular, leverage on our renewable energy potential, work actively on green technologies, carbon removal, and green manufacturing. And we have a young and resourceful workforce that can enable that to happen very quickly. And quite frankly, it is the energy sector working with governments that can muster the human and material resources to move the needle on this kind of ambition. There's no question at all in my mind that Africa is the place where we can sensibly and economically go ahead with green civilization. Nowhere else has that potential. And the reason why that is so is because everywhere else at the moment, we are the lowest emitters today. And because we are the lowest emitters, and we have possibly some of the largest natural resources that will aid that journey, we can do much more and we can be much more effective in developing our own agenda for a green future that will benefit the world much more than starting that journey elsewhere. Anywhere else in the world today, I mean, the greatest emitters in the world, as you know, are the global north countries. So if you are going to do anything in terms of a green energy future, you should start from a low emission base. And that low emission base is here in Africa. We have the natural resources to do so. So if we focus on our strengths today, if we focus on those natural resources, we can certainly move very fast. And I think we've started well. Our energy transition plan is bold and innovative. It calls for the ramping up of solar cells. And we're going to be doing about 5.3 gigahertz per year until 2060. That's a plan. And we think that this plan is perfectly achievable. The production of over six billion liters of biofuels annually to green as it is the path to e-mobility. And the transition of at least two million Nigerian households annually to cleaner cooking fuels, such as LPG, and electricity every single year. And I think these ambitions are achievable. They are completely achievable if we set our minds to it. We are also part of the important initiatives around carbon trading. And I believe that this holds important opportunities, especially for those of us who are in this room, those of us in the oil and gas sector. I have in the past year been working with a very dedicated team of individuals and companies named the African Carbon Market Initiative. And the point of this committee is to open up the tremendous potential in carbon market trading. And I think that this is something that we really ought to work on very seriously. We also have the Nigerian Carbon Market Initiative. And we think that this is a win-win for everyone. It's important for the oil and gas sector because there are so many carbon market trading opportunities in the sector. And also, barely two weeks ago, I'm sure many of us followed that development, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Fund, as well as VITL, launched the Carbon Vista Joint Venture Fund that would invest in carbon emission reduction projects in Nigeria and promote the Nigerian Carbon Market Initiative. And the fund, the initial fund, is for 50 million U.S. dollars. And they've challenged the rest of the industry to put some more money into that part so that we can achieve the objectives that we set for ourselves. We have a long way to go. But I very strongly believe that we are well able to achieve all the targets that we have set for ourselves. For me, I think the private sector must clearly articulate its own sustainable energy ambitions in alignment with the energy transition plan. I think it's important for the private sector to sit down and say, this is our own plan. And this is how it aligns with the energy transition plan. And I think we need to work very quickly. And so in a few minutes, I will have the privilege of formally opening this year's exhibition, the Energy Summit exhibition. And I hope I look forward to seeing the new technologies and the new opportunities that the sector has lined up. So I wish you very, very fruitful celebrations as we go through the rest of this week. Thank you all very much.