The Federal Government has approved plans to build new eastern and western electricity grids to tackle Nigeria’s frequent power grid collapses. The project aims to strengthen the country’s transmission network and improve electricity supply.
Minister of Power Joseph Tegbe announced the plan at the recent HBSAN energy conference in Lagos. He said the government would begin procurement soon. Nigerians could start seeing the benefits within two to three years.
Tegbe explained that the government has divided Nigeria into three energy zones. The plan prioritises areas with the highest electricity demand, especially Lagos and the Abuja corridor. According to him, fixing these areas could solve more than half of Nigeria’s power problems. However, better operations alone cannot fix the situation. The country also needs a stronger grid to deliver electricity reliably. Tegbe said,
“The President has approved that we commence the process of building out the grid: East and Western grid.”
Meanwhile, the government has launched a nationwide technical audit of electricity infrastructure. The exercise will identify faults and determine which facilities need urgent repairs or replacement. Tegbe said the government wants to fix the actual problems instead of wasting money on the wrong equipment. He explained,
“I don’t want to fix transformer issues where I have conductor and relay problems. I don’t want to fix insulators where the challenges I actually have are towers.”
He expects the audit to finish within the next few weeks. Officials will then focus on the most urgent areas.
Tegbe also blamed decades of ageing infrastructure for Nigeria’s transmission challenges. He said some power lines and towers date back about 50 years. During a site visit, he spotted equipment bearing the logo of the old Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN). The organisation existed before the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA). Reflecting on the situation, he said,
“This government has inherited a problem of 50 years.”
The new grid project and technical audit form part of efforts to address these long-standing problems. However, Nigerians will have to wait for the projects to deliver lasting improvements.
