By Taiye Agbaje
The Odinala Cultural Heritage Foundation, also known as OCHIE Igbo, has called for the review of the Nigeria Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) to accommodate the south-east and south-south.
The socio-cultural group made the call in a letter to the National Assembly titled: “Request for the Inclusion of the South-East and South–South Regions in the NGEP: Request for Partnership.”
The letter, jointly signed by the group’s Chairman, Board of Trustees, Benedict Okoro, and its National President, Dr Chukwuma Orji, was made available to newsmen in Abuja.
The group demanded the inclusion of South-East and South-South in the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Project and National Gas Masterplan.
It said it observed the exclusion of the regions in the multi-million-dollar project, “which runs from Kogi State through Kaduna, Kano States and Niger Republic,” in spite of the substantial gas deposits in the Niger Delta, Enugu, Imo and Abia.
“Conversely, there is no known and exploitable natural gas along the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano axis of the natural gas pipeline which former President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned on June 30, 2020,” it said.
“We are therefore employing dialogue and quiet diplomacy to achieve the following objectives:
“That the policy introducing the NGEP be reviewed and further expanded to accommodate the south-east and south-south regions.
“That a gas power plant of about 1,000, 000 cubic liters’ capacity be headquartered in Imo State, as the backbone of an industrial park in the region.
“This could power emergent industries with steady energy and serve as economic indemnity for the south-east people,”
“That the quantum of gas deposit in the south-east is sufficient enough to serve as an insurance to the Nigerian Senate and Federal Government to pass and assent to the Bill seeking the establishment of the Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) and a Ministry for Southeast Affairs.”(NAN)(www.nanews.ng)
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