The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Saidu Mohammed, has been removed, a statement issued on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed.
According to the statement, Mohammed’s removal was carried out “in the public interest” and in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
It added that the decision forms part of the Tinubu administration’s broader efforts to strengthen regulatory efficiency and deepen reforms in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“The President has also approved the nomination of Mr. Rabiu Abdullahi Umar as the new Chief Executive of the NMDPRA. The appointment is subject to Senate confirmation,” the statement said.
The NMDPRA is one of the key regulatory agencies established under the Petroleum Industry Act to oversee operations in Nigeria’s midstream and downstream petroleum sectors, including licensing, distribution, storage, transportation, and pricing compliance.
The leadership change comes as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to stabilise the petroleum industry, improve domestic supply, attract investments, and strengthen regulatory oversight.
The Presidency described Umar as a seasoned executive with more than 25 years of experience spanning the energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure sectors.
According to the statement, he has built a reputation in strategic leadership, operational transformation, and execution of large-scale projects.
Umar is a graduate in Accounting from Bayero University, Kano, and also attended Harvard Business School.
Pending his confirmation by the Senate, the Presidency said the most senior official within the NMDPRA would oversee the agency in an acting capacity.
President Tinubu also commended the outgoing CEO, Saidu Mohammed, for his service to the country and wished him success in his future endeavours.
“The President remains committed to ensuring capable leadership in key regulatory institutions to advance energy security, sector reform, and sustainable economic growth,” the statement added.
Former Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr. Samuel Dubik Mahama, has cautioned against politicising the current challenges facing Ghana’s energy sector, urging stakeholders to focus on practical solutions to address recent power outages.
Speaking on Accra-based Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen show on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, Mr. Mahama stressed the need for critical reflection to prevent recurring power supply issues.
According to him, the country risks persistent challenges if those managing the sector fail to take decisive and honest steps to address inefficiencies within the system.
Samuel Dubik Mahama Esq.
“We are at a point where we must reflect; otherwise, the problem will reoccur. It’s not just one issue—we have to be honest with ourselves and take bold decisions,” he stated.
Mr. Mahama argued that the energy sector, particularly ECG, should be managed as a business entity, noting that budgetary constraints have affected its ability to operate efficiently. He also pointed to systemic waste within the sector, indicating that eliminating inefficiencies could significantly improve performance and service delivery.
“It’s essential to view the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as a business, including its upstream operations,” he said.
The former ECG boss further highlighted the need to invest in energy storage systems to manage excess power generated during the day before resorting to additional thermal generation.
He noted that electricity demand in the country is growing rapidly, making it imperative for policymakers to adopt sustainable and forward-looking strategies.
“We also need to find ways to store excess energy generated during the day before considering additional thermal power. Demand for energy is growing at a very rapid rate,” he added.
Ghana is sitting on a resource it continues to misclassify as a nuisance. Every day, large volumes of solid waste are collected across urban Ghana, especially in Greater Accra, only to be transported and dumped at considerable cost. Public authorities spend heavily to manage it, citizens suffer from the consequences of poor disposal, and the economy absorbs the hidden costs of flooding, disease risk, land degradation, and urban disorder. Yet a significant part of this waste could be converted into dispatchable electricity and real economic value.
This is why Ghana must rethink solid waste management, not as a sanitation headache alone, but as a commercial and energy opportunity. Waste-to-Energy should no longer be treated as a peripheral environmental idea. It should be elevated into mainstream infrastructure, sanitation, and energy policy. The issue is simple: Ghana can keep paying to bury waste, or it can begin to monetise it.
The concept of the Waste-to-Energy makes a compelling case that Accra’s rising waste volumes, overstretched landfill capacity, environmental degradation, public health concerns, and flooding linked to poor waste disposal now require a practical and bankable intervention. That diagnosis is correct. But the national response must now move from concern to structured action.
Landfilling is not waste management. It is value destruction. For too long, landfilling has been treated as the default answer to Ghana’s municipal waste challenge. But landfills do not solve the problem. They merely store it temporarily while generating new environmental, social, and fiscal burdens.
