FG Moves to Boost Power Supply to Abuja Industrial Cluster

James Emejo in Abuja

The federal government, has disclosed plans to provide dedicated electricity to industrial clusters beginning with a 50-megawatt (MW) project at the Idu Industrial Estate in Abuja.
The project, which is expected to provide round-the-clock electricity to manufacturers in the estate, is being positioned by the government as a practical model for addressing the energy constraints that have continued to undermine factory operations, raise production costs and limit industrial expansion.
Minister of State for Industry, Owan Enoh, who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony for the project, said dependable electricity was central to the government’s industrialisation agenda, stressing that efforts to revive domestic manufacturing would remain constrained unless the country’s energy deficit was addressed.
Enoh said the administration’s industrial strategy was focused on expanding local production, promoting value addition, diversifying the economy and strengthening the capacity of Nigerian businesses to compete in international markets.
He said increasing domestic production would simultaneously create jobs, particularly for Nigeria’s large youth population, reduce dependence on imported goods and conserve scarce foreign exchange.
“When you produce locally, you contribute to job creation. For our abundant youth, you provide for them a pathway for employment,” he said.
The minister said the government was seeking to move beyond policy pronouncements by developing practical interventions that could be replicated in other industrial clusters across the country.
He identified the Idu project as one such intervention, arguing that reliable electricity would allow factories to raise capacity utilisation, expand production and take on additional workers.
According to him, the initiative should therefore be viewed not simply as a power project but as part of a wider effort to rebuild the country’s productive capacity.
Enoh said, “With reliable power, we will see increased factory utilisation, increased local sourcing of raw materials, increased value addition and increased employment.”
He added that industrial renewal would require sustained commitment, describing the process as a “marathon” that would demand cooperation between government, businesses and beneficiary communities to protect infrastructure and ensure that the investments deliver their intended economic returns.
The initiative is also being linked to President Bola Tinubu’s ambition of expanding the economy to $1 trillion.
The federal government said achieving such growth would depend on higher productivity and deeper industrialisation rather than continued reliance on the export of raw materials.
The federal government is also working on similar interventions in other major industrial corridors.
Speaking at the ceremony, Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said the government was increasingly adopting captive and decentralised generation as part of efforts to take electricity directly to industrial consumers.
According to him, technical audits of power infrastructure are being conducted across major industrial corridors to determine the interventions required to improve electricity supply to productive businesses.
He identified the Lagos industrial axis, Abuja-Kaduna corridor and Enugu-Onitsha axis as priority areas under the programme.
Tegbe said the Lagos industrial corridor alone accounted for about 40 per cent of national electricity demand, underscoring its importance to the country’s industrial and economic output.
He added that the government was targeting the creation or restoration of about 180,000 jobs in the Lagos industrial axis within the next six months through interventions aimed at improving electricity supply.
The minister, however, acknowledged that providing sustainable power to industry would require investment across the entire electricity value chain.
He identified gas supply, generation, transmission and distribution as interconnected components of the power system, warning that intervention at only one point would not permanently resolve the challenges confronting industrial consumers.
Tegbe also identified vandalism and energy theft as threats capable of undermining investments in electricity infrastructure.
He said the government was consequently examining multiple models for powering industrial clusters, including extending gas pipelines directly to industrial locations and generating electricity in gas-producing areas for transmission to industrial centres.
The approach, he said, would allow the government to match available energy resources with areas of high industrial demand.
The Idu project therefore represents an attempt to shift the industrial power conversation from general grid supply to targeted electricity infrastructure designed around the needs of productive clusters.
However, providing details of the Idu project, Managing Director of Welbeck Electricity Distribution Limited, Afolabi Aiyela, said the first phase would generate 10MW from a location close to the AKK gas pipeline at Zuba.
He explained that the electricity would be transmitted to the Idu Industrial Estate through a 33-kilovolt line, while the remaining 40MW would be developed within the estate after the gas pipeline is extended to the industrial location.
The scale of the planned intervention, however, highlights the size of the electricity deficit facing businesses in the estate.
Aiyela said the Idu Industrial Estate currently had potential electricity demand estimated at between 300MW and 400MW, far above the capacity being delivered under the initial 50MW project.
He said the first phase would give priority to Nigerian small and medium-sized enterprises as well as large indigenous companies, with subsequent phases expected to extend electricity supply to more manufacturers operating within the estate.