Adebayo Adelabu has assumed office as Nigeria’s Minister of Power with poor transmission infrastructure and metering problems some of the country’s challenges in the sector.
Development Diaries reports that Adelabu has promised that every home, industry, school, and business will enjoy an improved power supply.
The country’s power sector challenges have remained the same, with successive administrations failing to solve them even with privatisation.
Many Nigerians do not have access to as much power supply as they would want and when they do, it is not reliable.
It is important to remind the power minister that a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), and the World Health Organisation (WHO) ranked Nigeria as the world’s top country with a lack of access to electricity.
The report stated that 86 million of Nigeria’s 200 million population lived without electricity in 2021.
The economy of the country has continued to be shaken to the core by the power sector’s appalling performance, which has forced many organised private sector operators to spend a sizable percentage of their profits on generators.
Nigeria has abundant hydro, solar, oil, gas, and energy resources, and its existing power plants have the capacity to produce 12,522 megawatts of electricity.
However, it can only deploy about 4,000 megawatts, which is insufficient for a nation with more than 200 million citizens.
The implementation of electricity policies, regulatory uncertainties, gas supply, transmission system constraints, and serious planning deficiencies are only a few of the numerous general issues that the Nigerian power sector faces.
Analysts have identified a significant lack of cohesion between the players from the Ministry of Power, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Ministry of Finance and the presidency.
In President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope manifesto, he promised that his administration will generate, transmit and distribute sufficient and affordable electricity to Nigerians.
As Adelabu begins to discharge his duties, Nigerians are highly expecting delivery and accountability.
Development Diaries, therefore, calls on the minister to consider setting up a Presidential Taskforce on Power to ensure the enhancement of transmission infrastructure.
We also call on the minister to consider the establishment of a local metering ecosystem to resolve Nigeria’s metering problems.
Photo source: Sho Photography
