Widespread blackouts persist across Nigeria as over 3,000 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity from government-run power plants remain unused, according to a new report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
Despite an installed generation capacity exceeding 4,000MW, power plants operated by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) continue to produce under 1,000MW. Only one plant, Ihovbor 2, is running close to full capacity—producing 449MW out of 461MW.
Others, however, remain grossly underutilised. For instance, the 500MW Alaoji 1 has produced nothing for months, and the 750MW Olorunsogo 2 struggled with just 24MW in April and zero in March. Plants like Sapele 1, Omotosho 2, and Ihovbor 1 are also performing at less than 20% of their capacity.
“The Nigerian federation has invested in us so much to the extent that we have 4,000MW generation capacity built with people’s funds, but it is grossly underutilised due to a number of factors outside NDPHC’s control,” said former NDPHC boss, Chiedu Ugbo.
A major stumbling block appears to be commercial inefficiencies. Bolaji Tunji, media aide to the Minister of Power, explained, “The energy that is currently being generated is not being paid for by consumers, and the government is also not providing the required subsidy payments.”
He added that distribution companies (DisCos) are reluctant to take more power without a cost-reflective tariff: “Until we resolve to have a good commercial tariff downstream, it would be difficult to generate more energy than our current level.”
Industry experts also point to poor transmission infrastructure and governance challenges. Energy professor Dayo Ayoade noted, “The dead hand of the government will always suppress its efficiencies… you can’t fix one segment—generation, transmission, or distribution—in isolation.”
Despite efforts to privatise five NIPP plants, inefficiencies linger. The Federal Government is reportedly considering selling the Olorunsogo II, Omotosho II, Geregu II, Odukpani, and Benin-Ihovbor plants for $1.15 billion.
“The plants are there, but we haven’t optimised them,” admitted Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu. “It was good we made those investments then, but… I would say no, we haven’t seen the full benefit.”
