The federal government has opened talks with the governors of 19 northern states as it moves to revive the long-delayed Mambilla hydropower project, Joseph Tegbe, Minister of Power, has said.
Tegbe disclosed this while presenting the administration’s power sector roadmap, saying President Bola Tinubu directed that work on the project must begin.
‘Yesterday we discussed the Mambilla power project, and Mr President told me we need to start fixing it,’ he said. He added that Lanre Babalola, special adviser to the President on power, and himself were jointly given the charge, and that ‘we’ll have to get the 19 northern state governments in the game.’
The minister said he met with the president until 11 pm on Monday to discuss the sector, and that he was also with the Kaduna State governor in the president’s presence.
Tegbe said the Electricity Act 2023 was the most far-reaching reform of the century in the sector. He said it creates 37 state-level market domains under a single power system, rather than 37 separate systems. Read Economics
He described the sector’s problems as present at every link of the value chain. Gas supply to plants is constrained by limited volumes, pipeline vandalism and weak commercial terms. The transmission network is overstretched, and a frequent target of vandals, with a tower or major facility brought down almost every fortnight. Aggregate technical, commercial and collection losses in distribution run between 30 and 40 percent.
On debt, he said the sector owed about N3.3 trillion, of which N1.23 trillion has been paid. The government is now working to block new liabilities through options that include payment assurance mechanisms.
The action plan runs in three phases. The first, to stabilise, began in June 2026 and runs to February 2027. The second, to scale, covers March 2027 through 2028. The third, to transform, follows from 2028.
The government will prioritise three energy corridors: Lagos-Ogun, a southern corridor through Port Harcourt, and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano. Tegbe said the Lagos-Ogun corridor accounts for 50 percent of national energy demand. He said it, together with the Abuja franchise area, will serve as a proof of concept for the wider programme.
A technical audit of the country’s power infrastructure is under way, he said. It is in its fourth week and needs a few more weeks to finish. ‘The intention is for us not to throw money at the wrong things,’ he said.
He said the corridor approach reflects the fact that a 50-year problem cannot be fixed overnight. The government will start where demand is highest, and revenue is most likely to come in.
He said a four-hour meeting was held with the Lagos State governor on a strategy for 24/7 supply in the corridor, attended by the leadership of the national power sector institutions.
Tegbe stressed that the federal government will not act alone. ‘The federal government is not going to do this alone,’ he said, adding that national, subnational and private sector initiatives will be aligned.