The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Kogi State Government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a fuel-ethanol plant that will produce 84 million litres of bio-fuel annually.
In a statement issued by the corporation’s Spokesman Mr Ndu Ughamadu, the NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru said the project would also yield a cane mill and a raw and refined sugar plant of 126,000 tonnes annually.
According to him, the Bagasse co-generation Plant would also generate 64 Megawatts of power and would include a carbon dioxide recovery and bottling plant with capacity of 2,000 tonnes per year.
“The Sugarcane Feedstock Plantation would be on a 19,000 hectares and it would produce animal feeds of 63,000 tonnes per year.
“NNPC is committed to implementing Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement aimed at combating global Climate Change, to which President Muhammadu Buhari signed, and deposited Nigeria’s “Instrument of Ratification” to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in May 2017.
“The Renewable Energy Division of NNPC was created in line with Federal Government’s directive with the sole aim of Industrialising Agriculture in Nigeria through the commercial production of biofuels from selected energy crops as feedstock, while fostering the exploitation of other Renewable Energy Sources”, he said.
Baru noted that the project would mitigate against the negative effect of climate change and earn Nigeria Carbon credits from Clean Development Mechanism Projects activities, serving as additional line of profitable business for NNPC, including food production and power generation.
“The proposed NNPC Biofuels project in Kaba/Bunu, Kogi State would be an integrated feedstock plantation and process plants complex on a land mass of 20,000 hectares for sugarcane and or 15,000 hectares for cassava with potentials for further expansion”, he added.
Meanwhile, in his remarks, Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello stated that the MoU was another milestone in the history of the state, stressing that the project would take not fewer than two million citizens of the state out of the street.
He applauded President Muhammadu Buhari and the GMD, Dr. Baru, for their efforts in diversifying the Nigerian economy, adding that the state was ready to provide all the needed support for the take-off of the project.
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