The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has asserted that over 40 percent of electricity consumers in Nigeria now enjoy 20 hours of stable power supply daily.
The Minister asserted this during a review of the ministry’s achievements in the last year as part of arrangements preparatory to Nigeria’s 64th Independence Day celebrations.
In a statement released on Sunday, Adelabu emphasized that the accomplishments attained by his ministry were not coincidental, crediting the advancements to the diligent efforts implemented by the ministry, bolstered by the support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said, “The major achievement is the fact that today we generate over 5,500 megawatts of power, we transmit and distribute it, and over 40% 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.”
He indicated that the initiatives being implemented by the power ministry align with President Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda, emphasizing that providing stable electricity to Nigerians was a central promise made by the President during his campaign.
The minister further noted that Nigeria needs to attain stability in its electricity supply to foster economic growth and promote industrial development.
“This is why you see great economies like Korea, China, Europe, and North America industrialized today. Their stability in electricity supply has been instrumental to their economic growth and industrial development.
“That is why we say that we must achieve this for Nigeria as a country. We need to achieve the requisite economic growth and industrial development,” Adelabu stated.
Further highlighting the ministry’s achievements, Adelabu added, “Within a year, we completed the pilot phase of this project, which involved importing 10 power transformers and 10 power mobile substations. They have arrived; we have installed them, and we have commissioned them.
“Therefore, the electricity stability that we enjoy today is not by accident. It’s because of all these transformers and mobile substations that we commissioned and installed.
“There is the issue of the meter gap that we have. We all know that out of almost 13 million customers that we have in the industry, over 7 million customers are still without meters and are on estimated billing.
“We said this is not the way to go. We must correct this, which is why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu set up the Presidential Metering Initiative, which has the mandate of installing over 10 million meters within the next five years, at least 2 million meters on a yearly basis.
“We are making progress on this. The funds are being provided, and we will soon go into the acquisition of these meters. This would reduce the meter gap.”