Fed Govt raises N119 billion for Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline The Federal Government has been able to raise about $700 million (about N119 billion) for the Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline (TNGP) project. The project aims to connect major gas supply sources in the Eastern Niger Delta through pipeline infrastructure that will traverse the northern part of Nigeria. This was disclosed in the 98-pages Transformation Agenda: Review Progress report for the period 2013 to 2014 presented to the public by President Goodluck Jonathan, which highlighted the achievements of the administration in the past one year as part of activity marking the 2014 Democracy Day celebration in Abuja. The report said that the government was able to raise $450 million through successful Eurobond offer while it put in additional direct equity contribution of about $250 million in support of the project. The government also disclosed that there were increased investments in the downstream sector from N53 billion during the period while emergence of 71 depots in the country has assisted in checking scarcity by improving Nigerians access to more refined petroleum products. It also maintained that the administrations efforts at tackling corruption in the Oil and Gas sector is yielding positive gains by the verdict of the global Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI). Stressing that remarkable progress has been made, the report also listed key challenges in the sector to include vandalization of oil pipelines, crude oil theft, environmental pollution from gas flaring and oil spillage, non-passage of PIB bill, operations of illegal small-scale petroleum refineries, high cost of capital, insecurity, and inadequate local capacity. In the Manufacturing and Trade sector, the report said the sum of $1.75 billion in private sector investments was injected in 2013 to boost cement production in the country. This, the government said, has not only resulted in sustained production growth in 2013, but has now made Nigeria a net exporter of cement. On sugar production, the report said: The government successfully secured aggregate pipeline investment commitment of $3.1 billion into the Nigerian sugar sector, and increased sugar project sites in the country from 6 to 17. All three existing sugar refineries have signed commitments with government to produce an aggregate 700,000 mts/annum by 2018.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 09:22:18 +0000