AKK Gas project will revive struggling industries and create jobs – Ganduje

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State said the Ajaokuta, Kaduna, Kano (AKK) pipeline project will have a huge economic impact and create jobs in the state.

This is contained in a statement released on Wednesday by the Director-General, Media and Public Relations to Governor, Ameen Yassar, in Kano.

According to the statement, Ganduje made the remark to Kano as he received the Managing Director of Gas Aggregation Company Nigeria Ltd., Mr Lekan Ogunleye, at Government House in Kano.

“I was personally delighted when the President announced the approval of the implementation of the project. With a sustained gas supply to Kano, all of our dead industries will be revived and more jobs will be created.

“President Muhammadu Buhari reported in June 2020 the $ 2.8 billion 614 km pipeline project, with a capacity to transport 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day. It is expected to improve the domestic use of natural gas for the economic development of the country.

“With industrial clusters in Bompai, Sharada, Challawa 1 and 2, Tokarawa and Tamburawa, the gas project will accelerate industrialization in Kano, which is currently Nigeria‘s most populous state,” Ganduje explained.

He said the state is currently the market for the northern states of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and the Republic of Niger, expressing optimism that the project would conveniently consolidate the state’s position as Nigeria’s historic commercial hub.

According to the governor, the project will be complemented by the recently approved Ibadan-Kano-Maradi project and the Kano-Dutse railway line as well as by the reconstruction of the Kano-Kaduna-Abuja road, which is underway.

He said the projects meant a lot to the people of the region given their economic impact.

Previously, Ogunleye said the visit aimed to present to the governor the plan for the proposed gas sector stakeholder forum, which will be hosted by Kano in July, as well as to provide an update on the AKK project’s progress so far.

He stressed that the proposed forum would be structured in such a way that every stakeholder would be trained.

Ogunleye commended the Kano State government for being the only state with a multi-functional committee including government and private sector representatives to help with the project.