Joseph Tegbe Unveils New Power Strategy for Nigeria

Nigeria's Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, presented a new strategy aimed at transforming the country's electricity sector, moving from grid dependency to a decentralized model. This approach includes grid reinforcement, renewable energy, universal metering, and private investment.

Tegbe highlighted the government's diagnosis of the sector, revealing issues such as inadequate gas supply, ageing plants, and poor revenue collection, with only 27% of generation companies' bills being paid. Distribution companies face losses of 30-40%, and arrears owed by government agencies exceed N100 billion.

The government's immediate actions include repairing existing infrastructure and recovering stranded capacity, with the 375-megawatt Alaoji power plant returning to the grid after three years. New transformers have added significant transmission capacity, resulting in generation peaks above 5,000MW, although this remains insufficient for Nigeria's economic demands.