President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria remains dedicated to the partnership with Siemens and the German Government to improve electricity generation in the country.
The president, who stated this when he received officials of Siemens Energy AG at State House, Abuja, on Thursday, urged them not to relent in ensuring that the government’s commitment to Nigerians in delivering the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) is fulfilled.
The delegation includes the president/ CEO, of Siemens Energy, Christian Bruch, the CEO of Siemens Africa, Nadia Haakansson, and the CEO of Siemens Nigeria, Seun Suleiman.
The Nigerian leader told the delegation that the outcome of the collaboration would deliver critical business enablers and opportunities to engage young enterprising Nigerians in various endeavours.
Buhari also welcomed the training of 200 Nigerian engineers on network development studies under the initiative, saying that this represented ”a very important upskilling and knowledge transfer process”.
He added that he looked forward to the 5,000 engineers that would have been trained by the end of the programme. He reiterated his promise to Nigerians earlier in this administration to improve electricity supply by resolving capacity deficit across the sector’s value chain.
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The president lauded the German government, through the former chancellor, Angela Merkel, for graciously supporting the country, leading to the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Siemens.
He also thanked Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the German government’s continued support for the PPI.
“A plan to deliver capacity improvements of 2,000 megawatts in the transmission-distribution interface is now firmly the focus of PPI Phase I. In April 2022, the minister of power briefed me on the outcome of his visit to Germany where he held meetings with Siemens executives.
“That visit was fruitful in emphasising the need to expedite delivery of the pilot PPI project, elements of which have started arriving in the country. The minister also mentioned that you, Bruch, will pay a visit to Nigeria, and we are glad that you are with us today.
“The PPI remains a priority project for our administration and Nigerians believe in the value that the Siemens’ brand can deliver.
“On our part, nothing is spared to ensure we improve the lives and livelihoods of our citizens,” he said.
“However, what I would like to see is that we attain completion of the entire transaction process by December 2022. This will entrench the mandate of the PPI in full committal terms,” said the president.
Christian Bruch, after sympathising with Nigerians affected by the current devastating flood, said his team was fully committed to the PPI.
We will push forward in the weeks and months ahead, as we need to move the process faster.”
He also promised to continue with the training and improvement of capacities, assuring that notwithstanding the 2023 general election in Nigeria, ”the power initiative will continue, as we are fully committed, and will accelerate the process”.
