Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have presided over the signing of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) agreement between both countries in which German energy giant, Siemens AG will assist Nigeria to add 12,000 megawatts of power into Nigeria’s national grid.
The signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) at Expo City, Dubai, UAE.
Kenny Anue, Chief Executive of Nigeria’s Power Holding Company, and Nadja Haakansson of Siemens AG, signed the agreement. Haakansson praised President Tinubu’s commitment to developing power infrastructure in Nigeria and the ongoing critical reforms in the sector.
The PPI is a collaboration between Nigeria on one hand and Siemens AG and German government-backed financiers on the other aimed at addressing both the technical electricity supply needs and financing challenges to improve electricity to Nigeria’s 200 million people.
The contractual agreement between Nigeria and Siemens was first started by the previous government of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 but some disagreements appeared to delay the agreement’s full implementation.
The financial aspect involves a government export credit facility from German banks, with the original agreement valuing the project at $2.3 billion. However, only $60 million has been spent so far, covering the importation, commissioning, and installation of 10 transformers and 10 power mobile substations.
Nigeria’s Power Minister, Adebayo Adelabu expressed confidence in moving the Siemens project forward to conclusion this time.
“This is an agreement that has to do with end-to-end fixing in terms of grid stabilization of the entire transmission grid in the Nigerian power sector, which will eventually improve the power supply in terms of regularity, in terms of functionality and in terms of affordability in the years to come”, he said.
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