President Muhammadu Buhari is
set to inaugurate General Electric’s (GE) $250 million manufacturing plant in
Calabar, the Cross River State capital, which is billed to be ready in the
third quarter of next year.
This aligns
with Nigeria’s infrastructure needs and will contribute to economic
development, especially in the oil and gas, power and transportation sectors.
The most
visible sign of GE’s commitment in Nigeria resides in Calabar.
In February
2013, GE broke ground on an ambitious multi-million dollar investment in
Calabar, the first of its kind in Africa.
The GE
facility valued at $250 million is designed to augment local manufacturing
capability and will be built in phases; with phase 1 covering Power Services
Repair and Maintenance and Oil & Gas equipment, including subsea, (with
operation expected in 2018). The subsequent phases are billed to cover Subsea
Production Trees and potential phase for Locomotive Component Assembly.
President
and Chief Executive Officer of GE Nigeria, Dr. Lazarus Angbazo, said “We intend
to have Mr. President inaugurate our Calabar manufacturing plant next year. The
consequences of that investment is that we are going to have a step change in
terms of job creation directly and enabling jobs through supply chain,
partners, and sub-contractors.
“Our jobs
are some of the best jobs in Nigeria and our staff is 95 per cent Nigerians.
There is no other country on the continent in the GE footprint that comes close
in terms of the fact that Nigerians are at the helm. We have cascaded the
Country-to-Country Agreement to specific projects with specific targets
particularly rail, which is now the most topical.
“I
appreciate the vision and the tenacity of the President and his team,
especially, the Minister of Transport and the team at Nigerian Railway
Corporation (NRC), as well as some of the leaders in the agencies that have
been working on this concession. The amount of preparatory work that needs to
happen for this concessioning to be successful is humongous. This is a sector
that has never really been invested in”.
Angbazo said
looking at the different assets of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, whether it
is the Apapa site, the Zaria workshop or Enugu or Onitsha, it is clear that an
amazing amount of work is underway.
He said, “We
are far from finishing. But I want to say that unlike that history of that
sector, I have seen a tremendous amount of tenacity and commitment in getting
to a solution where we can see a marked improvement of the relevancy of that
sector to the economy.
“So, the
launch, the concession process, and a Request for Proposal (RFP) to this stage,
where we have submitted and very surprisingly, based upon reporting – I have no
personal knowledge of this – it appears that GE and its consortium, was the
only entity that submitted a proposal”.
He said
there is the need for Nigerians to understand what needs to happen for Nigeria
to have a good rail system.
“This is
important because our country is going nowhere without power and
transportation. All Nigerians should be committed to making sure that we have
leadership and focused momentum. When we see people trying to do things right,
let us encourage them”, the GE CEO said.
In order to
align with Nigeria’s goal for growth through its vision 2020, GE signed a
historic Country to Company agreement aimed at fostering partnerships and
driving critical infrastructure projects across the country.
GE’s
agreement with the federal government cuts across power, transportation and
healthcare sectors. Today, GE’s operation is creating a lot of economic
activities.
No comments:
Post a Comment