The state-run Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) said the deal with the North China Power Engineering Company was to build a 286-kilometre (178-mile) transmission line from the central city of Jos to Makurdi.

"The 286 kilometres close circuit 330 kv transmission line would include 330/152/33 kv substation and 75 MVA/133kv reactor installations for Jos and Makurdi respectively," it said.

Nigeria's Power Minister Liyel Imoke commended the Chinese company for taking "a bold step by coming to Nigeria as pioneer foreign firm in the electricity industry".

Power shortages and cuts are rampant in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country of 130 million people, with supply hovering around 2,500 megawatts as against the average demand of some 7,000 mw.

China and Nigeria have boosted economic and business relations in recent weeks.

On Friday, Nigeria allocated China's National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) licences to prospect in four oil blocks in the country at an auction in Lagos.

The CNPC was declared winner of the auction for four of the 17 blocks up for grabs -- two located in the northeastern Lake Chad Basin and two in the southern Niger Delta, the country's main oil-producing region.

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