The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has announced that more than 40% of Nigerians are now enjoying over 20 hours of electricity daily, highlighting notable progress in the country’s power supply and efforts to improve electricity access.
Adelabu made this disclosure on Sunday while detailing a review of the Ministry of Power’s activities over the past year, emphasizing the advancements in electricity supply and the government’s commitment to improving access for Nigerians, according to Nairametrics.
He outlined several measures taken by the Ministry of Power to achieve this milestone, including a significant increase in power generation, which now exceeds 5,500 megawatts.
Adelabu expressed the ministry’s commitment to making further improvements by the end of the year.
He said “Upon resumption, we had an installed generation capacity of 13,000 megawatts, but we were only producing, transmitting, and distributing about 4,000 megawatts of power to the entire country.
“This was quite low and unacceptable given our population and level of economic activities. Therefore, we were determined to improve the situation.
“At that time, there was an epileptic supply. Almost all customers, both residential and commercial, could not be guaranteed 12-15 hours of supply. Additionally, the adoption of renewable energy was skeletal in terms of solar or wind sources of energy.
“Between then and now, which is about a year, there has been significant improvement. Today, our installed capacity is over 14,000 megawatts of power due to the addition of the newly commissioned Zungeru hydroelectric power plant and improved capacity of some of the existing power plants.
“Moreover, the major achievement is the fact that today we generate over 5,500 megawatts of power, we transmit and distribute it, and over 40% of customers today enjoy over 20 hours of regular power supply across the nation. You can see that there is a significant improvement between when we came in and now, which we intend to improve further.”
He attributed the success to various infrastructural upgrades, including the completion of the Zungeru hydroelectric power plant and the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative.
Additionally, the minister highlighted the signing of the new Electricity Act in June 2023, which decentralized and liberalized the power sector, enabling states and private entities to participate in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution.
Despite the progress, Adelabu acknowledged ongoing challenges in the sector, particularly the significant metering gap, with millions of Nigerians still without meters.
He highlighted the Presidential Metering Initiative, which aims to install 10 million meters over the next five years to tackle this issue.
Adelabu said “There is the issue of the meter gap that we have. We all know that out of almost 13 million customers that we have in the industry, over 7 million customers are still without meters and are on estimated billing. We said this is not the way to go.
“We must correct this, which is why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu set up the Presidential Metering Initiative, which has the mandate of installing over 10 million meters within the next five years, at least 2 million meters every year. We are making progress on this. The funds are being provided, and we will soon go into the acquisition of these meters. This would reduce the meter gap.”
He added that the initiative, supported by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, is expected to enhance the transparency and efficiency of billing in the power sector.
