Waltersmith Petroman Oil Company Limited, a leading Nigerian independent integrated energy company has announced the signing of a Technical Support Agreement (TSA) with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) for the development of an Energy Innovation Park following UNIDO’s collaborative partnership with Waltersmith.
Abdulrazaq Isa , Chairman,
Waltersmith Group, an operator of the Ibigwe field within OML 16 made tha disclosure in a statement made available to TBI Africa in Lagos.
Isa said that the TSA represents the terms and conditions that will guide the development and actualization of Waltersmith’s Industrial park which will also be situated in Ibigwe-the company’s commercial hub and location of its recently commissioned 5,000bpd modular refinery.
The Industrial Park (which when constructed will be the first of its kind in Nigeria) is expected to attract petrochemical, pharmaceutical, plastics, research and other light manufacturing companies that feed primarily off the hydrocarbon value chain. In order to achieve this, Waltersmith intends to invest heavily in electricity and world class industrial park infrastructure and power in order for manufacturing companies to co-locate in Ibigwe and have direct access to their raw materials from its refinery and petrochemical activities.
Speaking on the significance of the signature ceremony and the Industrial Park development, Abdulrazaq Isa, Chairman Waltersmith Group, said: “This signing ceremony essentially flags off the industrial park development and we are excited about the technical support UNIDO and UNECA are willing to provide to Waltersmith as this will help us attract several companies to the park area.
” Our goal is to create an industrial cluster in Ibigwe and help reduce manufacturing costs, position the South-Eastern region as a major manufacturing hub and take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement which the Nigerian Government has currently signed on.”
In a similar vein, Mr. Jean Bakole, UNIDO Representative to ECOWAS & Director Nigeria Regional Office Hub, while reiterating UNIDO’s commitment to assist in operationalizing Waltersmith’s Industrial Park said:
“UNIDO will gladly work with all key partners to support Waltersmith to actualize the Industrial Park which we know will become a success story for development of other industrial parks in the very near future and we pledge the organization’s unwavering support to Nigeria’s economic diversification agenda through promotion and acceleration of inclusive and sustainable industrialization of the country.”
Ms. Ngone Diop, the Director West Africa, UNECA stated that the Industrial Park was a groundbreaking initiative which UNECA believed in, right from the beginning. Commenting further, she said:
“When Waltersmith sent a letter to our Executive Secretary, requesting for the “ECA’s support in collaboration with UNIDO, to provide project development expertise and facilitation of investors’ participation’ in the construction of an Industrial Park in Ibigwe, Imo State, Nigeria,
ECA and UNIDO responded positively within the framework of our cooperation. We are delighted to witness that, such magnificent project has come to fruition, a dream that has become a reality. A project that will not only trickle down to the Nigerian population but also, to West African population given the capital role that Nigeria plays in our region and on the continent.”
Waltersmith’s Industrial Park is strategically poised to change the energy and manufacturing narrative and support the Federal Government of Nigeria’s strides towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the country.
