Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva was the cynosure of all eyes on Monday as he ignored the paraphernalia of his exalted office to take on the role of a boatsman during a visit to the creeks in the Niger Delta.
In rare pictures of the Minister that emerged on Monday, Sylva was seen paddling a canoe enroute Monkey Village creek of the Niger Delta. The canoe was also conveying the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr Mele Kyari and other top officials to their destination.
The boat trip on Monday had preceded the ground-breaking ceremony of the NLNG Train 7 project in Bonny Island on Tuesday.
The New Diplomat had reported that Sylva and Kyari were among the creme-de-la-creme of the Nigeria’s Oil and Gas industry who converged on Rivers for the NLNG Train 7 ground-breaking ceremony, in Bonny Island.
The Train 7 project when completed is expected to increase NLNG’s overall capacity to 30 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from the current 22 million mtpa.
President Muhammadu Buhari while delivering an address virtually at the ceremony said: “As we flag off the Train 7 project today, I look forward to the development and execution of more gas projects by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and indigenous operators.
“I also look forward to more Trains from NLNG to harness the over 600 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves we are endowed with.”