Government pays to collect waste, pays to transport it, pays to dispose of it, and later pays again for the consequences. Those consequences are familiar: blocked drains, periodic flooding, foul odour, methane emissions, health hazards, degraded landscapes, and rising pressure to secure more land for disposal. In rapidly growing cities, this model is becoming economically indefensible.
Land is too scarce and too valuable to keep allocating increasing portions of it to dumping waste. Public funds are too constrained to keep financing a system that produces little productive return. In business terms, landfilling is a weak asset strategy. It absorbs resources, compounds liabilities, and creates almost no enduring value. A modern economy should not keep funding a system whose core output is accumulated waste and deferred risk.
Waste is not just rubbish. It is fuel. The fundamental policy mistake has been to treat municipal solid waste only as a problem to be removed, rather than as a resource to be processed. That mindset must change.
Waste-to-Energy offers Ghana a clear alternative. Instead of paying only for disposal, the country can convert part of its waste stream into power. Waste becomes feedstock. Feedstock becomes electricity. Electricity becomes revenue. Alongside this, the waste handling system itself can support tipping fees or structured waste charges, creating a more circular commercial arrangement. That is why Waste-to-Energy should not be discussed only in environmental language. It is equally a business model, an infrastructure model, and an energy model.
The concept proposes a modern Waste-to-Energy power plant using supercritical incineration technology to process municipal solid waste and convert it into electricity. More importantly, it frames the idea as a utility-scale and commercially structured intervention, not merely a sanitation experiment. That is precisely how Ghana should approach it. The country must stop seeing waste as a cost to be hidden and start seeing it as value to be captured.
Ghana needs the right kind of power, not just more megawatts. Ghana’s electricity system needs diversity, reliability, and strategic balance. Hydro remains important, but it is exposed to hydrological uncertainty. Thermal generation is essential, but it is tied to fuel supply, fuel pricing, and foreign exchange pressures. Solar has an expanding role, but its intermittency means it cannot on its own provide all the system reliability a modern economy needs without complementary support.
Waste-to-Energy belongs in this conversation because it offers dispatchable power generated from an urban resource that is produced every day. Unlike solar and wind, municipal waste does not disappear at sunset. In a large city, waste generation is constant. That gives Waste-to-Energy a unique place as a sanitation-linked source of firm energy. Successful international waste-to-energy plants such as TuasOne in Singapore, Bao’an and Longgang in Shenzhen, CopenHill in Copenhagen, Spittelau in Vienna, Palm Beach REF 2 in the United States, Dublin Waste to Energy in Ireland, Rozenburg in the Netherlands, Isséane in France, and Sharjah in the UAE demonstrate that well-structured WtE systems can simultaneously improve sanitation, reduce landfill dependence, and contribute dependable electricity and heat to the energy mix.
Dr. Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor
This is why the commercial structure matters. The potential generator should be enabled to sign a dispatchable Power Purchase Agreement with the Electricity Company of Ghana. That is essential for project bankability, operational planning, and proper integration into the power system. Without such commercial discipline, even technically promising projects struggle to move beyond concept stage.
A country that complains simultaneously about waste and power constraints should recognise the strategic logic of linking both problems to one practical solution. The economics are broader than many assume. One of the weaknesses in public discussion of Waste-to-Energy is that it is often judged too narrowly. Analysts look at the electricity output and ask whether it justifies the investment. That is an incomplete way to assess the model.
The real value lies across the wider chain. There is value in structured waste handling. There is value in tipping fees. There is value in reducing landfill dependence and extending landfill life. There is value in lowering some of the flood and health risks associated with poor waste disposal. There is value in job creation across waste logistics, plant operations, engineering support, and maintenance. There is value in freeing urban land for more productive uses. And there is value in making the capital city cleaner, more orderly, and more investable. In other words, Waste-to-Energy should be assessed not just as a power plant, but as a multi-benefit infrastructure platform.
