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The Federal Government has proposed to spend ₦1.096 trillion on capital electricity projects in the 2026 appropriation bill.
Nigeria’s power sector has struggled for decades with inadequate generation capacity, transmission bottlenecks, and distribution inefficiencies.
According to a breakdown of data contained in the 2026 Appropriation Bill, seen by Channels Television, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) was given the highest allocation of ₦502.21 billion.
Personnel cost was put at ₦6.168 billion and overhead at ₦ 4.211 billion, bringing the total allocation to ₦ 1.107 trillion.
The Federal Ministry of Power has ₦416.748 billion allocation for capital projects, while ₦ 10.379 billion was proposed for recurrent expenditure.
Highlight of the ministry’s headquarters allocation showed that ₦987.932 million has been earmarked for the provision of basic amenities for project-affected communities at 38 resettlement sites (schools, solar boreholes, roads, health centres), survey, and land demarcation.
It also plans to spend ₦840 million on ongoing distribution expansion programme projects to utilise the stranded power from the grid, with South South region allocated ₦ 400 million, South West ₦400 million, South East ₦ 400 million, North East ₦ 400 million, North West ₦ 400 million, and North Central ₦ 400 million.
The government will spend ₦350 million to complete the rehabilitation of 1×7.5MVA Aliameh injection substation, including supply and installation of one 7.5MVA transformer, in Agbor.
The government also plans to spend ₦280 million on the construction of a power mini-grid at Delta University, also in Agbor.
Again, in Delta State, the government will spend ₦52.5 million for the construction of a dedicated 300km 33kV line from Ughelli transmission station to the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun.
Ministries, Departments, And Agencies
The budget also noted that FG proposed ₦92.9 billion on electricity and diesel across the ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).
Electricity spending is widely distributed across MDAs, with defense, health, and education institutions accounting for the largest shares.
The Ministry of Defence leads electricity allocations with ₦16.16 billion, reflecting the energy needs of military bases, barracks, and operational facilities nationwide.
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare follows with ₦9.43 billion, largely driven by the power requirements of teaching hospitals and federal medical centres.
The Federal Ministry of Education is next with ₦8.23 billion, covering electricity costs for federal universities, colleges of education, and unity schools.
Other significant allocations include the Ministry of Police Affairs (₦3.69 billion), the Office of the National Security Adviser (₦3.59 billion), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (₦ 3.49 billion), which oversees Nigeria’s diplomatic missions abroad.
The budget again revealed heavy spending on diesel, highlighting MDAs’ continued dependence on generators due to unstable grid supply.
The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare again tops diesel expenditure with ₦8.29 billion, followed by the Ministry of Defence at ₦ 6.6 billion and the Ministry of Education at ₦ 5.75 billion.
The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the National Security Adviser, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together account for over ₦3.6 billion, while ministries such as Interior, Justice, Police Affairs, Agriculture and Food Security, Budget and Economic Planning, and Information and National Orientation each budget between several hundreds of millions and over ₦1 billion.
Smaller agencies, including the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Police Service Commission, and Federal Character Commission, also made diesel provisions, though at much lower levels.
In 2025, the Federal Government issued the first bond under the Presidential Power Sector Debt Reduction Programme, marking a major step in efforts to address longstanding payment arrears in Nigeria’s electricity industry.
