The Minister of Power Chief Adebayo Adelabu disclosed in a statement detailing a review of the Ministry of Power’s activities over the past year that more than 40 per cent of Nigerians now benefit from 20 hours of daily power supply. He attributed this achievement reached within a year to several reforms and initiatives implemented by the ministry with the support of President Bola Tinubu.
Adelabu said that these improvements are part of the government’s wider effort to ensure reliable electricity to households and industries nationwide. He emphasized the significance of stable electricity for economic growth, referencing examples from countries such as South Korea, China, Europe, and North America, highlighting how their consistent electricity supply has been vital to their economic growth and industrial development.
The minister stated that electricity generation has increased to over 5,500 megawatts, facilitated by the Electricity Act of 2023, which decentralizes the power sector, allowing state involvement in generation and distribution. He also noted that the ministry’s initiatives are aligned with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which aims to enhance industrialization through consistent power supply.
He highlighted several measures implemented by the Ministry of Power to attain these results, including the significant milestone of boosting power generation to over 5,500 megawatts. He also emphasized the ministry’s commitment to further improvement before the year ends.
Adelabu noted the key role of stable electricity in any developed nations and why we must achieve this for Nigeria as a country stressing on the ministry’s vision to provide reliable electricity to households, businesses, and institutions, thus facilitating job creation and enhancing operational capacity.
He further explained that the installed generation capacity has increased from 13,000 megawatts to over 14,000 megawatts and this was made possible by the addition of the newly commissioned Zungeru hydroelectric power plant and improved capacity of some of the existing power plants.
Adelabu identified infrastructure upgrades as a crucial factor in the progress made. According to him, “The electricity that we enjoy today is not by accident. It’s because of all these transformers and mobile substations that we commissioned and installed”. He added that the ministry is working to close the meter gap by implementing the Presidential Metering Initiative, which aims to install over 10 million meters in five years.
The minister announced that the World Bank is backing these efforts through the Distribution Recovery Program. He assured that the Ministry of Power is committed to enhancing Nigeria’s electricity supply.
