FG approves East, West super grids to lift transmission to 19,000MW in two years

The Federal Government has approved the start of procurement for two new transmission corridors, the East and West super grids, with a target of raising the national grid's capacity from about 5,000 megawatts to 19,000 megawatts within two years.

Minister of Power Joseph Tegbe announced this on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, which was chaired by President Bola Tinubu.

The plan speaks to a long-standing problem in the sector: Nigeria can generate more than 13,000 megawatts, but the wires that carry power to homes and businesses can reliably handle only about 5,000 megawatts. Much of the electricity the country produces is therefore stranded.

Tegbe said the corridors would run through both the north and the south, and are not meant for one section of the country. He described them as a step towards building the country's power assets for the future.

What the council approved

FEC also cleared three projects aimed at the Abuja and Lagos areas, where demand is heaviest.

• A double-circuit underground and overhead line around the Katampe Transmission Substation, a key hub for the North-Central region.
• Three 300MVA transformers for the Ikeja West Transmission Substation, which supplies Lagos.
• An upgrade of the 35.6-kilometre Itumola–Mapasin–Shagamu 132kV line from single to double circuit, to carry more load along the Lagos–Shagamu corridor.

Tegbe said the large transformers will be built abroad because Nigeria does not yet have the capacity to make equipment of that size. Local firms have started assembling smaller units, he said, but the big ones take three to six months to produce, and global demand is rising because of data centres and artificial intelligence.

He also said a technical audit of power infrastructure has been running for four weeks, covering three zones. Vanguard reported the zones as Lagos and its industrial belt, Abuja–Kaduna–Kano, and Enugu–Onitsha–Benin, while The Nation and Tribune reported the third as Benin–Enugu–Port Harcourt. The aim, he said, is to stop spending on the wrong projects.

Debts, ports and solar

On the sector's finances, Tegbe said ₦1.23 trillion of the ₦3.3 trillion owed to electricity generation companies (GenCos) has been paid through bonds under the Presidential Power Sector Debt Reduction Programme. The unpaid balance, he said, has made it harder for generation companies to get the gas they need.

Tribune reported that in one answer the minister put the payment at ₦1.2 trillion out of a ₦2.3 trillion debt. The figures should be treated with caution until the ministry clarifies them.

President Tinubu has also directed the Ministry of Power, the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Nigeria Customs Service to clear more than 300 containers of electricity equipment sitting at the ports, some for as long as 20 years. Tegbe called the situation unacceptable. Experts will check the equipment after clearance to see what can still be used.

Work has begun on a new National Control Centre in Osogbo to replace one built 64 years ago. Solar mini-grids of 1MW to 5MW have also been switched on in 14 federal universities, with 11 more being funded through TETFund (the Tertiary Education Trust Fund), and five teaching hospitals are also getting solar installations.

What happens next: Procurement for the super grids begins, the port containers are to be cleared and inspected, and the audit is expected to guide which old equipment is replaced first. Nigerians will be watching for the effect on supply at home and on bills.