Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister of Power, has said that more than 40 percent of Nigerians now have access to over 20 hours of electricity daily.
He made this known in a statement on Sunday detailing a review of the Ministry of Power’s activities over the past year.
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.
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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.
“Between then and now, which is about a year, there has been significant improvement. Today, our installed capacity is over 14,000 megawatts of power due to the addition of the newly commissioned Zungeru hydroelectric power plant and improved capacity of some of the existing power plants.
“Moreover, the major achievement is the fact that today we generate over 5,500 megawatts of power, we transmit and distribute it, and over 40 percent of customers today enjoy over 20 hours of regular power supply across the nation. You can see that there is a significant improvement between when we came in and now, which we intend to improve further.”
Adelabu credited this success to infrastructure upgrades, such as completing the Zungeru hydroelectric plant and implementing the Presidential Power Initiative.
He also pointed to the signing of the new Electricity Act in June 2023, which decentralised and opened up the power sector, allowing states and private firms to take part in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution.
Despite the advancements, Adelabu acknowledged the challenges that remain, particularly the large metering gap, which leaves millions of Nigerians without meters.
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He pointed to the Presidential Metering Initiative, aimed at installing 10 million meters over the next five years, to address this issue.
Adelabu said: “There is the issue of the meter gap that we have. We all know that out of almost 13 million customers that we have in the industry, over 7 million customers are still without meters and are on estimated billing. We said this is not the way to go.
“We must correct this, which is why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu set up the Presidential Metering Initiative, which has the mandate of installing over 10 million meters within the next five years, at least 2 million meters every year. We are making progress on this. The funds are being provided, and we will soon go into the acquisition of these meters. This would reduce the meter gap.”
He added that with support from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), the initiative is expected to enhance billing transparency and efficiency.
Adelabu reaffirmed that the Ministry of Power remains committed to further improving Nigeria’s electricity supply.
