The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has blamed past administrations for Nigeria’s ongoing power challenges.
He stated that former Presidents and military rulers failed to adopt new approaches, yet expected different results.
In a statement on Wednesday, the minister’s media aide, Bolaji Tunji, revealed that Adelabu made these comments while hosting a World Bank delegation in Abuja.
The minister emphasized that the current government is committed to building a solid foundation for a stable, reliable, and efficient power supply and is open to collaborating with international agencies and reputable organizations to achieve this goal.
He attributed the current challenges in the power sector to the “neglect by past administrations,” which led to its deterioration.
However, he highlighted significant improvements since President Bola Tinubu assumed office in May 2023.
He also noted that Tinubu succeeded Muhammadu Buhari, who took over from Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, while Jonathan succeeded the late Umar Yar’adua, who followed Olusegun Obasanjo.
The minister argued that previous efforts to transform the power sector were ineffective and yielded no meaningful results.
“We actually have a past that we are not proud of. Over the years, we have only been paying lip service to transforming the power sector. We have not worked on the talk. Previous administrations have kept on doing the same thing all the time, and you cannot get different results for that, which is why we have decided to do things differently this time. In all the segments across the sector, we must run away from the past,” Adelabu was quoted.
He expressed regret over the neglect of power infrastructure, which he said has played a major role in the current problems facing the sector.
“How will you explain the kind of infrastructure that we put together for our transmission network across the country – thousands of kilometres of powerline, thousands of power transformers, hundreds of thousands of distribution transformers that we have not maintained over time, and expect them to keep sustaining our energy supply? It is not possible.
“How do we allow our people to vandalise infrastructure and expect stable electricity?
“How do you have a sector with over 12 million customers, and our meter is not more than six million, and we expect to have a stable industry? No, it’s not possible. So, what has happened with past governments?
“In 1984, when the military was in power here, we achieved 2,000 megawatts. Between 1984 and 2023, it took us 40 years to add 2,000MW. Now we have an average of 5,800MW of generation within one and a half years since we came to the office.
“What I’m saying is that if the past administrations had been adding things like this, we would not be where we are today. And that is why I said that President Tinubu is actually laying the kind of foundation that we need for our country to grow,” Adelabu stressed.
Adelabu criticized the Buhari administration for allegedly failing to implement the Siemens contract, which was signed in 2019.
“We entered into the Siemens contract in 2019. We never lifted a finger until 2023 when this government came on board. So, you can now imagine since this President came in, and now look at the mileage we have achieved. Even in this Siemens project, the pilot phase is almost completed, and that is in less than two years, when in four years we didn’t do anything,” Adelabu said while expressing optimism that the future is bright for the sector.
He stated that President Tinubu considers the challenges in the power sector a top priority and has given full backing to all efforts aimed at fixing it.
He appreciated the support from the World Bank and other partners, urging them to sustain their commitment to help ensure the success of the administration’s investments in the sector.
