Nigeria’s ailing power sector received a boost with the signing of the electricity distribution agreement between the Nigerian Government and the German company, Siemens to distribute 25,000 megawatts of electricity by the year 2023.
According to the report by Nigeria’s Channels Television on Monday, the agreement, followed the meeting between Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel on August 31, 2018.
Speaking at the end of the signing ceremony in Abuja on Monday, President Buhari urged Siemens, the Transmission Company of Nigeria and the Electricity Regulator to work hard to achieve 7,000 megawatts of reliable power supply by 2021 and 11,000 megawatts by 2023 and overall grid capacity to 25,000mw.
“Despite over 13,000mw of power generation capacity, only an average of 4,000mw reliably reaches consumers. Now, we have an excellent opportunity to address this challenge.
“Our goal is simply to deliver electricity to Nigerian businesses and homes. My challenge to Siemens, our partner investors in the Distribution Companies, the Transmission Company of Nigeria and the Electricity Regulator is to work hard to achieve 7,000 megawatts of reliable power supply by 2021 and 11,000 megawatts by 2023 – in phases 1 and 2 respectively.
“After these transmission and distribution system bottlenecks have been fixed, we will seek – in the third and final phase – to drive generation capacity and overall grid capacity to 25,000 megawatts,” Buhari said.
The report added that Buhari reiterated his commitment to developing the Mambilla hydroelectric and various solar projects across the country.
“With our strong commitment to the development of Mambilla Hydroelectric and the various solar projects under development across the country, the long-term power generation capacity will ensure adequate energy mix and sustainability in the appropriate balance between urban and rural electrification.
“No middlemen will be involved so that we can achieve value for money for Nigerians. We also insist that all products be manufactured to high quality German and European standards and competitively priced.
“This project will not be the solution to all our problems in the power sector. However, I am confident that it has the potential to address a significant amount of the challenges we have faced for decades,” the Nigerian leader added.
GIK/APA