Award-winning writer and activist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, recently met with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, at the Düsseldorf’s Schauspielhaus theatre in Germany.
Adichie, who was a guest speaker alongside the chancellor, didn’t waste the rare opportunity, which she used fruitfully to seek clarification on the status of the Siemens Power Project which Nigeria signed with the German multinational in 2019.
The deal, termed the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), began on August 31, 2018, after the president and the German Chancellor, Merkel, met on August 31, 2018, in Abuja.
The federal government and Siemens later in July 2019 signed a letter of agreement on the then Nigerian Electrification Roadmap (now PPI).
The three-phase project seeks to raise the installed capacity to 25,000 MW by 2025 when the third phase of the project would have been completed.
However, it has been learnt that since the deal was signed, not much has been heard as regards its progress. Nigeria’s power supply has not improved and no update has been given about what stage the project is in.
While meeting with the chancellor, Chimamanda asked: “We were told that this deal had the full backing of the German Chancellor and the German Government and we were all excited. And it’s two years after and nothing has happened, so I wanted to know if you knew anything about it and of course not to hold you responsible for Siemens… I’m just wondering why we still don’t have improved electricity in Nigeria?”
In her response, Merkel, who promised to look into the matter, noted that the deal might have stalled due to issues with funding and sourcing of materials.
According to Merkel: “It might well be at the time as with the project in Ghana, that the Nigerian government rather demanded too much local content. You know when you have a German investor saying I want to engage in electricity production in Nigeria or Ghana and then the government says 50 percent of this is local content produced in the country.
“Generally speaking, that is the right approach but very often, the project fails as a consequence when you speak about solar panels or gas power plants. And you start by zero, there is no industrial basis in the country to start with or 50 percent local content which such a project can easily flounder.”
