98 of over 300 containers of electricity transmission equipment abandoned at Nigerian ports for up to 20 years are being cleared under a presidential directive, as the government seeks to revive stalled power projects and recover public investments left idle for decades.
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Thursday said it had begun releasing the first 44 containers at ENL Consortium Terminal in Lagos, with another 54 expected to follow at other terminals in Tin Can Island port.
The consignments contain transformers, electrical cables, switchgears and other materials originally procured for transmission projects but left uncleared at Apapa, Tin Can Island and other ports for “between 14 and 20 years,” according to Adewale Adeniyi, comptroller-general of Customs
The prolonged abandonment has tied up public funds in equipment that was intended to expand transmission capacity, strengthen substations and improve the evacuation of electricity from generation plants to consumers.
Adeniyi said the release followed a presentation by Joseph Tegbe, Nigeria’s power minister, to the Federal Executive Council (FEC), prompting President Bola Tinubu to direct relevant agencies to resolve outstanding charges and administrative bottlenecks.
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Customs has introduced priority clearance, dedicated examination officers and waivers on accumulated charges to facilitate the evacuation.
Wale Edun, Nigeria’s former finance minister, approved waivers on administrative charges, while the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy secured concessions on demurrage from terminal operators.
The intervention also exposed what Adeniyi described as the abandonment of publicly funded projects by contractors who imported equipment but failed to execute the projects for which they were paid.
He called such contractors economic saboteurs, saying their actions had deprived Nigerians of electricity, jobs and other benefits expected from the investments.
“Contractors who accept government projects, are paid for them and fail to deliver, while abandoning projects at the ports, should henceforth be regarded as economic saboteurs,” Adeniyi said.
Customs will provide information on the abandoned consignments to relevant authorities to identify and hold responsible contractors accountable, he added.
The power ministry said the recovered equipment would undergo technical inspections to determine what remained serviceable after years in storage.
Tegbe said some materials had already been identified for transmission projects in Kaduna, Ajaokuta, Lokoja and Enugu, following preliminary assessments by engineers at the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
The equipment is expected to strengthen substations, improve voltage performance and increase the network’s capacity to evacuate electricity from power plants. However, its eventual contribution will depend on its physical condition and how quickly the government completes the projects for which it was purchased.
Tegbe said the government was targeting the evacuation of the remaining consignments within one month and would introduce tighter coordination between procurement and project implementation to prevent similar cases.
The scale of the abandonment highlights a problem beyond port congestion: public infrastructure investments can remain idle for years when procurement, project execution and logistics are not properly coordinated.
APM Terminals, which also holds some of the containers, said it had previously granted waivers exceeding N500 million to facilitate their evacuation, but some consignments remained at the terminal despite delivery orders being issued.
The terminal operator said it had generated new Terminal Delivery Orders and was awaiting trucks to begin moving the equipment.
ENL Consortium also pledged to facilitate the immediate evacuation of containers held at its terminal.
The government has pursued several initiatives to improve electricity supply since Tinubu took office in 2023, including the Electricity Act 2023, which allows states to establish their own electricity markets, and renewed efforts to expand transmission infrastructure.
Bethel Olujobi is the Trade Correspondent at BusinessDay. He brings scarce insight into Nigeria's maritime policies and the changing currents of global commerce defining the country's position in international trade. Before this, he reported on foreign relations, migration and sports for BusinessDay. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication, and is an alumni of the CNN Academy and the Financial Times News School. He is certified by Reuters and Google. He is based in Lagos, Nigeria. For pitches, email: [email protected]
