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Nigeria President Bola Tinubu on Friday officially kicked off the construction of the 1,350mw Gwagwalada Independent Power Plant (GIPP) in Abuja, with the first phase expected to comprise 350mw.
Describing it as another important piece of national infrastructure, the president noted that the Joint Venture (JV) would have General Electric (GE), China Machinery and Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) on board.
He explained that the ground-breaking was highly significant to the nation, as it marked the first bold step in his administration’s effort to establish a strong and virile energy sector and deliver uninterrupted power to all Nigerians.
Tinubu recalled that during his presidential campaign, he made a commitment to Nigerians to use all available energy sources to increase power generation beyond the current installed capacity of 12,000mw.
He also vowed to strengthen the integrity of the country’s transmission infrastructure and to ensure that all distribution bottlenecks were removed, pledging to make sure that the project is delivered on schedule.
“Nigeria cannot become a productive and industrialised economy, we cannot tackle poverty or create thousands of high paying manufacturing jobs unless we can generate, transmit and distribute reliable electricity. To accelerate our economic growth, we must remove every obstacle slowing our progress.
“That this project is taking off so early in the lifetime of this administration should serve as notice to the residents of Abuja and, indeed, to all Nigerians of our determination to bring positive change to this nation,” the president said.
According to him, under the NNPC-NIPCO partnership, 35 state-of-the-art CNG stations would be constructed nationwide, including three mother stations.
The president equally stated that he was poised to address all the power value chain challenges and reduce the power-related hardships experienced by many Nigerians.
“Taking advantage of the global declaration of gas as ‘transition fuel’, as well as the enabling provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), we shall attract greater investment in the oil and gas sector.
“Through such investments, we shall harness the over 200 trillion cubic feet of proven national gas reserves within our borders to develop our national infrastructure, create millions of new jobs and opportunities and stimulate economic growth and development,” he added.
Besides, the president said he would continue to vigorously pursue the implementation of other low-carbon energy solutions, such as solar, hydro, wind, thermal and biofuels, for both on-grid and off-grid power systems.
“We will focus on rural electrification to improve the standard of living of people in rural communities and re-energise their socio-economic opportunities.
“Therefore, the investment of NNPC Ltd alongside its partners in the installation of additional 350mw will surely increase the energy supply level to Nigerian homes and businesses; catalyse economic empowerment and, ultimately, renew the hope of our energetic and creative citizens,” he stated.
The president commended the efforts of the NNPC Ltd, alongside its partners for the initiative and charged the team to ensure that the three-year project is successfully delivered on time, and within budget.
He also directed the ministry of power and other relevant agencies, including the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to continue to collaborate with NNPC Ltd to give Nigerians access to affordable and reliable electricity.
In his remarks, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, reiterated that Nigeria is endowed with significant natural gas resources of over 209TCF of proven gas reserves, and potential reserve of over 600TCF.
As a commercial enterprise, Kyari noted that the NNPC viewed the project as an opportunity to monetise the country’s abundant natural gas resources, by expanding access to energy to support economic growth, industrialisation, and job creation across the country.
To achieve this national aspiration, he explained that NNPC has invested heavily in domestic gas footprint expansion projects through the delivery of the Trans-Nigeria Pipeline Project (TNGP) which includes the Escravos to Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS & ELPS Il), the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (0B3) gas pipeline and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline.
He added that the project was a giant step towards achieving NNPC’s mandate to add 5gw into the national power generation by 2024.
“Currently, NNPC and partners are delivering about 800mw to the national grid from Afam VI and Okpai Phase 1 thermal power plants with combined installed capacity of 1,100mw.
“We have also completed Okpai Phase 2 project that will add up to 320mw of power to the national grid and progressing with other power plant projects across the country, including those along the AKK pipeline route,” Kyari said.
The Gwagwalada IPP, he noted, is among the NNPC flagship power projects along the AKK corridor and is part of the 3,600mw cumulative power capacity which includes Kaduna IPP (900mw) and Kano IPP (1,350mw).
Referencing the recent commissioning of the 50mw Maiduguri Emergency Power plant (MEPP), Kyari said that the NNPC will continue to replicate similar viable business opportunities across the nation to ensure energy affordability.
The entire plant is expected to be situated on 547 hectares of land already acquired at Gwagwalada, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The GIPP’s fuel requirements will be satisfied under a long-term Gas Sales, Purchase and Aggregation Agreement with Shell Petroleum Development Company Joint Venture (SPDC JV).
On completion, the GIPP Project’s electricity will be sold to NBET and it is projected to gross in revenues within the first 10 years of between $700-$800 million per year. That would be about $8 billion in 10 years.
Others who spoke at the event were the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum, Gabriel Aduda and that of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Olusolade Adesola, who both pledged their support for the project.
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
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