The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the Akwa Ibom State Government are working to resolve outstanding community issues that have stalled the completion of a 330kV transmission line along the Ikot Ekpene–Ikot Abasi axis of the state for about two decades.
The intervention is expected to clear the way for the contractor to return to site and accelerate work on the long-delayed National Integrated Power Project (NIPP).
NDPHC said about 90 per cent of the materials required for the project have already been deployed to site, making the resolution of the outstanding community issues critical to moving the project towards completion.
The development follows discussions between NDPHC and the state government on the challenges affecting the project, including outstanding wayleave compensation to communities and landowners along the transmission route.
The company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Jennifer Adighije, recently sought the intervention of the Akwa Ibom State Government to resolve the issues and facilitate completion of the project.
Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, assured the NDPHC delegation that his administration would intervene to address the outstanding issues and support the completion of the transmission line.
The project has faced delays for years, with compensation and community-related matters repeatedly identified among the issues affecting its progress. A July 2026 inspection by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Assets also found that the project had been left idle for more than six years despite substantial investment. The committee said the contractor was prepared to return to site once the outstanding challenges were addressed.
The project’s history stretches much further back. NDPHC told the Akwa Ibom Government that the project commenced about 20 years ago and had encountered several challenges, particularly those connected with compensation and host communities.
Records of the project also show that wayleave compensation has been a longstanding component of the Ikot Ekpene–Ikot Abasi 330kV transmission project. A federal procurement record from 2012, for instance, lists claims, variations and wayleave compensation associated with the project.
The transmission line is part of the wider infrastructure required to strengthen power evacuation in the region. NERC records list the construction of the Ikot Abasi 330/132kV substation alongside other transmission projects in the Port Harcourt transmission region.
The importance of completing the project extends beyond improving electricity supply to households and businesses in Akwa Ibom. The infrastructure is also linked to efforts to provide the transmission capacity required to connect major industrial facilities in Ikot Abasi to the national grid.
In 2025, the Federal Government said completion of the 330/132kV substation and the 330kV double-circuit lines between Ikot Ekpene and Ikot Abasi would enable the evacuation of power from the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON), whose plant has an installed generation capacity of 540MW.
With most of the project materials already at the site, NDPHC said resolving the remaining community issues would facilitate the contractor’s remobilisation and allow work to progress.
Once completed, the company said the transmission project would strengthen the national grid, support Akwa Ibom’s expanding commercial activities and improve access to more reliable electricity.
The latest intervention therefore puts the focus on resolving the issues that have kept a major piece of transmission infrastructure incomplete for years, with the state government now expected to help clear the way for construction to resume.