Mixed reactions as Adelabu claims 40% of electricity consumers in Nigeria now enjoy 20-hour power supply daily

Mixed reactions have trailed the claim of Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu that 40 percent of electricity consumers in Nigeria enjoyed 20 hours of uninterrupted power supply.

Adelabu on Sunday in a statement reviewing the activities of the power ministry in the last year, explained that certain revolutionary measures were taken to ensure that Nigerians enjoy a more stable and regular electricity supply.

“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 per cent 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 said.

Join Our WhatsApp Group

Don’t miss out on any real-time information. Join our WhatsApp group to stay updated.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

He said all these were achieved with the support of President Bola Tinubu as part of his renewed hope agenda to galvanise the economy.

He noted that the president has consistently said that Nigeria can be great and achieve breakthroughs in industrialisation through a stable and consistent power supply.

Adelabu emphasised the need for Nigerians to realise that stable electricity in any economy cannot be overemphasised.

“This is why you see great economies like Korea, China, Europe, and North America industrialised today. Their stability in electricity supply has been instrumental to their economic growth and industrial development. That’s why we say that we must achieve this for Nigeria as a country. We need to achieve the requisite economic growth and industrial development. Our dear president, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, included this in the Renewed Hope Agenda as a major electoral policy for Nigerians.

“In his New Year speech on the 1st of January, 2024, he emphasised the need for the country to have stable, functional, and reliable electricity to drive other critical sectors. This is the only way we can achieve the required economic growth and industrial development. None of the critical sectors can function optimally without electricity stability and functionality.

“Therefore, our vision is to ensure that we provide households, businesses, and institutions (educational and health institutions as well as industries with stable electricity supply. This will enable them to power their activities, improve their capacity, and create more jobs,” he said.

According to him, in a country like South Korea, industrial giants like Samsung, Hyundai, and LG didn’t just become global giants overnight.

“They were supported by the government through the provision of stable and reliable electricity for their operations. This is the vision we have for Nigeria. At the end of the day, a large proportion of our population will be electrified, industries will enjoy stable electricity, and this will increase production and create employment for our people,” he added.

He said upon assuming office, the country had an installed generation capacity of 13,000 megawatts, but it was only producing, transmitting, and distributing about 4,000 megawatts of power to the entire country.

This, he said, was quite low and unacceptable given the population and level of economic activities.

“Therefore, we were determined to improve the situation. At that time, there was epileptic supply. Almost all customers, both residential and commercial, could not be guaranteed 12-15 hours of supply,” he said.

Additionally, he said the adoption of renewable energy was skeletal in terms of solar or wind sources of energy.

Join Our WhatsApp Group

Don’t miss out on any real-time information. Join our WhatsApp group to stay updated.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

“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,” he added.

This development has generated mixed reactions from Nigerians while many agreed with the minister that the supply of electricity has improved, others said the claim is laughable and argued that many Nigerians still grapple with adequate power supply.

A Facebook user, Olanrewaju Salawudeen said; “The man saying is the truth, in my area will have a stable light, if NEPA off our light, within 5 minutes, the light will be back, there’s a great change now.”

Another user, Saheed Alausa wrote; “Well said by the minister, customers on Band A and B receive 18 hours of light per day kudos to power minister.”

Monday Oluwafemi Amodeni reacted; Yes, I can attest to that. Garaku, Gudi, Akwanga are typical example. This should be replicated in other areas.”

@Osiebi2 reacted; “I have almost 24hrs light everyday … but the cost is really taking a huge toll to be honest.”

@rasaqadewale said; “Yes, my area enjoys a stable electricity supply. But HM @MinistryofPower @BayoAdelabu should put necessary mechanism in place for the electricity to be stable since we are near the harmattan, after the rain we usher in harmattan and hear period when electricity used be unstable.”

Vincent Ogboma Omojola said; “Though it’s not up to 20hrs everyday (or some days) but I can say that power supply in my state/area (Ekpoma, Edo State) has immensely improved. Sometimes we enjoy 24hrs power even up to 48hrs. Other times we can have power for 10-15hrs. The supply of power here is really encouraging for the past 5-6 months. Yeah, sometimes we might not have light for 2 days but we don’t feel it again like before because we know once it’s restored it will stay for longer hours and sometimes days.”

Eze_Cheapness, tweeting as @dahnnysparrow wrote; “This is a big lie and if you believe this I implore you to travel out of your comfort zone and then you’ll realize there’s no light.

@habiblinz said; “I’m writing this Tweet while charging my phone with a 2000mah oraimo powerBank with one small solar touch to brighten the room.

“Mr Adewale Adelabu honestly you should be ashamed to say that 40% of Nigerians enjoys 20hrs of light. Statically and realistically not up to 40% of Nigerians enjoys up to 18hrs of constant Electricity . Only Government/reserved areas would attest to 20hrs of Electricity .
60% percent of Nigerians are left in the dark, I guess probably because they do not live in the aso villa or GRA’s. We definitely know this is not your line of profession(Mr chartered account ).”

The Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre Executive Director, Pricewill Okorie in a statement described Adelabu’s claim as laughable.

“Where are the reports from the 36 states? You have 774 Local Governments in Nigeria, if you take 40 percent of the population of citizens in these Local Governments, you’ll know what the data is.”

Intel Region News is on WhatsApp!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

Share News with us via Email: intelregion.com@gmail.com

Join Our Social Media Channels:

• WhatsApp: iR News Room
• Facebook: News Region
• Twitter: @intelregion
• Instagram: @intelregion
• Telegram: iR News Room