Nigerian government begins clearing abandoned electricity equipment from ports

The Nigerian government started clearing hundreds of containers of electricity equipment that have been stuck at local ports for over a decade. The Ministry of Power secured the release of the first 44 containers from the Apapa Port in Lagos out of a total of more than 300 containers.

Minister of Power Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe said the action follows a directive from President Bola Tinubu to resolve administrative and financial delays.

The ministry is working with the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigerian Ports Authority to settle outstanding port charges and clear the backlog. Experts will inspect the equipment to see if it still works. The government will use functional items for electricity projects and dispose of those that are broken. This effort follows a previous recovery by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, which retrieved 110 containers and 216 packages.

That earlier move saved over ₦30 billion and recovered turbines capable of generating about 470 megawatts of electricity. The government aims to use these recovered assets to improve power delivery to homes and businesses across the country.