According to The Spectator, the Federal Government’s N15.4 billion investment in cassava and fire detection technology will generate N180 billion in revenue over 15 years.
This was revealed in a statement released on Saturday by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimates that N180 billion will be made in revenue through the concession of a cassava biomass, bioethanol value chain, and national fire detection and alarm system.
According to the statement, the Cassava Bio-ethanol Value Chain will earn a total revenue of N105 billion over the course of a five-year concession period, compared to N75 billion for the NAFDAS project over the course of its 15-year concession.
It read, “The Cassava Bio-Ethanol Value Chain will be done on a pilot phase with the aim of building “a Bio-technology Industrial Park on a 20-hectare plot across 20 Universities, Academia and Research and Development Institutes. In the pilot phase, 5,000 special hybrid cassava (TME 419) stems will be planted per hectare, (100,000 stems for 20 hectares).
“It is projected that Cassava production will double from the current 62 million tons to output of over 120 million tons with improved tropical agro-ecology, bio-technology, intense mechanization and effective partnership resource mobilization in five years
“The key goal of this cassava – Bioethanol pilot project is to demonstrate the efficacy of a private sector led approach in promoting investment in renewable biomass and creating wealth, providing jobs, reducing poverty, improving food security and nutrition, providing renewable energy and reducing carbon footprint” the ICRC said.
It added that the project will be financed with a grant from the federal government and concessionaire investment totalling N11.9 billion.
Sales of cassava stem, cassava flour, garri, starch, and bioethanol are all included in the project’s proposed revenue stream.
Additionally, the NAFDAS project will offer technology, software, and hardware for fire mitigation that will be connected to a cloud network under the supervision of the Federal Fire Service via a private organization.
The ICRC states that using this technology can “dramatically reduce call and response time in fire incidents, forestall avoidable incidents, save more lives and property, and generally improve the efficiency in fire prevention, detection, and management.”
“This means that smoke alarms and other fire detection hardware will be linked to a server which will alert the system when the user is in distress without them having to call for help.
“The project will begin on a pilot scale with seven states of the federation before rolling out to all other states across the country.”
The government expects to generate N75 billion in revenue during the course of the concession’s 15-year term, while the project’s overall expected cost is N3.5 billion.
“The revenue stream presented by the project includes margin on installations and annual subscription fee from users of the service.
“Revenue from both projects will be shared between the federal government and the concessionaire at a ratio decided in the concession agreement,” it stated.
