Environment Minister, Stakeholders Laud NNPC on Abuja IPP Project 

The Minister of Environment, Muhammad Mahmud, has commended the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the proposed Abuja 1350MW Independent Power Plant(IIP) project aimed at boosting electricity supply in parts of the nation.

Mahmud gave the commendation in Abuja during the panel review meeting on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project.

According to a statement by the corperation’s spokeperson Samson Makoji on Tuesday, the minister noted that the IIP project was critical to the federal governmment as it has a great potential to improve the power situation in parts of the country.

“Let me seize this opportunity to commend the management of Gas and Power Investment Company and by extension, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for this wonderful initiative. Certainly, this project is one of the critical infrastructures that the Federal Government is making judicious efforts to embrace” he said. 

 Represented by Celestine Gomwalk, Mahmud said the Ministry, through the newly constituted EIA Panel, would ensure that only decisions that are of mutual benefits to all stakeholders would be considered, pointing out that the essence of the exercise was to guarantee sustainability of the Power Plant project.

In his presentation, the Abuja Independent Power Plant Project Manager,Benjamin Adah, stated that part of the objectives of the proposed project was to diversify and monetize NNPC gas revenue stream through power generation.

Adah noted that it was an initiative that would assist in reducing the current gas flare in the country.

He said the project would leverage on the existing huge natural gas resources from the NNPC Upstream and the proposed Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas pipeline to boost the nation’s revenue base and generate employment opportunities for the youth.

The power  project which  would sit on a 54.7 hectares of land in the Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory is focused to  help decongest the over-voltage on transmission network coming from closely located power generating companies in the gas producing areas.

According to Akoji the  project would be co-financed by the NNPC and its strategic partner, GE/CMEC, with a combination of Debt-Equity sharing ratio of 70%:30%.

Engr. David Abang of the Research and Development Division of NNPC, which is the Project Consultant, stated that a lot of research and effort had been put into developing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project, stressing that a lot of similar projects had failed for lack of proper EIA study.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chief of Dukpa, Alh.Yinusa Gwamna, said the community was impressed by the way the NNPC Group carried the community along so far in the course of developing the project, adding that he looked forward to a sustained relationship.

Other stakeholders present at the exercise were Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), and researchers from University of Abuja, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and Nnamdi Azikiwe University.