The Federal Government on Wednesday signed three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with Chinese companies to boost electricity transmission.
A statement in Abuja said that Prof. Chinedu Nebo, the Minister of Power, signed the MoU on behalf of the Federal Government.
Nebo urged the companies to boost the nation’s capacity to transmit the generated power to the end users.
The minister, identifying the critical role of transmission, said it was needless, if the generated power could not reach the consumers.
Nebo said that the Chinese companies had the capacity to identify area of opportunities in the sector.
The minister urged them to also build synergy with the distribution and generation companies, to build mutual relationship in the area of embedded or generated power.
He commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his doggedness and determination to push electricity agenda to this level through the privatisation programme.
Nebo, however, expressed worry that the statistics of power in Nigeria was “abysmally low with the production of only 2.5 per cent of what was being produced in South Africa”.
The minister commended the level of confidence the Chinese companies had in the sector, saying that encouraging funding had come from EXIM Bank into the sector.
In her remarks, Mrs Mariam Akomode, the Chairperson of Cartlark International, assured the minister that her company would collaborate with the president’s Transformation Agenda.
She said for a country like Nigeria, which was in a hurry to develop its critical infrastructure, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model was a viable option.
Akomode said the company would explore the PPP initiative to finance its the transmission projects.
Also, Mr Gang Yongzhi of SinoHydro Nigeria, said the company was ready to promote the project in line with the agreement signed.
