FG okays new East-West grid to end blackouts
The Federal Government has approved plans to build a new Eastern-Western electricity grid as part of efforts to address Nigeria’s recurring power grid collapses.
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, disclosed this at the recent HBSAN energy conference in Lagos, where he outlined plans to address longstanding weaknesses in the country’s electricity transmission infrastructure.
Abimbola Joseph
The Federal Government has approved the construction of a new East-West electricity grid to stop Nigeria’s recurring grid collapses.
Minister of Power Joseph Tegbe announced this at the HBSAN energy conference in Lagos, saying the project would tackle long-standing weaknesses in the country’s transmission network.
He said procurement would begin soon, and Nigerians should start to feel the benefits within two to three years.
“The President has approved that we commence the process of building out the grid: East and West. We’re going through the procurement process, but it’s something you’ll see the benefits of in two to three years,” Tegbe said.
He explained that Nigeria had been grouped into three energy zones, with the first accounting for 50 per cent of national demand.
“If you fix Lagos and you fix the Abuja corridors, you’ve solved more than half of the problem of Nigeria. But you can’t do that alone based on operational efficiency; you also have to build out your grid,” he said.
To guide the work, the government has begun a nationwide technical audit to identify faults and decide which facilities need urgent repair or replacement. Tegbe said the exercise would ensure that funds were not spent on the wrong equipment.
“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.
“So, we will finish that technical audit in the next couple of weeks. When we finish it, we then target our prioritised areas,” he said.
The minister blamed part of the problem on ageing infrastructure, noting that some towers and lines date back several decades to the days of the Electricity Company of Nigeria (ECN), which preceded the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).
“This government has inherited a problem of 50 years,” he said. “Before I became the Minister of Power, honestly, I used to think that everybody in the power sector just didn’t know their left from right. But the reality is, some of the towers have gone down with some of the transmission lines there.
“When I went to the site, I saw some of them carrying the logo of ECN. Many people in this room might not know what ECN is. ECN predated NEPA. So, some of these things were built 50 years ago. That is the reality.”
