The Federal Government has invested more than N10 trillion in Nigeria’s electricity sector since privatisation, with public funding still accounting for over 95 per cent of new infrastructure investment, the Managing Director of FGN Power Company Limited, Kenny Anuwe, has said.

Anuwe disclosed this on Thursday at the sixth annual conference of the Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria in Abuja, where he called for a major restructuring of the sector’s financing model to attract greater private-sector participation.

Speaking on the theme, “$1 Trillion Economy: Nigeria’s Roadmap to Reliable and Affordable Power Supply,” he said continued dependence on government funding was inconsistent with the objectives of the 2013 power sector privatisation, which was designed to increase private investment.

He said the Presidential Power Initiative was targeting an additional 5,540 megawatts of electricity generation and transmission capacity by 2029.

According to him, the programme is expected to improve grid reliability by at least 60 per cent and reconnect about 2,000 industries to the national grid.

Anuwe disclosed that approximately $237 million had been invested in 16 transmission lines spanning about 606 kilometres, with the projects adding more than 7,000MW to the system. He said the second batch of 12 Siemens substations was expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026, while other special projects were projected to deliver nearly 3,400MW.

He added that most Phase One projects were expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027, while work on a 480MW transmission substation would begin commissioning in December and be completed by February 2027. The $2.3 billion programme, he said, is being financed with $1.3 billion from European financiers, $1 billion from China and a 15 per cent equity contribution from the Federal Government.

Anuwe further said FGN Power Company required at least $1 billion in capitalisation, which the Africa Finance Corporation had pledged to match, while other financiers were expected to mobilise an additional $18 billion.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, outlined a four-point strategy for tackling the country’s electricity challenges, focusing on grid stability, sector liquidity and sustainability, asset optimisation, and expansion and improvement of the transmission grid.

The Chairman of PCAN, Obas Esiedesa, however, warned that electricity generation could fall between November and March due to reduced water inflows into hydroelectric facilities and gas supply constraints affecting thermal power plants.