Director-General of the West African Gas Pipeline Authority (WAGPA), Chafari Kanya Hannawa, has called for coordinated regional action to fully utilize natural gas as a driver of industrialization and economic progress in West Africa.
She delivered the keynote address at the opening of the 2025 West Africa Gas Summit (WAGS) held in Accra on June 11, 2025, where she also serves as Chairperson.
Hannawa highlighted natural gas as a vital tool for energy security and industrial growth, insisting that it must be developed through strong regional collaboration, visionary leadership, and inclusive policymaking.
She stressed that gas regionalization requires synchronized national strategies, innovative infrastructure, and cross-border planning to connect both coastal and inland markets.
Using the billion-dollar West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) as an example, she emphasized the critical role of public-private partnerships in delivering large-scale energy infrastructure across the region.
Hannawa urged the region to adopt hybrid development models that combine local entrepreneurship with global expertise to ensure inclusive, sustainable gas market growth.
She called for competitive, investment-friendly regulatory frameworks to attract capital, reduce costs, and provide certainty for industrial users—the core of the region’s development strategy.
As regulator of the WAGP pipeline spanning Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo, WAGPA was described as the “backbone” of West Africa’s gas market—though Hannawa noted more investment and coordination are needed.
She also announced a new three-year partnership between WAGPA and The Gas Consortium to make WAGS a permanent forum for advancing gas development across the region.
WAGS is expected to produce strategic insights, mobilize investments, and support infrastructure and policy development—helping transform the region into a gas-powered hub for inclusive industrial growth.