N’Delta: FG targets 250,000 jobs from $20bn gas park

The Federal Government is planning to generate 250,000 direct and indirect jobs through the $20bn Gas Revolution Industrial Park being planned for Ogidigben in Delta State.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Acting President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

Akande said the decision to set up the park was one of the outcomes of the ongoing consultations the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, made in the Niger Delta.

He said the park would be set up through a Public-Private Partnership model.

He said the park would be a regional hub for all gas-based industries, adding that the project would cover 2,700 hectares of land with fertilizer, methanol, petrochemicals and aluminium plants located in the park designated as a tax-free zone by the government.

Akande said Osinbajo spoke while meeting with international developers and investors of the project at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

“The present administration is committed to the development of the Niger Delta and the importance of this project is underlined by the presidential attention it is attracting,” Osinbajo was quoted as saying.

He said Osinbajo, alongside the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu; the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s Group Managing Director; Dr. Maikanti Baru; and other top government and NNPC officials met with the group of international investors and developers put together under a consortium by a Dubai-based firm, AGMC.

The consortium, he said, was made up of Fortune 500 companies like the GSE&C of South Korea, the China Development Bank, Power China and several other global operators from Asia and the United Arab Emirates.

The statement read, “Under the plan presented today by the consortium to the Acting President, about $20bn would be invested to develop the Gas Revolution Industrial Park, generating 250,000 direct and indirect jobs in the process.

“The industrial park would be a cluster for several industries in one location benefitting from an efficient, cost-competitive and abundant supply of natural gas, proximity to a deep seaport and centralised utilities and services such as uninterrupted power, world-class telecommunications and processed water.

“The park, originally conceived by the NNPC, is located about 60km from Warri, and is about one kilometre away from the operational base of Chevron Nigeria Limited.

“It will be connected to over 18tn cubic feet of gas reserves in fields such as Odidi, Okan, Forcados, located within a 50km radius.

“It is equally planned that the park will be connected to Nigeria’s most dominant gas pipeline network – ELPS, to enable the supply of gas to and from the park.”

In his remarks, Kachikwu expressed confidence that the GRIP will bring the much needed succour to the people of the Niger Delta and the oil-producing states.

The leader of the group of investors and developers, Sheik Mohammed Bayo, stressed the commitment of the consortium, adding also that the project was important to solving the Niger Delta crisis.