Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu criticized Nigeria’s previous leaders for the ongoing crisis in the country’s electricity sector, blamed decades of mismanagement and neglect of current challenges. Adelabu spoke as he held a World Bank delegation in Abuja.
According to the minister, past governments failed to take decisive action, resulting in the decline of critical infrastructure and the underperforming sector. He stressed that President Bora Tinubu had prioritized power reform and provided firm support to overhaul the system.
“We actually have a past that we are not proud of. For years, we have been paying nodal services to change the power sector, but we have not spoken,” Adrab said in a statement from Bolaji Tunji, his special advisor for strategic communications and media relations. “The previous administration has been doing the same thing and you can’t get different results for it, which is why we decided to do different things this time. In all segments of the industry, we have to stay away from the past.”
He pointed out that the long-term inability to maintain important infrastructure such as transmission lines and transformers has seriously affected energy transfer.
“How would you explain the infrastructure we aggregate for transmission networks nationwide? Thousands of kilometres of power lines, thousands of power transformers, hundreds of thousands of distribution transformers we have not maintained over time and expect them to continue to maintain our energy supply. This is impossible.”
Adrab also raised concerns about the widespread infrastructure disruption and metrology gap and said: “How do we allow our people to destroy infrastructure and expect stable electricity? So, do you have an industry with more than 12 million customers? We have no more than 6 million meters and we expect not to have a stable industry?
Adelabu highlighted the power output that Nigeria has stagnated over decades, “In 1984, when the army was in power here, we achieved a 2000 MW expropriation. Between 1984 and 2023, it took us 40 years to increase 2000 MW. Now, we have averaged 5,800 megawatts generation in one and a half years, we are here, we are here to our member.
“I mean, if the governments of the past have been adding something like that, we wouldn’t be where we are today. That’s why I say President Tinob is actually the kind of foundation needed to make our country grow.”
He also accused the former government led by Muhammadu Buhari of failing to implement the Siemens Electricity Agreement signed in 2019.
“We signed a contract with Siemens in 2019. We didn’t lift our fingers until 2023. So when this government joined, you can imagine now that since the president came in, now we look at the miles we’ve achieved,” Adrab said.
The minister revealed that the pilot phase of the Siemens project is about to be completed and expressed optimism about the future of the power sector.
Adelabu called for continued support for development partners: “One of the things this administration brings is seriousness, determination and commitment to ensure change in the power sector.
“In the agriculture sector, transportation sector, defense, education or health, you can hardly achieve it; there is no stable and effective power supply.
“That’s why the president is really focused on that, and he’s supporting everything we need to do to make sure we change the industry. He’s ready to support us.”
