A wave of disbelief has swept across Nigeria after the Bayo Adelabu, minister of power announced that over 40 percent of the country’s population is now enjoying up to 20 hours of electricity supply per day.
This bold claim has been met with widespread skepticism and outright rejection from many Nigerians, who continue to grapple with frequent power outages and inconsistent supply.
“Adelabu’s statement is a far cry from the reality we experience daily,” said Juwon Adesanya, a resident of Lagos. “We’re lucky if we get 8 hours of electricity in a good week. The constant power cuts are disrupting our lives and businesses.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by residents in other parts of the country.
In Ibadan, Doyin Ekundayo, a small business owner, expressed frustration with the government’s lack of transparency and accountability.
“It’s disheartening to hear the minister claim such progress when we’re still struggling with the same old problems,” she lamented on X.
Read also: Nigerians experience blackout as national grid collapses again
While the government has made significant strides in recent years to improve electricity infrastructure, many Nigerians argue that the challenges facing the power sector are more complex than simply increasing generation capacity.
Factors such as transmission losses, inadequate distribution networks, and corruption have contributed to the ongoing power crisis.
Critics of the minister’s claim have called for more data-driven evidence to support his assertion.
They argue that anecdotal evidence from individual consumers is not sufficient to paint a comprehensive picture of the country’s electricity situation.
As the debate over the minister’s claim intensifies, Nigerians are demanding concrete solutions to the power crisis.
They are calling on the government to prioritize investments in renewable energy, improve grid infrastructure, and address corruption within the power sector.
Adelabu on Sunday said that more than 40 percent of Nigerians now have access to over 20 hours of electricity daily.
Adelabu said that these improvements are part of the government’s wider effort to ensure reliable electricity for both homes and industries nationwide.
He outlined several steps taken by the Ministry of Power to achieve these results, including a key milestone of increasing power generation to over 5,500 megawatts.
The power minister added that the ministry is committed to further progress before the year’s end.
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.
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