FG, Private sector mobilize $1.85bn to tackle power sector challenges
By Precious Mark
The Federal Government and private investors have combined a $750 million public fund with $1.1 billion in expected private sector capital to mobilize $1.85 billion for the largest renewable energy access project globally, aiming to eliminate the country’s persistent transmission bottlenecks.
The Managing Director of Siemens Energy, Seun Suleiman, and the Managing Director and CEO of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Abba Abubakar Aliyu, made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja during a strategic panel session titled “Re-Engineering Africa’s Power Market – Driving Reliable Energy Systems” at the ongoing 25th annual Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week 2026.
Suleiman revealed that the first phase of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), designed to unlock stranded electricity, is nearing completion, with the landmark Abeokuta site scheduled for deployment by February 2027.
According to Suleiman, the next installations will move swiftly to Ibadan, Ajaokuta, and Sokoto to stabilize the national transmission network.
He added that the model is transitioning into a scaled-up second phase that will capture 12 brownfield sites across the country.
“We are planning right now to train over 5,000 people. If you look at the spread of the locations of the PPI projects, there are sites that are selected based on the economic impacts that they will do. We are moving to phase two, four brownfields similar to phase one which will make it 12. We started small but we’re moving to scale up. This is what we’re doing to unlock the transmission issues in the country,” Suleiman stated.
In a massive boost to the decentralized grid network, the REA boss, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, detailed an aggressive ongoing deployment of 48 interconnected mini-grids capable of injecting 288 megawatts of electricity across locations like Jikwoyi, Dei-Dei, Orozo in Abuja, Uyo, Ondo, Delta, and Anambra.
Aliyu stated that the installations in Yola and Akwa Ibom are scheduled for completion by December 2026, while the remaining sites will go live before the second half of 2027 as part of a grand scheme to build 1,000 interconnected mini-grids in isolated and underserved communities.
The multi-billion dollar project relies on the $1.1 billion in private investment through a public-private partnership framework.
“The entire project that we are implementing is built around the private sector. We are implementing the biggest publicly funded renewable energy access project in the entire world. It is $1.1 billion. So all the interventions are kind of a PPP arrangement with the private sector,” Aliyu explained.
To de-risk the massive commercial investments, Aliyu disclosed that local and international financing pipelines have been secured, including $100 million equivalent in local currency financing from FCMB, and an additional $100 million from Standard Bank and Stanbic IBTC.
The financing surge has been supported by a significant regulatory overhaul by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to make the power market more commercially viable for private operators.
Aliyu revealed that the regulator has expanded the permissible capacity boundaries for mini-grids, raising the statutory limit from the previous one-megawatt ceiling to 5 megawatts for isolated mini-grids, and up to 10 megawatts for interconnected mini-grids, significantly sweetening the market architecture for incoming private investors.