…Stakeholders call for sack of minister of power
• As citizens groan in darkness, economy, businesses suffer
From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Few days after the Federal Government celebrated 6,000 megawatts of electricity, the nation is still in darkness, thus prompting the call by the Civil Society Organisations for the sack of the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adekola Adelabu.
National President, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Executive Director, Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre, Chief Princewill Okorie, pointed out the endemic corruption in the sector and moved for the removal of the Minister of Power.
“We have been calling for the removal of Minister of Power and the government looks away…, the government that believes in extorting the citizens they should protect. It’s worrisome. This is not only extortion, it’s killing the economy of the country. Most people cannot work again. They increased the price of fuel; they increased the price of diesel; they increased the price of gas; they increased the price of electricity. How can these people survive? The same time, you are complaining of insecurity. How can people survive? Is it not fraudulent? And they are looking for criminals elsewhere. Ask the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) what they are doing. What is Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) doing? What feedback is the National Orientation Agency (NOA) getting from electricity consumers in terms of policy on power? How is the regulator engaging these distribution companies for these fraudulent practices? Another angle you will look at is the unstable light. Sometimes, this is because of the quality of materials that are used. How is the procurement of electrical materials done? The Association of Electrical Contractors (AEC) is complaining that awards of contracts is no longer based on merit. People at the National Assembly collect money upfront. This is the complaint they brought to us that people in the National Assembly make contractors pay them upfront for them to give a letter of recommendation to the agencies to give the job to the contractors they recommended irrespective of whether the contractors have the capacity or not. So, those that should check quality are rather compromising. The major contracts are reserved for the Inspector General of Police (IG), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Chief of Staff. Now, contracts are reserved for them and letters of recommendation are being given to these agencies to give the jobs to companies they recommended otherwise, there will be a problem. The agencies are victimised to compromise quality delivery.” Okorie submitted.
Similarly, President, Consumer Protection Network, Comrade Kunle Olubiyo in his own take, said that the only solution for irregular supply of electricity is the alternative source of energy such as solar, wind or compost.
He, therefore, called on the government to make it possible for the citizens to access the facility.
According to him, part of the problem is the archaic equipment the DisCos are using.
“The equipment are old. Essentially, the DisCos like to prioritise their energy offtake to priority feeders, meaning that they want to have isolators and they want to have auto-reclosure. Most of their supplies are directed where they will guarantee their recovery. What I am trying to say in essence is that the Federal Government still bears 70 per cent of the burden of DisCos energy offtake. So, out of that 70 per cent, they will still target the people that will give them money. Government might need to make it possible for us to access the renewable energy – may be solar or wind,” he said.
Meanwhile, as a result of the darkness, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are now at the verge of going into extinction.
Hospitals and businesses can no longer function optimally and people are dying because of minor illnesses.
Costs of essential needs like foods and clothing have gone to the rooftops because the producers are spending so much on diesel and fuel to power their generators.
This is in spite of the Federal Government’s announcement that the nation has hit an all-time 6,000 megawatts of electricity.
Early last month, during the 2025 Ministerial Press Briefing in Abuja, Minister of Power, Chief Adelabu, boasted of achieving 6,000 megawatts of electricity in less than two years of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a feat, he claimed, Nigeria has not achieved in 40 years.
“In 1984, the country generated 2,000mw of electricity and this was not increased to 4,000mw untill about 40 years later – around 2022 or so. We are about two years now, but we have been able to increase it to 6,000 megawatts and this can be attributed to the efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the realisation of the importance of the sector as a major factor to galvanise the economy. In 2003, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Egypt had 3,000 megawatts. Today, Bangladesh is on 29,000 MW. Egypt is on 42,000MW.
“Nigeria is on just 6,000. What happened? If we were adding 1,000 since 2003, we’ll be talking about an additional 22,000 today. But we won’t dwell in the past. We have started a trajectory. Let’s sustain it.
“But in those areas, in those countries, do they vandalise their power assets? Do they? No. So, this is a menace that we must all fight together, individually and collectively, to stop people from frustrating the transformation efforts of Tinubu and to transform our power sector. A lot of people have bills that they don’t pay. If all this exists, we cannot be like Bangladesh; we cannot be like Egypt.
“You dare not say that you won’t pay your bills in China, or UK, or the US. It’s a criminal act, criminal offence. So, our people must know that.
“Then the issue of investments. Our power operators, power sector operators, are not investing. We made that mistake in 2013, when we did the privatisation.
“All the DisCos have not injected enough funds into the sector. So, we must do a lot of investment”, the minister said.
Recall that besides lack of investment and vandalism of power infrastructure, there’s the issue of lack of revenue drive.
The DisCos complain of energy theft and diversion.
Also, there’s a deliberate refusal to pay bills by the military, and other consumers, a situation that made it difficult to barely have enough to pay salaries not to talk of investment.
So, as part of measures to recover the stolen energy, customers on estimated billing system are made to pay the difference.
For the period there was no power, consumers are forced to pay for darkness or products they did not consume. So, the only escape route to consumers challenge is to meter all electricity customers.