09 December 2014, Abuja – The Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, for the construction of a 1,000 megawatts (MW) power plant in Katsina State with Strancton Limited.
It also signed another agreement with Greenville Oil and Gas Limited for the supply of Liquified Natural Gas, LNG, to the Kaduna Power Plant.The Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, who signed the two separate MoUs on behalf of Government in Abuja, said, “because of the importance of these two MoUs to Mr. President’s transformation agenda, these flag ships got mentioned in my presentation at the 2014 Ministerial Platform.”
He said the proposed power project is highly innovative as its promoter, Strancton, working with Katsina State will utilise gas from Niger Republic to fire its proposed plant.
He said such innovative project is a call for us to take full advantage of gas reserves, by building infrastructure for its utilisation, as he observed that gas alone can assist the country’s economic development immensely even without oil.
Nebo promised to support the project as it is another way to stabilise the nation’s grid system by making it robust and active, as he noted that the promoters have brought to fore new ideas of how to provide cheaper fueling, as it has been established that “you don’t need to locate a power plant next door to where you have gas hence, it is possible to use liquified natural gas”.
The Minister challenged other states to emulate the Katsina State initiative, by keying into Mr. President’s privatisation agenda in the power sector and investing in the sector in partnership with the private sector.
Earlier, the Minister of State, Mr. Mohammed Wakil in his comment said the signing of the MoUs is a proof that the efforts of the government in wooing investors are yielding positive results.
He said he is excited that the realisation of the project will bring Nigeria nearer to the target of 20,000MW by 2020 as contained in the vision 20:2020 document.
He observed that the proposed project that has been conceived on gas from Niger Republic will assist in bridging the gap of non-availability of gas, adding that “the planned supply of LNG to Kaduna Plant will give us a good footing”.
Wakil stressed that the local content component of the two MoUs is commendable, as it would ensure that Nigerian youths take their rightful positions in the future.Speaking on behalf of the two companies, Mr. Edozie Njoku, CEO of Strancton Limited said the plant is the first gas pipeline-fed electricity project in Northern Nigeria between Katsina State Government and Consortium of General Electric, Vellbridge Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Limited and other private partners.
*Chris Ochayi-Vanguard