My beloved Abia State believes that energy security is catalytic to economic development, and that is the reason our state will set up a modular refinery in Abia Industrial Innovation Park. Our slogan is “prosperity through enterprise” and we need energy to run enterprises. I commend Mr. Governor, Dr Alex Otti, and the whole Team Abia, for executing the playbook which Abians have hired them to execute.
In a move to bolster economic development and tap into the region’s abundant petroleum and mineral resources, Abia State is gearing up for the establishment of a groundbreaking modular refinery within the Abia Industrial Innovation Park.
Okey Kanu, the Commissioner for Information and Culture in Abia State, announced on Tuesday that the refinery is slated to commence full-scale operations by 2025.
The modular refinery is the first phase for the industrial redesign of the state which has Aba as the commercial capital. In my first and second year industrial attachments (internships) while a student in FUTO, I served in the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC), a subsidiary of NNPC.
My assignment was simple: resume at NGC Moscow Road Office in PHC, join the crew going to Owaza flow station in Abia State, which had then a gas pipeline to Aba ceramics and glass Industries. Then at the end of the month, visit some of the Aba industries to read their gas meters, and reconcile, for payments. Yes, there were gas pipelines pushing gas to power Aba companies, from Owaza.
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But magically, like the railways which disappeared in Nigeria, those pipelines went into the thin air, and Aba was starved of gas – and de-industrialization followed. We hope that is reversed so that Aba will rise again, and cushion the development of broad Abia, and Nigeria.
Abia State >> moving forward. #invest in Abia.
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
Co-Chair, Abia State Economic Transformation Council
Abia State Announces Ambitious Modular Refinery Project to Begin Operation by 2025
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