- Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has dismissed Peter Obi’s electoral pledge to add 10,000 megawatts to the national grid within four years, stating that the target shows a fundamental lack of familiarity with existing infrastructure.
- The Presidency emphasized that Nigeria’s primary power deficit stems from operational constraints, transmission weaknesses, and an inherited ₦4 trillion debt owed to gas suppliers, rather than low installed generation capacity.
- Defending the current administration’s scorecard, Onanuga highlighted President Bola Tinubu’s signing of the landmark Electricity Act to empower states and the planned launch of the Grid Asset Management Company Limited (GAMCO) to modernize the country’s aging transmission lines.
The Presidency has criticized the recent pledge by the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, to add 10,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid within four years if elected in 2027, describing the promise as a reflection of his ignorance regarding the country’s existing power infrastructure.
Eko Hot Blog reports that speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, argued that Nigeria already possesses an installed generation capacity of about 13,500 megawatts, making Obi’s target redundant.
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According to the presidential spokesman, the real crisis crippling the nation’s power sector lies in structural bottlenecks and transmission weaknesses rather than a lack of generation capacity.
Onanuga explained that a severe shortage of gas supply and massive legacy debts owed to gas suppliers are the primary reasons many existing power plants cannot operate at optimal capacity.
He revealed that operators within the power sector are currently owing gas companies over ₦4 trillion in inherited debts, a financial burden that the President Bola Tinubu administration is actively working to liquidate.
Defending the current administration’s track record, Onanuga asserted that electricity generation has seen a noticeable improvement compared to what was inherited in May 2023.
He pointed out that President Tinubu demonstrated immediate commitment to reforming the sector by signing the Electricity Act shortly after taking office.
This landmark legislation constitutionally empowers state governments to generate, transmit, and distribute their own electricity, fostering regional competition and opening up the market.
While acknowledging that some states have already begun utilizing this new legal framework to develop independent power structures, Onanuga admitted that the national grid itself remains a monumental obstacle to stable power supply across Nigeria.
Describing the current transmission infrastructure as completely outdated, he noted that the Federal Government has set plans in motion to modernize these critical national assets.
Part of these ongoing structural reforms includes the establishment of the proposed Grid Asset Management Company Limited (GAMCO) to oversee and boost the efficiency of key electricity infrastructure.
