By Ayo Ayodele
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Rilwan Lanre Babalola as Special Adviser on Power and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power Sector Reset and Restoration, in a move aimed at overhauling Nigeria’s electricity sector.
The appointment, announced in a State House press release on Thursday, signals the administration’s renewed push to address longstanding inefficiencies in the power value chain.
As part of the restructuring, the President also redesignated the Office of the Special Adviser (Energy) to Special Adviser (Oil & Gas), a step officials say is intended to streamline responsibilities and eliminate overlaps within the energy governance framework.
Babalola, a former Minister of Power, is expected to leverage his experience to drive reforms targeted at improving performance and accountability across the sector.
According to the statement, the newly constituted task force will operate under a direct presidential mandate as a high-level implementation body focused on restoring discipline, efficiency, and commercial viability in the power sector. It will also coordinate activities across relevant ministries, departments, and agencies.
Key areas of focus for the task force include implementing a comprehensive system reset, enforcing a “Performance Before Expansion” framework, reducing technical and commercial losses, and strengthening tariff integrity and cost discipline.
The task force is also expected to boost revenue assurance, improve sector liquidity, restore grid discipline, promote productive electricity use, and develop Electricity Growth Zones, while delivering a 90-day implementation blueprint.
The President charged Babalola to approach the assignment with urgency and a strong execution focus, in line with the administration’s reform agenda, with the goal of achieving measurable improvements in electricity supply nationwide.