An indigenous consortium led by the FirstGate Group on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government to invest about $4bn (about N800bn) in the construction of two power plants with combined output of 2,000 megawatts.
According to the group, the plants will be gas fired (1,000MW) and solar powered (1,000MW), and both projects will be completed in four to five years.
The Chief Executive, FirstGate Business Intermediaries Limited, Mr. Kelvin Asogwa, who signed on behalf of the consortium at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Power in Abuja, said the projects would assist in the realization of the government’s power sector transformation.
Asogwa said the consortium would train 74,000 Nigerian youths in various technical trades, adding that the capacity building programme would be done in South Korea and Turkey. “We have planned to work with 74,000 youths. The partnering overseas companies have accepted to train Nigerians, after which they will be engaged when the plants must have come on stream,” he added. Asogwa said the training scheme was designed as part of the MoU for the foreign firms to train Nigerian youths.
On the consortium’s financial and technical capabilities, he said the group had the wherewithal and gave an assurance that the plants would be completed on schedule. “The process is like a circle. From the beginning, it entails training and later, the trainees will be absorbed to work in these plants. Already, the group has acquired 27,000 hectares of land in Kogi State for this purpose,” he added.
After signing on behalf of the Federal Government, the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said the ceremony had showed government’s resolve to do anything to ensure adequate provision of electricity for Nigerians. He commended the FirstGate Group for the initiative and for partnering with South Korean investors who were reputed for developing solar energy technology well ahead of other countries. The minister said South Korea had developed solar energy to power clusters of industries and trade zones, adding that FirstGate would benefit immensely from the Asians in developing appropriate technology for battery storage systems and other hi-tech uses from solar technology.
He urged the group to make haste by executing the contents of the agreement reached with the Federal Government, stressing that if the MoU was not actualized soon, it would become dead. Nebo also stated that the financing of the plants was vital to the realization of the project, and explained that about $2bn would be needed for each of the power plants.
He, however, promised to assist in the areas of licensing, permits and reports, stressing that the Power ministry would ensure that all the processes were hastened.
