The Niger State Government has signed a Memoranda of Understanding with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited to develop renewable energy.
The MoU will also lead to the development of low-carbon solution projects, including Greenfield Hydroelectric Power, Solar parks in institutions, home solar systems for 250,000 households and the establishment of a 500 million-litre Ethanol plant.
Governor Mohammed Bago’s Chief Press Secretary, Bologi Ibrahim. disclosed this on Wednesday in a statement in which he said the MoU was in the area of industrialisation, agriculture, solar deployment and renewable energy.
“Maize, sugarcane, and sweet sorghum will be cultivated on 100,000 hectares of land in the state, to produce over 500,000 tons of the crops that will be used to fuel the ethanol plant,” Ibrahim stated.
He also stated that the governor and the Secretary to the State Government, Abubakar Usman, signed the MoU on behalf of the state government while the NNPCL’s Executive Vice President, Gas, Power and New Energy, Olalekan Ogunleye, as well as its Managing Director, New Energy Limited, Kanayochukwu Odoe, signed for the NNPCL at the corporation’s head office in Abuja.
Bago, who described the signing of the MoU as historic, expressed confidence that Nigerlites will benefit a lot from it, noting that clean energy is one of the targets of the NNPCL and a dream come true for the state, especially in its drive towards clean energy.
He assured all that the state government would continue to take advantage of the water bodies in the state to make green energy a reality.
In his remarks, Ogunleye explained that the leadership of NNPCL was focused not just on projecting clean energy in Africa, but exploring the route and converting it for the prosperity of the country.
He commended the leadership style and commitment of the state governor and expressed optimism that the MOU signed with the state would create the platform to work together in terms of creating a green-energy economy.
Odoe, described the partnership with the state as progressive, adding that the corporation’s objective of making Nigeria a hub of green energy and green economy was 5ealisable.
