The Federal Government has begun preparations to develop new Eastern and Western electricity grids in a fresh effort to address repeated collapses of Nigeria’s national power grid.
Power Minister Joseph Tegbe announced the plan at a recent energy conference organised by HBSAN in Lagos, explaining that the government had approved the process of expanding the transmission network.
He said procurement preparations were underway and that the projects could begin delivering benefits within two to three years.
The minister also disclosed that a technical audit was being conducted across the country to establish the condition of electricity infrastructure and identify the most urgent areas for intervention.
According to Tegbe, the assessment would help the government distinguish between different causes of equipment failure and ensure that funds were directed towards the facilities that needed repairs or replacement.
He said Nigeria had been grouped into three energy zones, adding that improvements around Lagos and Abuja would address a substantial portion of the country’s electricity challenges.
“The President has approved that we commence the process of building out the grid: East and Western grid,” he said.
Tegbe noted that the transmission network faced longstanding challenges linked to the age of some of its facilities. He said certain towers and lines had been in service for decades, with some dating back to the period of the Electricity Company of Nigeria, before the establishment of the National Electric Power Authority.
The minister said the government wanted the ongoing audit to establish the precise causes of faults before deciding where to intervene.
“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.
He added that the government expected to complete the audit within a few weeks before prioritising projects based on its findings.
