By Ayomide Otitoju
The Federal Government has called on investors to support the next phase of Nigeria’s power sector reforms, identifying faster metering and improved gas supply as key priorities for boosting electricity delivery and unlocking value from existing energy assets.
The government outlined its position at the NAEC Energy Conference 2026 in Lagos, organised by the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria under the theme, “Access to Assets: Empowering Players and Driving Growth.”
In remarks delivered on his behalf by the Ministry of Power’s Acting Director of Press, Clement Ezeorah, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said energy assets could only deliver their full value when they provide reliable electricity to paying customers.
He said proposed interventions must address the specific constraints affecting the sector, including fuel supply, plant conditions, transmission, distribution and payment challenges.
According to him, investing in additional generation capacity without resolving the underlying problems could tie up capital without improving electricity supply to consumers.
Tegbe explained that Nigeria’s electricity market now operates at both federal and state levels, following the Electricity Act 2023, which provides for state-regulated electricity markets alongside the federal market responsible for interstate and international electricity trade and the national transmission system.
He identified four major investment opportunities in the sector: rehabilitating existing power plants and improving gas supply; providing electricity to industrial estates, ports and agro-processing clusters; modernising distribution infrastructure, including feeders, transformers, substations and meters; and expanding distributed energy solutions for irrigation, refrigeration and small-scale manufacturing.
The minister also urged gas producers to partner with developers and industrial consumers to establish integrated gas-to-power projects.
He said investors should consider not only the financial returns from individual energy assets but also the wider economic activities that reliable electricity could support across manufacturing, logistics and services.
Tegbe added that the ministry would pursue partnerships built around clearly defined responsibilities, realistic timelines and measurable service delivery outcomes.
At a panel session during the conference, the minister’s representative outlined measures to improve accountability across the electricity value chain.
He said the government planned to track gas supplies to power plants, electricity transmission through the grid and payments within the market to reduce aggregate technical, commercial and collection (ATC&C) losses.
He disclosed that approximately 350,000 electricity meters had been deployed in the preceding three months, adding that the initiative would help consumers monitor actual electricity consumption rather than rely on estimated billing.
However, he acknowledged that low collection efficiency and liquidity challenges continued to affect distribution companies, with some outstanding debts dating back to the sector’s 2013 privatisation.
He said the government was working to address the challenges and was introducing a performance dashboard to enable stakeholders to monitor service delivery.
The minister’s representative further stressed that embedded and decentralised power generation should complement, rather than replace, the national grid, noting that an interconnected transmission system would remain necessary as electricity demand increases.
He also identified vandalism as a major obstacle to infrastructure expansion, explaining that resources intended for extending transmission lines were sometimes diverted to replace damaged equipment.
According to him, the government has begun public advocacy efforts to encourage communities to protect electricity infrastructure, noting that damage to the facilities ultimately affects power supply to consumers.
