West African Leaders Sign Pact For $25bn Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline

West African leaders have signed an intergovernmental agreement for the $25bn Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline, moving the long-planned project from political backing toward a formal implementation framework.

The agreement was signed at the ECOWAS summit in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It follows earlier regional backing for the project, which NaijaTrend reported here.

Punch reported that the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline is designed to link Nigeria’s gas resources with countries along the West African coast, the Sahel, Morocco and possible European markets.

Vanguard reported that the legal and sovereign framework covers a 6,900-kilometre pipeline expected to transport up to 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually from Nigeria through 13 coastal countries to Morocco.

NNPC said the agreement gives practical effect to the approval granted by ECOWAS leaders at their December 2024 summit in Abuja. The company said the project could improve energy access, support industrialisation and create a regional energy corridor.

The project still faces financing, engineering and security hurdles across several countries. Monday’s agreement does not mean construction is complete, but it gives the project a stronger legal base for the next phase.

Sources: Punch, Vanguard