By Dennis Okechukwu
President Bola Tinubu will present his administration’s achievements in the power sector and explain outstanding challenges to Nigerians as he seeks a second term in office, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has said.
The council said the President remained committed to fulfilling his 2023 campaign promise to end estimated billing and ensure stable and reliable electricity supply across the country.
It urged Nigerians to assess the pledge in its full context, arguing that some recent public commentary had quoted Tinubu’s promise without including his qualification that he would provide adequate explanations if he failed to deliver before seeking re-election.
Tinubu had, during a meeting with members of the Organised Private Sector in Lagos ahead of the 2023 general elections, promised to tackle the country’s electricity challenges.
He had declared: “Whichever way, by all means necessary, you will have electricity, and you will not pay for estimated bills anymore. A promise made will be a promise kept.”
He had also challenged Nigerians not to vote for him for a second term if he failed to fulfil the promise, unless he provided adequate reasons for his inability to do so.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the council’s spokesperson, Dele Alake, said the President’s performance should be assessed alongside the reforms and investments undertaken by his administration since assuming office in May 2023.
Alake acknowledged that fixing the country’s power sector remained unfinished business but insisted that Tinubu had consistently worked towards addressing its longstanding challenges.
He said one of the President’s earliest interventions was signing the Electricity Act, 2023, on June 9, barely two weeks after assuming office.
According to him, the legislation liberalised and deregulated the electricity market by allowing state governments to participate in electricity generation, transmission and distribution.
He listed Lagos, Enugu, Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Kaduna and Niger as states that had begun taking advantage of the legislation by establishing their electricity regulatory agencies and attracting private investment.
The APC campaign council spokesperson also said Tinubu inherited more than N6 trillion in accumulated electricity-sector debts covering the period between 2015 and 2025.
He added that the administration introduced the Presidential Metering Initiative to address a metering gap estimated at more than seven million customers.
Alake disclosed that over 1.5 million electricity customers had been metered under the initiative in the last three years.
He further listed the alignment of electricity tariffs with market costs, protection for low-income households and continued investment in substations and grid expansion as some of the administration’s interventions.
On the financial challenges confronting electricity operators, Alake said the Federal Government established a N4 trillion bond programme to settle verified legacy debts owed to 21 electricity generation companies and gas companies.
He said the first and second tranches of the programme had raised more than N1.2 trillion to offset part of the outstanding liabilities.
According to him, the intervention has helped reposition the electricity market, reduce investment risks and encourage power generation companies to upgrade their facilities.
He cited Geregu Power Plc’s recent investment in new power transformers to improve operations at its Geregu 1 Power Plant as evidence of growing private-sector investment.
On transmission infrastructure, Alake said the Tinubu administration reviewed the Presidential Power Initiative inherited from the late President Muhammadu Buhari and signed an Acceleration Agreement with German partners in December 2023.
He explained that the Federal Executive Council approved the first batch of five Transmission Company of Nigeria substations for upgrading in December 2024.
The projects, he said, were nearing completion and would be commissioned before the end of Tinubu’s first term.
He added that the council approved another batch of projects in June 2026, involving the construction of eight new substations and the upgrading of four existing ones in selected locations.
Alake also disclosed that the government planned to modernise the Osogbo Grid Control Centre, which he said was built more than 60 years ago, and construct an East-West super grid.
He said the Rural Electrification Agency had also connected universities, hospitals and rural communities to solar-powered electricity.
Addressing concerns over electricity tariffs, the spokesperson said the administration recognised the need to balance the financial sustainability of distribution companies with consumers’ ability to pay.
He explained that the introduction of service-based tariff bands was designed to improve the financial viability of distribution companies, strengthen cash flow in the electricity market and reduce the government’s burden of electricity subsidies.
He, however, maintained that the government would continue to explore measures to make electricity affordable, particularly for less privileged Nigerians.
“Fixing the electricity market and power sector is ongoing work,” Alake said.
He insisted that Tinubu had not abandoned his campaign commitment and would present his administration’s achievements and outstanding responsibilities to Nigerians as the 2027 general elections approach.