The federal government has named three power corridors as the starting point of its plan to fix Nigeria’s electricity supply, arguing that a 50-year problem cannot be solved nationwide in one stroke.
Joseph Tegbe, Minister of Power, said on Tuesday that corridors such as the Lagos-Ogun, Benin-Edo-Port Harcourt, and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano will receive concentrated attention before the government applies the lessons to the rest of the country.
“We don’t fix the power problem in six months or two,” Tegbe said at Nigeria’s energy week on Tuesday. He said the government would start where demand is highest, where revenue can be collected and where Nigerians are most likely to feel the change.
The plan runs in three stages. The first, “stabilise,” began in June 2026 and runs to February 2027. “Scale” follows from March 2027 through 2028, and “transform” runs from 2028 onwards. Tegbe described the phases as interdependent, with measurable milestones attached.
Read also: REA restores electricity to Kano community after 16 years of darkness
Lagos-Ogun and the Abuja franchise area will serve as proofs of concept for the national programme. The Lagos-Ogun corridor alone accounts for about half of national electricity demand, he said. The minister added that the Federal Government will not go it alone and will work with state governments and private operators.
He said he held a four-hour meeting with the Lagos State governor on a 24-hour power supply strategy for the corridor. Leaders of the national power sector institutions attended, as did the Special Adviser to the President on Power, Lanre Babalola.
Before money is committed, the government is auditing the country’s power infrastructure. Tegbe said the exercise is four weeks old and needs a few more weeks to finish. “The intention is for us not to throw money at the wrong things,” he said. The findings will determine where generation, transmission or distribution gets priority, and allow interventions to run in parallel.
Tegbe described the problems along the chain. Gas supply to power plants is limited by low volumes, pipeline vandalism and weak commercial terms. The transmission network is overstretched. Vandals pull down a tower or other major installation roughly every fortnight. In distribution, combined technical, commercial and collection losses run between 30 and 40 percent.
The power sector’s accumulated debt stood at N3.3 trillion, of which about N1.23 trillion has been paid, Tegbe said. The government is now trying to stop new liabilities from building up. Options include payment assurance mechanisms and legally permissible netting arrangements for eligible obligations.
The minister also credited President Bola Tinubu with the Electricity Act 2023, which he called the most far-reaching reform of the sector this century.
He said it allows states to run their own electricity markets within a single national power system. It was not meant to create 37 separate systems, he stressed. He also pointed to the Siemens-backed Presidential Power Initiative, which he said opens room for private companies and takes pressure off the central government.
Tegbe said the President told him the Mambilla power project must be fixed. The Federal Government plans to bring the 19 northern state governments into the effort.
Read also: Shettima proposes peer review framework to accelerate implementation 2023 Electricity Act
Tegbe said generating, transporting and distributing power means little without metering. “If collection does not come in, you won’t feed the path through of that value chain,” he said.
The government will train 5,000 young Nigerians to install and repair meters, with a target of 50,000. Tegbe said reliable customer data, working billing systems and sustained meter maintenance are also needed. He added that many homes now run solar or hybrid systems, so workers in the sector must understand newer technology.
On asset optimisation, the minister said the government will pursue commercial and operational measures to match capacity with demand in economic clusters and corridors. The goal is to raise the use of existing assets, support industrial productivity and attract investment.
For manufacturers, Tegbe said, energy security means confidence in production. For hospitals, it means continuity of care. For investors, it means an environment where obligations can be enforced, and capital earns a reasonable return.
The corridors, he said, are not meant to override existing national, state or private-sector initiatives. They are meant to align them.
Dipo Oladehinde is a skilled energy analyst with experience across Nigeria's energy sector alongside relevant know-how about Nigeria’s macro economy. He provides a blend of market intelligence, financial analysis, industry insight, micro and macro-level analysis of a wide range of local and international issues as well as informed technical rudiments for policy-making and private directions.
