WARRI- The governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, has assured the Senate Committee on Gas that Deltans were eagerly awaiting the successful completion of the Escravos Gas-to Liquids Projects (EGLP), which has helped a great deal in securing peace in the state.
Speaking to journalists shortly after undertaking a guided tour of the EGLP site at the Chevron Escravos terminal, Governor Uduaghan said the project was critical as youths who were hitherto restive have been engaged through employment and contracts.
He observed that the recent berthing of the cargo ship that brought two giant reactors at the Escravos terminal buttressed that the waterways in Delta State were safe.
Describing the arrival of the ship on the shores of Delta state as a major milestone in the EPGL, the governor who walked up to it to have a look at the reactors that weigh 2,200 tons each, said it was significant for the rest of the world to know that the ship docked safely without any harassment.
Dr. Uduaghan who was accompanied by members of the senate committee on gas, appealed to the committee to ensure the survival of the project as Deltans are eagerly awaiting its completion.
In the words of the Governor; “For me, being a governor from the Niger Delta and knowing what it takes to put a structure in the Niger Delta, especially in a terrain like this, I think a lot of works have gone into where we are standing now. For us in the Niger Delta, foundation is very critical and foundation takes a lot of money.’’
‘’We are here to make our input and to assure the senators that Deltans are eagerly awaiting this project and we pray that whatever that is being done is a thing that will make this project successful. There are so many ways that this project will benefit Deltans, it will give our people employment, it will deal with our contract issue and I keep saying that this is one of the projects that has helped us in ensuring that we have peace in the state.”
According to him.’’ Some of the youths, who are working here, are now engaged and this has left a pool of youths to be recruited for criminal activities; this project is succeeding and this is a critical factor. My appeal is that, whatever investigation that is being done, they should look at this project critically and see that it survives.’’
On his part, the chairman of the senate committee on gas, Senator Osita Izunaso said that; “We want to rely on the NNPC project audit to ascertain whether this project so far is up to $2.5 billion dollars that is what we are talking about. But the increment of $3.4 billion, we don’t know anything about it, it has only be justified on paper and we still require NNPC to fine tune it with Chevron so that those things we saw on paper can materialize practically because it is very easy for you to justify any number on paper.”
“This is a project that is very dear to the hearts of Nigerians particularly as it would help in gas-flared out that we are talking about, because it is going to be one of the major plants that would help to reduce gas flare in the country; but by and large, the committee will continue to work,” Senator Izunaso posited.
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