The Federal Government has delayed the sale of five National Integrated Power Projects due to low bids from prospective investors, even as the Transmission Company of Nigeria grapples with a mounting debt profile of N457bn.

The TCN Executive Director of Transmission Service Provider, Oluwagbenga Ajiboye, made this known during a capacity-building workshop for journalists in Nasarawa State.

The government had in 2023 declared plans to privatise the NIPP plants as part of strategies to plug budget deficits. But since then, the process has stalled due to what officials describe as uncompetitive pricing from bidders.

The NIPPs include the 434-megawatt Geregu II plant in Kogi, 451MW Omotosho II in Ondo, and 750MW Olorunsogo II in Ogun. Others include the 563MW Odukpani power plant in Calabar, Cross River State, and the 451MW Benin-Ihovbor plant in Edo State.

Ajiboye explained that although the government is keen on offloading the plants to raise funds, current offers are significantly below investment expectations.

“So, presently, we have over 23 generation companies with a combined available capacity of about 12,000 megawatts. You can call it installed, but one thing I normally tell people to understand, installed capacity doesn’t translate to available capacity.

“We have all known all the Gencos have been privatised except the power stations under NIPP. The government has been going up and down, forward and backwards, either to privatise or sell or not to sell.

The government is willing to sell, but the money being offered is not sufficient to cover the outlay of the investment,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ajiboye disclosed that as of March 2025, TCN is owed N457bn by stakeholders in the electricity market.

Of this amount, N217bn is classified as legacy debt, while N240bn is owed for more recent services. Discussions are ongoing with the Ministry of Finance Incorporated for potential recovery.

“The market owes us about N457bn as of March, being to the market shortfall and legacy debts. We have traced N217bn to the legacy debt, and we are in discussion with MOFI to pay us something out of it,” he added.

In a related presentation, TCN’s Managing Director, Sule Abdulaziz, who was represented by Ajiboye, said despite financial constraints, the company had expanded its wheeling capacity to 8,701 megawatts.

However, the gains are being undermined by poor distribution uptake and persistent sectoral weaknesses.

“No matter how good TCN is, if the Genco is lacking, we will take the capacity of the Genco. That is the total reflection of the NESI. Also, if TCN is the weak link, you cannot get more than the output of TCN.

“So also, if it is the Disco. So you can see that it is a value chain that must not be broken. The strengths must be uniform and be able to deliver the end product,” Abdulaziz said.

He lamented that over 40 transmission substations across the country had to be shut down due to either right-of-way disputes or refusal by distribution companies to accept power loads.

“There are substations we have completed that are not in use today because the lines to evacuate power from them have not been completed,” he noted.

On funding, the General Manager of Project Coordination, Aminu Tahir, said the company had secured financial support from global institutions, including the World Bank, French Development Agency, African Development Bank, and Japan International Cooperation Agency, to upgrade and expand its transmission capacity.

Yet, right-of-way issues, vandalism, and poor uptake by Discos continue to cripple power delivery. The power sector has long suffered from a mismatch between generation capacity, transmission infrastructure, and actual energy delivered to end-users.

While Nigeria boasts over 12,000MW of installed generation capacity, less than 5,000MW often gets to consumers due to system bottlenecks and rejection by DisCos.

As stakeholders renew calls for end-to-end reform across the electricity value chain, the TCN reiterated its commitment to strengthening transmission capacity but warned that investments must be matched across all segments to ensure stability.

“Grid reliability is not just about transmission. It is about generation, distribution, and the ability of consumers to pay,”  Abdulaziz added.

The current stalemate in the sale of the NIPP plants and the growing market debt underscore persistent structural and financial woes plaguing Nigeria’s power sector despite years of reforms.