Kogi State has been described as the lucrative destination choice to do business in Nigeria in view of its strategic and central location.
The State Deputy Governor, Mr Yomi Awoniyi, made the remarks when he received a delegation of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, who were in the state to build a petroleum and petrochemical refinery.
The IPMAN is partnering with a group of businessmen from Peru – Core Investors – to establish the petroleum and petrochemical refinery, in order to augment the transformation agenda of the Nigerian Government.
While welcoming the investors , Awoniyi thanked them for choosing Kogi State.
He described their decision to site the $3 billion investment in the state as a profitable one, praising IPMAN for keying into the transformation agenda as far as petroleum supply was concerned. He expressed the view that the state, aside being safe, is strategically located at it feeds nine adjoining states including the nation’s capital.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the National President of IPMAN, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, said that as businessmen, they intend to partner with the Federal Government in moving the nation forward using the vast experience of Core Investors to create wealth.
He noted that the refinery, which would be built at Itobe, Ajaokuta Local Government Area of the state, when completed, would save a major part of the amount used in fuel importation by the country for other purposes.
Also speaking during the occasion, the Chairman of Core Investors, Dr. Bestman Anikwe, who revealed that the plan was for IPMAN to partner with Core Investors to build two modern petrochemical refineries in Kogi State and Bayelsa State, added that the Kogi refinery, particularly, when completed, would benefit states in the North Central region of Nigeria.
The Core Investors’ Nigerian representative, Mr Abraham Ugo, who spoke on behalf of the group, revealed that the refinery, when complete is expected to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and would be completed in two years. He also said that the choice of Kogi State was informed by its peaceful environment that would ensure a quick return on their investment.
The visit was concluded with the investors’ trip to Itobe in Ajaokuta Local Government Area where the project would be sited.
