- Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu urged closer ECN–REA collaboration to boost local power equipment manufacturing and reduce imports.
- He also pushed for a central data pool and local turbine production to support hydropower and advance sector reforms.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has urged the Energy Commission of Nigeria and the Rural Electrification Agency to deepen cooperation to boost local production of electricity components. The minister said stronger collaboration would reduce imports, conserve foreign exchange and support the government’s reform agenda.
Adelabu made the call during a meeting with senior officials of the Energy Commission in Abuja. He stressed that coordinated research, robust data systems and joint planning would help deliver President Bola Tinubu’s power sector priorities.
Nigeria continues to rely heavily on imported power equipment. This reliance exposes the sector to currency volatility and global supply disruptions. The minister said the administration wants to reverse that trend by supporting domestic manufacturing of meters and other critical inputs.
He linked local production to broader economic objectives. According to Adelabu, Nigeria can only plan effectively if it establishes a reliable central data pool. The Ministry of Power has already begun work on the system and will require contributions from generation and distribution companies, as well as all agencies under the ministry.
Meanwhile, the minister directed the Energy Commission to join the Power Sector Working Group, a quarterly coordination platform used for policy alignment and technical decisions. He said the commission’s research mandate made it essential to the process.
Hydropower also featured strongly in the minister’s remarks. Adelabu described hydropower as the most reliable form of electricity generation and drew attention to more than 300 small dams across the country. He argued that Nigeria must develop local turbine manufacturing capacity to harness this resource under the decentralised framework of the Electricity Act.
The minister called on state governments to assume greater responsibility for generation, transmission and distribution. He pledged support for initiatives that would expand domestic turbine and equipment production.
Energy Commission Director-General Mustapha Abdullahi welcomed the directives. He said the commission would work closely with the Ministry of Power. He mentioned other agencies would support the President’s goal of using the power sector as a catalyst for economic transformation.