Tinubu, German Chancellor sign agreement on power generation

On Friday, in the UAE city of Dubai, a historic deal was sealed between Nigeria and Germany to boost the power sector of the African nation. The Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) agreement, which aims to add 12,000 MW of electricity to the national grid, was signed under the auspices of President Bola Tinubu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The signing ceremony coincided with the UN Climate Conference (COP28) held in Expo City.

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

Anue praised President Tinubu’s vision and dedication to improving the power infrastructure, saying that it was essential for the ongoing reforms. He said that the PPI was a comprehensive plan that covered both electricity and financing aspects, with the collaboration of Siemens Energy and the German-backed lenders.

He told the President: “Mr. President, you have shown strong and dynamic leadership through the Minister of Power, and now we want to make the most of this valuable programme in the presidential power initiative through this fast-tracked agreement today.

“Some of the accomplishments that the federal government has already made include the creation of the FGN Power Company as the special purpose vehicle for the execution of the project.”

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

Joe Kaeser, the Chairman of the Siemens Energy Supervisory Board, recalled the origin of the agreement in 2018, when former President Muhammadu Buhari invited him to Abuja to discuss the success story of Egypt.

He said, “I’m very glad to be here tonight to witness the signing of the Presidential Initiative for Power because in 2018, the former President Buhari asked me to come to Abuja and tell him what we did in Egypt.

“And I said, Mr. President, Egypt has 80 million people, and we could use 14 gigawatts, and Nigeria has 200 million people. So, we could actually need more gigawatts.

“Now, after five years, I’m very pleased that this agreement, which has the spirit of providing energy to the greater good of the Nigerian people, has been taken to a new level. Thank you very much for doing that. And as we say in Germany, good things take time, as we have seen tonight.”

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the goal of the PPI is to add 12,000 MW of electricity to the national grid.

He said that with the signing on Friday, the process will now move forward swiftly to ensure a reliable supply of electricity to Nigerians.