Johannesburg, 02 Oct 2014
CBC Energy and ABB signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement at Planet One Entertainment in the Maryland,Ikeja area of Lagos on September 17th, 2014. Mr.Gbade Alabi, chairman of CBC Emea(Parent company of CBC Energy) and Talal Al-Assaad,ABB Nigeria's Country manager, signed on the agreement.
Also present were Kamel Elhamy,The Power Products Business Manager of ABB Nigeria; Dr. Peter Terwiesch from ABB Germany,Mrs.Bunmi Dada of Ikeja Distribution Company,other key personalities and partners from Eko and Ibadan Discos.
ABB Group is a leading Fortune 500 company, and as a global power and automation technology leader with worldwide operations in more than 100 countries,it is dedicated to utility and industry customers to provide solutions to help customers improve productivity while lowering adverse environmental effects. CBC Energy on the other hand was established as an integrated energy solutions company. It focuses on providing products and services to clients with energy requirements. Since inception, the company has managed to forge alliances and relationships with partners and clients including ABB.
Brief overview of the Power Sector in Nigeria
Since 2010 the Federal Government of Nigeria has been pursuing a new era of sector-wide reform geared at improving service delivery within the Nigerian electricity sector. Prior to Nigeria's return to democratic governance in 1999, its power infrastructure had decayed to unprecedented level, resulting in epileptic power supply. This impacted the nation's economy, forcing companies to close down or relocate to neighbouring countries.
The effort under democratic governance culminated in the launch of the Power Sector reform in August 2010. The vision behind the roadmap was to use power as an engine of development by improving industrialisation, creating more jobs, ensuring all-round sustainable development and improving the standards of living of Nigerians.
The main focus of the vision is to fast-track structural reform, improve power infrastructure, build capacity and enhance supply sustainability and availability. These incidentally are also the essential conditions necessary for the privatisation of the power sector. Thus, the launch of the road map and its implementation has infused a fresh breath into the power sector.
Nigeria provides huge opportunities for investors in the power sector. With a population in excess of 160 million, vast natural resources and a steadily growing economy, this is the right place for an investor to be at this time. The end to end value chain of power, from generation to transmission to distribution and value added services portend opportunities which will continue to grow exponentially over the next decade. Experts have projected that the huge gains from the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector will be far less than the economic gains to be derived from the power sector.
It must also be added that CBC believe that the best way to tap into the sector is through strategic partnerships and alliances. A lot can be achieved with collaboration amongst stakeholders and investors. This is what led to the ABB/CBC Energy relationship.
The CBC Energy/ABB Partnership
ABB is not a new player to the global and Nigerian power sector. CBC's relationship with ABB however began in late 2012. Since then, she has become distributor of ABB products to major industry players in Nigeria. She has moved from distributing medium voltage products to low voltage products.
Through engagements in India, Egypt and Nigeria, ABB and CBC have evolved a win – win sustainable relationship model. While CBC leverages the goodwill engendered by the high quality and durability of ABB's products, ABB sees CBC Energy as a trusted and committed partner that will help them deepen market penetration in Nigeria.
Yesterday marks the culmination of that relationship. By this partnership agreement, CBC Energy has become the only authorised distributor of ABB's medium voltage products in Nigeria.
Apart from this, ABB and CBC are also putting in place arrangements to ensure asset financing by DISCOS from some Nigerian banks, training and capacity development programs for power sector employees and creation of local assembly plant for products.
In closing, the future within the power sector is bright for the CBC/ABB alliance. CBC Energy remains committed to ensuring product availability, facilitating supplier credit and ensuring after sales maintenance services.
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