Electricity
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has blamed the activities of vandals for the inability of the administration of President Bola Tinubu to actualize its promise to generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity by December 2024.
He, however, added that despite the inability to fulfill the promise, the current administration has made significant progress in the delivery of electricity to Nigerians.
The Minister, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Strategic Communication and Media Relations, Bolaji Tunji, said approximately 1,000 megawatts had been added since the current administration took office.
Adelabu noted that despite the hindrances, the plan to achieve 6,000 MW of electricity and upgrade power generation remains a priority for the current administration.
The current power generation in Nigeria ranges between 4,000 MW and 4,900 MW from 19 power generation plants.
Speaking in an interview with Punch on Sunday, the special adviser said: “If you look at the situation when the current administration took over, the generation was just about 4,000 megawatts. However, within a year, about 1,000 megawatts were added. By November 27, we again reached a target of 5,231 megawatts. Indeed, a promise of 6,000 megawatts was made, and with what we were doing, we felt it was achievable. Unfortunately, the work of vandals set us back a bit. We are not resting on our oars to ensure additional supply to the grid.”
Tunji also highlighted the issue of cash backing for subsidy payment as another major challenge in the power sector. According to him, only N450bn was budgeted for the current year, while the debt incurred for subsidy payments amounted to N2.3tn.
“One of the key issues has been the cash backing of the subsidy, which relates to debt owed to generation companies and gas companies. This year’s subsidy will be approximately N2.3tn, but only N450bn was budgeted.
“Another issue has been the fragility of the transmission grid due to the level of vandalism,” he said.
The Minister’s aide affirmed the government’s commitment to improve power generation in 2025 and ensure a conducive environment is created for private sector participation.
“Firstly, the government will make improved provision in the budget for subsidies to ensure payments are made on time. We will continue to push to ensure the market continues to pay for the electricity consumed.
“The committee on revamping ageing equipment is also in place. The Federal Government has increased the budget allocation to the Ministry of Power and its agencies to ensure increased infrastructure investment.
The minister continues to ensure a conducive environment for private sector participation, as this is the only way to provide the capital required for infrastructure improvements in the power sector,” he concluded
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