Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu has reeled out the achievements of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration in tackling power sector issues across the National Electricity Supply Industry value chain in the last one year. According to him, this has set the sector on the path of recovery and prosperity.
Adelabu made this statement at the policy roundtable of the Asiwaju scorecard series, held at the Musa Yar’Adua Center in Abuja, organised by the APC Professionals’ Forum with the theme, “Enhancing the Power Sector for Economic Growth”.
The Minister said the structural reform of the industry through legislation was a significant stride of the administration in the power sector with the signing of the 2023 Electricity Act into law by the President. “This law alone has seen the devolution of regulatory powers to three states”, he added.
“In June 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu officially signed the 2023 Electricity Act into law, marking a significant milestone in Nigeria’s electricity sector. The new law focuses on enhancing the regulation and management of the electricity value chain with the active participation of the sub-national governments. This has resulted in the process of devolution of regulatory powers to three states – Enugu, Ekiti and Ondo to set up their electricity market.”
“Advance effort in the development of a National Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan to provide a comprehensive framework for the nation’s electricity sector which signifies a concerted effort towards addressing longstanding challenges and charting a sustainable path forward in Nigeria’s electricity industry”.
Adelabu also got the presidential approval to resolve and defray legacy debts to gas companies and also to allow efficient gas supply for the sector, as well as payment mechanism to address GenCos’ debts.
“Resolution of the sector obligations with Presidential approval to defray legacy debts to gas companies to allow efficient gas supply for the sector going forward and payment mechanism to address Generation Companies debts to ensure necessary maintenance issues are resolved and evacuation capacity optimization.
The Ministry of Power has also overseen the infrastructure development with additional 463MW transmission evacuation capacity to the national grid through the Presidential Power Initiative.
“Infrastructure Development with additional 463MW transmission evacuation capacity added to the grid through the ongoing Presidential Power Initiative. This was made possible through the signing of an accelerated performance agreement in November 2023 supervised by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Additionally, the government has put in place required framework to achieve an injection of 3.5 million meters into the power sector – 1.5 million meters through the World Bank Distribution Support Recovery Program and two million meters through the Presidential Metering Initiative”.
Adelabu listed the improved grid generation capacity with additional 700MW added through the newly commissioned Zungeru hydropower plants. He also spoke on the regulatory plan that led to the unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria to Independent System Operators and Transmission System Provider.
“We have seen an Improvement of grid Generation Capacity with the addition of 700MW (with capacity to evacuate 600MW) added to the grid from the newly commissioned Zungeru hydropower plant. Transmission segment of the sector has been set on a path of optimal productivity with a regulatory order to unbundle Transmission Company of Nigeria from a single entity to Independent System Operators (System and Market Operator) and Transmission System Provider. This process ensures a drive in the efficiency and transparency of the mid-stream of the Nigeria power sector value chain.
“Distribution segment of the sector has also been incentivized to guarantee improved service level for the Band A customers with introduction of cost-reflective tariff, a key liquidity conditions suitable for driving investment and improved monitoring and enforcement of service delivery by the Discos with necessary sanctions set in place for erring operators.
The Minister of Power also spoke on the conclusion of $550m Nigeria Electrification Plan which has provided energy access by providing electricity to more households, MSMEs, educational and healthcare facilities in rural communities. Also the government is committed to achieving the Nigeria Energy Transition Plan with the conclusion of the $550m Nigeria Electrification Plan which “has bridged the energy access deficit by providing electricity to over 1.1 million households, MSMEs, educational and healthcare facilities in unserved and underserved rural communities.
