By Peter Uzoho
NIPCO Plc has heightened plots to weaken deforestation rocking parts of Nigeria with multi-million dollar investments.
The Managing Director of NIPCO, Mr. Sanjay Teotia, disclosed this in Abuja, at the 8th Annual International Conference and Exhibition organised by the Nigerian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA), saying “this is being done through NIPCO’s huge investments in cooking gas sub-sector.”
Teotia said the feat has not only created lots of awareness on the benefits of gas as domestic cooking fuel, but has also served as drawback to deforestation in the country.
While throwing the company’s weight behind the federal government’s agenda to grow the LPG sub-sector, he promised continuous and deliberate efforts in supporting government’s genuine desire to make LPG domestic cooking fuel of choice among the populace.
Teotia said: “We diversified in the gas realm in 2009 with the inauguration of a state-of-the-art LPG plant in Lagos with a total storage capacity of 4,800MT spread across three spheres and a three-point loading gantry.
“As at the time of its inauguration, it was the biggest LPG storage in the country thus creating veritable avenue to store gas and distribute effectively with the scores of LPG trucks commissioned by the company.”
According to him, in 2017, the company improved on its storage capacity and other LPG infrastructures in a bid to meet growing LPG stakeholders’ interest.
He stated that NIPCO inaugurated the biggest LPG single sphere in Africa with a capacity of 5,600MT and increased the loading arms in the gantry to five in a bid to ease loading of trucks for onward distribution of the product to all the nooks and crannies of the country.
Teotia added: “Today, NIPCO controls a major share of the LPG market with its massive storage facilities and other infrastructures put in place to aid access to the product by the populace.
“The peerless service being provided by the company has made it depot of choice by many bottling plants and others in the business of LPG.
“The improved storage facility and product reception at the terminal has been a major boost in the effective turnaround of LPG vessels berthing at the Apapa jetty.”
However, the Managing Director, Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG), Mr. Tony Attah, who paid a visit to the company’s LPG plant, said: “I never in my wildest imagination believe that this kind of facility exist in Apapa here. I can see also very huge investment that NIPCO has put in to upscale the amount of LPG that they can receive into the country.
“For me that is the real game changer and we are committed to continue to support NIPCO and indeed Nigeria to bring about the positive change in terms of energy availability for Nigeria.”
Attah added: “We have also gone ahead to empower potential LPG users through donation of gas accessories like cylinders, hose, burners among others, to some communities in Auchi, Edo state; Apapa, Lagos state; and some public schools in Lagos.
“This feat has not only created lots of awareness on the benefits of gas, as domestic cooking fuel, but has also served as drawback to deforestation in the country.”
