Niger Govt Signs Green Economy, Energy Agreement With NNPCL

By Oduyemi Odumade

The Niger State Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited NNPCL, have signed a Green Economy and Energy Development Partnership agreement.

In a statement in Abuja, the agreement which is the first of its kind, is for development of four unique projects, a Greenfield Hydroelectric Power Project, Mega Solar Parks in institutions and Home Solar System for 250,000 households out of the 800,000 households in Niger state.

The Project also includes a 500 million liter Ethanol Plant with associated cropping of Maize /Sugarcane/Sweet Sorghum on 100,000 hectares of land in Niger state which is expected to produce over 500,000 tons of crops to feed the ethanol plant.

“The NNPCL plans to plant 135 million trees on 100,000 hectares of land as part of its commitment to climate protection and carbon sequestration towards its 2030 net zero targets”.

This followed the commitment of the Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umar Bago towards planting one billion trees on a million hectare of land over the next eight years.

According to the statement, the agreement is in response to the Niger State Government Green Intiative which is expected to attract partners with other global oil and Gas, Shipping, Airlines, Cement companies, the United Nations and its agencies in achieving the one billion trees target.

Edited By Grace Namiji