FG Approves New Eastern and Western Electricity Grids to Curb Collapses

President Bola Tinubu has approved the commencement of a process to build new eastern and western electricity transmission grids, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said, as part of efforts to address Nigeria's recurring national grid collapses.

Tegbe disclosed the approval at an energy conference in Lagos, saying the government was preparing to begin the procurement process and that Nigerians could begin to see the benefits within two to three years.

What the president approved

The announcement is an approval to proceed with the process, not a signed construction contract. The government is at the procurement stage, and the minister did not disclose detailed technical specifications, proposed capacities or the total cost of building the two grids.

That places the projects firmly in the preparatory phase. In Nigeria's power sector, the gap between an announced project and one that is financed, contracted and energised has historically been wide, which makes the disclosure an expression of intent rather than a guarantee of delivery.

The grid-collapse problem

Nigeria's national grid has suffered repeated collapses and disturbances, each plunging parts of the country into darkness and raising questions about the reliability of a system that is central to economic activity. The collapses stem from a combination of ageing infrastructure, insufficient generation headroom, weak transmission capacity and inadequate system protection.

The proposed eastern and western grids are intended to reduce the vulnerability of the national transmission network to failure by adding capacity and redundancy. A more distributed and robust transmission architecture means a fault in one area is less likely to cascade across the entire system.

Why transmission is the bottleneck

Nigeria's power problem is sometimes described as a generation problem, but transmission is at least as significant. Even where generation capacity exists, the grid's ability to evacuate and move that power to where it is needed is constrained. Insufficient transmission capacity also holds back private investment in generation, because investors need assurance that their output can be delivered to customers.

Addressing transmission bottlenecks is therefore a prerequisite for attracting investment into the sector and for improving the reliability of supply to industry and households. For businesses, power reliability is a direct cost: unreliable supply forces firms to run generators, raising their operating expenses and reducing competitiveness.

What to watch

Watch for the publication of detailed project specifications, procurement timelines and financing arrangements. The more meaningful indicators will be the identification of funding sources and the award of construction contracts. Until those exist, the eastern and western grids remain a plan rather than a remedy for the collapses that continue to disrupt Nigeria's economy.