Buhari flags off construction of nation’s most ambitious gas pipeline project
President Muhammadu Buhari will today flag off the construction of the nation’s most ambitious gas project pipeline in recent time, the Ajaokuta-kaduna-kano (AKK) gas pipeline. The flagging off of the $2.8 billion gas project at Ajaokuta, Kogi State, will be turning to reality some of the nation’s long-term economic aspirations of boosting domestic energy infrastructure, deepening the local gas market, creating industrial corridors with cleaner fuel, and commercialising the country’s abundant gas resources. According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the project will significantly curb gas flaring in the Niger Delta and guarantee better air quality in the oil producing region. The Oilserv and CFHEC consortium is slated to deliver the first 200-kilometre phase of the AKK pipeline, which covers the section between Ajaokuta and Abuja, after securing the EPC contract in April 2018. Emeka Okwuosa, group chairman of Oilserv Limited, says in a statement that the project is not just a significant infrastructure development for the domestic economy but also a powerful spur to local industrial capacity and technical expertise. Nigeria’s Presidency had confidently asserted that, the AKK “pipeline project is itself a section of an ambitious pipeline project to supply gas to Europe through the proposed Trans Sahara Gas Pipeline (TSGP) and Nigeria Morocco Gas Pipelines.” Thus, in the short term the AKK will ensure energy sufficiency for domestic commerce and industry, and in the long term, having deepened and satisfied domestic demand, morph into an export pipeline and economic mainstay. The AKK project, when completed, offers enormous economic and social benefits to the nation, and will unlock 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas to the domestic market, support the addition of 3,600 megawatts of power to the national grid and revitalise textile industries that alone boasts of over 3 million jobs in parts of the country. In addition, the AKK project will support the development of petrochemicals, fertilizer, methanol and other gas-based industries that will generate employment and facilitate Balanced Economic Growth. The project will also facilitate the development of three base Independent Power Plants (IPPS) in Abuja (1350mw), Kaduna (900mw) and Kano (1350mw), and steer the development of gasbased industries along its corridor and beyond. Other values envisaged from the project include: multiplier effect in the local content circles, cleaner environment for the host communities, accelerated technical growth, direct citizen utility, industrial convenience, and of course, general broadening of the economy. The Ajaokuta, Kaduna and Kano gas project is a component of the Nigerian Gas Master Plan (NGMC), a gas infrastructure blueprint, approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2008, but has received serious attention of the Buhari administration. The other major domestic gas transmission systems are: The Western System, that is, the existing 36’ EscravosLagos Pipeline I and II with 2.2 billion cubic feet capacity and the ongoing East-west connection via the Obiafu/obrikom-oben Pipeline (OB3) featuring 2.4 billion cubic feet per day capacity. The 614-kilometre gas pipeline conceived to provide the highly desired stimulus to domestic industrial growth will be delivered by a consortium of indigenous and international engineering firms. This project will also signal the finest hour so far for the Nigerian Content Policy goals.