The Federal Government of Nigeria is considering to supply electricity to the Republic of Chad. This is after the government of the latter embodied by its ambassador to Nigeria, Abakar Saleh Chachaimi, made a formal request about four months ago to the federal government through the Minister of Power, Eng. Sale Mamman to connect the country to the Nigerian national electricity grid.
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While the ambassador stressed the historical and economic value of connecting Chad to Nigeria’s electricity grid, the Minister of Power on the other hand said that this would help in enhancing the long-existing relations between the two West African countries.
The latest development on the plan
The government-owned Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) disclosed last Sunday that a meeting was held last week on Wednesday, October 21, 2020, to discuss the possibilities of connecting Chad to the national grid.
The meeting was held between the Nigerian Ministry of Power, the TCN, and the Chadian Minister of Energy, Mrs. Ramatou Mahamat Houtouin.
Nigeria, whose available power generation from about Twenty-seven plants has been hovering between 3,000 megawatts and 4,500MW in recent years, currently exports electricity to three neighboring countries, which are the Republics of Niger, Benin, and Togo.
Establishment of a reliable power grid and a common market for electricity in West Africa
The national electricity companies in the Western Africa region under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are working towards the establishment of a reliable power supply to the member states and a common market for electricity in the region.
Working as cooperation namely the West African Power Pool (WAPP), the companies have identified several projects that will be key to the realization of their objective. These projects include the Gouina Hydroelectric Power Station, the CLSG Interconnector, and Riviera-Prestea Interconnector Project. Others are the Fomi Hydroelectric Power Station, Kassa B Hydroelectric Power Station, and Souapiti Hydroelectric Power Station.
Under this initiative, the Republics of Benin, Burkina-Faso, Niger, and Nigeria are also building an 875-kilometer 330-kilovolt power transmission line, the “North Core Transmission line”.
