The Federal Government will sign an agreement with German-based Siemens AG on Monday (today) on an electrification roadmap aimed at addressing the nation’s power crisis, our correspondent has learnt.
The PUNCH exclusively reported last month that the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Abba Kyari, had meetings with the power distribution companies and other stakeholders in the power sector and projects that the German government could help with were examined.
Our correspondent gathered that the Global Chief Executive Officer, Siemens, Mr Joe Kaeser, will be visiting Nigeria to sign a Letter of Agreement with President Muhammadu Buhari on the road map.
“This project is similar to the Egypt megaproject and the Iraq electrification project recently awarded to Siemens,” an industry source told our correspondent.
It was learnt that Nigerian Electrification Roadmap initiative came to being following the meeting between President Buhari and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, August 31, 2018.
The initiative is aimed at resolving existing challenges in the power sector and expanding the capacity for future power needs.
Our correspondent also gathered that the projects for the phase 1 of the road map would span transmission and distribution segments of the value chain, including software maintenance and support for four years for the Transmission Company of Nigeria and 11 Discos.
It was learnt that in developing the road map, Siemens engaged relevant stakeholders in the sector at different times and fora, with the Bureau of Public Enterprise acting on behalf of the Federal Government.
The outcome of a workshop facilitated by Siemens in October with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and the TCN, was said to have been developed into the road map, which was submitted to President Buhari in November.
It was learnt that there were further engagements with the Discos and the TCN including field visits in January this year, and another workshop was organised and facilitated by Siemens in March to further identify and validate projects for the phase 1 of the road map.
More than five years after the privatisation of the sector, the investors who took over the six generation companies and 11 Discos that emerged after the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria are still grappling with the old problems in the sector.
The sector is plagued with problems of gas supply shortages, limited distribution networks, limited transmission line capacity, huge metering gap, electricity theft, and high technical and commercial losses, among others.
Total power generation stood at 3,841.2 megawatts as of 6.00am on Sunday, according to data from the Nigeria Electricity System Operator, an arm of the TCN.
