FG insists no power importation deal with DR Congo

The Federal Government has denied the existence of any agreement to import electricity from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the moment.

Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, described as false, reports by a section of the media, quoting the Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil, that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed by both countries to purchase electricity from that country, which is developing a huge dam.

Briefing the press on sundry issues in Abuja recently, the minister,explained that no such agreement had been entered into.
He clarified however, that the whole idea of developing the large dam was in line with an African Union (AU) initiative to link up the entire continent for easy power purchase and sale across the continent.

According to him, Nigeria is joining countries like South Africa to indicate interest in the dam and buying into it would be “purely futuristic and Nigeria would not be caught napping by the time it is fully developed.”

He said Nigeria, with a growing need of power, could either purchase through the same route or sell same depending on its need.
“Let me say from the outset that we are not importing electricity from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

No such agreement and no such memorandum of understanding has been signed. However, there is a big dam. They call it the Grand Inga dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo that the whole of African Union is interested in developing. And so, the Republic of Congo is asking countries, in case we go on with this and the funding and financing is found, will you be interested in procuring power in the future?

“And Nigeria is saying, well, if South Africa has signed on, if every other country is signing on, just like an insurance policy, let’s begin talking with them. There is no agreement and there is no MoU. But it is good for the country to think futuristically – that even if we produce 40,000 megawatts today, it will not be enough.

“If in the future there is the need to even sell power to other countries, we will. That’s why we are even talking about West African Power Pool. We are now talking about African Power Pool. So, eventually, we may have transmission infrastructure cutting across Africa, so that no country will be prevented from selling their power if they use much less than they produce,” he said.