This distinction is important because the true cost of Ghana’s current waste model is spread across many parts of the economy. It appears in sanitation budgets, health burdens, emergency drainage works, urban productivity losses, private household costs, and investor perception. Once these wider costs are recognised, the case for Waste-to-Energy becomes significantly stronger.
Accra cannot build a modern future on a dumping-ground model. No serious capital city can remain competitive while depending on an outdated waste disposal regime. A city battling with unmanaged waste, choked drains, odour, visual blight, and flood-related sanitation failures is not merely facing an environmental problem. It is facing an economic efficiency problem.
Businesses lose time and productivity. Households bear avoidable risks. Government spending becomes reactive instead of strategic. Urban confidence weakens. The city’s attractiveness for investors, residents, and visitors declines.
A cleaner city is therefore not just a public good. It is an economic necessity. Waste-to-Energy supports that objective by reducing the volume of waste sent to landfill, improving discipline in waste flows, and creating a productive use for part of the municipal waste stream. It aligns sanitation management with economic output. That makes it far more strategic than the traditional collect-and-dump model.
Waste-to-Energy is not without challenges. Feedstock quality must be understood. Collection systems must be reliable. Environmental safeguards must be robust. Emissions compliance must be non-negotiable. Project size must match actual waste availability. Contracts must allocate risk properly. Operators must have genuine technical competence. But none of these issues is a valid reason for inaction. They are reasons for discipline.
The concept note appropriately recommends a prefeasibility study covering waste availability, site selection, plant sizing, environmental and social safeguards, grid connection, and commercial structuring, together with coordinated multi-agency action. That is exactly the right starting point. Infrastructure does not fail because it is ambitious. It fails because it is poorly prepared.
The greater risk for Ghana is not that it attempts Waste-to-Energy. The greater risk is that it continues pouring public money into an inefficient landfill model whose long-term economics are steadily worsening.
The Reset SolutionFirst, government should formally recognise Waste-to-Energy as a strategic solution sitting at the intersection of sanitation management and energy policy.
Second, the national narrative should change. Waste-to-Energy is not about burning refuse for its own sake. It is about converting unmanaged waste into structured economic value.
Third, it should support a serious prefeasibility study to establish waste volumes, calorific value, logistics, technology options, site suitability, grid integration, environmental safeguards, and indicative project economics.
Fourth, it should establish a multi-agency implementation framework involving the relevant sanitation authorities, environmental regulators, city authorities, and energy institutions. Waste-to-Energy will not succeed under fragmented administration.
Fifth, the commercial structure should be designed around bankability. Waste supply must be assured. Delivery obligations must be clear. Payment discipline must be built into the model. And the potential generator must be supported to secure a dispatchable PPA with ECG.
The country now faces a clear choice. It can continue to spend scarce public resources collecting, transporting, and burying waste while bearing the wider costs of poor disposal. Or it can begin to treat waste as industrial input, energy feedstock, and a recoverable source of value.
Waste-to-Energy will not solve every sanitation problem, and it will not replace all other forms of generation. But it can solve several important problems at once. It can reduce landfill pressure. It can improve urban sanitation outcomes. It can add dispatchable power to the grid. It can create jobs. And it can turn a recurrent public burden into a productive infrastructure asset.
Ghana should no longer keep burying what it can monetise. Solid waste is not merely rubbish. It is untapped fuel, untapped revenue, and untapped strategic value hiding in plain sight.
Tunisia’s President, Kais Saied, dismissed the country’s Minister for Energy and Trade, Fatma Thabet, on Tuesday ahead of a parliamentary meeting to review controversial draft laws on renewable energy contracts.
The presidency announced the dismissal in a brief statement, offering no explanation. The move comes amid sharp criticism from unionists and lawmakers over five government-approved bills regulating concessions to foreign companies, primarily for the installation of solar panels.
According to the proposed bills, foreign firms could exploit the energy produced by the panels for 20 years, renewable once for an additional 10 years, with the first five years exempt from taxes. The energy would be sold to the Tunisian state electricity and gas company, known as STEG.
