Vice-President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is to inaugurate a cooking gas manufacturing plant in Lagos on June 7.

The plant is the biggest of its type in West Africa.

The Chief Executive Officer of Techno Oil Group, Mrs Nkechi Obi, told reporters in Lagos on Tuesday that the building of the plant commenced in 2015.

She said that the project was undertaken by Techno Oil in its bid to accelerate cooking gas adoption in Nigeria.

“His Excellency, the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has graciously accepted to commission our Liquefied Pressure Gas (LPG) manufacturing plant for the service of Nigerians and humanity”.

“The commissioning is slated for June 7 at the premises of the plant along the Ajah-Epe highway in the Ibeju-Lekki Ajah Local Government Area of Lagos State”.

She said that Techno Oil secured the services of a company from Europe to build the plant with strict supervision of various regulatory agencies, including the Standards Organisation of Nigeria.

“We expect that the plant will go a long way in generating hundreds of jobs for the teeming Nigerian population, especially those residing in Lagos”.

“At full capacity, the automated plant will produce over five million units of standard LPG cylinders annually for the Nigerian market and markets in the West African sub-region. This project is another milestone in our company’s efforts at bridging the infrastructure gap hindering the penetration and adoption of LPG in Nigeria,” Obi stated.

According to her, the plant will not only generate jobs but will also come handy in driving the Nigerian economy through innovation, in line with the policy objective of the Federal Government.

She said that Techno Oil was keen on ensuring the success of the Clean and Green Energy initiative of the Lagos State government, aimed at promoting environmentally friendly practices.

Obi restated that Nigeria had no reason to be importing LPG cylinders at this stage in the nation’s development because of the capital flight, engendered by importing cylinders and the tendency of unscrupulous people to import fake and sub-standard cylinders.

She harped on the need for Nigerians to embrace LPG for their domestic needs, rather than continuing to depend on unhealthy and hazardous energy sources such as kerosene, fire wood and charcoal.

The Techno Oil chief expressed her optimism that Nigeria would start exploiting its abundant gas resources optimally for faster growth of the economy. (NAN)