The Federal Government has begun recovering critical electricity infrastructure trapped in Nigeria’s ports for over a decade, with the evacuation of 44 containers of power equipment in Lagos marking the first phase of efforts to revive stalled transmission projects across the country.
The exercise, which followed a presidential directive, is expected to unlock infrastructure originally procured to expand the national transmission network but left stranded by administrative bottlenecks, unpaid port charges and the failure of some contractors to execute their projects.
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Dr Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this on Friday during the release of the first batch of equipment at ENL Consortium Terminal and APM Terminals in Lagos.
The containers, loaded onto trucks, were dispatched to project locations in Kaduna, Osun, Nasarawa and Cross River states for immediate deployment.
Adeniyi said the first 44 containers were part of 98 containers approved for evacuation out of more than 300 consignments of power equipment abandoned across the nation’s ports for between 14 and 20 years.
“This is just a symbolic start. This process will continue until the last container related to the power projects is taken out of our ports,” he said.
The Customs chief disclosed that another 54 containers at Tin Can Island and other terminals would be released after the necessary processes, adding that the equipment had been inspected and certified suitable for their intended projects.
The stranded consignments include high-capacity transformers, high-tension wires, cables, switchgear, conductors and other transmission materials procured for substations and power generation facilities.
Adeniyi said the equipment was imported through the Federal Ministry of Power and government agencies, including the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).
He, however, expressed concern that some contractors had obtained government permits to import equipment for public projects but abandoned the consignments after they arrived at the ports, without fulfilling their contractual obligations.
The Customs boss said the service would work with relevant agencies to identify the contractors and ensure accountability.
He disclosed that the evacuation was being facilitated through priority processing, dedicated officers for joint examinations and approved waivers on accumulated port charges.
The intervention has also come at a significant cost to terminal operators, with APM Terminals disclosing that the abandoned containers in its facility had accumulated more than ₦500 million in waived charges.
Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said the equipment would be deployed to Kaduna, Lafia and Akwanga in Nasarawa State, as well as Ilaro in Osun State, to support ongoing transmission projects.
Tegbe explained that the materials were originally procured to expand the national transmission network, relieve overloaded substations and improve the delivery of electricity to consumers.
He said their prolonged stay at the ports had delayed material supply, stalled transmission infrastructure projects and reduced the operational flexibility of existing substations.
The minister said the evacuation was part of the Federal Government’s broader efforts to address structural challenges in the power sector, particularly the transmission constraints preventing generated electricity from reaching consumers.
He commended the Customs Service for facilitating the process, noting that the ministry’s technical team had inspected the equipment and matched them with the projects for which they were originally procured.
The government, he added, was working to evacuate the remaining consignments from other ports, including Apapa, Tin Can Island and Onne.
Adeniyi said similar exercises would be undertaken across the western and eastern port corridors to ensure that the remaining equipment was recovered and deployed.
The evacuation comes as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to improve electricity supply through investments in hydro, gas-fired and solar power infrastructure, while addressing transmission bottlenecks that have continued to constrain the sector.
