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All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has admitted that Nigeria’s electricity crisis remains unresolved, saying efforts to fix the power sector are still ongoing despite a series of reforms and financial interventions by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The council said the government was working to address the longstanding structural and commercial challenges in the sector while balancing the need for cost-reflective electricity tariffs with affordability for ordinary Nigerians.
Its spokesperson, Dele Alake, stated this in a statement on Sunday while defending Tinubu’s record on electricity ahead of the 2027 general election.
“Fixing the electricity market and power sector is ongoing work,” Alake said.
His admission comes amid renewed scrutiny of Tinubu’s 2023 campaign promise to end estimated billing and ensure stable electricity supply across the country.
At a meeting with members of the Organised Private Sector in Lagos ahead of the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu had promised that Nigerians would have electricity and would no longer pay estimated bills.
He had also challenged Nigerians to deny him a second term if he failed to fulfil the promise, unless he provided adequate reasons for his inability to deliver.
Defending the President, Alake argued that public commentary on the pledge had often ignored the concluding part of his statement, in which he undertook to explain any failure to deliver before seeking another mandate.
He urged Nigerians to assess the administration’s performance against improvements in electricity supply, metering, infrastructure and stability in the electricity market.
Listing the government’s interventions, Alake said Tinubu signed the Electricity Act, 2023, on June 9, less than two weeks after assuming office, liberalising the sector and allowing state governments to participate in electricity generation, transmission and distribution.
He said seven states — Lagos, Enugu, Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Kaduna and Niger — had begun taking advantage of the legislation by establishing their own electricity regulatory agencies and attracting private investment.
The APC spokesperson also disclosed that the administration inherited over N6 trillion in accumulated legacy debts in the power sector between 2015 and 2025.
To address the financial challenges, he said the government established a N4 trillion bond programme to settle verified debts owed to 21 electricity generation companies and gas suppliers, with the first and second tranches raising over N1.2 trillion.
On metering, Alake said the Presidential Metering Initiative was introduced to close a deficit of more than seven million meters, adding that over 1.5 million electricity customers had been metered in the last three years.
He also listed tariff reforms, investments in substations and grid expansion, and the provision of solar electricity to universities, hospitals and rural communities through the Rural Electrification Agency among the administration’s interventions.
On transmission infrastructure, he said the President reviewed the Presidential Power Initiative inherited from the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari and signed an acceleration agreement with German partners in December 2023.
According to him, the Federal Executive Council approved the first batch of contracts in December 2024 for the upgrade of five Transmission Company of Nigeria substations in major electricity load centres.
He said the projects were nearing completion and would be commissioned before the end of Tinubu’s first term.
Alake added that the council approved another batch of projects in June 2026 for the construction of eight new substations and the upgrade of four existing ones.
He further disclosed plans to modernise the over 60-year-old Osogbo Grid Control Centre and construct an East-West super grid.
Explaining the administration’s tariff policy, Alake said service-based tariff bands were introduced to improve the financial viability of electricity distribution companies, strengthen cash flow in the market and reduce the government’s subsidy burden.
He, however, acknowledged the challenge of ensuring that electricity remained affordable while operators charged tariffs that reflected the cost of production and distribution.
Alake said the administration would continue exploring ways to improve the commercial viability of the power sector while protecting low-income households.
He maintained that Tinubu remained committed to his electricity campaign promise and would present his administration’s scorecard, including outstanding challenges, to Nigerians as he seeks a second term.
