The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has proposed a new approach to improving electricity supply to industries across the region, but questions remain over how the initiative will be financed and integrated into existing power infrastructure.
The initiative, known as Power W.A. (Power West Africa) for Industrialisation, seeks to develop regional electricity corridors that would support manufacturing, trade and industrial expansion.
Although ECOWAS published details of the plan on October 20, 2026, the framework was finalised at a meeting held on October 2 at Dangote Industries’ headquarters in Lagos.
The proposal comes against the backdrop of longstanding electricity challenges across West Africa, where unreliable supply and inadequate infrastructure continue to affect business operations and industrial competitiveness.
Under the proposed arrangement, the ECOWAS Business Council, chaired by Aliko Dangote, would lead efforts to attract private investment into regional electricity infrastructure.
The council intends to engage financial institutions, including Afreximbank, Africa Finance Corporation and the International Finance Corporation, while seeking government support through favourable policies and investment guarantees.
However, discussions with prospective financiers do not amount to secured funding. ECOWAS has yet to announce the proposed corridors’ locations, development costs or construction schedules.
The initiative also raises questions about its relationship with the existing West African Power Pool (WAPP), which was established to connect national electricity systems and facilitate power trading across the region.
In November 2025, WAPP reported a successful four-hour synchronisation test involving the region’s interconnected electricity networks, demonstrating the technical possibility of coordinated operations.
While that achievement marked progress towards regional electricity integration, the new industrial corridor proposal will still need to demonstrate how it can translate regional power connections into reliable electricity for factories and businesses.
For Nigeria, where industries face persistent electricity supply challenges, access to a wider regional power market could potentially provide additional supply options. However, the benefits would depend on available generation capacity, reliable transmission networks, workable commercial agreements and the ability of industrial consumers to receive electricity consistently.
A major question is whether the proposed investment model can attract sufficient private funding to deliver infrastructure across different national electricity markets.
Differences in electricity tariffs, regulatory requirements, payment arrangements and the financial condition of power utilities could complicate projects involving several countries.
ECOWAS plans to undertake a regional assessment of electricity demand and available supply to identify infrastructure needs and guide future investments.
Such an assessment could help determine where electricity shortages are most severe and which industrial centres would benefit from stronger regional connections.
The ECOWAS Business Council is also expected to hold its inaugural meeting between late October and early November 2026, ahead of a proposed approval process at the Council of Ministers meeting in December.
For now, Power W.A. remains a proposed investment framework rather than a funded construction programme.
Its eventual impact will depend not simply on attracting investors, but on whether participating countries can address the regulatory, financial and infrastructure constraints that have historically limited reliable electricity supply across the region.
