According to the Nigerian Minister of Power, a plan to review the privatization of power distribution companies has been presented to the cabinet for consideration. In January 2020, the National Economic Council (NEC) of Nigeria, which has the mandate to advise the president on economic policy issues and to coordinate planning efforts at different levels of government, passed a motion demanding the re-examination of the power sector privatisation, due to structural problems in electricity supply.
The power sector was overhauled in 2013, with the privatisation of the national electricity company and the development of a competitive electricity market. The dismantling of the national electricity company led to the creation of 6 generation companies, 1 transmission company (the sole that remained under government control) and 11 distribution companies. Currently, the state-owned Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) purchases electricity from generation companies and sells it to distribution companies. However, as NBET is not reimbursed in full for the power it acquires, generations companies are only partly paid for their outputs. These persistent revenue shortfalls have hindered plans to build private power plants in recent years. Despite reforms and the privatisation of generation and distribution companies, some 80 million Nigerians remain without access to electricity, the grid is plagued by frequent blackouts and the government has supported the power sector with NGN1,700bn (US$5.6bn) since 2017.
In addition, the Ministry of Power has signed a preliminary deal with Germany and Siemens, with the objective to improve transmission and distribution in the country.
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