The West African Gas Pipeline Authority (WAGPA) has called for the expansion of regional gas infrastructure for social economic transformation of the ECOWAS sub-region. Speaking at the West Africa Gas Summit (WAGS 2025), held at the Labadi Beach Hotel, in Accra, Ghana on 11 June 2025, the Director General, West African Gas Pipeline Authority (WAGPA), Barr. Chafari Kanya Hanawa, who chaired the Summit, highlighted the important role of the Public-Private Partnership in developing the required infrastructure that will benefit the region, while drawing lessons from the formation of the WAGP Project.
The Director General commended the efforts of The Gas Consortium (TGC), organizers of the Summit, in bringing together a distinguished assembly of public and private sector stakeholders dedicated to driving forward the gas agenda in the region’s respective governments.
Speaking from the WAGP experience, the Director General said the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) Treaty, signed in 2003 by the Heads of State and Government of the Republic of Benin, the Republic of Ghana, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Togolese Republic, provided the legal foundation for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the WAGP; an ambitious project designed to harness and distribute natural gas across the region.
The WAGP Project stands as a compelling testament to what purposeful regional integration and pragmatic cooperation can achieve. It reflects on the commitment to leveraging shared energy resources to drive sustainable development, enhance energy security, and foster economic exchange among our nations.
As regulator of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) Project, WAGPA embodies the collective will and shared vision of the four State Parties (Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo) to oversee the implementation of the WAGP Project and to regulate the activities of the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), the entity that built, owns and operates the WAGP. It is in that spirit that WAGPA has chosen to align itself with the vision of the Summit and has signed a three-year strategic partnership with TGC, to support and promote the successful organization of the Summit during its foundational years. This collaboration is a commitment to building an enduring platform that will help unlock the immense potential of natural gas in West Africa with the intent of extending the WAGP beyond its current reach.
Hanawa said, WAGPA was particularly drawn to the conveners’ bold wish for the public sector to lead in the discussions; an intention that resonates strongly with WAGPA’s mandate of regulatory insight, the aspirations and ambitions of the WAGP State Parties. The 678-kilometre long WAGP spanning four nations remains the backbone of the emerging regional gas market, but backbone alone is not enough, that is why the Summit is a platform to deepen regional cooperation.
Gas regionalization should be a continuous process that requires synchronization of national strategies with regional priorities. It also requires bold thinking about interconnections with inland countries, about opportunities beyond our coastline, and about the infrastructure needed to take West African gas to new markets.
One lesson the WAGP teaches is that large-scale cross-border energy infrastructure is impossible without private capital and technical expertise. The WAGP was a billion-dollar venture made possible because the private sector saw value in working with governments. That lesson is more relevant now than ever. She urged that innovation and knowledge-sharing must be at the center of everything that should be done. There should be space created for local entrepreneurs and innovators, while being open to global expertise. The development of our gas markets will require hybrid models—ones that combine local insights with international standards. That is how to ensure sustainability and inclusion.
The countries must continue to evolve their regulatory frameworks because gas is a global commodity that requires the regulatory environment to be agile, competitive and investment friendly. The goal is not just compliance. The goal is to attract capital, drive down costs, and create certainty for investors and end-users alike, especially in the industrial sector, which we see as the engine of regional development.
The strategic dialogues at the Summit are set to deliver value on three levels:
Policy Input – by creating a platform for public-private discussions that inform national and regional strategies;
Business Intelligence – by offering insights that companies can use to refine their operations and investment decisions; and
Project Development – by connecting ideas to capital, and vision for execution.
The Chair urged attendees at the Summit to work together to generate actionable recommendations that will encourage them to foster inclusive, forward-thinking, and results-oriented dialogue. A strategic insight that will not only shape business decisions but also contribute meaningfully to key policy discussions. She called on all participants to engage openly, think boldly, and contribute meaningfully. Let this be the beginning of a renewed, re-energized, and re-imagined regional gas vision—one premised not only on molecules, but on industrialization, integration, and socio-economic transformation.
Participants at the Summit include, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC Gas Marketing) Ltd, the World Bank, Shell Ghana, the West African Gas Pipeline Authority (WAGPA), Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, Ghana National Gas Company, Economic Principles Lead, Decade of Gas Program, Nigeria. Axxela Group among several others
