The Federal Government has sought the continuous technical and financial support of the European Union (EU), to boost power supply in Nigeria.
Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu who made the call at the weekend when he received the EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot, in his office in Abuja, noted that the sector was critical to the optimal performance of the economy.
Chief Adelabu, in a statement on Sunday by his Special Adviser on Strategic Communications and Media Relations, Tunji Bolaji, expressed the readiness of Nigeria to continue to work and collaborate with the Union and all its development partners in achieving both bilateral and multilateral agreements.
He told the envoy that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took the issue of the power sector very seriously and has given all the needed support for the sector to make a breakthrough.
The Minister noted in particular the enormous financial support that the power sector has received from European Union nations, such as Germany, France and many others along with their development partners.
He expressed delight in receiving the envoy as he said the meeting would ensure that both parties benefitted from the bilateral and multilateral relationships.
“First, let me thank you and welcome you. When I got the information that you wanted to meet with me, I wasn’t surprised. I was also excited to receive you in my office because we are trying everything possible to ensure that we benefit from bilateral and multilateral relationships when it comes to gaining experience of the Western nations on the issue of power. And like you rightly put it, the power sector is so critical to the optimal performance of every other sector. Without power, it would be tough for other sectors to perform actively, which is why Mr. President has placed so much premium and priority to transforming the Nigeria power sector.
“We have a history that we are not proud of. Over 60 years of electricity in Nigeria and we are still at this level of epileptic supply to households, businesses and industries. In fact, we got electricity before some European countries. So those that got electricity after us have stabilised their supply. They have made their supply reliable and they are benefiting from it through visible economic growth and industrial development. And today, we are still import-dependent on the majority of the things that we use in Nigeria not because we don’t have the raw materials to produce these things, but because of the lack of reliability and functionality of our power sector”, the Minister said.
He added that there has been a lot of improvement since President Tinubu took over power and he has initiated reforms that are yielding positive results and transforming the sector. He noted in particular, the investment in the non-grid supply to the rural and semi urban parts of the country.
He said: “We have seen some reasonable improvements since this new administration came in. In three basic areas. Number one, in the area of energy access expansion. We have extended the grid to so many areas where there were no grid extensions. And we have also exploited renewable energy in our rural areas and semi-urban areas that were either underserved or unserved. Renewable energy in terms of solar energy, most especially, and we have small dams which we are using for hydro power supply. So we have achieved some level of energy expansion in terms of new generation”.
The Minister disclosed that the revolution that is ongoing in the sector was as result of the bold step of President Tinubu, when he signed the Electrity Act of 2023.
“The second intervention with regard to the transmission is the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), and you willrecognize it better when I say Siemens Project. So we are actually securing the finance of close to 2.3 billion dollars to ensure that we revamp or transform our transmission segments. And the government of Germany has been very instrumental to ensure this works. The Siemens is handling lots of the critical transmission projects there. We also have some reputable Chinese firms too, that are doing some distribution projects, based on each company’s specialty and track records. That is working well. We have almost completed the pilot phase of that project, which involved importation, installation, commissioning, and energisation of 10 power transformers across the countryand another set of 10 mobile substations.
“We have installed almost 90 % of this and they are working. And that has improved transmission capacity by over 700 megawatts, which is the result of what we are seeing now in terms of relative stability in the transmission grid. Before now, at the time the supply to the grid enters 5,000, the grid is unstable it shakes, collapses and all that. Now, we are having an average of 5,000, 7,000, 8,000 megawatts. So it’s not by accident. It’s because of these activities of the government. And this administration has recorded two major milestones in the power sector ever in Nigeria. Number one, the highest average daily power consumption. Over 20,000 kilowatt hour was achieved, which has never been achieved before. We have also achieved transmitted and distributed highest energy in the volume of 5,801.63, which has broken the previous record, achieved 2021. And lastly, we have achieved a valuable generation capacity of 6,003 megawatts ever in Nigeria. So which is why I keep saying that, when you put in some level of activity, you see the results”, he said.
He emphasized the need for more assistance from the partners, saying “Thank you. It’s been tremendous. It’s been quite encouraging and inspiring for us to even achieve some of the things that I’ve listed. EU as a body, the German Commission, the GIZ, the French AFD, the UK NIFE, all of them. They have been supportive in all areas not just in renewables alone, even in grid activities too. They’ve been quite supportive and we want to thank you. But like Oliver Twist, we keep asking for more. There are plenty areas of support where they are required. We still require lots of financial support as the evolving economic landscape is not so favorable to us in this part of the world, I cannot lie to you. It’s not. Just let’s look at the recent disruptions of the reciprocal tariffs from the US and lot of other things that is coming. And look at the impact on the crude oil international price from $80 down to 64, and still going down further. That’s a lot of risk on our revenues in Africa, especially in Nigeria, where we rely so much on crude oil for foreign exchange. Over 90 % of our foreign revenue is from crude oil. Non-oil export is still very, very low here. So you can see what the disruptions is causing to even our 2025 annual budgets.
“We have used $75 to a barrel as the benchmark price for the budget. We have used 2 million barrels per day. And we are still on 1.7million. You can see that gap, that hole is going to lead to deficit. The major impact is that a lot of our quite laudable infrastructure transformation projects will be affected.
“There will not be enough money for capital projects. After you have paid salaries, you have paid pensions, you have made statutory reductions, have service debt. In fact, to service debt will be a problem. And nobody wants to be insolvent as a sovereign. Finance is putting a lot of pressure on us. So, I want the Western world to continue to fund us in friendly conditions. Friendly terms that will enable us to want to pay back as soon as we are able to get out of this quagmire. And again, it will help us to derisk the investments in the power sector. A lot of the investors run away from investment to the power sector, whether it’s grid or renewable. But when they see huge investment coming in from the multilateral agencies, international development organizations, even the government itself, they are encouraged to come in.”
The envoy expressed the desire of the EU to continue to work and collaborate with Nigeria, especially in the power sector.
