The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Maitama Tuggar, says that with the Siemens gas deal between Nigeria and Germany, Nigerians will start to experience improved power supply by the first half of 2024.
This was made known by Tuggar while featuring on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, on Tuesday, November 21, 2023.
Tuggar, who is part of President Bola Tinubu’s team at the G20 Compact with Africa Economic Conference going on in Germany, said the Siemens deal is “fully back”.
Remarkable improvement in power supply
When asked how soon Nigerians can begin to see a drastic change in electricity supply, Tuggar said,
- ‘’In the coming year, we are almost at the end of this year, so in the coming year, by the first half of next year (2024) God willing, there would be a remarkable improvement in electricity supply in Nigeria.
- ‘’The setbacks that happened in the past, some were man-made, some were not, for instance the Covid pandemic, we had no control over that and that was part of the problem. But like I said there is a reinvigoration of will of the commitment to deliver under the Tinubu administration and the German side has the same feeling.
- ‘’The 2 sides are working closely, you have to bear in mind Chancellor Scholz visited Nigeria about two weeks ago or there about before President Tinubu was invited to attend this summit and engage with not only Germany but also other countries as well as African countries and international financial cooperation and development financial institutions.
- ‘’So its something that will be felt within a very short period of time.’’
Gas deal, a win-win
Tuggar said the gas deal between Nigeria and Germany is a win-win.
- He said, “The fact that we are exporting gas to Germany or we intend to do that does not mean that we are depriving Nigeria’s domestic gas needs; that will be fulfilled as well but you also need the revenue that would accrue from such exports to invest further in taking electricity and gas to other parts of Nigeria. So, it’s all interconnected and one does not stop the other from happening.”
The minister further said electricity supply would improve with the completion of the ongoing AKK project – the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano project.