President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Ministry of Power to collaborate with the Egyptian government on implementing the Presidential Power Initiative.

The initiative is known as the Siemens Project.

Aaron Artimas, Special Adviser, Media and Communication to the Minister of Power, in a statement, said the Minister, Sale Mamman, disclosed this while receiving the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Ihab Awad, in his office.

The minister said Mr. Buhari had intimated that Egypt had successfully rehabilitated and restored its power sector through its collaboration with Siemens.

“The president had reasoned that obtaining more information from Egypt will enable Nigeria to maximise our agreement with Siemens, towards the total overhaul of our power grid and distribution systems,” he said.

Describing the Egyptian ambassador’s visit as timely, Mr. Mamman assured that the ministry would leverage the Siemens Project’s development.

He also said Nigeria would collaborate with Egypt on renewable energy.

The minister accepted the ambassador’s invitation to visit Egypt to understand the Egyptian power sector better and deepen collaboration in the other sectors within the Power value chain.

Earlier, Mr. Awad revealed that since his assumption of duty in Nigeria, he had been visiting key ministries to pursue areas of mutual collaboration.

According to him, Egypt has the experience and technical knowledge in the power sector to support Nigeria in rehabilitating its transmission and distribution sectors.

Awad called for the restoration of the Egyptian-Nigerian joint commission, saying that he hopes to have the first resumed session before the end of this year. 

(NAN)