The Federal Government has stepped up efforts to accelerate major electricity infrastructure projects through renewed collaboration with Chinese companies and financiers.
The move follows Nigeria’s victory in the arbitration over the Mambila Hydropower Project, with the government directing Energy China to examine the most practical way to revive and deliver the long-delayed project, including the possibility of implementing it in phases.
Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said large hydropower projects such as Mambila, alongside smaller hydro schemes supporting agricultural corridors, remain important components of Nigeria’s medium- and long-term electricity development strategy.
The minister disclosed that a recent Nigeria-China power mission resulted in commitments from major Chinese companies, including Sinomach, CMEC and CNEEC, as well as Chinese financiers, to fast-track priority electricity projects.
CMEC also reaffirmed its involvement in the 1.9-gigawatt Presidential Power Initiative, with the first transmission lines expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2027.
Meanwhile, CNEEC has progressed financing arrangements for the $116 million Zungeru power evacuation project, while TBEA committed to a proposed $500 million industrial park for local power-equipment manufacturing.
The government also said work on the Presidential Power Initiative and the proposed East-West Super Grid is being accelerated, with a three-year delivery pathway envisaged for the latter.
HengFei Cables, another Chinese firm involved in the partnership, pledged to supply cables for the second phase of the PPI and proposed establishing a cable assembly plant and training centre in Nigeria.
Tegbe said the partnerships are designed not only to expand electricity infrastructure but also to promote local manufacturing, skills development and technical capacity, which he said would contribute to improved power supply nationwide.
