I apologize — Power minister begs Nigerians over outages

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has apologized to Nigerians over the persistent power outages recorded across the country in recent weeks. 

Adelabu tendered the apology on Tuesday, March 24, during a press conference in Abuja. Discos have blamed the decline in power supply to limited gas supply to thermal power plants.

While speaking at the press conference, Adelabu acknowledged the impact of the outages, particularly during the dry season when electricity demand for cooling has surged.

“I want to apologise to Nigerians, officially now, coming from me as the Minister of Power, for this temporary issue that is leading to hardship being experienced, especially during this dry season, where there is so much heat everywhere,” he said

He noted that the situation has negatively affected key sectors of the economy.

“Businesses are being affected, schools have been affected, and industries have been affected. It is not our wish to find ourselves in this situation, but it is due to some factors that are actually beyond our control,” Adelabu added.

He assured Nigerians that efforts are underway to restore stable power supply, giving a timeline for improvement.

According to him, electricity supply is expected to begin improving within the next two weeks, following commitments from gas suppliers and ongoing repairs on critical infrastructure.

“I can tell you, with the committee that we have set up, and commitments from gas suppliers, and the timeline for repair of the gas pipelines, two weeks from now, we should start seeing improvements in supply” he said

He also disclosed that a special committee has been set up to monitor compliance with domestic gas supply obligations by gas producers, a longstanding challenge affecting electricity generation.

“We already have a committee that is working on this to track compliance with the domestic supply obligations of these gas companies to our power plants,” he said