2nd September, 2014
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday said it had constituted a steering committee to facilitate the construction of Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by Ohi Alegbe, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Department, NNPC.
The statement said that the “AKK Gas Pipeline Project Steering Committee” was constituted with the mandate of ensuring efficient and accelerated actualization of the task in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s “gas revolution agenda”.
It stated that the project was approved under the National Gas Master Plan by the Federal Executive Council and was designed to transport gas for power and manufacturing industry usage to the key northern axis.
The corporation described the project as one of the “cardinal programmes” of the transformation agenda of the Jonathan’s administration.
It also said that progress was being made in the execution of the “adjoining OB3 gas pipeline project as well as the looping of the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS).”
It, however, noted that the implementation of the AKK project was slow and out of sync with government’s desire for accelerated implementation.
“In order to strengthen this critical project and have it re-focused for accelerated implementation, there is the compelling need for the establishment of a dedicated AKK Project Steering Team with clear governance structure,” it said.
It disclosed that the project’s steering committee comprised NNPC Group Managing Director as chairman, with the Group Executive Directors of Gas and Power, Exploration and Production as well as Commercial and Investment as members.
The corporation explained that the committee would be responsible for providing general guidance and direction for the project, grant approval for business models, equity participation, budgets, and contracting strategy.