TheCable

The federal government and Morocco’s OCP Group has sealed an agreement to boost both ammonia and fertiliser production in Nigeria.

The agreement was signed at the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic in Morocco by OCP Africa, while the Nigerian delegation was led by Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources.

This is a build up to the industrial platform which was officially launched in June 2018 following the first phase of the presidential fertiliser initiative (PFI) supported by OCP.

The agreement is expected to utilise Nigeria’s gas and Morocco’s phosphate to produce 750,000 tons of ammonia and one million tons of phosphate fertilisers annually by 2025.

To achieve the set target, a number of other agreements were also signed including: a pact between OCP Africa, Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) and Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) in order to commit to the second phase of PFI.

Similarly, a shareholders’ agreement was signed between OCP Africa and NSIA for the creation of a joint venture company (JVC) which would oversee the development of a versatile industrial platform that will produce ammonia and fertilizers in Nigeria.

Also, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between OCP Africa, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and NSIA was sealed, whereby the objective is to evaluate the opportunity of an equity investment by NNPC in the JVC and for its support on gas.

The visit also provided the Nigerian delegation another opportunity to seal a framework agreement between OCP Africa, Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), NNPC, Gas Aggregation Company Nigeria (GACN) and NSIA on gas supply for the industrial platform.

Furthermore, an MoU was sealed between OCP Africa, Akwa Ibom state and NSIA on land acquisition, administrative facilitation and common agricultural development projects in the state.

These agreements also seek to provide Nigerian farmers with quality fertilizers at competitive prices and produced locally.

They are also expected to materialise the technical aspects of the industrial platform.

This industrial platform would also be used to leverage Nigerian and Moroccan natural resources, which are the Nigerian gas and the Moroccan phosphate.