Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has attributed the rot in the sector to the failures of past administrations in the country.
A statement by his spokesman, Bolaji Tunji, said Adelabu made the assertion while hosting a World Bank delegation in Abuja, saying that previous governments are to blame for the challenges in the sector.
According to Adelabu, the issues in the power sector is of utmost concern to President Bola Tinubu, who he said has given total support to all efforts at making the sector work.
He acknowledged the support of development partners, especially the World Bank, in the areas of power generation, transmission, distribution and renewable energy.
“Over the years, we have only been paying lip service to transforming the power sector but have not worked the talk,” he noted.
The minister added that previous administrations kept doing the same things while getting the same results, explaining that that was why the Tinubu government decided to do things differently.
Adelabu further opined that the neglect of critical power infrastructure over the years, including thousands of kilometres of transmission lines and hundreds of thousands of transformers, has deepened the challenges in the sector.
The minister said, “How will you explain the kind of infrastructure that we put together for our transmission network across the country? Thousands of kilometers of power line, 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 be vandalising infrastructure and expect stable electricity? So 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?”
According to him, in 1984, when the military was in power here, Nigeria achieved 2000 megawatts, but between 1984 and 2023, it took Nigeria 40 years to add additional 2000 megawatts.
He noted that Nigeria has recorded an average of 5,800 megawatts generation within one and a half years that the current administration came to office.
He blamed the Muhammadu Buhari administration for stalling on the Siemens power deal signed in 2019, saying that Nigeria entered into the contract in 2019 and never lifted a finger until 2023, when the Tinubu government came on board.
The minister noted that the pilot phase of the Siemens power project is nearly complete in under two years, expressing confidence in a brighter future for the power sector and implored the World Bank team to continue to support the Tinubu administration.
He explained that the present administration has brought seriousness, determination and commitment to make sure that the power sector is transformed.
“That is why the President is really focusing on this, and he is supporting whatever we need to do to make sure that we transform this sector. He is ready to give us that support,” he stressed.
