THE Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has expressed optimism on meeting the first quarter 2023 delivery target based on the progress of work done on the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline Project.
This development was confirmed in a statement issued late Thursday, April 13, 2022 by Garba Deen Muhammad, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs of NNPC.
According to the statement, the NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD), Mele Kyari, expressed the optimism when he took the NNPC Board members on an official tour of Segment A sites in Abaji Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory.
Kyari, who was accompanied by other members of his management team on the tour, stated that the country would see over eight billion standard cubic feet (scf) of gas injected into the domestic pipeline, which he said would improve power generation, facilitate industrial development, create thousands of job opportunities and deepen domestic gas utilisation.
The GMD, who described the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline as “a signature project of this administration”, further stated that it was time for Nigeria to take advantage of having the highest gas reserves in Africa.
The statement also quoted the Chairman of the NNPC Board, Senator Margery Okadigbo, as remarking that based on the magnitude of work done at the various construction sites, the projection to have first gas by the first quarter of 2023 was realisable.
Okadigbo stated that the country stood the chance to leverage on the current realities to provide solutions to the global gas supply challenge.
The Chairman of Oilserve, the company handling Segment A of the AKK project, Emeka Okwuosa, confirmed his company’s readiness to deliver the project on schedule.
He assured that the project managers and teams were more than competent to deliver the project within a record time.
Construction of the 614-kilometre AKK pipeline project was flagged off simultaneously in Kogi and Kaduna states by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020 to encourage gas utilization and serve as a springboard for the nation’s industrialization.