BY FESTUS OKOROMADU
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday, performed the groundbreaking of the 350MW first phase of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited 1350MW Gwagwalada Independent Power Project.
The president used the occasion to reaffirm his administration’s commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s energy sector.
He stated that the initiative was in line with his campaign promise to increase power generation beyond the current 12,000MW, address power value chain challenges, and remove all distribution bottlenecks.
“This is our bold statement towards fulfilling our promise to provide clean and efficient energy to Nigerians,” Tinubu declared at the ceremony.
On his part, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, said the project was an opportunity to monetize the nation’s abundant natural gas resources.
“Today’s groundbreaking ceremony of the Gwagwalada Independent Power Plant is an opportunity to monetize our abundant natural gas resources. Expanding access to energy will change the game in the energy mix,” he said.
The GIPP project is led by NNPC Ltd in a joint venture with China Machinery and Engineering Corporation for the EPC, and General Electric for the Long Term Service Agreement, and is designed to provide reliable electricity, strengthen Nigeria’s energy sector, and accelerate economic growth.
The project will sit on an already acquired 54.7 hectares of land in Gwagwalada, Abuja, and is one of the critical power generation projects along the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline corridor which is at 70% completion.
AKK is Nigeria’s largest, ongoing domestic gas pipeline project till date.
Prior to the groundbreaking ceremony, NNPCL, CMEC, and GE Vernova, had on Thursday signed the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction contract for the 1,350 MW Gwagwalada Independent Power Plant Project.
