Minister of Power or Blackout? Why ‘Powerless’ Adebayo Adelabu Can’t Resolve Nigeria’s Power Problem

– His Obsessive Lust for Oyo Governorship Seat

By now, anyone looking for sparks of competence in Adebayo Adelabu may be likened to a diamond prospector seeking precious stones in a barren wasteland.

The chubby Minister of Power seems to have waded in over his head into the power sector’s troubled waters. He clearly has no blueprint to resolve Nigeria’s electricity problem.

While Nigerians continue to struggle with electricity supply more erratic than usual, Adelabu can’t promise any significant improvements to the longsuffering citizenry and businesses.

Since he became the Minister of Power, Nigerians have waited futilely for the improved power supply that he promised them at the inception of his tenure.

On Adelabu’s watch, the country’s electricity problem has worsened as several parts of the country have been cast in perpetual darkness with resultant losses on personal households and businesses.

And not a few people have expressed distrust in his capacity to restore stable electricity in the country. While some argue that he isn’t competent for the job, some others have questioned his commitment to his brief, citing his obsessive interest in the gubernatorial race of his home state, Oyo.

According to the latter, Adelabu is still nursing governorship ambitions for Oyo State. Dissatisfied by his loss to incumbent governor, Seyi Makinde, of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Adelabu is allegedly hoping to succeed him as Oyo governor.

This, among other distractions, is making it impossible for Adelabu to focus on his task as power minister and get the expected results.

As the blackout persists, the power minister rues his likely fate at the heel of President Bola Tinubu’s reading of the riot act to his kitchen cabinet, warning his ministers to either shape up or get ready to lose their jobs.

Consequently, Adelabu has become desperate, thus his recent resort to threats against the electricity generation companies.

The minister has threatened non-performing distribution companies (discos) with license revocation as power outage persists in the country.

Writing on his social media page, X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, he said, “It is disheartening to witness the decline in power supply despite the concerted efforts to improve the situation.”

According to him, “The Ministry has been exerting pressure on the Generating Companies (GENCOs) to enhance their performance, resulting in a recent increase in generation to over 4000MW. Despite this progress, certain distribution companies are failing to adequately distribute the power supplied by TCN, while vandalism of power infrastructure exacerbates the problem in regions such as Abuja, Benin, Port Harcourt, and Ibadan.”

“Moving forward, I am committed to holding all distribution companies accountable for their performance. Willful non-performance will not be tolerated, and severe consequences, including license revocation, may be imposed,” he said.

The minister has also directed Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to immediately commence repair works on the damaged transmission towers and power lines in order to improve supply in the affected regions.

Adelabu also summoned the Chief Executives of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) over the worsening power supply in their areas of coverage. He equally invited the TCH Managing Director, Sule Abdulazeez, over the deteriorating power situation.

Previously in February, the Power Minister had said during an interview on Channels TV that fixing the Nigeria’s electricity problems will take time and political will.

He said, “If anybody tells you that you’ll have 24/7 uninterrupted light in the next six months or one year, it’s a lie because it’s not practical even if you throw all the money in the world at it.”

Adelabu is confident he knows how to fix the problems, but he can only promise a gradual, consistent improvement in electricity supply over time.

When his qualification for the ministry was called into question, the trained banker said Nigeria’s power sector problems have nothing to do with the engineering or technical aspect of things.

He listed the key problems as liquidity and funding, operational, and structural, and noted he’s already documented solutions for the unique problems in each segments of the value chain.

In highlighting solutions, Adelabu said the sector needs significant investment that will aid development and create lasting impact.

“We need consistent funding for us to get to where we’re going. If there’s no such funding, there’ll be very little we’ll achieve when it comes to transmission. To build a power substation now costs millions of dollars. To install 100km of 330 or 132 KV line costs hundreds of millions of dollars. So, it’s not little money that’s required to have stable electricity, it’s a lot of investment over time,” he said.

Going forward, the minister said focus would be on all the discos to compel them to expected performance while “willful non- performance by any disco could suffice as a reason for severe punishment or outright license revocation.”

But can a recourse to threats force a favourable outcome from Nigeria’s power problem? Are Adelabu’s threats of any impact in the problematic power sector?

It would be recalled that the Abuja DisCo recently threatened to

disconnect Presidential Villa over ₦923m electricity debt. The company issued a notice of disconnection to the Presidential Villa over the outstanding debt since December 2023.

The Abuja Electric Distribution Company (AEDC) made this known in a publication made available to the press on Monday, February 19, 2024.

The DisCo also listed 85 other government Ministry Department and Agencies (MDAs) owing it outstanding debts that run into billions of naira.

Some of the MDAs listed in the document include Chief of Defence Staff — Barracks and Military Formations, FCT Ministry, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of State Petroleum, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture.

Others are the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Ministry of Education, CBN governor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Budget and Planning, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Interior, Head ECOWAS, and Ministry of Transport, among others.

In its notice of disconnection, the company said, “The Management of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has given a 10 days’ notice to 86 Government to pay up the N47.1bn electricity debt they owe or risk disconnection.

Credit: thecapital.ng