Tinubu, Scholz oversee signing of infrastructure agreement to add 12,000mw of electricity

Nigeria and Germany on Friday further signed the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) agreement designed to ultimately add 12,000mw of electricity to the national grid.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Chancellor Olaf Scholz presided over the signing of the new deal in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The agreement was signed at the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) taking place at the Expo City in Dubai.

The Managing Director of the Federal Government of Nigeria Power Company, Kenny Anue and the Managing Director (Africa) Siemens AG, Nadja Haakansson signed the agreement.

Speaking on the agreement, Anue renewed President Tinubu’s commitment to the development of power infrastructure, saying the president had reiterated time and again that infrastructure development was critical to the ongoing reforms.

Anue, who said electricity and financing were at the heart of the economic reform agenda of the administration, added that the PPI by design encapsulated both elements with the support of partners, Siemens Energy and the financiers that were backed by the German government.

He said the German government has nominated the mandated lead arrangers and financiers, adding that Siemens energy has also successfully delivered 10 units of power transformers and 10 units of mobile substations.

In his remarks, Chairman of Siemens Energy Supervisory Board, Joe Kaeser, said Egypt has 80 million (people) and could use 14 gigawatts and Nigeria has 200 million people, so they could actually need more gigawatts.

Speaking on the project, the Minister of

Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the target of the PPI is to add 12,000mw of electricity to the national grid.

He said with the signing, the process will now proceed apace to ensure constant supply of electricity to Nigerians.

“The original agreement we had was for $2.3 billion. But what we have is up to date, just in region of $60 million, which has to do with the importation of the 10 transformers and the 10 power mobile substations, which Siemens have delivered to the country. They have been commissioned and we are in the presence of installation of these transformers. So far, it has cost us $60 million dollars.”