The Federal Government has announced plans to begin replacing ageing infrastructure across Nigeria’s national electricity grid in January 2027 as part of efforts to improve power supply.
Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, disclosed this on Monday during an interview on TVC, saying the exercise would begin within the next one to two months.
“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,” he said.
Tegbe identified electricity transmission as the biggest challenge facing the power sector, noting that some transmission lines had been in operation for as long as 50 years.
He said the ministry had been conducting a technical audit of the entire power sector for about a month to identify faulty equipment and determine where repairs or replacements were needed.
“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,” he said.
The minister added, “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.”
On electricity generation, Tegbe said Nigeria had sufficient gas reserves but faced financial challenges within the supply chain.
He disclosed that the Federal Government had paid ₦1.23 trillion out of ₦3.3 trillion owed to electricity generation companies, leaving about ₦2 trillion outstanding.
“In the last few months, we’ve paid down ₦1.23 trillion.
"We only have ₦2 trillion left.
"That ₦2 trillion, hopefully next year,” he said.
His announcement comes amid disagreements between power sector agencies over the causes of recent declines in electricity generation.
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