Wike, Amaechi in rare appearance as Osinbajo commissions world’s largest fertilizer plant in Rivers

In what appeared to be rare occurrence, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and his immediate predecessor and Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi were on Thursday seen together in public with acting President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).

Osinbajo was in the state to commission the largest fertilizer plant in the world at Indorama, Eleme Petrochemicals Limited in Eleme LGA of the state.

It was about a year ago that Wike and Amaechi were last seen together in Abuja during a peace pally brokered by police and the DSS over the rerun poll in Rivers State.

Speaking at the event, Osinbajo noted that the plant will produce 1.5 million metric tonnes of Urea per annum, saying that the development was a reflection of the success of the Federal Government’s privatisation programme.

He added that the Federal Government remains committed to developing the private sector.

Osinbajo also handed a certificate to the management of the fertilizer plant, formally discharging it from the mandatory five year monitoring programme of the Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE.

According to the acting president, the Federal Government will continue to support the growth of the fertilizer plant, saying that it had also taken steps to encourage the needed atmosphere for the growth of private businesses.

He said, “The plant commissioned today (yesterday), I am told, is one of the largest in the world, designed to produce 1.5 million metric tonnes of Urea fertilizer per annum for domestic and foreign markets.

“I have been informed that Indorama will this year alone supply about 360,000 MT of Urea to Fertilizer blenders, who will in turn produce NPK fertilizer for the benefit of farmers across the country.”

The acting president also urged the management of the fertilizer plant not to compromise on best practices even though it had been discharged from the mandatory monitoring programme of BPE.

In his remarks at the occasion, Governor Wike assured that his administration will continue to support the fertilizer plant, assuring that the state was conducive for investment.

Responding, the Chairman of the fertilizer firm, Mr Sri Prakash Lolua, said: “I am pleased to report that with the start-up of this plant, Nigeria is now more than self-sufficient in urea and has now become a net exporter of urea to the world. This enables Nigeria to save valuable foreign exchange on urea imports and receive foreign exchange from urea exports.”