FG Approves N8.6bn for Siemens Electricity Deal

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian electricity improvement scheme between Siemens and the Nigerian government moved a step closer to being realised as the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the payment of N8.6 billion to the company.

A breakdown of the money shows that the sum of N6.9 billion (€15.21 million) as offshore and N1.7 billion onshore component represent Nigeria’s counterpart funding for the power deal with Siemens AG, signed by the Nigerian and German governments in 2019.

The council also ratified the air transport agreement between Nigeria and the United States at its virtual meeting presided over by the President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking after the meeting, the minister of finance, budget and national planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said that the council ratified the President’s anticipatory approval for the funding.

She said the ratification was done based on a memorandum she jointly presented with the Minister of Power, Mr Saleh Mamman.

In July 2019, the federal government and Siemens signed a Letter of Agreement on the Nigeria Electrification Road Map after the President and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel met on August 31, 2018, in Abuja.

Mrs Ahmed said the council discussed the first phase of the project which she said was designed to include 23 transmission initiatives as well as 175 separate transformative projects in the electricity distribution franchise.

She said the project would also support the regulator, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) towards improving metering in the electricity industry in the country.

The minister said, “Mr President and his German counterpart met in Abuja on August 31, 2018, and committed to jointly increase the capacity of Nigeria’s electricity grid from the current capacity of 5,000MW to 25,000MW over a three-phased programme.

“After this meeting, an MOU was executed on July 23, 2019, between the Nigerian government and Siemens AG with the German government support.

“The MOU is designed to deliver this end to end modernisation programme which we are calling the presidential power initiative. The objective of this initiative is to address the intractable problems that have bedevilled the Nigerian power industry, over a period of years.

“The project will be implemented in three phases and the subject of our memo today is phase one.”