Report: GE Invests $10B to Help Build Nigerian Power Plants

General Electric (NYSE:GE) has invested $10 billion to help build power plants in Nigeria, according to a report by Reuters citing a power ministry spokesman.

The company will take a 10% to 15% equity stake in the deal.

Through a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria, GE will team up with the Sub-Saharan African country’s government and other partners looking to privatize Nigeria’s power sector.

While the spokesman would not tell Reuters what kind of power GE would invest in, the country has been looking to build gas-fired stations that would have the potential to tap its robust reserves. Nigeria holds the seventh-largest gas reserves in the world.

GE did not immediately respond to FOX Business for this story.

Nigeria’s power sector is seen as rundown and insufficient to fuel the company’s needs, providing its 160 million residents with the electricity equivalent to that needed to power a mid-sized European city, Reuters said.

While the country has been trying to privatize the power sector, it has missed deadlines and been distracted by criticism against Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, as well as violence caused by an Islamist insurgency.