The Federal Government has approved plans to develop new eastern and western electricity grids as part of efforts to reduce the recurring collapse of Nigeria’s national power grid.
Minister of Power Joseph Tegbe disclosed this at a recent HBSAN energy conference in Lagos, where he outlined the government’s plans to strengthen the country’s electricity transmission infrastructure.
According to Tegbe, the government is preparing to begin procurement for the projects, with Nigerians expected to start experiencing their benefits within two to three years.
He explained that the administration had divided the country into three energy zones to help identify priority areas for intervention. He said addressing electricity challenges along the Lagos and Abuja corridors would resolve a substantial part of the country’s power supply problems because of the high demand in those areas.
The minister added that the government had begun a nationwide technical audit of electricity infrastructure to identify faults and establish which facilities require urgent attention.
He said the assessment would help authorities direct funds towards the actual causes of transmission problems rather than repairing or replacing equipment that was not responsible for the faults.
Tegbe explained that the audit would examine the condition of components such as transformers, conductors, relays, insulators and transmission towers. He said the exercise was expected to be completed within the next few weeks, after which the government would concentrate on the most urgent areas.
The minister also attributed some of the difficulties facing the transmission network to ageing infrastructure, noting that several facilities had been in operation for decades.
He said some transmission towers and lines dated back to the period when the Electricity Company of Nigeria, ECN, was responsible for electricity operations, before the establishment of the National Electric Power Authority, NEPA.
Tegbe described the situation as a longstanding challenge inherited by the current administration, explaining that inspections had revealed infrastructure carrying the old ECN logo.
He maintained that the new grid projects, alongside the technical audit and targeted repairs, were intended to address the underlying weaknesses in the electricity transmission system.
The government expects the projects to improve the resilience of the national grid and reduce disruptions associated with repeated system collapses.
Source: PUNCH
