The Federal Government has disclosed that it loses over $1 billion annually due to technical and commercial inefficiencies along the electrification value chain in the country.
Mrs.Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, disclosed this weekend during a ceremony to announcing the government’s approval of Siemens’ pre-engineering contract to commence work on the significant expansion of Nigeria’s electricity transmission and distribution network and also generation capacity.
The pre-engineering contract forms the initial step in the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), formerly the Nigeria Electrification Roadmap, outlined by Siemens and the Federal Government of Nigeria in July 2019
Minister explained that the PPI will help eliminate these inefficiencies and unlock economic value for the country.
Saleh Mamman, Minister of Power, speaking said the significant, timely and high-level intervention between President Buhari and Chancellor Merkel addresses critical infrastructure deficits in the value chain and helps reposition the power sector to become more attractive, viable and investable.
“The PPI aligns very strongly with the key objectives of the power sector reforms initiated by Government and superintended by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, which were to attract private sector investment into the power sector, increase operational efficiencies and improve service delivery to end users,” said Alex A. Okoh, Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Onyeche Tifase, Managing Director Siemens Nigeria , said the contract is one important step as part of the development of vital electrification infrastructure that will ensure reliable power supply, remove constraints in Nigeria’s electricity grid, secure additional revenue for investors, and build competent local content and capacity, adding that : “The projects will create vital direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians and local businesses, thus enabling economic growth and increased productivity, based on the supply of reliable electricity.”
Tifase said Phase 1 of the PPI will focus on essential and quick-win measures to increase the system`s operational capacity to 7,000 MW and to significantly reduce the ATC&C financial losses.
Tifase also said as part of Phase 1 Siemens will provide general technical training on core competency areas as well as training for employees of Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, and regulators, on all the equipment and software being provided by Siemens
“Phase 2 will target the remaining network bottlenecks to enable full use of existing generation and distribution capacities, bringing the systems operational capacity to 11,000 MW. Phase 3 will develop the system up to 25,000 MW in the long-term. This includes upgrades and expansions in generation, transmission and distribution,” Tifase added.
