General
NDPHC, BEDC to Deliver Extra 250MW to Edo, Others
By Adedapo Adesanya
The partnership between The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) will deliver additional 250 Megawatts (MW) to serve customer within the franchise area.
This was disclosed by the Managing Director of NDPHC, Mr Chiedu Igbo, at the signing ceremony in Lagos recently, revealing that the agreement has taken off with immediate effect.
Some of the initial project areas are Benin Bypass (industrial cluster near NDPHC’s power plant at Ihovbor, Benin-City, Edo State; Asaba, Delta State, Ondo South Senatorial District, Ondo State and interventions in Ekiti State.
He recalled that the two companies had in 2020, commenced exploring options to collaborate to deliver safe and reliable power to customers of the BEDC’s franchise area.
According to him, “Today, we are glad that we gather here for the purpose of signing a framework agreement for this collaboration.”
“For NDPHC, the project will enable us to deliver more than 250 megawatts of power to customers of BEDC’s franchise areas in Edo, Delta, Ondo, and neighbouring states.
“For BEDC, the project will help BEDC to satisfy its customers with reliable power and achieve an enhancement of its network and infrastructure,” Mr Igbo said.
He added that for BEDC’s customers, their homes and industries can now enjoy 24 hours power supply, noting tha for BEDC’s investors and NDPHC shareholders – trustees of Nigerian people- this project will deliver significant value.
He noted that the NDPHC has been concerned about the “insufficient dispatch of its power generation capacity, as well as liquidity challenges which means that only a small proportion of the power dispatched gets paid for. Meanwhile, many consumers remain unserved or underserved”.
In addition, the NDPHC boss explained that the journey to the agreement started with the initiation of the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) by the federal government of Nigeria in 2004 as a government-funded initiative to stabilize the country’s power sector.
He said as a result of this, the government incorporated NDPHC as a limited liability company to serve as a legal vehicle to hold the NIPP for its states and local governments.
Since then, said Mr Ugbo, Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry has evolved significantly from the construction of NDPHC’s 10 power plants with a combined capacity of over 5,000MW, of which more than 4,000MW has been completed, to the privatization transactions from which BEDC emerged as one of the 11 distribution companies in Nigeria.
The evolution, according to him, has presented the industry players, including NDPHC and BEDC, with unique challenges.
He said for the distribution firms, the significant capital investments required to upgrade their respective networks has been difficult to raise due to industry challenges.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of BEDC, Mrs Funke Osibodu, said her company aims at delivering incremental power from the NDPHC underutilised or stranded capacity to several industrial and commercial hubs through multiple solutions across the certain locations in Delta, Edo, Ondo and Ekiti for the electricity value chain.
She said under the agreement, BEDC and NDPHC will provide end-to-end power solutions across the value chain to deliver a minimum of 250 MW of additional power.
Mrs Osibodu said the collaboration will see the BEDC partner with NDPHC and others to identify and prioritize critical projects to increase power supply whilst improving on the technical and commercial environment.
She noted that the “focus will be the power supply to certain areas as well as upgrading of all critical distribution infrastructure”.
BEDC is the 4th largest Disco in distribution capacity and 3rd largest in the number of households among the Distribution Companies (Discos). It is responsible for the retail distribution of electricity in the four franchise states of Delta, Edo, Ekiti, and Ondo States.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has confirmed the collapse of five transmission towers along the Ikot Abasi–Eket 132kV Double Circuit Transmission Line.
This was attributed to severe acts of vandalism, as TCN disclosed that the structure collapsed after vandals removed critical structural bracing members.
The affected towers were N9, J4, N10, N11 and N12, the organisation said in a statement on Friday.
It explained that the extensive damage was discovered during a routine joint line patrol conducted on August 9, 2026, by TCN linesmen.
Further inspection revealed that structural members from seven additional towers along the same transmission corridor had also been removed and stolen. The towers, J3, N8, N13, N14, N15, N18 and N19, are now structurally compromised and pose a risk of further collapse.
TCN condemned this act of sabotage and reiterated its commitment to working hard to maintain a robust and reliable national grid.
The statement said that to mitigate the impact on electricity supply, the network has been reconfigured to prioritise supply to Ekim transmission station, leaving Ibom Power as the only station without supply.
TCN said it is mobilising an urgent intervention to complete the reconstruction of the affected sections of the line, with security agencies also notified to aid investigations and prevent further acts of vandalism along the line route.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Tajudeen Abbas, has urged all relevant government agencies to promptly initiate actions for the full implementation of the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency Act, 2026, following its signing into law by President Bola Tinubu.
