Minister of Power Joseph Tegbe announced this at the recent HBSAN energy conference in Lagos. He said President Bola Tinubu has approved the start of the process to expand the national transmission network with these grids, and the government is moving into the procurement stage. Nigerians are expected to begin seeing benefits in two to three years.

Tegbe explained that the government has clustered Nigeria into three energy zones for prioritised interventions based on demand and infrastructure condition. Fixing the Lagos and Abuja corridors—which account for about 50% of demand—would address more than half the country’s power problems, but this requires building out the grid alongside operational improvements.

A nationwide technical audit of electricity infrastructure is underway to identify specific faults (involving transformers, conductors, relays, insulators, towers, etc.) and prioritise repairs or replacements. The audit should finish in a few weeks so resources target the actual problems rather than the wrong equipment. Tegbe noted that some transmission towers and lines still carry the logo of the old Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN, which predated NEPA) and date back around 50 years, describing this as a long-inherited challenge.

This forms part of broader efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s ageing transmission network and improve power supply reliability amid ongoing concerns over system collapses.