morganable politics/Governance
The APC PCC said the administration had equally established a N4tn bond programme to settle verified legacy debts owed to 21 electricity generation companies and gas suppliers.
KaNo—
The former Vice-President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s performance in the power sector, accusing his administration of failing to deliver stable electricity to Nigerians, while the ruling All Progressives Congress has defended its reforms, insisting that the President is making progress towards fulfilling his campaign promise.
The disagreement comes amid persistent electricity outages across the country, which continue to affect households, businesses and industries, more than three years after Tinubu promised during the 2023 presidential campaign to ensure stable electricity supply.
The power crisis has also become a major political issue ahead of the 2027 general elections, with opposition figures, including Atiku, the Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the Allied People’s Movement presidential candidate and Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, criticising the administration over the state of electricity supply.
However, the APC Presidential Campaign Council has urged Nigerians to assess Tinubu’s electricity pledge in its entirety, arguing that the President had promised not only to improve power supply but also to provide adequate explanations if he failed to deliver before seeking re-election.
The council, in a statement issued on Sunday by its spokesperson and Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, said the administration had taken deliberate steps to address longstanding challenges in the electricity sector.
During the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu had challenged Nigerians not to vote for him for a second term if he failed to fulfil his electricity promise without providing satisfactory reasons for his inability to do so.
At the time, he had assured Nigerians that his administration would ensure electricity availability and eliminate estimated billing, which has remained a major source of complaints among electricity consumers.
Quoting the President, Alake recalled that Tinubu had said, “Whichever way, by all means necessary, you will have electricity, and you will not pay for estimated bills anymore. A promise made will be a promise kept. If I don’t keep the promise and I come for a second term, don’t vote for me, unless I give you adequate reasons why I couldn’t deliver.”
According to Alake, some recent public commentary had reproduced the President’s campaign promise without including the concluding qualification concerning his obligation to explain any failure to deliver.
He argued that Nigerians should consider the complete statement alongside the administration’s performance and interventions in the sector since assuming office in May 2023.
“A fair assessment of the pledge should consider the full statement alongside the administration’s record since 2023. This record should be assessed against measurable improvements in electricity supply, metering, infrastructure and market stability,” he said.
The APC campaign council acknowledged that resolving the electricity crisis remained a work in progress but maintained that Tinubu was committed to addressing the challenges.
“While fixing the power sector crisis remains unfinished, the President is working consistently to deliver on his promise to Nigerians, and his commitment to face the challenges head-on has never diminished,” the statement added.
Defending the administration’s policies, Alake said Tinubu signed the Electricity Act, 2023, on June 9, barely two weeks after assuming office, describing the legislation as a major step towards liberalising and deregulating the electricity industry.
He said the law removed electricity generation, transmission and distribution from the Exclusive Legislative List, allowing state governments to participate more actively in the sector and establish their own regulatory frameworks.
According to him, states including Lagos, Enugu, Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Kaduna and Niger have begun taking advantage of the legislation by establishing electricity regulatory agencies and attracting private investments.
The council also cited the administration’s decision to assume responsibility for more than N6tn in legacy debts accumulated between 2015 and 2025 as evidence of its commitment to stabilising the electricity market.
It said the government had introduced the Presidential Metering Initiative to address the country’s metering deficit, estimated at more than seven million customers.
The initiative, according to the council, had resulted in the installation of meters for more than 1.5 million electricity customers in the last three years.
Alake further said the administration had adjusted electricity tariffs towards cost-reflective rates to improve liquidity in the market while introducing measures to protect low-income consumers.
On efforts to improve electricity infrastructure, the council said the Rural Electrification Agency had connected universities, hospitals and rural communities to solar power systems to improve access to electricity.
It also disclosed that the government was planning to modernise the Osogbo Grid Control Centre, which is more than 60 years old, and construct an East-West super grid to strengthen electricity transmission across the country.
The APC PCC said the administration had equally established a N4tn bond programme to settle verified legacy debts owed to 21 electricity generation companies and gas suppliers.
According to the statement, the first and second tranches of the bond programme had raised more than N1.2tn to offset part of the outstanding obligations.
“The first and second tranches of the bond programme have raised over N1.2 trillion to settle part of the N4 trillion verified legacy debt,” Alake said.
He argued that settling the debts would reduce financial risks in the electricity market and encourage power generation companies to invest in upgrading their facilities.
The council cited recent investments by Geregu Power Plc in new power transformers to improve operations at its Geregu 1 Power Plant as an indication that the government’s interventions were beginning to encourage fresh investments.
It added that other electricity companies were also making similar investments to strengthen their operations.
On the transmission network, Alake said Tinubu had continued with the Presidential Power Initiative inherited from the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.
He explained that the President reviewed the existing agreement and signed an Acceleration Agreement with the German partners in December 2023 to speed up the implementation of projects aimed at improving the national transmission grid.
The council said the Federal Executive Council approved contracts in December 2024 for the first batch of five Transmission Company of Nigeria substations in major electricity load centres.
According to the statement, the projects were designed to improve electricity supply to industrial and residential consumers in the affected locations and were being completed ahead of commissioning before the end of the administration’s first term.
It further disclosed that the Federal Executive Council approved another batch of projects in June 2026 involving the construction of eight new substations and the upgrading of four existing facilities in selected load centres.
Alake, however, acknowledged that implementing major electricity infrastructure projects required specialised equipment, some of which were long-lead items that could not be delivered within a short period.
He maintained that the administration’s interventions should be assessed within the context of the technical and financial challenges inherited by the government.
The council insisted that the reforms, debt settlement programme, metering initiative and investments in transmission infrastructure demonstrated the administration’s determination to improve electricity supply.
Nevertheless, the persistent power outages and concerns over electricity costs continue to place pressure on the government, with the power sector likely to remain a major issue in the campaigns ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
