The Federal Government is projecting nearly $1 billion (about ₦1.49 trillion) in annual revenue from electricity exports to 15 West African Countries under the Economic Community of West African States sub-region from June 2026.
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, hinted at the new revenue stream at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, where he announced that Nigeria successfully conducted a grid synchronisation test with 15 West African countries for four hours on November 8, 2025.
The synchronisation exercise, conducted between 05:04 am and 09:04 am, involved the Nigerian grid, which includes the Niger Republic and parts of Benin and Togo, and the rest of West Africa’s interconnected systems covering Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali.
The minister said for four uninterrupted hours, power flowed seamlessly across national borders, operating at a single stable frequency and proving that West Africa is now technically capable of functioning as a unified power bloc.
The minister said the government is working toward achieving permanent grid synchronisation by June 2026, with a second 48-hour test run planned once ongoing discussions with regional operators are concluded.
The Executive Director, Market Operations at the Nigerian Independent System Operator, Edmund Eje, said Nigeria currently allocates 600MW for its bilateral power trade agreements each day.
NERC figures show that the average approved end-user tariff in Nigeria is about $0.07 per kilowatt-hour (approximately ₦100.27/kWh), representing just 35.71 per cent of the average $0.19/kWh charged by several other countries in the sub-region.
If exported power is billed at this regional tariff, government officials estimate that delivering the full 600MW allocation could generate close to $1 billion in annual revenue.
A breakdown of the figures shows that exporting 600MW, equivalent to 600,000 kilowatts, at the prevailing tariff of $0.19 per kilowatt-hour would fetch about $114,000 every hour. This translates to roughly $2.73 million daily and an estimated $998.6 million in annual revenue.
The PUNCH
