Posted by By Emma Ujah on
ABUJA - RENOWNED scientist and Professor of Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Robotics, Prof Bart Nnaji, has attracted about $125 million.....
ABUJA - RENOWNED scientist and Professor of Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Robotics, Prof Bart Nnaji, has attracted about $125 million from foreign and local investors for the Aba Clean Energy Carbon Project.
Nnaji, an international science award winner and a former Minister of Technology is mobilizing 75 per cent of the funds from the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group; the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) and Infraco.
'Basically a minimum of 25 per cent of the project cost will come from Nigeria and the project cost is a minimum of $ 125 million. The investors include the World Bank Group through the IFC (International Finance Corporation). Aside from this particular carbon credit, there is an IFC investment of $25 million into the total project cost. There is the European Investment Bank (EIB) which is providing 25 per cent of the total project cost; Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) which is an organisation by the governments of Britain, Netherlands, Sweden Switzerland and multilateral investors through the World Bank are investing $30 million.
'Then you also have Infraco that is another company that is doing development and is our partner in the project. This is an offshore company. It is investing about $2 million. It means that we 75 per cent of the project cost coming from abroad and 25 per cent from within", he said in Abuja, after signing the Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement (ERPA) for the project with the World bank Country Director in Nigeria, Dr. Hafez Ghanem.
The $9 million was being provided specifically by the International Bank of reconstruction and Development (IBRD) acting as Trustee for the Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF) of the Group. The ERPA, also called Carbon Credit was the first of its kind in the country and involves payments for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and will last till 2015 to encourage projects that are environmentally friendly.