Northern businesses seek end to electricity instability, unfair tariffs

…MAN says power infrastructure obsolete, needs overhauling

Stakeholders across Northern Nigeria have challenged Joseph Tegbe, newly appointed Minister of Power to urgently tackle chronic blackouts, unfair electricity billing and weak transmission infrastructure that continue to cripple businesses and households across the region.

The demand followed Tegbe’s appointment to replace Adebayo Adelabu, with industry leaders insisting that ordinary Nigerians expect more than policy announcements and promises of reform.

For many residents and business owners in the North, unstable electricity supply has become a daily burden affecting livelihoods, industries and social life, with manufacturers warning that the situation is steadily undermining economic growth.

The new minister has already unveiled an ambitious reform agenda centred on stabilising the national grid within 100 days, enforcing stricter execution discipline in the sector and closing the country’s metering gap through a transparent monitoring system.

Tegbe also pledged to pursue market-reflective tariffs tied to service quality while protecting vulnerable consumers, alongside plans to expand generation capacity beyond the current 3,500 to 4,500 megawatts through decentralised energy investments enabled by the Electricity Act 2023.

However, power sector stakeholders in the North insist that success will depend largely on whether the government addresses longstanding structural failures in transmission and distribution.

Speaking in an interview with BusinessDay on Nigeria’s electricity crisis, Mohammed Bello Umar, Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Kano Bompai/Jigawa Branch, said the country’s power infrastructure had become obsolete and required total replacement rather than repeated repairs.

According to him, most of the transmission and distribution facilities still in use were built in the 1970s and 1980s and can no longer support present-day industrial and residential demand.

Mohammed warned that Northern Nigeria remains dangerously exposed because only two major transmission lines currently serve the region.

He recalled that the failure of one of the lines caused a major blackout that plunged the North into darkness for about 15 days two years ago.

The MAN chairman urged the new minister to prioritise expansion of transmission lines linking the coastal region to Northern Nigeria, modernise the national grid and support the development of a parallel electricity infrastructure capable of preventing repeated system failures.

“There is need for a complete overhaul of generation, transmission and distribution. Temporary fixes cannot solve the problem permanently,” Mohammed said.

He also criticised the existing band tariff system, arguing that consumers should not continue paying higher electricity tariffs without receiving improved supply.
Mohammed further called for manufacturers and organised private sector groups to be fully involved in shaping future reforms in the power sector.

Also speaking, Suleiman Bello, President of Suken Company Limited and former Deputy President of the Kano Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KACCIMA), accused electricity distribution companies of worsening public frustration through estimated billing and poor metering practices.

Bello said Nigeria’s electricity generation remained critically low at about 4,000 megawatts, while transmission capacity stood at roughly 3,600 megawatts, the figures he described as inadequate for a country with over 200 million people.

He lamented that many households and businesses continue to pay for electricity they do not receive, while the cost of prepaid meters, now exceeding N200,000 in some cases, has placed additional pressure on struggling consumers.

According to him, delayed meter supply and exploitative billing practices have deepened distrust between electricity providers and customers.

Bello urged the new minister to make metering more affordable, enforce fair billing systems and improve accountability across the electricity value chain.

He also advocated stronger support for independent power producers and decentralised electricity projects, particularly in industrial clusters and regions with strong renewable energy potential.

Using Bagaja, a solar-powered electricity provider in Kano’s Zawachiki area, as an example, Bello said private-sector driven energy projects had already shown that near 24-hour electricity supply was achievable outside the fragile national grid.

He added that industrial hubs such as Chalawa, Sharada and Bompai in Kano could attract investments and create jobs if supported with stable electricity supply through dedicated power projects.

“Reliable electricity is the foundation of industrial growth and economic development. Without stable power, industries cannot operate efficiently,” Bello stated.

The renewed pressure on the Ministry of Power comes as work advances on the Kaduna-Kano 330kV transmission project, regarded as one of the major infrastructure interventions expected to improve electricity supply across Northern Nigeria.

Communities affected by the transmission corridor have already begun receiving compensation, with community leaders, Shehu Muhammad and Muhammad Lawal, commending the process and pledging support for the project.

The transmission line will connect the Mando Transmission Substation in Kaduna State to the Rimin Zakara Transmission Substation in Kano, including a Turn-In Turn-Out connection to the new 2x150MVA 330/132/33kV substation in Jaja, Zaria.

Backed by the Federal Government and the African Development Bank, the project is expected to improve electricity wheeling capacity, strengthen grid reliability and reduce the risk of prolonged blackouts in the North.

Meanwhile, latest operational data released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) showed that Nigeria generated only 4,286 megawatts in April 2026 out of an installed capacity of 13,625MW across 28 grid-connected plants.

The regulator also reported persistent voltage and frequency instability across the national grid, raising fresh concerns over recurring system collapses and unreliable electricity supply nationwide.