TheCable

The federal executive council (FEC) has approved $1.9 million and €62.9 million for phase one of the presidential power initiative (PPI).

PPI is a power upgrade and modernization programme between the Nigerian government and Siemens with the support of the German government.

Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, said this on Wednesday while addressing state house correspondents after the weekly FEC meeting in Abuja.

In July 2019, the federal government signed a power project deal (PPI) with Siemens AG to increase Nigeria’s electricity generation to 25,000 megawatts (MW) in six years.

In July 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the payment of €15.21 million and N1.708 billion as counterpart funding for the PPI.

Speaking on the recent development, Ahmed said $1.9 million will be used for payment of transactions advisors and third-party consultants for the power project.

“The first memo that we presented to council was seeking Council’s approval for the engagement of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as transaction advisors with third-party consultants for the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative (phase one),” Ahmed said.

“So, the AFC, the transaction advisors, their fee is $800,000 US dollars and the transaction period is 18 months and this includes their reimbursable expenses.

“The second component is the engagement of third party consultants and this includes local as well as international legal advisory firms, environmental and social impact assessment consultants, security consultants, insurance advisors, as well as tax and model auditor.

“These parties are collectively engaged in the sum of $1,116,312.45 US dollars. The objective of the PPI project is to modernize and upgrade power transmission and distribution infrastructure in Nigeria.

The finance minister also explained that €62 million will be used for the procurement of mobile equipment and transformers for the transmission of power across the country.

“The second approval that we got from Council today is still relating to the PPI power project and the memo was seeking the approval of Council for the award of contracts for the procurement of mobile equipment for the transmission power component of the project,” she said.

“So, 10 mobile equipment and 10 transformers in favour of Siemens AG.

“The total cost of the procurement is in the sum of 62,949,447 euros with a delivery period of 12 to 18 months, dependent on how we’re able to push because this equipment will be manufactured specifically for us.

“The focus is to be able to very quickly enhance the power availability and capacity in the country.

“With this particular approval, we’ll be able to expand from the current capacity of 5000 megawatts to 7000 megawatts.”

Last week, Abubakar Aliyu, minister of power, said the Siemens power project would commence in the first quarter of 2022.