The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Wednesday said it would build a 4, 600 megawatts power generating plants in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano states. The Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Maikanti Baru stated this when the Governor of Niger state, Abubakar Bello paid him a courtesy visit.
He said the decision to invest in the power sector was due to the recently approved contract for the construction of the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline, also known as the AKK Pipeline. He explained that the corporation was building the power plants in partnership with the private sector in a bid to support the federal government address power situation in the country.
“As part of the drive to establish power plants to augment the power supply to the nation, the Federal Executive Council has recently approved the AKK Gas Pipeline project to be financed through public-private partnership. The project comes with other auxiliary ones, which include 1,350MW, 900MW and 2,350MW of power generation plants in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano, respectively.”
Baru added that the private investors would also build fertilizer plants in some parts of the country including Niger state. He also hinted that in line with presidential directive on oil exploration in all frontier basins, the corporation was well-focused on exploration in the Bida Basin.
“We have contracted the geological mapping of the Bida Basin to the Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai, and the job will be completed in three months,” he stated.
Bello had stated that the purpose of his visit was to get firsthand information on the planned oil exploration in the Bida Basin as well as to appeal to the NNPC to find alternative parking spaces for tankers along the highways and communities in the state.
