Nigeria, Global Biofuels sign 414 billion-Naira accord

by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo

Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, signed a memorandum of understanding with Global Biofuels Ltd. to build 15 integrated biofuel plants for about 414 billion naira ($2.55 billion), the Trade and Investment Ministry said.

Global Biofuels will start “the implementation of an agro- based industrial activity for the production of ethanol, biomass electric power and food, all from a single industrial complex, using sweet sorghum as raw materials,” Olusegun Aganga, Trade and Investment minister, said in an e-mailed statement.

Work on a pilot plant in the southwestern Ekiti State will start in the first quarter and is expected to be completed within 12 months, while 14 additional plants will be established in 14 other states after the pilot project is finished, he said.

About 70 percent of the project will be funded by the Chinese government, while the remaining 30 percent will come from financial institutions including NEXIM Bank, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, Africa Finance Corp., Fond Gari of Togo, and First Bank of Nigeria Plc, the statement said, citing Felix Obada, chief executive officer of Global.

Bloomberg