Indications have emerged revealing that the planned 20 per cent equity stake by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the Nagarjuna Fertilizer Project may be in the provision of the needed petroleum products for production of fertilizer.
The fertilizer project is designed to produce 2.8 metric tonne per annum (MTPA) of Urea and 0.22MTPA of Ammonia.
In a statement issued by the NNPC’s spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu, after the inauguration of the Joint Management Committee (JMC) of the Nagarjuna Fertilizer Project, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, charged members of the JMC to work hard to achieve early Final Investment Decision (FID) for eventual take-off of the project.
The JMC is made up of members drawn from Nagarjuna Fertilizer and Chemicals Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the India-based Nagarjuna Group and NNPC.
Dr Baru noted that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was keenly interested in diversifying the economy by growing the agricultural sector and that the early take-off of the Nagarjuna Fertilizer Project would be a boost to that aspiration.
Baru stressed that “It is my expectation that the negotiations with the financiers and other prospective investors will be concluded in order to meet the FID target of March 2019”.
NNPC further noted that the project was in tandem with the objectives of the Federal Government’s 7-Big Wins and the corporation’s 12-Business Focus Areas.
Before now, the federal government sealed a partnership deal with Morocco in the supply of fertilizer to drive ongoing diversification in agriculture even though several rice farmers in Kebbi and other parts of the country recently complained of shortage of the products and lateness in its supplies from the government.
