The Bayelsa State Government is set to employ no
fewer than 30,000 workers, particularly indigenes,
in its $3.5bn fertiliser and petrochemical company,
State Development and Investment Corporation,
has said.


The Deputy Managing Director, BDIC, Mr. Tam
Alazigha, in an interview with journalists in
Yenagoa on Wednesday said the $3.5bn Brass
Fertilizer and Petrochemical project to be sited at
Odioma in Brass Local Government Area is
expected to generate a turnover of $1.5bn.


He, therefore, predicted a prosperous future for the
people of the state as the corporation intensified
action on restructuring the state economy and
expanding economic opportunities.

Alazigha said the new offices that were opened in
South Africa, United Kingdom and Atlanta and the
United States, would “take Bayelsa to the world
and bring the world to Bayelsa”.

He said the development would open outposts in
strategic locations in the various key markets in
order to leverage on opportunities that the markets
offered to drive the restoration of the Bayelsa
economy.

Alazigha said, “The $3.5bn Brass Fertilizer and
Petrochemical project at Odioma, which is
expected to generate a turnover of $1.5bn will
employ about 30,000 Bayelsans. This high-impact
catalytic project is expected to produce 5,000
metric tonnes of Methanol per day, 2,200 metric
tonnes per day of Ammonia and 7,700 metric
tonnes per day of Urea for domestic and export
markets.

“This humongous project will ensure availability of
high-grade fertilizer for farmers throughout the
planting season and meet 25 per cent of the
country’s projected annual domestic demand of 10
million metric tonnes. The BDIC is to take up a 10
per cent equity stake in the project.

“The only property owned by the corporation are
those in the U.K, located at St. John’s Wood
registered under BDIC UK Ltd and forms part of the
assets in the balance sheet of the corporation. The
property was bought at £2.3m but now valued at
over £3m with a monthly rental income of £7,000.
For the office in the United States, the property
was purchased in BIDC’s name in 2013 for $
850,000 and was leased as a property with a
monthly income of $5,000.”

He said other achievements included the $300m
Liquefied Petrochemical Gas project at Agge, with
a projected turnover of $100m and which would
produce butane or cooking gas.

Alazigha also stated that the corporation was into
serious negotiation with Microsoft and Goggle to
facilitate deployment of the much vaunted white
space technology in the state to make internet
available in the rural areas and hence build
businesses.

He said the small and medium scale businesses
were also key areas of interest in which, adding
that much had been done by BDIC to change the
state from being a civil service state to a modern
economy with a lot of enterprises.

According to him, Bayelsa State with a Gross State
Productof $18.5bn (N2.4 trilion) and vast
resources in oil and gas is a rich state.

He added, however, that such status had yet to
fully benefit the people as it should be. Alazigha
said that it was clear to the state government on
getting into office in 2012 that public funds
accruing from the consolidated revenue were
grossly inadequate to address the huge challenges
of infrastructure deficit.

Based on this, he said, the government
consequently came up with BDIC as a special
purpose vehicle and strategic enabler of market-
driven development which could also be a fall back
option in times of national or global financial crisis
and emergency.

The BDIC, which now has an asset base of over
$1.2bn, he said, leverages private sector funds
and expertise to grow wealth of Bayelsans and
insulate the economy from oil price volatility.

Alazigha, who came to the job with vast experience
having worked with JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank
and BNP Paribas as investment banker, said the
BDIC idea, as a global best practice, was playing
similar roles as in such investment institutions like
the Qatar Investment Authority, Malaysia
Development Berhad, and the Industrial
Development Corporation of South Africa.

cc lalasticala

http://www.punchng.com/news/bayelsa-to-employ-30000-workers-in-fertilizer-petrochemical-firm/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Nice development,but wen will dey start empoying? All this talk and no action is annoying,calling future figures wen we r talking of the NOW.

All this BBT's(Big Big Talk).... We need more work and less talking!

Ok

Oga Dickson you are still saying will employe, while you have spent 3 years plus in office and nothing to write home about. So so talk talk Mr talk na do governor. We have tired of your government. Please do something.