On Saturday, the Nigeria’s minister of foreign affairs announced a partnership with the Moroccan government to construct a gas pipeline that will connect Nigeria, Morocco and other African countries to Europe. The agreement was reached during Morocco’s King Mohammed VI visit to Nigeria.

The cost and duration of the project, though unknown, still pose great challenges as the project seems to be unviable considering the current predicaments prevailing in the continent.

A similar project–Trans-Saharan Gas Project (TSGP)–was proposed by Algeria in 2002. The Algerian government entered into an agreement with the Nigerian authorities to construct a gas pipeline worth $30 billion that would cross the Sahel through Niger and Algeria to reach the gates of Europe on a route of 4,300 km.

The project was, however, unsuccessful. There were speculations that the project had been cancelled as a result of financing constraints but that is the façade. Russia and the European Union were competing against each other to finance the project and, in the end, both parties backed out.

In 2009, Russian gas group, Gazprom signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to invest at least $2.5 billion in a joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The European Union, through its European Investment Bank, was interested in financing the project.

What, then, caused the failure of the project?

There had been security concerns in both countries. Nigeria’s gas production has experienced a massive decline over the years as a result of incessant attacks on the gas pipeline by militants in the Niger Delta region. The gas shortages have led to a reduction in electricity generation within the country. The shortages have also led some multinational companies to explore alternative sources to generate electricity such as coal.

The rise of insurgency attacks in some regions within Nigeria and Algeria increased the fears concerning the project. The terror the Boko Haram group and Islamic State created increased the fears as to whether the pipelines would be secure in those regions.

The Nigerian government’s credibility seems wobbly reviewing their history in executing other regional pipeline projects. The West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), which connects Nigeria’s gas reserves to Togo, Benin, and Ghana, was initially proposed in 1982 but took over 25 years before it could commence its operations. WAGP has since its commencement remained inconsistent in its gas supply to its clients.

Morocco’s plan

The Nigerian-Morocco gas pipeline is expected to connect with the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) through five to six countries. WAGP already connects Nigeria’s large reserves to three West African countries. Estimating the length, the pipeline is expected to be longer and more expensive than the TSGP as it is to go through a longer route. Also, including five to six countries in this project compared to just two in TSGP portrays the slimmer chance of seeing this project accomplished.

The demand of the gas pipeline is highly required as some European countries have created a feud against Russia’s proposed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline construction. The European Union is increasingly looking for alternative ways to reduce their dependency on Russia, which supplies up to half of the European’s Union gas demands.

The Nigeria-Morocco pipeline project could be achievable if the partner countries get the full cooperation of all states in which the gas pipeline would be conveyed. From the outlook, the pipeline would be based offshore, making the project prone to less vandalisation but full approval of these countries would aid the smooth implementation of the project.

Nigeria and Morocco would require a high level of investor confidence to execute the pipeline project. Morocco has gained investor confidence over the years with its rapid growth in infrastructure. The recently launched Ashish J. Thakkar Global Entrepreneurship Index ranked Morroco as the African country with the best infrastructure. From their end, seeking finance might not be a problem. Nigeria, on the other hand, has seen a decline in investor confidence level as massive divestments have been made in 2016 by foreign investors from the country. The country has also seen a decline in economic growth with its third quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracting by 2.24 percent.

The stakes of the project are high but exigent. The odds have to play in the favour of Nigeria and Morocco. With the two partners at the opposite ends of the pipe, a flow has to be created to ensure this partnership is effective and achievable.