After 20 years, Tinubu orders recovery of abandoned 300 containers of power equipment

 

Maureen Aguta

 

After lying abandoned at Nigerian ports for between 14 and 20 years, critical electricity transmission equipment valued at billions of naira is finally set for recovery and deployment following a presidential directive and the commencement of evacuation of 98 containers by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

 

The recovery exercise, which could provide a significant boost to Nigeria’s struggling electricity transmission infrastructure, is part of a Federal Government intervention to retrieve more than 300 containers of stranded power equipment at various ports, including Apapa and Tin Can Island ports in Lagos.

 

The first batch of 44 containers out of the 98 approved for release was flagged off on Friday at the ENL Consortium Terminal, Apapa Port, by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, and the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe.

 

Another 54 containers at other terminals are expected to be evacuated in subsequent phases, as the government moves to recover equipment procured for electricity transmission projects but left unused for nearly two decades.

 

The development has raised expectations of renewed investment in the country’s overstretched transmission network, with several communities and electricity consumers potentially benefiting from the deployment of serviceable equipment to stalled and ongoing projects.

 

Speaking at the flag-off ceremony, Adeniyi said the consignments were originally imported for government-backed electricity projects through the Federal Ministry of Power, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Niger Delta Power Holding Company and other government agencies.

 

The equipment includes high-capacity transformers, electrical cables, switchgears and other critical materials required for the expansion, rehabilitation and strengthening of the national transmission network.

 

According to him, the release followed a presentation by the Minister of Power to the Federal Executive Council, after which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed the immediate recovery of the equipment and instructed relevant government agencies to resolve the financial and administrative bottlenecks preventing their evacuation.

 

“In line with that presidential directive, the Service has commenced the immediate clearance of more than 200 containers of power equipment. Today, I’m here with the Honourable Minister of Power to flag off the release of the first 44 containers from ENL Terminal. Another 54 containers at other terminals, in Tin Can and other ports, would also be released in turn,” he said.

 

Adeniyi explained that Customs had introduced special arrangements to accelerate the process, including priority clearance, dedicated officers for joint examination and the implementation of approved waivers on relevant charges accumulated during the prolonged stay of the consignments at the ports.

 

He specifically acknowledged the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, for approving waivers on administrative charges, while commending the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, for facilitating waivers on demurrage through engagements with terminal operators.

 

The Customs boss said the immediate priority was to evacuate the equipment and subject it to technical assessments to establish its condition and determine which items could still be deployed.

 

He explained that serviceable materials would be allocated to ongoing and abandoned transmission projects, including transmission corridors and substations, while equipment considered obsolete would be disposed of in accordance with relevant regulations.

 

However, Adeniyi expressed concern over what he described as the unacceptable practice of contractors abandoning government-funded infrastructure equipment at ports despite being entrusted with the responsibility of executing critical public projects.

 

He described the development as economic sabotage, arguing that the failure to clear and deploy equipment procured with public funds had deprived Nigerians of the infrastructure, electricity supply, employment opportunities and economic benefits for which the investments were made.

 

According to him, the problem extends beyond the electricity sector, as Customs has identified similar cases involving government programmes and equipment supplied by international organisations and development partners, including consignments intended for critical health interventions.

 

He warned that the Service would collaborate with supervising ministries and relevant oversight agencies to identify contractors responsible for abandoning the consignments and provide information that could assist in holding them accountable.

 

The possibility of blacklisting contractors found culpable was also raised as part of measures to discourage the practice and ensure that public investments translate into completed infrastructure projects.

 

For the Minister of Power, the evacuation represents an important intervention in addressing the longstanding constraints affecting the country’s electricity transmission capacity.

 

Tegbe said the equipment was originally procured to expand the national grid, strengthen substations and improve the capacity to evacuate electricity generated by power plants to distribution networks and consumers.

 

He lamented that the prolonged abandonment had stalled critical transmission projects for nearly two decades, tying down public resources while existing infrastructure continued to operate under increasing pressure.

 

According to him, the absence of the equipment had limited the expansion and rehabilitation of substations, weakened network flexibility and contributed to operational inefficiencies, avoidable electricity interruptions and difficulties for businesses and public institutions dependent on stable power supply.

 

The Minister commended President Tinubu for intervening and directing inter-ministerial collaboration to remove the administrative and financial obstacles that had prevented the equipment from being evacuated.

 

He said the government’s immediate priority was to ensure the physical evacuation of the approved consignments, complete the necessary clearance procedures and return empty containers to the shipping lines.

 

Tegbe disclosed that the Ministry, working with TCN and other technical stakeholders, had commenced identifying the specific projects for which the equipment was originally procured.

 

Technical teams would inspect the recovered materials, conduct necessary tests and determine their suitability for installation, particularly in locations where transmission infrastructure requires urgent reinforcement.

 

He listed Kaduna, Osun, Nasarawa and Cross River among the states expected to benefit from the recovered equipment, adding that other parts of the country would also receive materials based on the requirements of their respective transmission projects.

 

The Minister said the deployment would improve transmission capacity, strengthen electricity evacuation from generation facilities, provide greater flexibility in network operations and enhance voltage performance.

 

It is also expected to reduce interruptions associated with overloading and improve the ability of the national grid to transmit available electricity to consumers.

 

However, Tegbe acknowledged the importance of ensuring that the recovered equipment does not suffer another round of abandonment after leaving the ports.

 

He assured that the Ministry would adopt a structured project management framework to guarantee that the materials were installed and commissioned, rather than merely transferred from the ports to government warehouses or project sites without utilisation.

 

He added that the Ministry was strengthening coordination among relevant agencies to ensure that future procurement exercises were properly aligned with project implementation schedules.

 

The Minister expressed optimism that the first batch of containers would be evacuated immediately, while the government was targeting the removal of the remaining consignments within the next one month.

Meanwhile, shipping companies and terminal operators have pledged their cooperation with the Federal Government to facilitate the evacuation of the equipment.

 

The operators described the transmission projects as critical to Nigeria’s infrastructure development, assuring Customs and the Ministry of Power that they would provide the necessary assistance to ensure the consignments were released without further delays.

 

They welcomed the intervention, expressing hope that the longstanding problem would be permanently resolved through effective coordination among government agencies, contractors, shipping companies and terminal operators.

 

They also commended Tegbe’s efforts towards recovering the stranded equipment, noting that its eventual deployment would benefit households, businesses and other critical sectors of the economy.

 

Beyond the immediate relief to port operations, the exercise highlights the enormous economic cost of poor project coordination, procurement failures and weak accountability in public infrastructure delivery.

 

For a country battling inadequate electricity supply, the abandonment of critical transmission equipment for as long as 20 years represents more than a port congestion problem. It reflects the cost of tying down scarce public resources in infrastructure that could have supported economic productivity, industrial expansion and improved living standards.

 

The success of the intervention, however, will ultimately depend not on the number of containers evacuated but on how quickly the equipment is assessed, installed and commissioned to deliver the electricity transmission improvements for which taxpayers’ and public funds were committed in the first place.