The Federal Government has approved plans to build new eastern and western electricity grids to address Nigeria’s repeated power grid collapses.
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, disclosed this at an energy conference in Lagos, adding that the government was preparing to begin the procurement process.
He said Nigerians could begin to see the benefits of the projects within two to three years.
“The President has approved that we commence the process of building out the grid: East and Western grid,” Tegbe said.
The minister also announced a nationwide technical audit of electricity infrastructure to identify faults and determine which facilities need urgent repairs or replacement.
He said the government wanted to ensure that money was spent on fixing the actual causes of power failures.
“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 said.
Tegbe added that the audit would be completed within weeks, after which the government would prioritise the most urgent interventions.
He said Nigeria had been divided into three energy zones, with the Lagos and Abuja corridors accounting for a significant share of electricity demand.
“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.
The minister blamed some of the sector’s problems on ageing infrastructure, noting that certain transmission towers and lines dated back decades.
The announcement comes amid frequent national grid failures that disrupt electricity supply to homes and businesses.
In a related effort, the government has begun building a new National Control Centre in Osogbo, Osun State, to improve grid monitoring and management.
The success of the new grids will depend on procurement, funding and effective implementation.
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