All is set for the signing of electricity road map agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria and German-based Siemens. The deal is the product of a meeting President Muhammadu Buhari held with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel on August 31, 2018.

A presidential aide, Bashir Ahmad, provided information on the signing of the agreement.

The Global Chief Executive Officer of Siemens, Joe Kaeser, is expected to meet with Mr Buhari on Monday in Nigeria to sign a Letter of Agreement on the Nigerian Electrification Roadmap which was submitted to Mr Buhari last year November.

Several meetings have been held by power distribution companies, other stakeholders in the power sector and the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari. Such meetings focused on the key areas where the help of the German government is needed.

The partnership on the road map for power generation will aid the activities of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the eleven DisCos within the country, including software maintenance and support for four years, with a source claiming the project can be compared to that of Egypt megaproject.

Siemens’ managed Egypt megaproject

The Egypt megaproject was handled by Siemens, and according to a statement on the company’s website, “Siemens successfully managed to boost Egypt’s power generation capacity by over 40 per cent by connecting 14.4 gigawatts to the Egyptian national grid. This is enough power to supply over 40 million Egyptians with reliable electricity and provide much-needed power to different industrial sectors.”

The leading supplier of systems for power generation has been in and out of Nigeria, holding several meetings and consultation, as well as electricity field observation dating back to October last year, a month after the meeting between President Buhari and the German Chancellor.

Nigeria’s Situation

Nigeria has been struggling with power distribution, limited distribution networks, limited transmission line capacity, huge metering gap, and fall of gas supply, despite the privatisation of the power sector which produced six generation companies and eleven DisCos.

The roadmap by Siemens is expected to resolve these challenges. Part of the roadmap is a workshop facilitated by Siemens in October with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and the TCN.