 Thank you very much, James, for the kind invitation to speak at this 33rd LPG Week 2021. And it's great to see that despite COVID and all the other challenges in the global business environment, the World LPG Association is still able to draw such an impressive crowd of distinguished stakeholders in the industry. Well done, indeed. But perhaps this impressive turnout also speaks to the collective desire to exchange innovative ideas on the future of the LPG business and discuss the unparalleled growth, potential, and all that it offers, especially for clean energy transitions and equitable development. So perhaps I may begin by stating the obvious. We are today confronted with a frightening climate crisis. And we have no choice but to take the threat to our planet seriously, faithfully abiding by the global agreements on limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. Second is that for developing countries, unlike the rest of the world, the transition to net zero emissions poses two, not one, existential problems. Aside from the climate crisis, we have the problem of lifting millions out of extreme poverty. And access to energy is a huge part of that. There are still close to 600 million Africans without access to electricity. And for the few with access to electricity, it's either unreliable due to lack of generating capacity and infrastructure or unaffordable due to high prices. But a more important aspect of that problem is that 2.6 million people globally are without access to clean cooking solutions, including over 900 million in Africa. In fact, this energy poverty in nexus has distinct gender characteristics as well. A report from the WHO reveals that about 4.3 million people die annually from inefficient cooking practices using polluting stoves paired with solid fuels like charcoal and kerosene. And several thousands of that statistic come from sub-Saharan Africa who die annually from firewood smoke, making it the third highest killer in sub-Saharan Africa after malaria and HIV. This population is mainly women and children. So there is clearly an urgent need to transition from these fatally hazardous fuels to cleaner energy. And there is an easy answer. It is proven that lower carbon fossil fuels, such as LPG and liquefied natural gas, come play a significant role as transition fuels in providing secure energy, especially in developing nations and regions with little existing energy infrastructure. Nigeria has developed an energy transition plan, which shows that achieving net zero by 2060 will require investments in the order of 410 billion US dollars above business as usual. And that natural gas will play a critical role in addressing the clean cooking challenge, as well as providing great stability to integrate renewables at scale. Nigeria has also developed an integrated energy plan with a clean cooking model, which shows that clean cooking opportunities across technologies, such as electric cooking and LPG, are entirely possible. This model shows that there is an opportunity to transition at least 5 million households to LPG solutions, which will cut emissions by 30% compared to business as usual, reduce other pollutants by 90% or more, and avoid 6.9 million kilograms of forest loss from biomass collection. Also, LPG remains an ideal fuel to support the journey to renewables. As of course, we know it is very easily stored. It doesn't degrade over time. It requires no heating or complex filtration to keep the fuel in a usable condition and does not constantly boil off. So for a gas-rich country like Nigeria, with over 206 million TCF of problem reserves and an additional 600 TCF of scope that is yet to be problem, is evident that what makes the most sense from the point of view of balancing energy security with environmental sustainability is the use of LPG, at least as a transition fuel. And this is why it is worrying that a growing number of wealthier nations have banned or restricted public investments in fossil fuels, including natural gas. Such policies do not often distinguish between the different kinds of fossil fuels, nor do they consider the vital role some of these fuels play in powering the growth of developing economies, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. As development finance institutions try to balance climate concerns against the need to spur equitable development and increase energy security, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union have all taken aggressive steps to limit fossil fuel investments in developing and emerging economies. The World Bank and other multilateral development banks have been urged by some shareholders to do the same. The African Development Bank, for instance, is increasingly unable to support large natural gas projects in the face of European shareholder pressure. Although all countries must play their part in the fight against climate change, a global transition away from carbon-based fuels must account for the economic differences between countries and allow for multiple pathways to net zero emissions. The world should not have to choose between energy poverty and climate change, as this can be addressed with both natural gas and LPG as transition fuels alongside other renewable sources. For countries such as my own, that is rich in natural resources, but still energy poor from the point of view of access, the transition must not come at the expense of affordable and renewable energy for people, for cities, and industries. On the contrary, it must be inclusive, equitable, and just, which means preserving the right to sustainable development and poverty eradication as enshrined in the global treaties, such as the Paris Accord. Natural energy transition is tied to adopting and domesticating all forms of cleaner energy sources from household use to commercial use, and these cleaner energy systems include solar for electricity, waste to energy, wind energy, hydropower, and of course natural gas. This explains our efforts as a country to ensure the successful implementation of our domestic LPG expansion initiatives, and permit me a minute or two to share some of the interventions that were made since 2017-2018. We have an LPG policy as part of our national gas policy, and this is effectively transiting the household domestic cooking segment from a consumer cylinder-owned model to a marketer-cylinder-owned model, where the marketers will be responsible for the distribution and retrieval of cylinders. We established the National Gas Flare Commercialization Program. It would enable third-party investors to set up stripping plans and deliver more volumes of LPG to the domestic market. We also have specific provisions in our new Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, that elevates LPG as the fuel of choice compared to other competing fuels. We've also set a target of consumption of five million metric tons of LPG by 2027, and we've established a 20 million cylinder injection scheme, and five to 10 million of these are to be introduced in pilot states of the country beginning next year. We've also established an LPG energy fund in the order of $50 million in its first phase in partnership with the Afro-Exim Bank. There's also a mandated conversion of 50,000 telecommunications cell sites from diesel to LPG, and this, of course, is because of the identified emissions from these cell sites. And we have an auto-gas conversion scheme and capacity building in 12 pilot states. We're hoping to run an extensive auto-gas conversion scheme, one million cars in the first place, and we're looking at a target of 22 million cars in the next three years. We've consummated collaboration with the EU through a study on CO2 savings based on our national LPG expansion implementation program for clean cooking. And also in the last three years, several LPG terminals have been opened in several states of Nigeria in Lagos, in Worry, in Potakot, and Calaba, with the latest one opening in Worry later this month. We also have a waiver of import duty on machineries, on equipment, and spare parts for the establishment of LPG plants for 10 years, and that, of course, is subject to renewal, and a five-year tax holiday for investors in the LPG value chain. These interventions, we expect, will result in significant reduction in the rate of deforestation and, of course, create millions of direct and indirect employment addressing the poverty challenge. But beyond being an effective transition fuel, LPG is said to be part of the destination as it is being used as a precursor for green hydrogen with zero emission and an eventual move to bio LPG will allow countries like Nigeria to keep existing infrastructure in place, capitalize on already existing supply and distribution chains, and reach net zero at far lower cost. This also helps to overcome the concerns around stranded assets. Consumers will not have to reinvest in expensive electrical solutions, especially if their gas appliances can be repurposed for zero carbon LPG. Our target, as I said earlier, is five million metric tons, and this requires at least six billion US dollars for the required LPG infrastructure to meet our targets. I'm from inland and coastal terminals to cylinder-filling plants, bobtails, semi-trailers, valves, regulators. I think Nigeria represents a unique LPG investment destination, especially for setting up manufacturing facilities and support services for the expanded LPG value chain and the national LPG expansion implementation plan. All aspects of the LPG value chain will certainly require investments, and we on our part, the federal government of Nigeria, are ready and willing to support investors, willing to partner with us. Finally, let me again commend the president of the board of the World LPG Association, the Industry Council, the Mindmen team, and the inner group, our hosts, and members of the World LPG Association for all the hard work and for getting the industry talking again, especially after the COVID-19 break last year. Thank you very much for listening. Have a successful LPG week. Thank you. Your Excellency, Mr. Yemio Zimbajo, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, thank you for this insightful address.