“There is no industrial growth or economic development without power. I believe that power is the most significant discovery of humanity in the last 1,000 years,” Tinubu declared.
“Our education, our health care, and our transportation all depend on energy, and without power, it is an impossible objective,” he added.
The meeting, held at the State House and attended by dignitaries including Vice-President Kashim Shettima, Economy Minister Wale Edun, Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu and Special Adviser on Energy Olu Verheijen, centred on advancing the country’s flagship Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), which envisages delivering 4,000 megawatts (MW) of additional capacity as part of a wider plan to bring Nigeria to the forefront of African electricity generation.
Tinubu directed that key transformer sub-stations be expanded from two to three phases to bolster supply and social welfare.
“We are all inspired and happy. This is what we want to achieve on the continent. We want everyone to see the glory of our economic recovery and banishment of poverty,” he told the Siemens delegation.
Power Minister Adelabu underscored recent sector reforms, citing the Electricity Act 2023 and the launch of a National Integrated Electricity Policy as catalysts that have already drawn more than US$2 billion in fresh investment.
He detailed technical achievements: under the PPI’s pilot phase (Phase Zero), Siemens has delivered ten mobile substations (132/33 kV), three 75/100 MVA transformers, and seven 60/66 MVA transformers, adding approximately 984 MW of transmission capacity to the nationwide grid.
The minister stated that by December 2024, the Federal Executive Council had approved contracts for five key substations in Abeokuta, Offa, Ayede-Ibadan, Sokoto, and Onitsha, with civil works mobilisation underway and two sites slated for completion by the end of 2026.
Meanwhile, Phase One–Batch Two plans cover six Brownfield and ten Greenfield sub-stations with a cumulative impact of around 4,104 MW.
Siemens’ Middle East & Africa MD, Dietmar Siersdorfer, described the PPI as “not just a project but a platform for long-term development and prosperity.”
He confirmed the establishment of a training centre to develop Nigerian engineering talent. He stated that thousands of jobs would be created in local communities through services, accommodation, and transportation at project sites.
Finance Minister Edun emphasised that the PPI will enhance Nigeria’s ease of doing business ranking, generate youth employment, and contribute to reducing poverty across the country and the wider region.
From a pan-African perspective, the scale and ambition of Nigeria’s pact with Siemens signal a wider shift: regional economies are increasingly seeking large-scale infrastructure partnerships that combine foreign engineering expertise with local human capital development.
As African governments strive to close the continent’s vast infrastructure gap, Nigeria’s blueprint may well serve as a model. The actual test will come in implementation, but for now, the signals are clear: power is at the heart of Africa’s next growth spurt.
