TheCable

The federal government has signed a grant agreement of €25 million with the French Development Agency (AFD) for the Northern Corridor Project to boost the power supply in the country.

The Northern Corridor Project, jointly funded by the European Union and the AFD, will improve transmission capacity in the north-western part of the country.

Clem Agba, minister of state for budget and national planning, signed the agreement on Wednesday in Abuja, said the project was in line with the National Development Plan 2021 to 2025.

Agba said that the signing of the agreement showed that Nigeria was on track in the implementation of the development plan.

“I want to thank the EU and AFD and the French government for this intervention in Nigeria’s power sector, especially as it has to do with transmission lines and substations,” he said.

“Power is very essential, and what we are signing today demonstrates this.

“This project will help TCN to operationalise its ‘Transmission Expansion Plan’, through the construction of additional transmission lines and substations across nine states in the northern part of the country — Niger, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi and Nasarawa.”

On his part, Xavier Muron, AFD country director, said the project was a technical enabler for the integration into the grid of expected solar farms in the north-western part of Nigeria.

Muron said that poor transmission networks had been a significant bottleneck in many countries for the achievement of mixed diversification.

Speaking on behalf of the EU, Cecile Tassin-Pelzer, head of cooperation, appreciated Team Europe for collaboration with the Nigerian government.

“EU also appreciates its co-funder the AFD, we have been working together in the power sector since 2017,” she said.

“We are happy about this collaboration, particularly in the energy and agricultural sector under the Green Economy Team Europe Initiative.

“The collaboration is a concrete example of how the EU Global Gateway can contribute to major investments in infrastructure development.

“We are now looking at the implementation of the project, which is very important to us.”

The power project agreement is expected to build more than 800 km of 330 kV double circuit transmission lines and construct or upgrade 13 sub-stations.