$2.3bn Siemens power project idle before Tinubu came – Minister

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adekola Adelabu

$2.3bn Siemens power project idle before Tinubu came – Minister

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has stated that the $2.3bn Siemens project signed by the Buhari administration did not embark on any infrastructure development since the agreement was signed in 2019.

The minister, during a meeting with a delegation of the World Bank in his office in Abuja, said not until the ascension of the current administration before the country got a mobile power station.

“We entered into the Siemens contract in 2019. We never lifted a finger until 2023, when this government came on board. So, you can now imagine since this president came in and now look at the mileage we have achieved. Even in this Siemens project, the pilot phase is almost completed and that is in less than two years, when in four years we didn’t do anything”, Adelabu said while expressing optimism that the future is bright for the sector.

The minister blamed the neglect of the sector by the past administrations for the rot and the degeneration that the sector is passing through.

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“We actually have a past that we are not proud of. Over the years, we have only been paying lip service to transforming the power sector. We have not walked the talk. Previous administrations have kept on doing the same thing all the time and you cannot get different results for that, which is why we have decided to do things differently this time. In all the segments across the sector, we must run away from the past.”

Adelabu, in a statement by his media aide, Bolaji Tunji, lamented the neglect of power infrastructure, which has contributed to the present problems in the sector.

“How will you explain the kind of infrastructure that we put together for our transmission network across the country? Thousands of kilometers of power line, thousands of power transformers, hundreds of thousands of distribution transformers that we have not maintained over time and expect them to keep sustaining our energy supply. It is not possible.

“How do we allow our people to vandalise infrastructure and expect stable electricity? So how do you have a sector with over 12 million customers and our meter is not more than six million and we expect to have a stable industry? No, it’s not possible. So what has happened with past governments?

“In 1984, when the military was in power here, we achieved 2,000 megawatts. Between 1984 and 2023, it took us 40 years to add an additional 2,000 megawatts. Now, we have an average of 5,800 megawatts generated within one and a half years that we came to the office. What I’m saying is that, if the past administrations have been adding things like this, we will not be where we are today. And that is why I said that President Tinubu is actually laying the kind of foundation that we need for our country to grow”.

He however stated that the current administration is laying a solid foundation for a stable, reliable, and effective power supply for Nigeria and is willing to partner with international agencies and reputable organisations to achieve the objectives.