Ogun-Osun authority signs €256m bioethanol plant agreement

The Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority and 3D NNPC Biofuels Limited have signed a memorandum of understanding for a €256 million bioethanol plant and a major cassava cultivation scheme across four South-West states. The agreement, signed on Tuesday in Abeokuta, provides for the plant to be built at the authority’s Itokin project site in Lagos State. ORBDA will provide 200 hectares for the facility and make 15,000 hectares of arable land available from its land bank for cassava production.

The cassava is intended to provide feedstock for the plant, which will produce renewable bioethanol for blending with Premium Motor Spirit. ORBDA Managing Director Adedeji Ashiru said the project would support energy and food security, industrialisation and the use of underutilised public assets. Ashiru said the authority would contribute land, water resources, community support and an enabling environment.

In his account of the agreement, 3D NNPC Biofuels would provide funding, technology, technical expertise and assurance that the plant’s output would have buyers. The project will involve cassava farmers in Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Oyo states through a large-scale outgrower scheme. Ashiru said the scheme could benefit farmers, women and young people in host communities.

He also projected that activities ranging from land preparation and cultivation to transport, processing and plant operations could create more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs. 3D NNPC Biofuels Managing Director Patrick Azi said the company selected ORBDA after assessing the country’s river basin authorities. He cited the authority’s access to land, irrigation facilities, dams, extension workers and farmers, as well as the region’s cassava production base.

Azi said NNPC holds a 25% equity stake in the joint venture. The partners intend to develop a framework agreement and begin work within weeks, with a target of flagging off the project before the end of the year.