The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Adebowale Adedokun, on Monday, said the bureau negotiated a $115,000 savings on the Presidential Power Initiative, otherwise known as the Siemens project.
Adebowale said the savings demonstrate the BPP’s role in safeguarding government interests through due diligence.
Speaking to State House correspondents in Abuja on Monday evening, he said, “One of the things that we have done is to look at the Siemens project. We went through negotiation. We scrutinised the request and learned that the government has saved about $115,000 through a negotiation.
“So that is a plus already; in just two weeks, we went into deep review and negotiation, and they saw the benefit. That money would naturally have gone into that contract without anybody doing anything about it. But we have been able to say, ‘No, we are working for the interest of Nigeria. You must come down from your initial price based on our price intelligence.’
“BPP is that fulcrum that can defend the government regarding how much a contract should be when we do our proper deal due diligence.”
The he Federal Executive Council had earlier approved N262.75bn (€161.33) for the first Phase of the Siemens Project.
The project involves the engineering, procurement, construction and financing for 330/132 KV and 132/33 KV substations in Onitsha, Offa, Abeokuta, Ayede and Sokoto.
The Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, revealed this when he briefed State House House correspondents on the outcomes of Monday’s Federal Executive Council meeting at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Adelabu said Monday’s approval follows the 80 per cent completion of the project’s pilot phase.
On December 1, 2023, the Governments of Nigeria and Germany signed the Presidential Power Initiative agreement to inject 12,000 MegaWatts of electricity into the national grid.
The signing was presided over by the leaders of both countries, President Bola Tinubu of Nigerian and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Summit, COP28, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
Managing Director of the Federal Government of Nigeria Power Company, Kenny Anuwe and the Managing Director (Africa), Siemens AG, Nadja Haakansson signed the agreement. However, the contracts date back to the tenure of former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018.
Adebowale, who was appointed substantive BPP Chief on November 14, said the Bureau “aims to achieve 100 per cent budget implementation by tailoring procurement processes to project complexity and encouraging local participation.”
