Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has publicly apologised to Nigerians over poor electricity supply, which has resulted in persistent outages across the country.
He acknowledged that the blackouts have deepened hardship in homes, businesses, schools, and industries, especially amid the scorching dry-season heat.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, the minister acknowledged the poor electricity situation and said: “I want to apologise to Nigerians—officially now, coming from me as the Minister of Power—for this temporary issue that is leading to hardship, especially during this dry season, where there is so much heat everywhere.
“Businesses are being affected, schools have been affected, and industries have been affected. It is not our wish to find ourselves in this situation, but it is due to some factors that are actually beyond our control,” he said, as reported by local media.
He, however, assured Nigerians that relief is imminent, providing a tentative timeline for improvement in supply.
“I can tell you, with the committee that we have set up, and commitments from gas suppliers, as well as the timeline for the repair of gas pipelines, that two weeks from now, we should start seeing improvements in supply. Two weeks,” Adelabu said.
According to him, the government already has visibility on when key repairs—particularly those involving facilities operated by Seplat Energy—will be completed. This is expected to restore gas flow to power plants.
He explained that a special committee has also been constituted to monitor compliance with domestic gas supply obligations by producers, a long-standing issue blamed for constraining electricity generation.
“We already have a committee working on this to track compliance with domestic supply obligations by gas companies to our power plants,” he said, adding that improved payment flows to gas suppliers would further incentivise supply.
Nigeria’s power sector, which largely depends on gas-fired plants, has been affected by disruptions in gas supply, worsened by pipeline maintenance challenges and liquidity constraints.
Adelabu acknowledged these structural issues, noting that while they are not entirely within the government’s control, efforts are ongoing to stabilise the system.
“We are working on it 24/7 to make sure that we return to the trajectory of 2025, when Nigerians commended us for a job well done,” he said.
The minister also reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to ramping up electricity generation to 6,000 megawatts before the end of 2026, describing the current disruption as a temporary setback in a broader improvement plan.
“Power generation will improve, transmission will improve, distribution will improve, and that 6,000 megawatts will be achieved before the end of this year. Nigerians will be better for it,” he assured.
He added that the government’s ambition is not just to recover lost ground but to surpass previous performance levels.
“If we could provide such service in 2025, this is 2026—we are willing to do more, to do even better,” Adelabu said.
Nigeria’s electricity sector has long struggled with a mix of structural and operational challenges, including inadequate gas supply, ageing infrastructure, transmission bottlenecks, and persistent liquidity issues across the value chain.
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