When presenting the proposed bills, the government argued that they would “boost Tunisia’s energy independence, guarantee its energy supply, and lower electricity production costs.” Tunisia imports the majority of its energy needs, placing a major strain on the annual budget due to subsidies on fuel, electricity, and gas.
According to the state secretary for energy transition, Wael Chouchane, renewable energy accounted for 9% of Tunisia’s grid in April, with a target of 35% by 2030.
The government recently announced investment projects worth nearly $600 million to install solar panels with a combined capacity of 600 megawatts, equivalent to a quarter of the country’s annual consumption. These projects would focus on marginalized areas with low economic growth but abundant sunshine, such as central and southern Tunisia.
In a statement on Tuesday, the powerful UGTT trade union denounced the draft bills, saying they “perpetuate dependence [on foreign countries] and weaken national sovereignty.” It demanded “fair and equitable partnerships” between STEG and foreign firms.
MP Bilel El Mechri, who recently criticized what he called “energy colonisation,” welcomed the minister’s dismissal and demanded that she be “tried for compromising national sovereignty.”
Housing Minister Salah Eddine Zouari will take up Chiboub’s tasks on an interim basis, the presidency said.
Ghana’s largest hydroelectric power plant, the Akosombo Generating Station, operated by the Volta River Authority, has restored four of its six generation units to the national grid, Energy and Green Transition Minister Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor confirmed on Tuesday night.
The Akosombo Generating Station, which produces about 1,020 MW, was disconnected from the national grid on Thursday, April 23, 2026, following a fire at the switchyard of the Ghana Grid Company substation at Akosombo.
This substation receives power from the station before feeding it into the national grid.
The incident disrupted electricity supply in many parts of the country.
Following the fire, the Energy Minister and his deputy visited the site and assured Ghanaians that engineers would work extra hours to restore the plant to full operation.
The minister wrote on Facebook at around 10 p.m. on Tuesday: “At 9:09 p.m., the fourth unit at Akosombo Dam was successfully brought into operation, an encouraging step that strengthens power generation and reflects the dedication and expertise of the team behind the effort.”
Earlier, at about 8 p.m., he posted: “I confirm that earlier today, the third unit at Akosombo was successfully put into operation. This milestone will improve power generation and enhance supply reliability.”
According to the minister, the progress reflects the government’s continued commitment to maintaining a resilient power system.
“This progress underscores our resolve to emerge from this unfortunate fire incident stronger, with a renewed focus on stability and reliability in power supply,” he added.
The disruption has sparked widespread complaints, particularly from businesses that rely heavily on the national grid.
Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor, Minister for Energy and Green Transition
Thursday’s incident prompted the Energy Minister, who was in the northern part of the country at the time, to return to Accra to assess the damage at Akosombo.
During his visit, the minister announced a seven-member committee, chaired by William Amuna, current Board Chairman of the Electricity Company of Ghana, to investigate the incident.
According to the minister, the fire was unusual and requires a thorough probe to determine its root cause.
“The damage is quite extensive. It’s quite serious. From the briefing I received, there was a significant situation that we need to get to the bottom of,” he said.
The committee is expected to present its findings within two to three weeks.
“We expect that within two to three weeks, they should be ready with a report so that we can determine the root cause of this challenge and all the issues surrounding this unfortunate incident,” the minister added.
Ghana’s largest indigenous oil marketing company, GOIL PLC, has officially launched its HSSEQ (Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Quality) Week 2026, reinforcing its commitment to safety, quality, and people-centered operations.
Under the theme “Promoting a Positive Psychosocial Working Environment,” this year’s celebration highlights the importance of mental and emotional well-being alongside physical safety.
Speaking during the launch on Tuesday, Group CEO and MD Edward Abambire Bawa reaffirmed that safety remains central to GOIL’s operations, citing the company’s triple ISO certification.
The Head of HSSEQ added that the initiative aims to strengthen the company’s safety culture and address psychosocial risks.
