The Nigerian Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, said on Tuesday that the federal government will look into areas of prospective collaboration with the Egyptian government to increase the country’s power supply. He stated this during the Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Nigeria, Ihab Awad’s second visit to the ministry in 2021.

Commenting, the Egyptian ambassador told the minister about his visit to the ministry during the second quarter of this year where consultations between the two governments took place in the area of collaboration between Nigeria and Egypt in the area of power generation.

He said that the collaboration was widely discussed, where special emphasis was placed on the potential and prospects that awaits the two countries to collaborate in the area of power generation.

He said: “We also concluded that an MoU could provide the political, leading framework so that collaboration could be developed.”

“On the basis of that, the invitation was extended to your predecessor on leading a high-power delegation from the ministry of power to visit Egypt to discuss and examine the specific areas of collaboration that we addressed during the consultation.”

“During my former visit to the ministry, we also came to a common understanding that there was a need for collaboration between your government and our country in the area of revitalising and renewing the power generation.”

“Power grid and distribution system drawing point from the discussion that took place between President Muhammadu Buhari and President of Egypt, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in 2019 during the Nigeria’s President visit to Egypt.”

The Nigerian minister stated that he is aware of the ambassador’s previous meeting with his predecessor, which resulted in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sending a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). He also stated that he is aware of the Egyptian government’s invitation to visit Egypt and that he will respond as soon as possible regarding when a team from the ministry will be visiting the country.

He said: “…because as an ambassador to Nigeria you have been here for some time, you are aware how we are facing this issue in this country.”

“You talked about the discussion which President Muhammadu Buhari had with Egypt President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, this is very important and that will help us.”

“President Muhammadu Buhari is very concerned with the issue of power so will not relent. We will meet to ensure you get some feedback from us.”

Part of the discussions, according to the Egyptian ambassador, was on the possibility of sharing experience in the field of solar energy generation.