Home page
Nigeria strengthens energy partnership with Germany
Nov 12, 2008, 15:17
| | The Nigeria-German Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Partnership has been further strengthened by the visit of the State Secretary of the German Federation and the German Economic Delegation to the Secretariat of the National Energy Council in Abuja, Nigeria on November 12.
The visit is part of the itinerary of visiting President of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The German State Secretary, Dagmar Woehrl and the German Economic delegation, accompanying President Kohler of Germany met with Honorary Adviser to Nigeria President on Energy and Strategic Matters, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman and other top officials of the National Energy Council and Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
Key issues discussed include updates on the status of implementation of projects identified under the energy partnership. The overall objective of the memorandum includes to enhance Nigeria’s capacity to generate and sustain more power. Projects identified are aimed at generating an additional 6,500 megawatts of energy for the nation, the rehabilitation, expansion and renovation of existing power generating facilities. There were also discussions on establishing new facilities using renewable energy sources as wind, solar and waste.
The partnership also involves a robust capacity building component where indigenous expertise on energy will not only be developed but sustained.
The Nigeria-German Energy Partnership is a comprehensive understanding traversing sectors in the energy chain, from oil and gas to electricity distribution.
The signing of two MoU’s by Germany and Nigeria between E-on Ruhr-Gas and NNPC for gas gathering, is the nexus of implementing a flagship project under the partnership that also implements key features of the National Gas Master Plan.
Reacting to the progress of the partnership, Mr. Sanusi Garba of the Ministry of Power said the new owners of ALSCON, Russal have expressed willingness for partners to participate in generating electricity from the power stations. Also the German Development Bank, KFW on behalf of the Ministry of Economy and Technology has commission an expert who is due in Nigeria shortly to conduct a technical assessment of the flagship projects. In order to coordinate the projects under the partnership, a Joint Technical Secretariat has been established, under the supervision of the Secretary of the Energy Council.
The meeting ended with a firm resolve by both countries to strengthen the implementation mechanisms for the partnership and a call by the Chairperson of “Afrika Verern” to the Federal Government to send a delegation to the next “Energy Afrika” Forum in Hanover in April 2009 to highlight the partnership.
© Copyright 2012 nigeriafirst.org
Top of Page | 