The CEO of the NPA, Mr. Godwin Kudzo Tameklo, commended GOIL and unveiled the Staff HSSEQ Handbook, describing it as a model for the industry and a sign of true leadership. Other stakeholders also praised GOIL’s strong compliance record.
Speaking at the event, Riverson Oppong, PhD, COMAC CEO, commended GOIL PLC for its leadership in promoting employee welfare. He noted that in the downstream petroleum sector, safety must go beyond physical protection to include mental well-being, open communication, responsible leadership, and supportive workplaces where employees feel respected, secure, and empowered to speak up.
He emphasized that such people-centered environments enhance alertness, accountability, and overall safety outcomes.
“These conversations reinforce the importance of creating work environments where employees feel safe, supported, valued, and empowered to perform at their best. A positive psychosocial workplace culture not only boosts productivity but also strengthens teamwork, morale, and overall organizational success,” he stressed
Dr. Robert Amesiya, who was the keynote speaker, emphasized that true workplace safety must include mental well-being, urging continued investment in supportive environments.
“As we roll out a week of impactful activities, GOIL remains committed to building a culture where safety, care, and people come first,” the company said.
The United Arab Emirates has announced its decision to quit OPEC and OPEC+ to focus on what it described as “national interests,” marking a heavy blow to the oil-exporting groups at a time when the US-Israel war on Iran has caused a historic energy shock and rattled the global economy.
The move, which will take effect on Friday, reflects “the UAE’s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile,” a statement carried by state media said on Tuesday.
“During our time in the organisation, we made significant contributions and even greater sacrifices for the benefit of all,” it added. “However, the time has come to focus our efforts on what our national interest dictates.”
The loss of the UAE, a longstanding OPEC member, could create disarray and weaken the oil cartel, which has usually sought to show a united front despite internal disagreements over issues ranging from geopolitics to production quotas.
UAE Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei said the decision was taken after a careful review of the country’s energy strategies. Asked whether the UAE consulted with OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia, he said it did not raise the issue with any other country.
“This is a policy decision. It has been made after a careful review of current and future policies related to levels of production,” Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei said, as reported by Al Jazeera citing Reuters.
OPEC’s Gulf producers have already been struggling to ship exports through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint between Iran and Oman through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally pass, due to threats and attacks on vessels during the war.
United States President Donald Trump has previously accused OPEC of “ripping off the rest of the world” by inflating oil prices. He also linked US military support for the Gulf with oil prices, saying that while the US defends OPEC members, they “exploit this by imposing high oil prices.”
The UAE had been a member of OPEC first through its emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967, and later when it became its own country in 1971.
The oil cartel, based in Vienna, has seen some of its market power wane as the US has increased its production of crude oil in recent years. Additionally, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have increasingly competed over economic issues and regional politics, particularly in the Red Sea area.
The two countries had joined a coalition to fight against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels in 2015. However, that coalition broke down into recriminations in late December when Saudi Arabia bombed what it described as a weapons shipment bound for Yemeni separatists backed by the UAE.
The energy research company Rystad Energy said the UAE’s withdrawal marks a significant shift for the oil-producing group.
“Losing a member with 4.8 million barrels per day of capacity, and the ambition to produce more, takes a real tool out of the group’s hands,” Rystad Energy’s head of geopolitical analysis, Jorge Leon, said in a statement.
“With demand nearing a peak, the calculation for producers with low-cost barrels is changing fast, and waiting your turn inside a quota system starts to look like leaving money on the table,” he continued. “Saudi Arabia is now left doing more of the heavy lifting on price stability, and the market loses one of the few shock absorbers it had left.”
Tanzania’s Vice President, Dr. Emmanuel Nchimbi, has called on organizers of the “Malkia wa Nguvu” (Queen of Power) festival to use their platforms to promote the use of clean cooking energy in the country, in order to reach more women and drive positive change in energy use.
He made these remarks during the grand finale of the awards ceremony recognizing women who have excelled in various sectors, popularly known as “Malkia wa Nguvu,” held in Dodoma City.
