…Supplies fertilisers to 32m Nigerian farmers
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited, IPCL, on Monday stated that its facility does not emit soot, explaining that it runs a closed system that does not allow incomplete combustion.
The firm also disclosed that it supplies fertilisers to over 32 million farmers in the country, which has substituted the importation of fertilisers that the country hitherto spent N7 billion to import annually.
The Head, Corporate Communications of IPCL, Dr. Jossy Nkwocha, while taking journalists on a tour round the petrochemicals facility, explained that the company was buying hydrocarbon from oil operators, hence cannot afford to carryout incomplete combustion in its facility, because the company will be losing money.
The company’s image maker explained that the tour was imperative to debunked any insinuations and to make its records open, as it owes the public the resposibility to explain her operations to them in order to avoid misinformation.
Nkwocha added that the company was proactive in issues that may affect the environment and its production, asssuring that the company will never carrying out operations that will contravene WHO’s standards or that would be inimical to the health of Nigerians.
He also said activities of Indorama were been monitored by both the Federal and State Ministries of Environment, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and other agencies, as these agencies audit the firm’s activities on quarterly bases.
“We have an open book, we have nothing to hide. Indorama’s operation does not emit soot whatsoever, we have a closed system which does not allow any waste. You can see them for yourselves.
“We buy every hydrocarbon we use for production, so we cannot afford to waste any atom of it through incomplete combustion, if we allow incomplete combustion it means that we are losing money.
“We have invited you as a third party to see what we are doing. Indorama does not emit soot whatsoever. There is no soot in Indorama. We have the responsibility to explain to the public so the public are not misinformed.”
Nkwocha also disclosed that the firm was impacting tremendously on the country’s economy, adding that over 7,000 workers were been employed in the company, while the comapny supplies fertiliers to 32million farmers across the country.
He added that the government, both at federal and State levels, has been supportive of the company.
“We have 7,000 workers and contractors, they come here everyday. So that employment of more than 7, 000 persons, if you extrapolate it by their family members and others you could see the number of persons.
“We supply fertilizer to over 32 million farmers. We also supply urea to blending plants across the country and each of them may employ about 100 persons. So, Indorama is helping so much in creating jobs.
“We have two major products, petrochemicals and fertilizer. The petrochemicals are the engine room of Nigeria’s industrialization. Without it we will spending so much money to import petrochemical and because we are producing in Nigeria, the country is saving so much money. So we are doing what is called import substitution.
“In the area of fertilizer, Nigeria used to spend N7billion to import fertilizer annually. Today, the fertilizer is coming from Indorama and any other companies that produces fertilizer but Indorama supplies about 95 percent of the fertilizers in Nigeria.
“We are also paying dividends to Rivers State government and the federal government who are shareholders in Indorama. We are the first to give 7.5percent equity shares to our host communities.”
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