Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday inaugurated a world-class fertiliser plant, built by Indorama Eleme Fertiliser and Chemicals Limited in Port Harcourt, at the cost of $1.5 billion.
According to Acting President, “What Indorama is accomplishing today is very much in line with President Buhari’s vision for a country that produces what it consumes, and grows what it eats. If you had to sum up our vision for the Nigerian economy in a few words, these would suffice. Grow what we eat, produce what we consume,” he said.
Osinbajo commended Indorama for keying into the Presidential Fertiliser initiative, which President Buhari launched last year, to make fertilisers cheaper to farmers nationwide, aimed at supporting agriculture, in the production of rice, wheat, and other staples.
He added “That fertiliser Initiative, now well underway, has created significant economic opportunities for companies like Indorama Eleme Fertiliser & Chemicals Limited.
“I have been informed that Indorama will this year alone supply about 360,000 Metric Tons of Urea to Fertiliser blenders, which, in turn, will produce NPK fertilizer for the benefit of farmers across the country.
“This is the kind of economic progress we’re after, in which every unlocked opportunity proceeds to unlock several others, across multiple sectors of the economy.”
The plant with production capacity of 1.5 million metric tons of Urea fertilizer is considered the world’s largest single-train Urea plant.
Indorama Eleme Fertilizer and Chemicals Limited, was privatised in 2006 after the sale of Federal Government’s 75 per cent shares to a core investor through competitive bidding process.
The plant has a production capacity of 4,000 metric tons of nitrogenous fertilizer per day. It was built with $1.5 billion dollars.
The opening of the plant is expected to boost the agriculture sector not just in Nigeria, but also in Africa and beyond.
Ffertilizer from the plant would be made available to farmers nationwide at affordable cost, this will boost crop yield for farmers and help in minimizing food grain deficit in Nigeria.
The plant consists of 2300 TPD Ammonia plant, 4000 TPF Urea plant, 83 km long Gas Pipeline, and an Export Port Terminal.
The main plant, measuring approximately 40 hectares, is located within the perimeter of Indorama’s existing petrochemical site in Port Harcourt.
The Gas Pipeline for the fertilizer plant was constructed by IEFCL within an existing 15 meter wide Right of Way (“ROW”).
Part of the $1.5billion was used to build a new jetty at Onne Port on a plot of land measuring approximately 6 hectares
The jetty comprises 320 m long Quay along with terminal infrastructure including all material handling facilities necessary for urea and a urea storage facility with a capacity of 45,000 MT.
The transfer of urea from the fertilizer plant will be by road via an existing road network.
Construction of the new fertilizer plant commenced in early 2013. It was slated for commissioning in 2015.
Today’s ceremony is thus two years later than scheduled.
