Federal Government has set its sights on ramping up local production of critical electricity components to slash imports and safeguard the nation’s depleting foreign exchange reserves, Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu has declared.
Adelabu issued the challenge during a meeting on Tuesday with the management of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) in his office in Abuja, urging the ECN and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to forge deeper collaboration centred on joint research, comprehensive data collection, and unified planning strategies.
He emphasised that such synergy was indispensable to advancing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s sweeping reforms in the power sector, which aim to position electricity as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s economic revival.
The minister’s push addresses Nigeria’s longstanding vulnerability to imported power infrastructure, including meters, turbines, transformers, and other essentials, which have persistently drained forex reserves and hampered electricity expansion despite successive interventions since the sector’s privatisation in 2013.
Successive administrations have launched various programmes to broaden access, yet the sector grapples with entrenched issues such as dilapidated infrastructure, inadequate data management, and scant domestic manufacturing capabilities, leaving it exposed to exchange rate fluctuations and global supply chain disruptions.
Adelabu underscored President Tinubu’s resolve to reverse this trend by fostering homegrown production of key inputs, describing it as a pivotal achievement of the current administration.
“The ECN and the REA need to synergise. They need to come together, share research, and build data that will help the sector in the local production of electricity components,” he stated, adding,
“We must do everything possible in this regard, as this will make Mr President happy that, in his time, we are manufacturing meters and other critical inputs for ourselves.”
He highlighted the critical role of reliable data, lamenting that “the absence of data is a serious challenge to us as we cannot plan without data and you cannot get accurate information without data.”
To remedy this, the ministry is establishing a central data repository incorporating contributions from all electricity value chain players, including generation companies (GenCos) and distribution companies (DisCos), and directed the ECN to integrate fully into this framework while collaborating closely with the ministry’s research department.
Further bolstering coordination, Adelabu mandated the ECN’s inclusion in the quarterly Power Sector Working Group meetings, affirming the commission’s research mandate as vital for informed sector-wide decisions.
He also spotlighted the vast untapped hydropower potential from over 300 small dams nationwide, dominated currently by gas-fired plants, calling for prioritised local turbine manufacturing to harness these resources effectively.
“If we are talking of power generation, the hydro is still the most reliable all over the world. We have over 300 small dams scattered all over the states of the nation. These small dams are very important to us.
“We need local capacity in turbine production as this is the most critical element in hydro power generation,” the minister asserted, pledging ministry support and urging states to shoulder greater responsibilities in generation, transmission, and distribution under the Electricity Act’s decentralised provisions.
In response, ECN Director-General Dr Mustapha Abdullahi pledged the commission’s commitment to partnering with the Ministry of Power and other entities to fulfil President Tinubu’s vision of leveraging the power sector for national economic transformation. The minister’s statement was issued on Wednesday by his media aide, Bolaji Tunji.
