THE US government has granted Nigeria over $1 million for technical and financial work on a power plant project in the capital Abuja, the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) said on Tuesday.

The proposed grant would be used to actualise the  Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation plans for the construction of the 1,350 megawatts NNPC-Abuja Independent Power Project plant to diversify and monetize gas stream through power generation.

Mele Kyari, Managing Director NNPC, during the  Nigeria International Petroleum Summit which opened in Abuja yesterday said that the corporation would be working with the US firms GE and Continuum Associates for the duration of the project.

Engr. Benjamin Adah, manager of the project, during the Panel Review Meeting in January assessing  the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project commended the new “initiative  as one that would assist in reducing the current gas flare in the country while leveraging on the existing huge natural gas resources from the NNPC Upstream and the proposed Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas pipeline to boost the nation’s revenue base and generate employment opportunities for the youth.”

Muhammad Mahmud, Minister of Environment,  also hailed the NNPC on the Power Plant project which he said would be instrumental in boosting electricity supply in parts of the nation through the use of clean energy.

However, Catriona Laing, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, on Tuesday said that the country’s efforts pertaining to climate change are worrisome as Nigeria has failed to access series of multilateral agency funding earmarked for climate improvement.