Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to expedite action on the proposed $16 billion Gas Revolution Industrial City at Ogidigben to help boost the economy and job creation drive of the government.
The ground breaking ceremony of the project was done by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
Speaking on the sideline, at the National Economic Council (NEC) retreat, for the 36 states governors and other relevant agencies of government, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday, Okowa said the project if eventually implemented would be vital to stabilising the nation’s economic and contribute to the prosperity of the Nigeria.
The governor, who expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for considering the state for the citing of the multi-billion dollars project said “I hope that we are able to take advantage of it at the moment” adding that “if we do that, it will create thousands of jobs, there is no doubt about it beyond the fact that it will add a lot to the economy of this country”.
Okowa stated that due to the importance the state government placed on the project, he meet with President Buhari on assumption of office and the current minister of petroleum Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and other relevant organs of government disclosing that “the last I was told was that they were supposed to have a meeting towards the end of February to take decisions as to what next to do, they have not briefed me now how far they have gone”.
The project, which is public sector driven has attracted several multinational companies in the agro-allied, banking, power, oil and gas and maritime sectors.
The Delta State Government, under the arrangement is expected to provide all the land need for the construction of the project while the private sector participants are expected to provide the funding for the effective takeoff of the project.
The Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) and the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) are expected to play key roles in the project implementation.