He explained that, in order to improve the environment and the well-being of citizens, women have significant power to reduce the harmful effects caused by the use of unsafe energy sources (firewood and charcoal), which have been contributing to environmental degradation and respiratory diseases.
He stated that approximately 99 percent of cooking activities in households are carried out by women, giving them a strong opportunity to act as catalysts for change by promoting the use of clean cooking energy.
He commended the efforts of Clouds Media for organizing the Malkia wa Nguvu festival, which aims to empower Tanzanian women socially and economically.
He added that the government is committed to improving access to clean cooking energy in order to enhance the health of Tanzanians.
Ghana’s Minister for Energy and Green Transition, Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor, is confident that the current intermittent power supply being experienced across the West African nation will be resolved as soon as possible, bringing relief to businesses and the general public.
According to him, the challenges in the power sector are a test for him and the ministry, and he is confident they will pass this test.
“This is a test and I know we will pass this exam,” the minister said in response to a question from this portal.
Dr. Jinapor said his immediate plan is to ensure the return of all six units of the 1,020 MW Akosombo Generating Station back online.
“My duty as a minister is to ensure that we restore all the units of Akosombo back into operation and ensure that there is uninterrupted supply of power,” he stated.
The Akosombo Generating Station, Ghana’s largest hydroelectric power plant, was knocked off the national grid on Thursday, April 23, 2026, after a fire incident at the switchyard of the Ghana Grid Company substation at Akosombo, which receives power from the station before feeding it into the national grid.
The incident disrupted power supply across the country.
Addressing the nation on Monday, April 27, 2026, the Energy Minister announced that two of the Akosombo Generating Station units had been restored, with engineers working around the clock to restore the remaining units.
The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), a policy think tank in the Republic of Ghana, has raised serious concerns over what it describes as a worsening power supply crisis in the country, warning that recent prolonged outages, weak communication, and underlying structural failures are deepening public frustration and threatening economic stability.
A transformer replacement and upgrading exercise by the two power utility companies—the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo)—has escalated power outages across the country, forcing many businesses to rely on alternative sources of energy to continue operations.
The six-hour power cuts occurring in the morning, afternoon, and evening have triggered public outcry nationwide.
In a statement issued in Accra on Monday, April 27, 2026, and signed by Kodzo Yaotse, Policy Lead for Petroleum and Conventional Energy at ACEP, the organisation said households, businesses, and institutions have endured over a month of escalating power cuts. The situation, it argued, has been aggravated by the recent fire at the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) Akosombo substation, which removed about 960MW of relatively cheap and reliable generation capacity from the system.
ACEP noted that while system operators have been issuing updates on expected outage areas, the information has been inconsistent and unreliable, with many communities experiencing outages beyond published schedules.
“ACEP acknowledges that some communication is being issued indicating areas expected to experience power cuts. However, this communication has been irregular, inconsistent, and unreliable, with outages frequently extending beyond announced areas and affecting communities not captured in these notices,” the statement said.
It added that explanations from system managers attributing the crisis partly to transformer upgrades and replacements are not fully convincing, citing past instances where similar explanations were later found to be inaccurate following independent audits by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).
ACEP warned that the scale and duration of the current outages suggest deeper systemic challenges beyond routine maintenance activities.
“Even if transformer upgrades and replacements are genuinely underway, the scale, concurrence, and duration of the outages nationwide point to deeper systemic failures,” it said, pointing to constraints in gas supply and processing, maintenance backlogs, and planning inefficiencies.
The energy policy group also cautioned the Energy Minister against relying on short-term emergency interventions in responding to the crisis, arguing that such measures have historically led to costly consequences for the state and consumers.
“ACEP strongly encourages the Minister to resist the pressure of reactive, short-term interventions that may appear decisive but risk generating deeper problems if not carefully assessed and transparently implemented,” it said.
The statement further stressed the need for structural reforms in the power sector, including improved planning, transparent procurement, and stronger institutional accountability across the electricity value chain.
