Nigeria’s Minister of Power Joseph Tegbe says that the Federal Government of Nigeria has approved plans to develop new eastern and western electricity grids as part of efforts to reduce Nigeria’s recurring national grid collapses and strengthen power transmission infrastructure.
Speaking said at a recent energy conference organised by HBSAN in Lagos, saying the government was preparing to begin procurement for the projects.
He said Nigerians could begin to see the benefits of the planned investments within two to three years, as the administration seeks to address structural weaknesses in the transmission network.
The initiative forms part of a broader strategy to improve electricity delivery by identifying critical infrastructure gaps, prioritising high-demand areas and directing investment towards the specific causes of transmission failures.
“The President has approved that we commence the process of building out the grid: East and Western grid. We’re going through the procurement process, but it’s something you’ll see the benefits in two to three years,” Tegbe said.
The minister did not provide details on the proposed grids’ capacity, project costs, procurement timetable or the precise configuration of the new network.
Tegbe said that the government had divided the country into three energy zones to help prioritise interventions based on electricity demand and the potential impact of infrastructure improvements.
He identified the Lagos and Abuja corridors as particularly important, arguing that resolving transmission constraints in the two areas could address a substantial proportion of the country’s electricity challenges.
“We have clustered Nigeria into three energy zones. The first one is the one that demands 50 per cent. If you fix Lagos and you fix the Abuja corridors, you’ve solved more than half of the problem of Nigeria,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that operational improvements alone would not be sufficient without additional investment in transmission infrastructure.
The planned grid expansion is expected to complement efforts to strengthen the network serving major consumption centres and improve the movement of electricity across the country.
For businesses, more reliable transmission could help reduce disruptions to electricity supply, although the ultimate impact will depend on implementation, generation availability and the performance of distribution networks.
He disclosed that alongside the grid expansion, the government has commenced a technical audit of electricity infrastructure across Nigeria to establish the condition of existing assets and determine which facilities require urgent repairs, rehabilitation or replacement.
Tegbe said that the exercise was intended to prevent misallocation of funds by ensuring that interventions address the actual causes of infrastructure failures.
He explained that problems attributed to transformers might, in some cases, originate from faulty conductors, relays, insulators or transmission towers.
“We have started a technical audit across the entire country to say where do we have issues, and what issues specifically do we have,” he said.
The minister said that the audit would be completed within weeks, after which the government would identify priority areas for intervention.
The findings could help establish a clearer basis for allocating scarce public resources between emergency repairs, replacement of ageing equipment and longer-term network expansion.
For investors and electricity-sector operators, the exercise could also provide a better understanding of the infrastructure constraints affecting power delivery and the scale of investment required to address them.
Tegbe attributed some of the transmission network’s weaknesses to the age of existing facilities, noting that certain towers and transmission lines dated back several decades.
GIK/APA