NIGERIANS may have to wait a little longer to reap the benefits of the integration of the West African Power Pool (WAPP), with a shaky national grid and other structural deficiencies still unsolved in the Nigerian electricity supply industry (NESI).
West African Power Pool integration serves as a centralised command centre for the mainland member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The integration marks a significant step towards establishing a unified power market across the region, paving the way for more reliable, sustainable and affordable energy infrastructure for West Africa.
However, there are concerns that Nigeria may not harness the full benefits of the regional electricity market power pool, due to structural challenges in the power sector, resulting in grid collapse.
Former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission(NERC), Sam Amadi, weighed in on this, noting that “Nigeria’s successful integration into the West African Power Pool (WAPP) strengthens investor confidence, expands regional electricity trading opportunities, but won’t offer electricity relief to Nigerian homes.”
“Structurally and managerially, we have to focus on solving our problems through structural thinking. Invest in making the grid reliable. It’s about managerially solving basic problems,” Amadi told The ICIR.
He warned that the problem would not be solved by outsourcing responsibilities, but by addressing project management with the right structure.
“Again, we know that many of our grid suppliers, some of our new Integrated Power Plants (IPPS), are finding it difficult to send loads. They have capacity more than the Nigerian market can receive for now, because of constraints of the transmission network, congestion, distribution failures, among others.
“It’s a public managerial problem which can only be solved by efficiency,” he said.
The ICIR reports that WAPP oversees the interconnected power grids of 14 nations, namely Benin, Burkina-Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Amadi also disclosed that with the inefficiencies and structural problems, small bilateral deals with the small Independent Power Plants (IPPs) in Nigeria and the Benin Republic were ongoing, with targeted industrial clusters already exploring the opportunities.
“With the integration, you can, in the short term, keep those companies financially buoyant because they’re selling power to the West African Power market,” he said.
Notably, Nigeria is still the region’s biggest generator—but the two neighbours-Benin and Niger, often record a steadier supply due largely to a prioritised power supply distribution to industrial clusters and homes.
Nigeria has been exporting a portioin of its grid output (roughly six per cent of total generation) under bilateral deals with Benin, Niger and Togo.
Those contracts guarantee a baseline flow, and the receiving countries often supplement it with their own generation (e.g., Benin’s growing renewable projects) and with power traded through the West African Power Pool, which improves overall reliability.
The ICIR reports electricity sector remains fragile. About 85 million Nigerians (43 per cent of the population) lack access to grid electricity. This is one of the biggest energy access gaps in the world.
Research by a Power Sector Analyst, Taiwo Hassan Odugbemi, argued that Nigeria’s under-delivery in the power sector is largely due to systemic challenges in the grid, as he stressed that technical inefficiencies, vandalism and ageing infrastructure remain a major problem for the sector.
“Generation capacity is roughly 12,000 megawatts (MW)–13,500MW, but far less power is actually delivered. In 2023, Nigeria generated 4,500MW for a population of over 200 million. For comparison, Ethiopia, with a population of 132 million, recently added 6,000MW to its generation capacity. Before that, it generated 5,200MW,” Odugbemi noted in the research.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.