March 29, (THEWILL) — The Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu’s reputation is on the line. While tendering a public apology to Nigerians over the recent power outages that have crippled businesses, homes and schools across the country amid the searing heat, he promised that the blackouts would be checked and underlying challenges sorted out in two weeks. He tendered the apology on March 24, 2026, meaning that by April 6, 2026, Nigerians should expect results.
He was emphatic: “I can tell you, with the committee that we have set up and commitments from gas suppliers, as well as the timeline for repair of the gas pipelines, two weeks from now, we should start seeing improvements in supply. Two weeks.”
Given the decayed infrastructure, institutional inefficiency, personnel sabotage and general unruliness everywhere in the country, we are inclined to give the minister the benefit of the doubt and see the reason in his apology. In two weeks however, his apology would either be seen as a pretext or political grandstanding that would completely erode any sympathy public for the minister and the ministry that has proposed solutions in the past, but appear to have been short of delivery.
By this we mean the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative involving the Siemens project to improve transmission; the mass metering project under the Presidential Mass Metering Plan and the 10-year Power Sector Rescue Plan to support cost-reflective tariff-Band A, etc, for enhanced revenue generation. Yet, Nigerians have always been told that there are 13,000 megawatts installed, out of which only 5,000mgw can be pushed through the grid on a normal day.
The transmission lines, we are regularly told, are old and need replacement and so the remaining 8,000 megawatts installed are wasted. Moreover, the national grid often collapses under the weight of inefficient infrastructure. There is also the lingering challenge of debt overhang. The GENCOS claim they are saddled with a N6 Trillion debt overhang for which the Federal Government approved N4trn and initiated payments through bonds at N500 billion at first and then at N700 billion coming up in April, next month. But with the subsidy shortfall of N200 billion monthly, the debts keep mounting, further complicating matters.
Nevertheless, the current blackout appears to be a gas supply challenge. In a country that produces gas, even though in associated form through crude oil production, it beats the imagination that this energy source will be a major problem. Yet the gas companies are being owed by the GENCOS. Where is the Ministry of Petroleum in all of these? Gas matters are under that Ministry and 70 percent of power generation is based on gas supply. We recall that the Siemens project was initiated in July 2019 under the Muhammadu Buhari administration. That is six years down the line. Given the German company’s track record on infrastructure development and energy transition and grid upgrade in over 20 African countries that have developed and solved their energy problem, Nigeria’s case may be peculiar.
The electricity supply value chain is in dire straits in Nigeria, no doubt. Turning things around for the better certainly requires patience, dedication and willed leadership. In two weeks we will whether that commitment is present or it is just another scam on a national scale.
