The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) have concluded arrangement to sign a $1.16 million grant as part funding for the NNPC-Abuja Independent Power Project (IPP) modelled to generate 1,350 megawatts of electricity to alleviate the power challenge in the country.
This was disclosed at a business meeting between the Management of NNPC and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency at the NNPC Towers, Abuja, recently, where both parties agreed to close out the deal on 1st December, 2019.
Mallam Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, said that the plan by the corporation to build the 1,350mw power plant in Abuja was part of the national strategy to monetize the abundant natural gas resources in the country.
According to the corporation its helmsman said that the USDTA grant is to complement the ongoing feed project in order to make the Abuja IPP initiative more bankable for strategic investors’ participation.
It said, “As a state-owned oil company and enabler organization, we know that our investment in the Abuja 1,350mw IPP will increase energy supply level with great impact on the nation’s economy. Therefore, the USTDA grant is timely to make it a bankable project that would attract foreign direct investment into the country.”
The GMD assured the U.S. team that every money given as grant to the corporation will be fully utilized and accounted for.
“This company is focused on making our systems and processes transparent and accountable and that is why we are engaging world class institutions with good track record in execution of our projects”, the GMD explained.
He called on the USTDA to look beyond feasibility studies to actual delivery of the project, stressing that the power plant project has a lot of viable investment opportunities for all investors.
In her remark, the Country Manager, Power Africa and the leader of the USTDA delegation, Jullian Foerster, stated that her organization was determined to work with the corporation to sign off on the grant not later than 1st December, 2019.
She said that USTDA was open to other business opportunities in the coming year, 2020, noting that NNPC’s strategic role as a key player in the oil and gas industry made the U.S. Agency to “jump at the opportunity to work on this deal” of providing support in the form of a grant.
Meanwhile, as part of measures to ensure safety and smooth operation in the petroleum products distribution value chain, the Corporation in collaboration with other stakeholders in the Petroleum Industry and the Federal Government, have activated the Safe-to-Load initiative to mitigate incessant petroleum products tanker accidents and ensuing fire outbreaks across the country.
The meeting of the stakeholders which held Wednesday at the NNPC Towers, Abuja was sequel to the initiative of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Haulage Operations in Nigeria aimed at ensuring safety in the whole gamut of bridging process across the country.
Mallam Kyari, said that proffering a lasting solution to the challenge had become imperative given the frequent fire incidents from petroleum tankers with attendant loss of lives and properties.
While stating stated that the corporation as a socially responsible entity placed high premium on the lives of workers and citizens, noting that safety was one of the core values of the organization, he added that, “As an organization founded on operational excellence, NNPC has a safety checklist for loading of petroleum products from its terminals and is interested in ensuring harmonization of the Safe-to-Load checklists being used by all terminals across the country.”
He stated that the corporation has commenced digitizing all its analogue-loading facilities to ensure that all trucks leaving the NNPC depots comply with the required axle limits, emphasizing that the corporation has kick-started installation of weigh-bridges and sprinklers across all loading gantries to forestall incidents.
The NNPC boss said that the corporation currently relies much on the land transportation system to get its products across various locations in Nigeria, stating that a total of 19.23billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) was moved by 583,000 trucks in 2018, while 526,000 trucks transported 17.36billion litres of PMS between January and October, 2019.
NNPC Secures $1.16m US Grant for 1,350MW Abuja Power Plant
