Fresh private investors to overhaul TCN infrastructure 
The Federal Government, yesterday, said about N2 trillion intervention package would rescue the country’s embattled power Generation Companies (GenCos) and forestall shutdown of the national grid has been designed. 
  
This comes as sources at some GenCos, who threatened to shut down their operations over a lingering N4 trillion debt, mainly from tariff shortfall, expressed doubts over the government’s promises, insisting that such previous promises failed.  

But SunAfrica Energy and Skipper Electric have expressed interest in investing in Nigeria’s renewable energy space.
  
The fund, scheduled for disbursement before the end of the year, according to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, at the sixth edition of the 2025 Ministerial Press Briefing would be a combination of direct budgetary allocations and tradable debt promissory notes designed to offset longstanding arrears to the GenCos.
  
In the 2025 budget, which is facing revenue crisis due to global economic realities, the government planned to pay N900 million to the energy provider.
  
Adelabu, who restated the government’s commitment to repositioning the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the proposed payment structure would allow GenCos to access liquidity through financial markets by discounting the promissory notes issued by the government.
  
An official familiar with the plan told The Guardian that the intervention was designed to stabilise the sector and prevent service disruptions.
  
“This is not the first time such a commitment has been made. Each year, we hear similar pledges, but what actually gets paid is often a fraction of the debt. So, while the announcement is welcome, no one is banking on it,” a top executive at one of Nigeria’s largest GenCos said.
  
The minister said the power sector recently witnessed a notable improvement in financial performance, owing largely to tariff reforms, adding that market revenue surged by 70 per cent in 2024, growing from N1 trillion in 2023 to N1.7 trillion, primarily due to the implementation of a cost-reflective tariff for Band A customers.
  
According to him, increased revenue helped reduce the government’s tariff subsidy burden by 35 per cent, from a projected N3 trillion to N1.94 trillion, saving N1 trillion.
  
The National Independent System Operator (NISO), as mandated under the Electricity Act 2023, he added, has unbundled the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), creating a separate Transmission Service Provider (TSP) and a fully independent system operator responsible for market and grid operations. 
  
Adelabu noted that efforts to decentralise regulatory oversight also made headway, with Plateau and Niger states joining nine others in assuming independent regulatory authority in the first quarter of 2025, in line with the provisions of the new electricity law.
  
According to the minister, SunAfrica plans to deliver 1,000 megawatts of solar power to support the efforts of the Nigeria Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), while Skipper Electric is proposing 100-megawatt solar projects in each of the 36 states to reduce dependence on the national grid.
  
He also noted that hydropower evacuation was also being addressed, with plans to fully utilise the 700-megawatt Zungeru and 40-megawatt Kashiwila plants, which were under-evacuated due to transmission constraints. 
  
He said the long-stalled Markurdi hydro project (1,500 megawatts) and the Kaduna thermal plant (215 megawatts), dormant since 2019 despite being 87 per cent complete, are expected to be operational by the end of 2025.
  
In Katsina, a 10-megawatt wind farm previously abandoned is being revived through a collaboration between the state government and private investors, even as the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has reportedly allocated $500 million to develop small-scale hydropower across Nigeria, leveraging the country’s untapped 14,000 megawatt hydro potential, Adelabu noted.