Siemens: Examining Adelabu’s revisionism

A statement issued by the spokesman of the Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu, that was widely published in the media is full of distortions and outright disregard for facts. This deliberate mixing of facts with fiction took place during a ministerial briefing that was held on Friday April 5, 2024. I have been a keen chronicler of Nigeria’s power sector since 1999. I follow news items and pronouncements about and around the sector. When the Siemens-Nigeria was first announced, I made a duty to follow every bit of it.

To say the least, the part of the minister’s briefing about Siemens project was far from the truth. In such case checking the facts is an onerous duty.

1. The minister claims that there was no progress on the Siemens project since the death of the late Abba Kyari. Let us remember that Abba Kyari died in 2020. The lie is in the claim that the death of Abba Kyari stalled the implementation of the Siemens project.
2. The minister claims that the pilot or first phase of the project “only progressed significantly when the Tinubu administration emerged.”
3. The minister claims that the 10 mobile substations and the mega transformers only arrived in Nigeria now. Bear in mind that pictures of the transformers and mobile stations delivered were online in 2022.
4. The minister also claims that the Siemens project only continued after the visit of the German Chancellor to Nigeria in November 2023.

At this critical time in the history of Nigeria’s power sector what is expected from the progress; an achievement that will facilitate improvement of the entire value chain of the power sector. The minister should have focused on making things happen in the power sector by building on the foundation laid by the previous administration. But since he chose to indulge in desperate revisionism, let us set the records straight:

• The Siemens project was never stalled after the death of the late Abba Kyari. It moved on and significant progress was made through timely funding and implementation of Nigeria’s component of the agreement. Of course, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine affected timelines but former President Muhammadu Buhari kept the project going.

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In March 2022, former minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu, led a government delegation to Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany where a meeting with the leadership of Siemens Energy fast-tracked the deliveries of the first phase of the project.

2. While delivering the President Muhammadu Buhari’ administration’s scorecard in January 2023, former minister of power’s presentation included videos and images of the mega transformers and mobile power sub-stations delivered to Nigeria. At as at January 2023, six of the 10 Mega Power Transformers have already arrived on the shores of Nigeria and installation of the ones delivered was ongoing in various locations — while the remaining four were onshore.

As at that time the first transformer was being installed in Ajah Lagos while the second one was also being installed at Apo Abuja. In fact, the mega transformer installed in Apo was energized on May 15, 2023. At the time, mobile substations were delivered and cleared from the ports in Lagos.

3. As at 1 May 2023, the FGN Power Company has received delivery of 80 per cent of the equipment for the pilot projects, which were deployed to critical sites across the country to improve power transmission capacity.
4. All this progress on the Siemens project was only possible because of the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari and the former minister of power’s dedication to making sure that the project was successful.
5. Funding for the project has all the backing of the then federal government. In fact, in December 2021, the former minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, and former minister of power Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu secured the approval of the Federal Executive Council of €63m for the procurements under the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI)
6. One of the last official engagements of the former government in the power sector was testing and commissioning of the 700 megawatts Zungeru Hydroelectric Power station which is the biggest power project delivered in recent times. Details of the testing of the project were widely in the news on May 15, 2023.

There is everything wrong with distorting facts. Doing so can mislead the people. While it is the wish of all Nigerians that every government succeeds in making our country better, it is also important not to mislead the people. To stick to the facts. In this age of the internet, attempting to brazenly distort the facts is easily defeated by a simple Google search.

Government is a continuous process. Naturally President Tinubu is expected to continue from the point where President Muhammadu Buhari stopped. What Nigerians expect is improved power supply. That should be the priority of the minister of power not taking to simplistic revisionism.

Oluwole works with Northwestern University Qatar, Education City, Ar-Rayyan, Doha