The Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Friday commended the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for their interest in establishing Biofuel in Kogi State.
The governor gave the commendation when he received the delegation from the Renewable Energy Department of the NNPC in his office on Friday.
Gov. Bello commended the NNPC for taking advantage of the state’s enormous and economic resources to invest in the state.
He noted that the efforts of his administration in making the state safe for investors and citizens was already paying off.
Earlier, the leader of the team, Mr Danjuma Yakubu, said the team had carried out soil test at the proposed site for the Biofuel Refinery in Alape and decided to brief the governor on the development.
According to him, the Kogi State Government, the NNPC and private investors have also finalised agreement to establish Crop Processing Zone at Alape and Ike-Bunu in Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area of the State.
”The Crop Processing Zone will cover 20, 000 hectares of Sugarcane production in Ike-Bunu while 15,000 hectares of land has been tested for Cassava Production in Alape,” he said.
The sugarcane and cassava will serve as feedstocks for the Biofuel Refinery. The group said the consultants engaged by the corporation to carry out land validation in both Ike-Bunu are currently on sites and will complete their works in 8 weeks. They also revealed that contract for the feasibility study has been awarded stating that contractors for the construction of the Refinery were also on ground, awaiting the feasibility study report to commence construction.
The team commended the governor for his support and for providing the enabling environment for industrialisation.
Yakubu noted that the NNPC were satisfied with the necessary tests that had been carried out on the sites so far.
The team was accompanied to the governor’s office by the state Commissioner of Finance and Economic Planning , Hon Idris Asiru, Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon David Apeh, State Accountant General, Mr Momoh Jibrin and Auditor-General of the state, Yusuf Okala.
