Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday launched an ambitious gas pipeline project that will link the north of the country with the south.
The 614-kilometer Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline will be built by two Chinese companies and is expected to be completed in two years.
The West African country earlier this year secured a $2.6 billion loan from the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation and the Bank of China to finance the project.
President Buhari said upon completion, the pipeline will help boost industrialisation as well as jobs and electricity generation.
Nigeria, with a population of nearly 200 million people, has been dogged by perennial electricity shortages for decades. The country struggles with power output, generating less than 7,000MW.
President Buhari launched the project via a video link due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
China is a conspicuous player in Nigeria’s infrastructural development, having also undertaken other projects in the West African country.
Some of these projects include, a 186km railway line between Abuja and Kaduna, a railway line between Lagos and the northern city of Kano, as well as on new international terminals for Nigeria’s four largest airports.
