NDPHC’s executives meet Nigerian VP, cite sector reforms

Nigeria’s Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) sent its top executives to the State House to congratulate Vice President Kashim Shettima on his re-nomination as running mate to President Bola Tinubu for the 2027 election, in a visit that underscored the utility firm’s ties to the country’s power-sector leadership.

The delegation, led by Jennifer Adighije, managing director and chief executive officer, met with Shettima, who chairs NDPHC’s board, at the presidential villa in the capital. The visit came days after Tinubu confirmed Shettima as his choice to seek a second term on the All Progressives Congress ticket.

Shettima received the executives and thanked them for the gesture, according to a statement from the company.

“Your Excellency’s guidance and support have provided the enabling environment for NDPHC to consolidate its achievements and pursue its strategic objectives with renewed vigour,” Adighije told the vice president, adding that his backing had been central to repositioning the state-owned power firm.

NDPHC, established to manage Nigeria’s National Integrated Power Project, has for years played a central role in the country’s efforts to expand electricity generation and transmission capacity — an area where output has chronically lagged demand across Africa’s most populous nation. The company oversees a fleet of gas-fired power plants built under the NIPP initiative, along with transmission and distribution assets meant to plug gaps left by the country’s privatized utilities.

Adighije used the meeting to reaffirm the company’s alignment with the Tinubu administration’s economic program, known as the Renewed Hope Agenda, pledging continued investment in infrastructure aimed at improving energy security and supporting broader economic growth. Nigeria’s power sector remains a persistent drag on the economy, with unreliable grid supply forcing businesses and households to rely heavily on costly self-generation.

The courtesy call is the latest sign of the close institutional relationship between NDPHC’s management and its board chairman, a dynamic that has taken on added significance as the company works to attract capital and execute expansion plans ahead of the 2027 election cycle. Political continuity at the top of government is often read by investors and infrastructure planners as a signal of policy stability, particularly for capital-intensive, multi-year projects like power generation and grid expansion.

Shettima has held the NDPHC board chairmanship since taking office as vice president in 2023, a position that gives him direct oversight of one of the government’s largest power-sector vehicles. His re-nomination keeps that leadership arrangement intact through the next electoral cycle, assuming the Tinubu-Shettima ticket wins re-election.