FG earmarks ₦1.9bn for diesel as State House solar power plant delays
The Federal Government has set aside ₦1.99 billion for the purchase of diesel to power electric generators at the State House in 2025.
This comes amid delays in the FG’s solar power project initially slated to come on stream between December 2024 and January 2025.
This newspaper gathered that the FG disbursed ₦88.75m for diesel within the first half of 2024.
Checks by our correspondent on GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses the Federal Government’s spending, show four separate diesel payments totalling ₦88.75m between March 15 and May 20, 2024.
On March 15, 2024 two payments were made; ₦40.77m to Emmahaly Petroleum Company Limited for 30,000 litres of diesel supplied to the State House Clinic and Vice President’s Guest House fuel dump; and ₦12.46m to A.Y.M. Shafa Limited for 10 litres of diesel (as indicated in the record) supplied to the State House Medical Centre.
Subsequently, on May 20, 2024, another two payments went to the same A.Y.M. Shafa Limited for diesel supplied on March 14. The first ₦26.23m was for 20,000 litres of diesel to the State House, while the second, ₦8.87m covered an additional 20,000 litres delivered the same day.
The 2025 budget proposal allocates ₦1.99bn for the State House’s diesel needs for plant and generator.
Official sources familiar with the developments project say the prolonged instability of the national grid, coupled with repeated collapses, rising diesel prices, and generator maintenance forced the State House to resort to alternative power.
The Senior officials who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity say once operational, the 40MW solar power plant could slash the State House’s N6bn annual energy bill by at least N5bn.
The project was expected to be ready by December 2024 for the State House Medical Centre and the State House complex, including Dodan Barracks in Lagos, by January 2025.
While the construction of a 1.2MW solar plant had begun at the medical centre in October 2024, checks by this newspaper revealed no works at the State House as of February 2025.
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An official with knowledge of the solar project said paying hefty bills for infrequent power and still running diesel-guzzling generators daily was no longer sustainable.
“It is difficult to sustain. We cannot continue like this. And so, to reduce the huge expenditure, we are switching to solar power.”
“When we are done, it will crash the cost of power for State House from ₦6bn annually to less than 20 per cent of that amount. It should power all our appliances from 7 am to 7 pm. In about one month, we intend to install some of the components at the Forest car park and the one at the banquet hall.
“This is not a new problem. It is unreasonable to have left the State House all these years without a stable, low-cost power option. So, we are making this switch because Mr. President approved it. We have commenced work, and that is what you saw at the Medical Centre.
“We are doing it in the form of a car park to avoid distorting the aesthetics of the State House because solar panels occupy land. So, we are constructing solar roof canopies over the car parks, and cables will be channelled to a battery plant so that we can conserve energy,” said the source.
Last November, impeccable sources told our correspondent that the plant would generate about 7MW in real-time output, with a peak capacity of 40MW.
He said, “We got the approval to procure and install 7MW/40MW photovoltaic power and battery storage systems at the State House, Dodan Barracks and State House Medical Centre due to the unstable power supply from the national grid and the high cost of maintenance and fueling of the generators that consumes over ₦6bn each year.
“Too much money is being spent on generator maintenance and diesel. So, we are going solar. There will be zero cost in the first 15 years because the contractor installing it will maintain it for that period. NEPA [mains] and generators will only be used during the rainy season when the sunlight intensity and energy storage are less.
“So, next month (December), the Medical Centre will have reached its peak because that’s where the project started from. The main work will be at the State House itself. The car park will be roofed with solar panels,” said one the source.
As of this report, senior officials in the State House Administration were not available to react to queries on the matter.
The Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) has suffered blackouts as the national grid collapsed more than 10 times in 2024. The Transmission Company of Nigeria attributed it to a “partial disturbance of the system” but did not explain further.
Grid failures are not strange in one of Africa’s largest economies, whose power sector still suffers gross underinvestment, says the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen.
Despite an installed capacity of about 13,000MW, Nigeria’s power grid transmits only 4000MW due to ageing infrastructure, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, told State House Correspondents at a briefing on October 28.
However, that amount is grossly inadequate for over 200 million citizens, leaving many areas without reliable electricity as individuals and government entities struggle to pay mounting power bills.
In a last-ditch effort to balance its books last February, the AEDC issued a 10-day notice to 86 government agencies, including the State House, demanding payment of a combined debt of ₦47.1bn to avoid disconnection.
AEDC claimed the State House owed around N923m in unpaid electricity bills.
But the State House disputed this, saying the actual outstanding debt was ₦342.35m, as confirmed in a letter from AEDC to the State House Permanent Secretary dated February 14, 2024. President Bola Tinubu later directed immediate payment of the ₦342.35m debt to AEDC.
In addition to weak infrastructure, Nigeria’s power grid has also been a target of sabotage. In October, armed groups damaged the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line, cutting electricity supply to 17 northern states.
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