Ondo Government, NNPC sign MoU on bio-fuel plant

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Thursday in Abuja said it would create one million jobs through a bio-fuel project in Ondo.
NNPC has therefore signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ondo State Government to establish a 65,000 million litres per annum biofuel plant in Okeluse to realise this goal.
Speaking when the  Ondo Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, led a delegation from the state for the MoU signing ceremony at the NNPC Towers, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, explained that the project was not a one-hundred-per-cent NNPC subsidiary and that some investors were also bringing in Foreign Direct Investment into the country for the project.

Project benefits

On the benefits of the project, the GMD disclosed that the construction of the plant and the production of cassava feedstock could create at least one million direct and indirect jobs.

Other benefits, according to Baru, include reduction of fuel import, reduction of greenhouse gas emission to combat global warming, and boost in the production of animal feeds from by-products of the plant.
The GMD also allayed fears of any possible negative impact of the plant on the supply of cassava-based foods for human consumption, stressing that the cassava that would be used for the biofuel project was a special breed that would not be in competition for human consumption or interfere with the activities of farmers cultivating other breeds of cassava or indeed other crops.

Biofuel project

Governor Akeredolu expressed confidence that the biofuel project would take off for the benefit of the people of the state and the country in general.

He assured that the state had enough farmers as well as cassava to sustain the biofuel plant, stressing that his visit was to show his commitment to the project.
Present to witness the signing of the MoU were the Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank), New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).