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Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, has said that the Nigerian Government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Siemens,  a giant electrification company based in Germany.

The minister said this after the Federal Executive Council’s meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

“We have to correct the infrastructure. I submitted my observation to the council and I believe the government is on it.

“One of the things I will tell you is that the government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the German Government, Siemen.

“They are to align with distribution, transmission and generation companies so that at the end of the day, if we generate 13,000 megawatts, transmission will take the whole 13,000 and will distribute same; that way, Nigerians will be happy and everyone will have 24/7 electricity supply,” he noted.

He also advised electricity distribution companies to allow other investors if they cannot perform their responsibilities, saying the current subsidy regime was not sustainable.

When asked to explain what would happen to the several financial interventions the government had made in the power sector, the minister said, “That is what we are saying that government cannot continue to subsidise because what they are doing is that they collect 3,000 megawatts and pay for only 1,000 megawatts; that is 15 percent of what they are collecting. So, government is the one completing the payment.

“So, we cannot continue like that. So, if they are ready to continue, fine, but if they are not ready to continue, maybe, they should give way to whoever that is ready to come and invest. So, we are asking government to review and see if they are capable, fine. But if they are not capable, they should give way.”

On what would happen to the DisCos, Mamman said, “The DisCos are the ones manning the distribution. That is why I have submitted my observations to the government. It is left for the government to decide. We just have to sit and see whether they are capable, have the technical know-how because most of the problems we are having today is the loss – technical loss and commercial loss.

“They will give you electricity and may not collect your money or they will collect the money and pocket, or they may send light and you may not have good sub-station that may collect this power and distribute to customers. This has been our major problem and it is the responsibility of the DisCos to take care of that end.” Saharareporters