The Federal Government of Nigeria has failed to meet its target to increase electricity generation in the country to 6,000 megawatts by the end of 2024.
Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, had promised to achieve 6,000 megawatts of power generation by the end of December, with only a day left to meet the target.
Nigeria, a country of over 200 million people, is generating about 4,900 megawatts of power, with the minister promising in May this year to increase it to 6,000 megawatts by December.
Speaking during his ministerial address in Abuja in May, Chief Adelabu said, “On generation capacity, let me say that 5,000 megawatts of power was achieved in May 2024 for the first time in three years. Precisely on May 3, 2024, we generated, transmitted, and distributed 5,003.45 megawatts of power.
“We all know where we were before now. But we rose to the occasion and changed the situation for the better, and our target is to achieve 6,000 megawatts before the end of the year, which will be the first time in the history of Nigeria, and it will happen,” he emphatically stated.
Unfortunately, this target was not met as the minister blamed increasing incidents of vandalism, of critical power infrastructure as the main reason for the failure.
Although this is not the first time a Minister of Power would make a promise and fail. Successive ministers under different administrations had made promises to increase power generation in the country but failed.
For instance, in 2015, the former Minister of Power, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, during the electioneering campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC), promised Nigerians 20,000 megawatts of electricity in the party’s first four years in office if voted into power.
But when he was finally made the Minister of Power by the ex-president Muhammadu Buhari, he denied ever having made such a promise.
Looking ahead, however, Chief Adelabu said, the reforms introduced by the present administration of President Bola Tinubu have started yielding positive results, especially in the power sector, as evidenced in improved power supply to households and businesses across the country.
In his Christmas message to Nigerians, the minister said, “The reforms, particularly in the power sector, have started yielding positive results, and those results will be consolidated upon to make life more meaningful for all Nigerians. Beyond the National Grid alignment, renewable and alternative sources of electricity supply are being vigorously pursued, especially for our educational and health institutions.
“President Tinubu has restated the fact that electricity is a fundamental human right of all Nigerians, and we at the Power Ministry are pursuing this agenda with vigour, and we promise to deliver on this, as directed by Mr. President. The new year will herald a new dedication and commitment in this area and in all the power sector value chain”.
He urged Nigerians to own the power infrastructure in their areas and ensure its protection from vandalism.
“By preventing the acts of vandalism through our vigilance, we are also ensuring the protection of our grid from collapse and the gains achieved in the incremental addition of power to the grid as promised to Nigerians,” he said.
