RENOWNED Nigerian Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has expressed concern over the persistent electricity challenges in the country despite an agreement reached between the Federal Government and German Technological Company, Siemens.
Speaking with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a panel held in Germany last week, Adichie inquired about the epileptic electricity supply, despite the agreement signed between both countries towards improving power in Nigeria.
“It’s two years later and nothing has happened. So I wanted to know if you knew about it, of course not holding you responsible for Siemens, but we were told that the German government had made this happen. So I’m just wondering why we don’t have improved electricity,” she told Merkel.
Replying, Merkel identified funding as one of many reasons for the minimal success of improving Nigeria’s electricity.
Read Also
“There are several reasons. One of the reasons is that there were problems to do with funding,” Markle said.
She promised to contact the company to ascertain other reasons responsible for the problem.
“I’ll make a point of going back to asking Siemens what happened. You will get your answer,” she said.
In 2019, the Federal Government of Nigeria and German Technological Company Siemens signed an agreement aimed at resolving Nigeria’s electricity challenges.
The agreement was to extend power generation and supply in Nigeria to at least 25,000MW in the long term.
According to a statement released by Siemens in July 2019, the development was scheduled to be in phases, with power supply to consumers increasing from 3400MW to 7000MW in the first phase.
Consumers were expected to receive about 11,000MW in the second phase and, eventually, 25,000MW after the third phase.
However, two years after, Nigeria still battles with a capacity of about 4000MW and has overtaken The Republic of Congo as the country with the least electricity supply in the world.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.