For years, Nigeria’s wires and cables market was dominated by imports, brands that were cheap but often ill-equipped to survive the country’s heat, voltage fluctuations, and relentless load-shedding.
Every flicker of a light or sparking socket told a story of cables that couldn’t keep up.
Fast forward to today, and a different story is unfolding.
Indigenous manufacturers are no longer on the sidelines; they are at the heart of powering homes, offices, factories, and telecom networks across the country. From low-voltage wiring in apartments to medium-voltage lines energizing industrial clusters.
Their rise is more than a business success; it is a testament to resilience and innovation. Competing against imports, these entrepreneurs are producing ISO-certified, high-quality cables that meet international standards. They are supporting construction, real estate, and industrial growth while helping stabilize a grid that still struggles to keep up with rising energy demands.
Nigerian wires and cables market is projected to grow at a 5.2% annual rate between 2025 and 2031, reflecting rising demand across residential, industrial, and utility sectors.
As Nigeria’s population grows, so does the need for housing, infrastructure, and industrial power networks, making the role of these local manufacturers even more central to the country’s future.
This list focuses on Nigerian electricity wire and cable manufacturers whose founders are publicly documented. Many players in the sector operate with limited visibility, making it difficult to trace ownership or leadership history
Here are the entrepreneurs driving Nigeria’s wires and cables industry.
John Ezeobi is the founder and chief executive of John Zobis Group. He began his journey as a young importer of electrical cables and later registered the company as a small trading outfit. He started the company from the little savings of N1,350 he had while in school.
Over time, his vision and resilience transformed that modest beginning into one of Nigeria’s standout indigenous industrial successes. Zobis evolved from trading into manufacturing. The group formally became known as John Zobis Group, and its manufacturing arm, Zobis Cable, began production in 2018 with a state-of-the-art facility based in Onitsha, Anambra State.
Since then, Zobis Cable has grown to produce premium electrical wiring and cables that meet international standards serving sectors such as construction, energy, manufacturing and beyond.
Apart from cable manufacturing, John Zobis Group now spans multiple sectors through its subsidiaries including engineering, electrical contracting, oil and gas services, and real estate/construction projects. Under the group are entities such as Zobis Cable, John Zobis Engineering, Zobis Electrical Nigeria Ltd. and John Zobis Oil and Gas Nigeria Ltd.
In 2025, he was honored by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) with their “Pillar of Industrial Enterprise and National Impact” award, in recognition of his commitment to local sourcing, backward integration and strengthening Nigeria’s industrial capacity.
The company has achieved compliance with international standards such as BS 5467, establishing its reputation for quality, durability, and reliability.
