The second phase of the Siemens power project, part of the Presidential Power Initiative, is set to commence in the first quarter of 2025 following approval from the Nigerian government.
Eko Hot Blog gathered that with the pilot stage reaching 95 per cent completion in 2024, the project aims to address the issue of grid collapse by constructing five substations across the nation to stabilize and energize the power supply.
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, confirmed the approval for the second phase, demonstrating the government’s commitment to improving the country’s power infrastructure.
He disclosed this during his appearance before the two chambers at the National Assembly in defence of the Ministry’s budget presentation. “I am happy to appear before you today to address you on what we have been able to achieve last year and what is expected of us as a ministry this year.
The minister revealed that power generation was just about 4100 megawatts when he was appointed, and within a year, the capacity increased by over 1000 megawatts.
“We reached a maximum capacity of 5270 megawatts due to improvements in the operation of existing power plants and the commissioning of new plants.
This boost was partly driven by efforts to ensure more efficient use of existing infrastructure and completion of some power projects”, he said.
Adelabu also disclosed that in tackling the electricity challenge facing the nation, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), will require about N2.779 trillion to execute its 149 projects that are scattered across the country, many of them at different stages of completion.
“For the TCN alone, we will need about N2.779 trillion to enable us to execute the 149 projects we are currently engaged in. Our total budget as a ministry is not even up to this but as the saying goes, half bread is better than none. We need your cooperation and collaboration in achieving the mandate of Mr President in electricity supply to Nigerians”, the Minister said.
Speaking further on the Siemens project, Adelabu said, the substations to be built across the country, would address the nation’s fragile power infrastructure, occasioned by obsolete and outdated equipment.
“The Federal Government is fully determined to address these challenges and issues hindering efforts to provide electricity to Nigerians and our consumers. Of particular note is the grid collapse, which is caused by obsolete equipment around our power stations. To practically address this, the Siemens project will come on board in the first quarter of this year.
We have almost concluded the take-off of the project and it will involve building five substations across the country.
This will energise our supply so that the issue of grid collapse will be a thing of the past. By next week, we will begin the contracts for the substations to come on board”, Adelabu said.
He also informed the lawmakers of the need to address the issue of vandalism as it concerns the electricity assets across the country.
“We must sensitise our people against this act. We must be involved in serious advocacy on this issue. We must jointly address the issue of protecting the power assets. Damage to one is damage to all, especially the transmission assets, they are so interwoven and damage to one is damage to all”.
“In this case, we need the cooperation and collaboration of all our security agencies, the Army, the Airforce, the Navy, the Police and the Civil Defence. But more importantly, we need the cooperation and collaboration of the Office of the National Security Adviser. We are not just dealing with those who steal cables but bandits, who use dynamite to blow up towers and transmission lines. There is no amount we can vote for either as a ministry or in TCN to solve this”.
“Our transmission line from Shiroro – Mando – Kaduna which was attacked by these bandits, and which we are yet to put back, was done as if we were in a war situation. We did not budget for what was spent to put what we could together.
How do we manage the protection of these assets? This must be our joint concern, so we are calling for your cooperation and collaboration in addressing this security challenge facing us in our power assets”, the Minister said.
He added: “I want to assure you that on our part, the Federal Government is fully ready to address the issues hindering the electricity sector this year, 2025 and we hope the year will be a better one for us in the ministry.
As I said before, I want to reiterate that we will focus on this Presidential Power Initiative to ensure that our grid is stable and does not suffer collapse and when it does, within the very shortest time, it is restored and brought back on board.
The Minister also disclosed that the ministry will be working with local contractors in their procurement plans for the year.
“I also want to let you know that we are encouraging our local contractors to provide our materials such as cables, poles and so on. This will help us to conserve our foreign exchange and reduce the transaction cycles we often face while we import. This will save us time in our procurement this year”, he said.
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