Nigeria is in talks with four West African countries expected to buy unused electricity from it.

The deal will be done through a planned $570 million Northcore Power Transmission Line.

The acting Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Chairman, Executive Board of the West African Power Pool (WAPP), Engr. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, stated this on Wednesday during the WAPP meeting on the Northcore project in Abuja.

According to Daily Trust, about 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity is said to be unutilised daily across the Generation Companies (GenCos) in Nigeria and could be exported.

The power we will be selling is the power that is not needed in Nigeria. These generators that are going to supply power to this transmission line are going to generate that power specifically for this project. So it is unutilised power,

Abdulaziz said.

He also noted that Nigeria is expecting new generators to participate in the energy export for the 875 kilometre 330 kilovolts Northcore transmission line from Nigeria through Niger, Togo, Benin to Burkina Faso.

In addition, there are some communities that are under the line route, about 611 of them which will be getting power so that there won’t be just a transmission line passing without impact.

The project is funded by World Bank, French Development Council and the African Development Bank.

Speaking on the benefits, the WAPP chairman noted,

Nigeria has the greatest advantage among these countries because the electricity is going to be exported from Nigerian GenCos. So from that, the revenue is going to be enhanced and a lot of people will be employed in Nigeria.

The Secretary General of WAPP, Siengui Appolinaire Ki, said:

The cost is about $570 million and the part of the investment in each country is funded by the country and they are supported by the donors, and Nigeria is taking its own.

He also said the funding agreement is ready as they await the disbursement.

Nigeria battles with poor power supply which affects its productivity and the general economy, so many Nigerians often ask the government to boost its transmission capacity so that unused electricity can be utilised by the country instead of selling such to other nations.

Nigeria reportedly has the potential to generate 12,522 MW of electric power from existing plants but only able to dispatch around 4,000 MW, which is insufficient for a country of about million people.
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Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.