President Bola Tinubu last week instructed authorities to promptly release more than 300 containers of power-sector equipment that have remained trapped at Nigerian ports for between 14 and 20 years. Power Minister Olasunkanmi Joseph Tegbe announced the directive after a Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House. The containers hold vital electricity-grid assets rather than being empty, including large transformers, cables, switchgear and other transmission materials intended to reinforce the national network. “These are not empty containers. It is appalling that we have found ourselves in this position,” Tegbe said. The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Power and the Transmission Company of Nigeria, imported the equipment for several projects over the years, including the National Integrated Power Project, TCN programmes financed by development partners and the Presidential Power Initiative. Tegbe said the large transformers were produced overseas because Nigeria does not have the specialised manufacturing capability required for equipment of that scale. The supplies were therefore sourced from producers in China, Germany and other countries. They were meant to support transmission expansion and grid reliability across the country, including the planned East and West Super Grids, which are projected to lift transmission capability from 5,000MW to 19,000MW, alongside improvements on the Lagos–Enugu–Port Harcourt and Abuja–Kaduna–Kano transmission routes. With the equipment left idle for so long, substations including Katampe and Ikeja West were completed but could not be energised. The nearly two-decade delay reflected administrative shortcomings and serious negligence. Tegbe said earlier governments failed to pay accumulated port fees and conclude standard customs formalities, including debts owed to the Nigerian Ports Authority, unfinished clearance procedures with the Nigeria Customs Service, and weak coordination between the Ministry of Power, the NPA and Customs. The equipment was consequently abandoned at Apapa, Onne and other ports even as consumers and businesses faced continuing power shortages. Some containers have been there since 2006–2012, covering the administrations of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. Nigeria had already paid for the equipment and taken loans to fund its purchase, yet left the cargo at the ports while demurrage costs continued to mount. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has directed the Ministry of Power to cooperate with the NPA and Nigeria Customs Service to clear outstanding liabilities and secure the release of the containers. Specialists will inspect and audit every container to establish which items remain fit for use and which have become outdated after almost 20 years. Serviceable assets will be assigned to active projects, while obsolete materials will be disposed of. The episode helps explain why Nigeria can generate roughly 13,000MW but transmit only about 5,000MW: equipment needed to move electricity through the grid has sat behind port gates for close to two decades while the country continues to seek dependable supply through national prayers. Releasing the containers is a necessary and overdue move, but its value will depend on the speed with which the equipment is installed to supply households, support industry and end the recurring pattern of blackouts.
