Success Nwogu 
Nigeria has joined the unified West African power grid, making a historic breakthrough for regional energy integration.
The Nigerian Independent System Operator confirmed this as it disclosed that the agency, in collaboration with the West African Power Pool Information and Coordination Centre, successfully synchronised Nigeria’s national electricity grid with the broader West African power network.
A joint statement by the Chairman of NISO’s Board of Directors, Adesegun Akin-Olugbade, and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Abdu Bello Mohammed, explained that Nigeria on Saturday, November 8, 2025, the Niger Republic, and parts of Benin and Togo were connected to the rest of the West African grid, marking the first successful attempt at a unified regional power system operating at a single frequency and connecting 15 West African countries.
The West African Power Pool (WAPP) is a regional power grid that aims to integrate the power systems of 14 West African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal.
WAPP’s primary goals are to increase access to electricity in the region, improve the reliability and efficiency of power supply and promote economic growth and development through regional energy trade
Some of the benefits of the WAPP include: enhanced energy security through regional interconnection and cooperation, increased competition and efficiency in the power sector and opportunities for countries to export excess energy to neighbouring countries
Some notable WAPP projects include: The Nigeria-Benin-Togo-Ghana interconnection project, the West Africa Gas Pipeline project and the Regional Electricity Regulatory Association (RERA) initiative
The synchronisation effectively connects Area 1 (comprising Nigeria, Niger, and parts of Benin and Togo) with Areas 2 and 3, which cover the remaining West African countries, under a single operational grid.
It is strategic in the West African Power Pool plan to create a unified electricity market that will allow countries to trade electricity efficiently, reduce supply costs, and improve grid reliability through shared reserves.
The breakthrough positions Nigeria as a pivotal player in the region’s electricity ecosystem, enabling cross-border energy trading, foreign exchange earnings, and the unlocking of stranded generation capacity from underutilised power plants.
NISO, in the statement, said the synchronisation is a major leap toward achieving the vision of a stable, reliable, and interconnected electricity market in the ECOWAS sub-region.
The statement read, “The Nigerian Independent System Operator, in collaboration with the West African Power Pool Information and Coordination Centre, has successfully carried out the long-awaited synchronisation test between the Nigerian power grid, which includes the Niger Republic and parts of Benin and Togo, and the rest of the West African power grid.
“The test was conducted on Saturday, 8th November 2025, between 05:04 hours and 09:04 hours, and marks a breakthrough in the ongoing effort to establish a unified West African electricity grid operating at a single frequency.”
Recall that h efforts to synchronise the sub-regional grids had been ongoing for nearly two decades; the only previous physical test, conducted in 2007, lasted barely seven minutes before being discontinued due to instability and lack of coordination.
The statement noted that the breakthrough occurred through enhanced coordination, real-time communication among control centres, stricter frequency control, improved system monitoring, and harmonised operational standards between the NISO and the WAPP Information and Coordination Centre.
