NNPC to establish $300m energy renewable plant in Benue

The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has concluded plans to set up an energy renewable plant that will use agro products to generate energy in Benue State.

The Group General Manager in charge of Renewable Energy Division, Rabiu Suleiman, made this announcement on Tuesday in Makurdi during a courtesy call on Gov. Samuel Ortom at the Benue Peoples’ House.

According to the NNPC boss, the project, which would cost about 300 million dollars, would be financed through joint partnership with foreign partners.

He added that the corporation had already secured technical partners that were ready to support the project.

Rabiu noted that the decision to diversify energy generation from existing sources to agricultural products was conceived by the Federal Government in 2005.

He, however, said that the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had already taken initiatives to begin the diversification programme.

He lauded the Benue Government for providing 20,000 hectares of land for the projects’ take-off and assured that the land would form part of its equity share of the plant.

Rabiu said when completed, the plant would boost economic growth and create employment for the people of the state.

He said the land would be used for the cultivation of sugarcane, cassava, palm kernel for the extraction of ethanol as a renewable energy source.

“Apart from ethanol which will be sourced from the agricultural products, we can also make fertilisers and animal feeds from their byproducts,” he added.

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