The Governments of Nigeria and Germany on Friday signed the Presidential Power Initiative agreement designed to ultimately inject 12,000 MegaWatts of electricity into the national grid.
The signing was presided over by the leaders of both countries, President Bola Tinubu of Nigerian and German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Summit, COP28, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
Managing Director of the Federal Government of Nigeria Power Company, Kenny Anuwe, and the Managing Director (Africa), Siemens AG, Nadja Haakansson, signed the agreement.
Anuwe, who spoke before putting pen on paper, harped on the commitment of the current administration to the development of power infrastructure, reiterating that infrastructure development remains critical to ongoing reforms.
He said the German government has nominated the mandated lead arrangers and financiers even as Siemens Energy has successfully delivered 10 units of power transformers and 10 units of mobile substations.
Chairman of Supervisory Board at Siemens Energy AG, Joe Kaeser, who went down memory lane linked the initial agreement to the Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2018, expressing delight that both parties have come a long way in the process.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the project will be financed under the government export credit facility being provided by a couple of German banks to Nigeria.
“As it is now, I may not be able to say this is how much it’s going to cost the country. The original agreement we had was for $2.3bn. But what we have is up to date, just in region of $60m, which has to do with the importation of the 10 transformers and the 10 power mobile substations, which Siemens have delivered to the country.”
Adelabu said Friday’s signing means both governments are willing to move the needle.
He said, “It shows a commitment between the government of both countries to proceed with this project, which we believe will go a long way in improving the performance of the power sector in Nigeria.”
Friday’s signing comes nearly two weeks after President Tinubu and Chancellor Scholz discussed power and rail infrastructure on the sidelines of the G20 Compact With Africa Conference in Berlin.
There, Tinubu pledged that, under his watch, the staggered and unsteady implementation of the Siemens-supported Presidential Power Initiative would take on new urgency with a more deliberate process of project execution.
Responding, the German Chancellor expressed readiness but with an acknowledgment of the need to resolve administrative and financial hurdles brought about by governance problems emanating from prior administrations in the sector.
Source: Punchng
