Tegbe: Over 15,000 MVA Capacity Added to Grid in Three Years, Eyes N19bn Private Investments

•FG spends over N10tn on power supply in 13 years, says Anuwe

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja 

The Minister of Power, Mr. Joseph Tegbe, has disclosed that more than 15,000 megavolt-amperes (MVA) of additional transmission capacity was added to the national electricity grid between 2023 and 2026.

This is just as the Managing Director of FGN Power Company Limited, Mr. Kenny Anuwe, revealed that the federal government invested more than N10trillion in Nigeria’s Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) since the privatisation of the sector in 2013.

FGN Power is the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by the Nigerian government to implement the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), the flagship programme conceived in 2018 to tackle Nigeria’s long-standing electricity challenges. 

Speaking at the Sixth Edition of the Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria (PCAN) Conference in Abuja, Tegbe added that the federal government had taken steps to address longstanding financial and infrastructure challenges in the electricity sector as part of efforts to support President Bola Tinubu’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy.

The minister said the president had approved a plan to settle verified legacy debts owed to generating companies, reiterating that the initiative had raised N1.2 trillion to ease financial pressure on the companies and improve their capacity to pay for gas and maintain their plants.

He disclosed that more than 2.8 million customers had been metered under the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI).

At the same time, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) had continued to connect universities, hospitals and rural communities to solar power.

Tegbe also said construction had commenced on a new National Grid Control Centre in Osogbo to replace the existing facility built more than 60 years ago.
He added that more than 15,000MVA of additional transmission capacity had been added to the national grid between 2023 and 2026.

According to him, newly installed substation equipment commissioned across several locations in the country had added more than 1,300 MVA to Nigeria’s transmission capacity, making additional electricity available to distribution companies.

The minister, represented by his Special Adviser on Administration and Projects, Martins Olajide, identified grid stabilisation, sector liquidity and sustainability, asset optimisation, and grid expansion and enhancement as the four priorities of the government’s roadmap for addressing the sector’s challenges.

He said the plan would adopt a corridor-based approach to prioritise major economic centres for reliable, round-the-clock electricity supply.

FG Spends over N10tn on Power Supply in 13 years

Meanwhile, delivering a keynote address at the PCAN conference, themed: “$1tn Economy: Nigeria’s Roadmap to Reliable and Affordable Power Supply,” the Managing Director of FGN Power Company Limited, Mr. Anuwe, revealed that the federal government invested more than N10 trillion on power supply since 2013.

Anuwe said that government funding had helped sustain the electricity industry despite its challenges.

He pointed out that public funding has remained insufficient to meet the country’s power needs, stressing that the company had secured a $1 billion commitment from the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). In comparison, other financiers were expected to commit $18 billion to the sector.

Anuwe, however, argued that the scale of investment required to support Nigeria’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy could not be achieved through public funding alone.

“The government has invested over N10 trillion in the electricity sector since the advent of privatisation. But is it enough? How much money is enough?” he asked.

According to him, the industry would not have remained operational without the government’s financial interventions.

He stated the country must adopt new investment models capable of attracting substantial private capital.

Anuwe said the federal government accounted for more than 95 per cent of new infrastructure investment in the sector, a development he described as inconsistent with the objectives of privatisation.

“That’s not why we privatised,” he said, urging stakeholders to move beyond excuses and develop practical solutions to the sector’s financing and infrastructure challenges.

He maintained that the government should focus on providing the policy, regulatory and infrastructure conditions that would enable public and private capital to operate effectively.

“The government can provide the enablers, provide infrastructure, delivery, and market conditions under which public and private capital can perform effectively,” he argued.

The FGN Power chief said Nigeria needed between 10,000 megawatts and 30,000 megawatts of electricity to support the growth of a $1trillion economy, stressing that achieving the target would require a different approach to power sector planning and implementation.
He identified integrated resource planning, coordinated policy interventions, reliable technology, financial discipline and stronger private sector participation as essential to expanding electricity supply.

Anuwe also called for simpler institutional and regulatory arrangements, noting that the complexity of the electricity market, involving generation and distribution companies, transmission operators, regulators, government agencies, financiers and gas suppliers, could discourage potential investors.

He said clearer responsibilities, predictable regulation, bankable projects, faster decisions and measurable delivery would improve investor confidence and accelerate infrastructure development.

Anuwe disclosed that the company had structured commercial arrangements with original equipment manufacturers and engineering, procurement and construction firms, with the federal government providing 15 per cent equity in the financing arrangements.

According to him, the company’s transmission substation and line projects were progressing, with most of the ongoing Phase One projects expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027.

He added that the second batch of Siemens substations, comprising 12 facilities, was being prepared for implementation, subject to the necessary financing approvals, with commencement targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.

Anuwe said the projects, alongside the Omotosho substation project, were expected to deliver a combined capacity of just under 3,400 megawatts.

The company, he said, was targeting an additional 5,540 megawatts by 2029, alongside an improvement of at least 60 per cent in grid reliability.

Anuwe said the planned improvements could also enable at least 2,000 industries to return to the national grid, with households and businesses expected to benefit from more reliable electricity supply.

He said FGN Power Company was working toward a $2.3 billion project financing package, comprising $1.3 billion from Europe and $1 billion from China.

 On his part, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA), Olusegun Adesayo, restated the organisation’s commitment to ensuring that electrical installations, equipment and networks across the country comply with prescribed technical standards and regulations.

Adesayo explained that beyond infrastructure, safety remains critical, since unsafe installations that do not comply with regulations cannot serve the people effectively.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman of PCAN, Obas Esiedesa, said the association’s annual conference had evolved into an important platform for engagement among policymakers, regulators, operators, investors, industry experts and journalists since its inaugural edition in November 2021.

Esiedesa called for urgent attention to the recurring seasonal decline in electricity generation, particularly between November and March, when reduced water inflows into hydroelectric power stations and gas supply constraints to thermal plants often affected electricity output.