Alake says Tinubu's electricity promise still 'work in progress' three years on
- Dele Alake said fixing Nigeria's power sector is unfinished business three years into Tinubu's term.
- He urged Nigerians to judge the 2023 campaign promise together with the full statement and the government's actions.
- Alake listed the Electricity Act, a N4tn debt bond and 1.5 million meters as progress so far.
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has conceded that President Bola Tinubu has not yet fixed Nigeria's electricity problems, but says the work is still going on.
The council's spokesperson, Dele Alake, said this in a statement on Sunday titled 'Tinubu's Electricity Pledge Must Be Considered in Full Context'. He said the President has kept taking steps against the structural, institutional and financial problems that have held the sector back for more than 50 years.
Alake's statement responds to recent commentary that recalled what Tinubu told the Organised Private Sector in Lagos before the 2023 election. Tinubu had said: "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 also said Nigerians should not vote for him again if he failed to deliver without good reason.
Alake argued that those commentaries left out the closing part of the promise, and that a fair judgement should weigh the whole statement against what the government has done since 2023.
What the government says it has done
According to Alake, Tinubu signed the Electricity Act 2023 on June 9, less than two weeks after taking office. The law lets states generate, transmit and distribute power. He said Lagos, Enugu, Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Kaduna and Niger states have set up their own electricity regulators and are drawing private investment.
On money, Alake said the administration inherited more than ₦6tn in accumulated debts built up between 2015 and 2025. He said a ₦4tn bond programme was set up to pay verified debts owed to 21 generation and gas companies, and that two tranches have raised more than ₦1.2tn so far.
He also pointed to the Presidential Metering Initiative, saying more than 1.5 million customers have received meters in three years. On tariffs, he said the government has moved prices towards cost-reflective levels, with service bands and measures meant to shield low-income homes.
On infrastructure, Alake said the administration is expanding substations and the grid, plans to modernise the Osogbo Grid Control Centre built more than 60 years ago, and wants an East-West super grid. He said the Rural Electrification Agency is linking universities, hospitals and rural communities to solar power.
He said Tinubu reworked the Presidential Power Initiative started under Muhammadu Buhari and signed an acceleration deal with German partners in December 2023. Contracts for a first batch of five Transmission Company of Nigeria substations were approved in December 2024, he said, and another batch of eight new substations and four upgrades followed in June 2026. Those projects, he said, will be commissioned before the end of Tinubu's first term.
Alake said power equipment takes a long time to arrive, so the projects cannot be finished overnight. He also pointed to new investment by generating companies, including Geregu Power Plc's plan for new transformers at its Geregu 1 plant, as a sign of returning confidence.
"Fixing the electricity market and power sector is ongoing work," Alake said. He said Tinubu has not dropped the commitment and will present his scorecard, including what is still outstanding, when he campaigns for a second term.
What happens next
Nigerians should watch for the commissioning of the substation projects Alake says will be ready before the end of the first term, and for whether more states take up their own electricity laws. The debate over estimated billing and tariff bands is likely to continue into the campaign.
