The minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu, says the federal government’s intervention in the power sector has helped further stimulate the Siemens project.

“The inception of the present administration in 2023 brought about renewed vigour to the Siemens Power Project as an accelerated contract was signed to ensure visible progress in the project.

“There is no way the minister’s statement that no significant progress on the project was made until the present administration was inaugurated can be faulted when the major milestones between 2023 till date are considered.

“No doubt, there have been significant improvements in the Siemens project, also known as the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), since the inauguration of the present administration on May 29, 2023,” Mr Adelabu said in a statement on Sunday.

He added that the PPI was conceived in August 2018 from the strong bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Germany, with the goal of transforming Nigeria’s power sector by increasing generation, transmission, and distribution capacity.

Mr Adelabu explained that this administration, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, had demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the PPI, recognising its critical importance to opening up the economy and galvanising national development.

He also mentioned that the commitment of Tinubu’s administration was to ensure the expeditious delivery of improved power supply to industrial clusters, households, and businesses.

The minister disclosed that the president also mandated signing an “acceleration agreement” with Siemens Energy to fast-track the implementation of the PPI.

He stated that the commitment translated into tangible results under the present administration resulting in leadership, strengthened programme, and governance, adding that it had expedited contract and financing approvals, leading to faster project implementation.

Mr Adelabu, while acknowledging the efforts of past administrations on the PPI, highlighted some of the key milestones under the present administration apart from the execution of an “acceleration agreement” with Siemens Energy to fast-track the implementation of the PPI.

According to him, these include approving a new technical direction for the PPI and ensuring Siemens Energy focuses solely on upgrading and modernising the transmission subsector through a Turnkey approach.

He said the president also approved the distribution scope to be delivered by other reputable engineering procurement and construction companies with the requisite technical, financial, and financing capacity.

(NAN)