The bill, sponsored by Speaker Abbas, was aimed at repealing the Nigerian Shippers’ Council Act, Cap. N133, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and establish the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency to ensure effective economic regulation of Nigerian ports while safeguarding the interests of shippers, service providers, and users of regulated port services. With the President’s assent, it has now been enacted as an Act of Parliament.
The legislation represents one of the landmark achievements of the 10th National Assembly. It reflects the Speaker’s commitment to legislative excellence, institutional reform, and sustainable economic growth, according to a press statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Speaker, Mr Musa Krishi.
The bill underwent a rigorous and inclusive legislative process, including extensive stakeholder consultations and a public hearing. It was passed by both Chambers of the National Assembly and subsequently assented to by the President.
The Act provides a robust legal and institutional framework to ensure effective economic regulation of Nigerian ports by fostering transparency, competitiveness, and efficiency in port operations; protecting the rights and interests of shippers, service providers, and other port users; and aligning Nigeria’s port regulatory system with global best practices, thereby enhancing the ease and cost-effectiveness of doing business.
Despite receiving presidential assent, the Act has yet to be fully operationalised.
He warned that any further delay would undermine the legislative intent of the reform, prolong the exposure of port users to arbitrary charges and operational inefficiencies, and deny the nation the anticipated benefits of increased revenue, improved trade facilitation, and stronger investor confidence in the marine and blue economy sector.
The Speaker urged the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, in collaboration with all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government, to take the necessary administrative, institutional, and financial measures for the prompt implementation of the Act.
He said this should include the formal transition to, as well as operational empowerment of, the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency to discharge its statutory mandate effectively.
The full implementation of the Act is critical to unlocking the economic potential of Nigeria’s ports, reducing the cost of doing business, strengthening trade competitiveness, and positioning Nigeria as the leading maritime and logistics hub in West and Central Africa.
The statement noted that the Speaker reaffirmed the 10th House’s commitment to exercising the necessary legislative oversight to ensure this landmark legislation, along with others assented to by the President, is fully implemented and achieves its intended goals for the benefit of the Nigerian people.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Federal Ministry of Youth Development (FMYD), through the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA), has partnered with Cascador, a Nigeria-focused platform for growth-stage founders, to provide funding and support for the next generation of Nigerian youth entrepreneurs.
The announcement coincides with International Youth Day 2026, whose global theme this year — Different Contexts, Common Aspirations — calls on institutions to close the gap between young people’s circumstances and their opportunities. The pilot is an early step toward NiYA’s broader ambition to train and empower 7 million Nigerian youth within two years.
The NiYA and Cascador Founders Programme will begin with a pilot cohort of 20 early-stage Nigerian youth founders, including entrepreneurs without formal business registration or established financial records.
Over four weeks, participants will undergo intensive training focused on business fundamentals, investment readiness and pitch preparation. At the end of the programme, the eight top-performing founders will receive non-dilutive funding of up to N5 million each from Cascador, alongside an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution to help them structure, manage and scale their businesses.
The funding and support will be presented at a Pitch Day organised by NiYA and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development.
The Minister for Youth Development, Mr s Ayodele Olawande, said the partnership would enable NiYA to move beyond training by helping young people transform ideas into investable businesses and achieve sustainable economic participation through business preparation and access to capital.
“The pilot is deliberately designed to test a model that can go beyond one cohort. If young founders can be identified early, prepared properly, connected to credible capital and supported to build stronger business systems, then access to opportunity becomes less dependent on background or existing networks. That is the larger objective: to build a youth entrepreneurship ecosystem in which readiness, ideas and execution can increasingly determine who gets the opportunity to grow.”
The pilot will run in-person in Abuja with virtual touchpoints and 1:1 mentorship. All 20 graduates retain NiYA alumni status, with priority consideration for future opportunities.
NiYA and FMYD have already shown what real commitment to Nigeria’s youth looks like — the platforms, the reach, the ambition to train millions. What we’re building together now is the missing piece, a practical bridge from the ideation stage to real capital-readiness. When a Ministry so dedicated to its young people asked Cascador to help build that bridge, it was an easy decision,” said Trish Thomas, CEO of Cascador.
Ms Oyin Solebo, COO of Cascador and former Managing Director of the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator, highlighted the partnership’s impact, saying, “This is what innovative capital deployment looks like: a government building real investment readiness at scale, and a partner meeting that foundational work with non-dilutive funding at exactly the moment it’s needed. Partnerships like this open doors that neither of us could open alone.”
