By Anule Emmanuel
The Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action, Ajuri Ngelale and other delegation of the country met with Chinese development partners pushing forward ideas on how Nigeria intends to deliver on its renewable energy technology manufacturing zone, the Evergreen City.
Ajuri was on the trip with the Governor of Nasarawa State Abdullahi Sule and the Managing Director/CEO of the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp), Dr. Lazarus Angbazo for a working visit to the Global Headquarters of the world’s largest EV Battery Manufacturer, CATL while in China.
In a statement made available to reporters, Ajuri said, “Early Wednesday morning in Ningde, China, in my capacity as the Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen.”
“I joined the team overseeing the execution of Nigeria’s renewable energy technology manufacturing zone, Evergreen City — which includes the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, H.E. Abdullahi Sule, and the Managing Director/CEO of the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp), Dr. Lazarus Angbazo — on a working visit to the Global Headquarters of the world’s largest EV Battery Manufacturer, CATL,” Ajuri who is also Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Nigerian President added.
He said, “We began with a tour of their facilities, which provided a window into the company’s history, present, and future development plans. We were given a no-photographs-allowed tour of the automated production lines, which were an inspiring marvel to behold.*
*After the tour, our team interfaced with CATL’s Executive Management and apprised them of our zone’s progress with a detailed view into what our collaboration would entail. They responded with a very diligently composed presentation of how their technologies and associated financing platforms can be tailored to the unique requirements of Evergreen City.”
According to Ajuri, the Nasarawa State Governor on his part during the tour, detailed local policy and how the partnership will be supported at the sub-national level while he communicated the vision of the zone in the context of the specific technologies being produced by CATL.
“InfraCorp MD, Dr. Lazarus Angbazo asked pertinent questions about their proposed concepts of collaboration. We all agreed on finite next steps.
“We are thrilled about the opportunity to site the EV Battery Manufacturer supplying Tesla, BMW, and others within our Lithium-rich zone. But we have a lot of work to do before any of us will be celebrating,” he said.
The presidential envoy promised to keep Nigerians updated on developments as they occur.
