The National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) was conceived in 2004 as a fast-track government funded initiative to stabilize Nigeria's electricity supply system while the private-sector-led structure of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) of 2005 took effect.

Joseph Chiedu Ugbo is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited. Prior to his appointment, he was the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Power Privatisation in the Office of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In August 2005, the National Council of State and the National Assembly approved an initial funding of US$2.5 billion for NIPP from the "Excess Crude Oil Account" (ECOA) which statutorily belongs to the Federal, state and local governments.

When the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo came into power, there was a very serious determination of that government to tackle the power. The then government discovered that the problem was capacity limitation.

The second phase of the NIPP aims to change the country's power infrastructure in other locations not fully captured under the first phase of the NIPP, especially in the northern region.