Emeka Okoroanyanwu
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has concluded arrangements to sign a $1.16 million grant from the United States Trade and Development Agency, USTDA, being part funding for the 1,350 megawatts (MW) electricity NNPC-Abuja Independent Power Project, IPP.
In a statement in Abuja, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, stated that the plan by the NNPC to build the 1,350mw power plant in Abuja was part of the national strategy to harness the abundant natural gas resources in the country.
He explained that the USDTA grant was to complement the ongoing feed project in order to make the Abuja IPP initiative more bankable for strategic investors’ participation.
He assured the U.S. team that every money given as grant to the corporation would be fully utilized and accounted for, while 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.
He 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.”
“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.”
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
