Delivering Power to Maiduguri: A ₦12.5 Billion Distribution Network, Built and Commissioned On Schedule — ICC Offshore
Why Maiduguri
Maiduguri is the capital of Borno State and the administrative and commercial centre of Nigeria’s North East. It is also among the most difficult operating environments in West Africa. More than a decade of insurgency has repeatedly severed the city’s connection to the national grid: transmission infrastructure has been destroyed, restored, and destroyed again, and at points the city has gone more than two years without grid supply.
Rebuilding distribution capacity in this environment is not a routine construction exercise. It requires security-integrated logistics, contingency planning for interrupted access, and the ability to mobilise and hold a workforce in a conflict-affected region. Relatively few international contractors will take on this class of risk.
Scope Delivered
The project comprised the full design and construction of a distribution network, executed as a single integrated scope:
| Component | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Medium voltage (11 kV) ACSR lines | 185 km |
| MV poles, with accessories | 2,010 |
| MV substations (4,150 kVA combined capacity) | 45 |
| Low voltage (0.415 kV) lines | 108 km |
| LV poles, with accessories | 2,634 |
| Overhead twisted aluminium cable (2×16 mm²) | 222,732 lm |
| Overhead twisted aluminium cable (4×16 mm²) | 48,856 lm |
| Single-phase meters | 7,400 |
| Three-phase meters | 1,360 |
Execution Record
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Proposal submitted | 3 March 2021 |
| Notification of award | 17 May 2021 |
| Works commenced | 24 June 2021 |
| Works completed | 20 June 2022 |
| Certificate of Completion issued | 4 August 2022 |
The Agency’s completion certificate records that all activities were completed within the scheduled timeframe, in accordance with industry standards and project specifications, and that the system has operated without significant technical issues since commissioning. Total duration from award to completion: thirteen months. Total duration from commencement to completion: twelve months.
What This Demonstrates
Execution in high-risk jurisdictions. The project was delivered to schedule in an active conflict-affected region. Schedule adherence under these conditions is a harder test of project controls than the same scope delivered in a stable environment.
Sovereign and agency-level client relationships. The award was made by a Nigerian federal agency following a competitive RFP process, with the proposal submitted in March 2021 and evaluated to award in May.
Full-scope EPC capability in power distribution. Design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning were delivered under a single contract, including procurement of network materials and customer metering.
A qualifying reference for the West African power market. Nigeria’s distribution segment carries a substantial and persistent investment backlog, and completed, agency-certified references are the principal barrier to entry for new bidders.
What This Meant in Maiduguri
Nigeria has the largest electricity access deficit of any country in the world. World Bank tracking published in 2025 put the number of Nigerians without access at 86.8 million, with a national access rate of 61 per cent — the third consecutive year the country has ranked last globally. Maiduguri’s position within that picture is more severe still.
The city was cut off from the national grid in January 2020 when insurgents destroyed towers on the 330 kV Maiduguri–Damaturu transmission line. Restoration attempts were themselves attacked: in February 2021 an improvised explosive device struck a vehicle carrying electricity personnel working to reconnect the city. Power returned briefly in March 2021 and was lost again within days when a transmission tower inside the city was destroyed. Parts of the metropolis remained dark for eleven months before supply was restored in stages from late December 2021.
This project was built through that period. Works commenced in June 2021 and completed in June 2022 — meaning the distribution network was designed, strung and energised across months in which the city’s transmission feed was severed or intermittent. The practical significance is that when bulk supply returned, there was a network able to carry it to households rather than a damaged one that would have to be rebuilt first.
What the absence of that network costs is measurable at street level. Reporting from Maiduguri during the blackout recorded the price of a small domestic generator rising from around ₦21,000 to ₦38,000, and a bag of charcoal from ₦2,000 to between ₦3,500 and ₦3,800. The trades that stopped were the ones that keep low-income households solvent: phone charging stands, barbers, dry cleaners, women selling ice and cold drinks, and operators of commercial boreholes — which is to say that in Maiduguri, an interruption to electricity is also an interruption to the water supply.
Scale of connection. The project delivered 8,760 metered connections. On a conventional planning assumption of roughly five people per connection, that corresponds to something in the order of 44,000 people — though this is an estimate from a standard multiplier, not a measured figure, and should be replaced with survey data if the company holds any.
The metering component carries particular weight here. Unmetered supply in Nigeria means estimated billing, which is a persistent source of dispute between customers and distribution companies and falls hardest on households least able to contest a bill. Installing 8,760 meters converts an estimated charge into a measured one.
Part of a Four-Project Programme
This project is one of four distribution contracts executed by International Consolidated Contractors Offshore SAL for the Rural Electrification Agency between 2020 and 2024:
| State | Contract Reference | Value (₦) | Executed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anambra | REA/C/GO/RFP/138/20 | 14,982,189,523.00 | Jan 2021 – Jul 2023 |
| Cross River (Calabar) | REA/C/GO/RFP/026/21 | 30,222,025,633.60 | May 2021 – May 2023 |
| Borno (Maiduguri) | REA/C/GO/RFP/094/21 | 12,473,941,662.50 | Jun 2021 – Jun 2022 |
| Kogi (Okene) | REA/C/GO/RFP/147/22 | 15,284,911,599.78 | Dec 2022 – May 2024 |
| Total | 72,963,068,418.88 |
Across the four contracts: 2,578 km of distribution line, 325 substations totalling 33.3 MVA, 42,089 poles and 93,732 metered connections.
Notes on Figures
All contract values are stated in Nigerian naira as contracted. The US dollar equivalent cited reflects the official CBN rate at the time of award (May 2021, approximately ₦410/US$). The naira has depreciated substantially since; readers converting at current rates will arrive at a materially lower figure. Naira-denominated historical contract values should be read against the rate prevailing at the time of contracting.
Supporting documentation — the Notification of Award dated 17 May 2021 and the Certificate of Completion dated 4 August 2022, both issued by the Rural Electrification Agency under contract reference REA/C/GO/RFP/094/21 — is available on request.
Business Development · Power & Infrastructure Division
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