The Federal Government has announced plans to commence the replacement of ageing infrastructure across Nigeria’s national electricity grid within the next one to two months, targeting January 2027, as part of efforts to improve power supply and strengthen grid stability.
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, disclosed this during a television interview, revealing that the government had so far settled N1.23 trillion out of the approximately N3.3 trillion owed to electricity generation companies (GenCos).
According to the minister, the planned infrastructure replacement will follow an ongoing technical audit of the power sector, which has uncovered defects in transmission towers, insulators, conductors and other critical components responsible for frequent disruptions in electricity supply.
Tegbe explained that some transmission lines had been in operation for as long as 50 years, making their rehabilitation or replacement necessary to improve the reliability of electricity distribution across the country.
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He said the government expected to commence the exercise within the next one to two months, adding that President Bola Tinubu was fully supportive of the initiative.
“So in the next one or two months, we will commence infrastructure replacement across our grid. President Tinubu is extremely supportive of what we are doing,” the minister said.
Tegbe noted that the government had embarked on a comprehensive technical assessment of electricity infrastructure to identify facilities requiring urgent intervention and ensure that available resources were deployed appropriately.
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He stressed that the exercise was necessary to avoid spending money on repairing components that were not responsible for specific technical failures.
“There are places where it is towers that have issues. There are places where it’s insulators. There are places where it’s a conductor relay.
“What you don’t want to do is start spending money on insulators when you are meant to fix a conductor relay. Now we’re getting a clear picture,” he explained.
FG Pays N1.23tn Electricity Debt
The minister also disclosed that the Federal Government had paid N1.23 trillion out of the approximately N3.3 trillion owed to electricity generation companies, leaving an outstanding balance of about N2 trillion.
He expressed optimism that the remaining debt would be addressed in 2027, noting that settling the obligations was important to improving liquidity across the electricity value chain.
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“In the last few months, we’ve paid down N1.23 trillion. We only have N2 trillion left. That N2 trillion, hopefully next year,” Tegbe stated.
He further identified liquidity challenges within the domestic gas supply chain as another major obstacle affecting electricity generation.
According to him, although Nigeria possesses substantial natural gas reserves, financial constraints among some players in the supply chain have made it difficult for generating companies to secure adequate gas supplies.
“We have gas as a nation. However, sometimes, that liquidity issue becomes a constraint. There’s availability of gas for us as a nation. It’s a comparative advantage. However, within the gas supply chain, there are constraints,” he said.
Gas Supply Disagreement Raises Concerns
The minister’s comments followed differing explanations by agencies in the power sector over the recent decline in electricity generation.
On November 5, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) attributed the reduction partly to limited gas availability and declining water inflows into hydroelectric stations.
However, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) maintained on November 7 that its gas transportation network had no operational constraints responsible for the decline.
Reacting to the differing positions, Tegbe said the Ministry of Power was focused on coordinating relevant agencies and addressing the technical, financial and operational challenges affecting electricity supply.
He maintained that resolving the problems confronting the sector was more important than allowing disagreements among stakeholders to distract from efforts to improve power generation and distribution.
Government Targets Ageing Power Plants, Industrial Clusters
Beyond transmission infrastructure, Tegbe identified ageing power plants as another major challenge affecting electricity generation, disclosing that the government was taking steps to replace obsolete generation equipment with newer facilities capable of improving electricity output.
He said the Federal Government was pursuing a four-pronged strategy focused on improving sector liquidity and sustainability, optimizing existing generation and transmission assets, developing energy zones and expanding critical infrastructure.
The minister also disclosed that the government was considering dedicated transmission connections to industrial clusters to improve electricity availability for manufacturers.
One of the proposed projects is a transmission link between Alaoji and the Agbara industrial area, which is expected to strengthen electricity supply to industrial operations.
According to Tegbe, improved connections between available generation capacity and industrial demand would reduce manufacturers’ dependence on expensive alternative power sources, lower production costs and strengthen the competitiveness of Nigerian industries.
He emphasized that achieving sustainable electricity supply would require coordinated interventions across power generation, transmission, gas supply and the financial obligations affecting the entire electricity value chain.
The planned infrastructure replacement, alongside efforts to settle outstanding debts and address gas supply constraints, forms part of the Federal Government’s broader strategy to stabilise Nigeria’s electricity sector and improve power delivery to consumers.
