…As Buhari’s Siemens Deal Collapses
Currently, the Federal Government is negotiating for a $2 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of China to finance the construction of a new national “super grid,” aimed at stabilising electricity supply and boosting industrial growth across the country.
This is a clear indication that the multibillion dollar national grid deal with German Siemens under APC government and former President Muhammadu Buhari has gone into the drains with all the initial front payments and celebrations at the National Executive Council meeting when the deal was first announced.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed this at an economic summit in Abuja, saying the transmission project had received government approval and would serve as a new high-capacity backbone linking Nigeria’s eastern and western industrial corridors.
According to the minister, the initiative is expected to enhance power reliability, encourage large-scale manufacturers who had disconnected from the unreliable national grid to reconnect, and reduce the nation’s heavy reliance on costly self-generation.
“We are in advanced discussions with China’s Exim Bank for a $2 billion financing package to construct a national super grid that will stabilise supply across the country. This is part of President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda to decentralise generation and modernise transmission infrastructure,” Adelabu said.
Nigeria currently has an installed generation capacity of about 13,000 megawatts, but delivers an average of around 4,500 to 5,000 MW to consumers due to transmission bottlenecks, losses, and frequent grid disturbances, according to data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and recent sector reports.
Adelabu added that tariff reforms introduced in 2024 had boosted industry revenues by about 70 percent, with total power-sector revenue projected to exceed ₦2 trillion in 2025.
He explained that the proposed super grid designed as a high-voltage transmission backbone would significantly improve electricity evacuation and distribution to industrial clusters across the country.
The Minister also recalled that earlier in the year, the Federal Government signed an agreement with China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) to upgrade existing transmission infrastructure under the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), describing it as a precursor to the larger super-grid plan.
