USTDA Awards Grant To NNPC Gas And Power Investment To Boost Electricity Supply In Abuja And Environs

Nigeria’s electricity problems in Abuja may soon come to an end.

This is because the United States Trade and Development Agency, has awarded a grant to NNPC Gas and Power Investment Company LTD to provide technical, economic and financial analysis that will see an end to epileptic power supply.

Part of the grant is for the development of a one thousand, three hundred and fifty-megawatts combined cycle, natural gas-fired power plant in Abuja.

Ekwi Ajide of our Abuja bureau, reports that the project will utilize indigenous gas resources to address the growing demand for power in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.

GPIC selected a U.S company, Continuum Associates LLC to conduct the study while GE International Operations (Nig.) Ltd will contribute to the project.

Signing on behalf of the United States, at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja, USTDA’s Acting Director, Thomas Hardy, said the feasibility study will provide the informed analysis needed to address critical energy generation in Nigeria, build upon USTDA’s commitment to working with Nigeria partners to develop and expand the nation’s domestic gas sector.

U.S Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, who witnessed the signing, described the day as a special one for the two nations as it showcases an enduring bilateral relationship that binds the United States and Nigeria.

Signing for Nigeria, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, said, USTDA’s grant could not have come at a better time as the grant offers a vista of opportunities to concretize arrangements to provide stable power supply to Abuja and Northern Nigeria in the foreseeable future.

In their separate speeches, the Managing Director GE Gas Power, Nigeria and Anglophone West Africa, Mohammed Mijindadi, and Continuum Associates, Chief Operating Officer, Sandeep Baidwan, who also witnessed the grant signing ceremony, said the plant will be a critical boost to improving Nigeria’s energy deficit and provide the much-needed power for the country.