FG starts clearing 300 power equipment containers stuck at ports since 2014
- The Ministry of Power has secured the release of 44 containers from Apapa Port, out of over 300 stranded since 2014.
- Minister Joseph Tegbe said the delay was due to unresolved port charges and administrative bottlenecks.
- Serviceable equipment will go into power projects; unserviceable items will be disposed of.
The Federal Government has begun moving electricity equipment that has been sitting in containers at Nigerian ports for over a decade, starting with 44 containers released from Apapa Port in Lagos.
The Minister of Power, Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe, said more than 300 containers are still waiting to be cleared, some of them since 2014. He spoke after a recent meeting of the Federal Executive Council in Abuja.
The clearance follows a directive from President Bola Tinubu asking the ministry to work with the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigerian Ports Authority to sort out the problems that kept the equipment stuck. According to Tegbe, those problems included unresolved port charges.
Tegbe said the first 44 containers coming out marks real headway in the push to bring back key power assets and speed up infrastructure work.
Why it matters for power supply
The equipment was bought with public money and left unused for years while many Nigerian homes and businesses still struggle with poor electricity. Getting it into service could help ongoing power projects, though the government has not said how much extra electricity the recovered items will add.
Tegbe said technical experts will first check the equipment to see what condition it is in. Items that still work will be used in current electricity projects, while those that cannot be repaired will be disposed of properly.
The exercise builds on earlier work by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), led by its Managing Director, Engr. Jennifer Adighije. The company reportedly recovered 110 abandoned containers and 216 packages, saving more than ₦30 billion and helping to recover turbines linked to about 470 megawatts of generation capacity.
The government said the latest effort is part of a wider push to free up public investments that have been stuck and to remove obstacles slowing power delivery across the country. It expressed hope that continued cooperation among the agencies involved will help the recovered equipment serve electricity projects and improve supply to homes and businesses.
What happens next
The remaining containers still need to be cleared, and the ministry has not given a timeline for when that will be completed. The condition of the equipment will also determine how much of it can actually be used.