In its bid to actualise steady power supply in the nation, the Federal Government has announced plans to commence the construction of Nigeria's N4 billion transformer manufacturing plant in Kogi State.
The executive vice chairman (EVC) of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Prof. Mohammed Haruna, made the disclosure when he received a high-powered delegation from the Chinese Great Wall Corporation, China Railway Corporation, Huaye Group and Bank of China who was on a facility tour of the agency's headquarters at Idu Industrial Estate, Abuja.
It would be recalled that the federal government through the agency signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chinese Great Wall Corporation in 2013 to establish a local transformer manufacturing plant to be sited at one of NASENI's development institutes, the Power Equipment and Electrical Machinery Development Institute (PEEMADI), Okene, Kogi State.
The NASENI boss commended the Chinese government for its patience with Nigeria over the delay in meeting the requirements for the take-off of the plant since signing the MoU in 2013.
He emphasised that Nigeria could not continue to assemble only the power modules but must upgrade to local production to provide efficient power supply services for the nation, expressing optimism that the project would not only assist in generating steady power supply in the country but also would enlist Nigeria as one of the few countries in the world that have transformer manufacturing plants.
The spokesman of the Chinese Great Wall Corporation, Mr Ao Pei Yong, in his remarks, said the Nigerian project when completed would be the second largest transformer producing plant in Africa, second to Ethiopia.
He said the visit was basically to achieve two things: the process of setting up the transformer manufacturing plant and the initiation of China railway project manufacturing processes in the country, in addition to ensuring the harmonization of government's regulations and policies on all related issues.
"We guarantee to establish everything on transformer and transformer making machines in this collaboration and promise that we will work together to achieve everything as specified in the MoU," he stated.
On the overview of the MoU, Yong said the transformer manufacturing project would cover electric power and distribution, power transformer as well as high voltage testing laboratory. "Once this project is completed, Nigeria will have the capacity to achieve a Nigerian brand of transformer not only for self-sufficiency but the country can export to other parts of Africa," he added.
