General Electric has signed an agreement with governors of Nigeria’s 19 northern states to build 5 new solar plants, which are expected to help improve power supply in that part of the country. A Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two parties yesterday at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, should provide the basis for the construction of power plants which will produce up to 500 MW of electricity.
Signatories to the MOU were the Borno State Governor and Northern States Governor’s Forum, Kashim Shettima, who represented the northern governors; Mr. Armand Pineda, a senior executive of General Electric’s Western Europe and Africa division; and Lazarus Angbazo, CEO, General Electric Nigeria. The two officers from GE signed on behalf of the company.
The agreement reached between the Northern Governors Forum and GE entails the construction of five solar plants, one in each of these five states- Kebbi, Borno, Niger, Nasarawa and Taraba. Each solar project will have a 100MW capacity, and generate power to various parts of the northern region.
The solar power project is part of an initiative, the Northern Nigeria Global Economic Reintegration Programme, which northern governors have touted as a driver of economic recovery in northern states.
General Electric had announced in October that it would be investing about $150 million in Nigeria. Jay Ireland, GE’s Africa Chief Executive Officer, had said that his company would be helping to maintain and revamp infrastructure in the country, as part of a wider program of investment in infrastructure projects across Africa.