On the Akosombo fire incident, ACEP described the loss of nearly 1,000MW of capacity as a serious public interest issue, calling for a thorough and independent investigation into the cause of the incident.
“A fire of that scale should not occur where proper safety systems and modern operational standards are in place,” it said, urging authorities to ensure accountability and prevent future occurrences.
ACEP outlined a series of urgent actions it believes are necessary to address the crisis, including the immediate publication of a reliable load-shedding timetable by GRIDCo and system operators to help households and businesses plan effectively.
It also called for a clear timeline for restoring full power supply, deeper oversight by the PURC through an independent investigation, and full public disclosure of all findings related to the Akosombo fire and the broader outages.
The group said transparency and accountability are critical to restoring public confidence in Ghana’s power sector and preventing future systemic failures.
U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Iran still wants to retain control of the Strait of Hormuz and cast that as unacceptable to the U.S., after President Donald Trump canceled the latest round of negotiations with Tehran over the weekend.
Asked about a report that Tehran had made an offer to reopen Hormuz after the talks were scrapped, Rubio told Fox News the U.S. cannot tolerate Iran continuing to decide which vessels can sail through the strait or allow any Iranian tolls.
“If what they mean by opening the straits is, ‘yes, the straits are opened, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we will blow you up and you pay us,’—that’s not opening the straits,” Rubio said in a Fox News interview that aired Monday.
“They cannot normalize—nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize—a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway and how much you have to pay them to use it.”
The comments come after Axios reported that Iran had given the U.S. a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war in a deal that would postpone more complex negotiations over the country’s nuclear program.
Trump and other U.S. officials have said Iran’s nuclear ambitions were the main reason the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Tehran.
The Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports, has been effectively closed since the U.S. and Israel attacked Tehran at the end of February.
While Iranian threats first closed the strait, the U.S. is now also enforcing a naval blockade to prevent Iran-linked ships from navigating Hormuz.
While a ceasefire has mostly held since early April, the strait’s closure has caused global energy prices to soar.
The waterway, which was functioning normally before the war, has become one of the major sticking points in U.S.-Iran negotiations mediated by Pakistan, with a previous round of talks in Islamabad ending without any deal.
While talks were expected over the weekend, Trump told his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff to skip another trip to Pakistan.
The unpopular war has become a political challenge for Trump domestically—given the sharp rise in U.S. gas prices—and it has also strained already-fraught ties with European nations, who have tried to avoid getting drawn into the conflict even as they deal with the energy crisis.
On Monday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in unusually candid comments that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by Iran’s leadership, which had proceeded “very skillfully” in talks.
At the United Nations Security Council on Monday, diplomats discussed the Strait of Hormuz in a dedicated session. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said allowing tolls and bribery from Iran would set a dangerous precedent.
“Access to the seas would be a privilege reserved for the few,” he said, “Straits would become militarized corridors. Global trade would be taken hostage, and entire regions would become isolated. The world would be asphyxiated, subject to lawlessness and the law of the strongest.”
Ghana’s largest hydroelectric power plant, the Akosombo Generation Station, operated by the Volta River Authority, has partially restored power generation to the national grid following a fire incident on Thursday, April 23, 2026, at the switchyard of the Ghana Grid Company Limited substation in Akosombo.
The fire forced an emergency shutdown of the plant, which generates about 1,020MW for the national grid, disrupting power supply in many parts of the country.
Checks by this portal revealed that the Akosombo Generation Station produced 84MW at about 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, 2026, increasing to 133MW by 10:00 p.m. the same day. However, as of Monday morning, output had dropped to 86MW.
The Akosombo Dam has six units, each with a capacity of 170MW, while the Kpong Generation Station generates about 160MW, bringing the total hydropower capacity of the Volta River Authority to 1,180MW.
According to a system load document sighted by this portal, the Kpong Generation Station has reduced generation from about 137MW to between 30MW and 36MW as of Monday, April 27, 2026.
The current power situation has triggered widespread complaints among sections of Ghanaians, particularly businesses that rely on the national grid daily.
