Nigeria signs deal with France to boost electricity supply
The Nigerian government and the French Development Agency (AFD) have signed a grant agreement of €25 million for the Northern Corridor Project jointly funded by the European Union and the AFD.
The agreement was signed by the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, and the AFD Country Director in Nigeria, Xavier Muron, on Wednesday in the presence of the Ambassador of France to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, and the Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Cecile TASSIN-PELZER.
Nexus News gathered that the Northern Corridor Project, being implemented by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), is meant to enhance low-carbon economic growth in West Africa by improving the quality of the electricity network in Nigeria and aiding the development of a regional electricity market under the West African Power Pool (WAPP).
The project will build more than 800km of 330 kV double circuit transmission lines and construct or upgrade 13 substations.
The grant agreement signed today represents the EU’s contribution to the project while the AFD contribution of €202 million was signed in December 2020. The total cost of the project is around 238 million Euros including a 12 million Euros contribution from TCN.
Xavier Muron, the AFD country director in Nigeria, highlighted the importance of such a project as a technical enabler for the integration into the grid of the expected solar farms in the North-west part of the country. He noted that poor transmission network has been a significant bottleneck in many countries for the achievement of mix diversification.
According to the Ambassador of France to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, “France is committed to helping Nigeria achieve its commitments on climate change in line with the Paris agreement and she welcomes this Team Europe piece of work to address it.”
Speaking on behalf of the European Union, the Head of Cooperation, Cecile TASSIN-PELZER said; “We appreciate this Team Europe collaboration with the Government of Nigeria, which is a concrete example of how the EU Global Gateway can contribute to major investments in infrastructure development.”