Thursday’s incident forced the Energy Minister, John Abdulai Jinapor, who was in the northern part of the country, to return to Accra and visit Akosombo to assess the extent of damage.
During the visit, the minister announced that a seven-member committee, chaired by William Amuna, current Board Chairman of Electricity Company of Ghana, will investigate the incident.
According to the minister, the fire is unusual and requires a thorough probe to uncover its root cause.
“The damage is quite extensive. It’s quite serious. From the briefing I received, there was a significant situation that we need to get to the bottom of,” he said.
He added that the committee is expected to present its findings within two to three weeks.
“We expect that within two to three weeks, they should be ready with a report so that we can determine the root cause of this challenge and all the issues surrounding this unfortunate incident,” he said.
On Sunday, the Minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, revealed that the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Grid Company Limited, Mark Awuah Baah, had been asked to step aside pending investigations into the fire.
The Energy Minister is expected to address the nation at about 2:00 p.m. today.
Nigeria’s Lagos State Government has signed a landmark Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with three electricity generation companies in a strategic move to significantly boost energy supply and strengthen the state’s power infrastructure, according to a report by The Sun Nigeria.
The agreement was signed on Sunday at Lagos House, Marina, in the presence of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, while the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Abiodun Ogunleye, signed on behalf of the state government.
The partner firms—Mainland Power Limited, Akute Independent Power Plant, and Fenchurch Power Limited—are among the independent power producers operating within the state, with Fenchurch emerging as a new entrant in the partnership.
Commenting during the signing, Sanwo-Olu described the agreement as a people-focused initiative aimed at improving quality of life through a more reliable power supply. He urged all parties to uphold the terms of the deal with professionalism and commitment.
“This agreement is about the people and how easily we can solve problems. Let’s keep our promises on both sides. When people benefit, life becomes easier. This marks the beginning of the reforms we are seeing in the energy sector,” the governor said.
Ogunleye explained that the agreement is designed to ramp up generation capacity and revive dormant assets without placing additional financial strain on the state. According to him, the three firms currently generate about 60 megawatts (MW), with projections to scale up to between 200MW and 400MW within the next two to three years.
He disclosed that Mainland Power Limited, which operates the Ikeja GRA plant, has an installed capacity of 8.8MW and a contracted capacity of 5.8MW, supplying electricity to areas from Ikeja to Oshodi.
Key beneficiaries include Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and the Lagos State Urban Renewal Agency, among other critical facilities.
The commissioner added that the Akute Independent Power Plant, now under Fenchurch Power Limited, has a contracted capacity of 26MW and is being repositioned as a major energy hub. Once dormant for about five years, the facility is undergoing rehabilitation and upgrades to supply power to surrounding communities, including the Adiyan Water Works.
On the Island corridor, Viathan Engineering, operators of the Island Power Limited/Peninsula Integrated Power Project, currently manage a combined installed capacity of 21MW—6MW in Lekki and 15MW in Marina. The project is expected to power vital public infrastructure, including Lagos House, the deputy governor’s residence, and major health institutions such as Lagos Island General Hospital.
The participating firms commended the Sanwo-Olu administration for creating an enabling environment for infrastructure development, noting that the initiative sends a strong signal to investors about Lagos’ readiness to deepen its energy market and attract sustainable investments.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Gas Company, Ms. Judith Adjobah Blay, is urging the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), the economic regulator for utilities, to consider increasing the transmission tariff to support plant expenditures and future investments.
According to her, a tariff adjustment would help sustain maintenance and investment at the facility, while ensuring the reliability needed to support power generation.
“It is very necessary that we at Ghana Gas approach the PURC to convince them of certain expenditures and investments that we are making, which warrant an increase—especially in our transmission tariffs,” she said on Friday during a tour of the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant in the Western Region by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Energy.
Madam Blay warned that the consequences of inaction would be more severe than a modest increase in tariffs.
“If Ghana Gas does not have sufficient funds to operate and maintain the plant, the consequences will be far more dire than a slight increase in tariffs,” she stated
