APC says Tinubu's electricity promise still stands, scorecard coming in 2027
- The APC campaign council says President Tinubu has not abandoned his 2023 promise on stable electricity.
- Spokesman Dele Alake said critics quoted the pledge without Tinubu's caveat about explaining any shortfall.
- Alake listed the Electricity Act, metering and debt settlement as progress, but admitted the work is unfinished.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has defended President Bola Tinubu's 2023 campaign promise to fix Nigeria's electricity supply, saying he will give Nigerians a full account of what has been done, and what has not, before the 2027 elections.
Dele Alake, spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, said this in a statement on Sunday, November 1, 2026, according to Leadership. He was responding to public commentary on the pledge Tinubu made to the Organised Private Sector in Lagos before the 2023 election.
Alake said recent commentaries had quoted the promise without the closing part, where Tinubu said he would give Nigerians adequate reasons if he fell short before asking for a second term. A fair reading, he argued, must take the whole statement together with the administration's record since May 2023.
"While fixing the power sector crisis remains unfinished, the President is working consistently to deliver on his promise to Nigerians," Alake said.
What the APC says has been done
Alake pointed to the Electricity Act, 2023, which Tinubu signed on June 9, 2023, barely two weeks in office. The law lets state governments generate, transmit and distribute electricity, and he named Lagos, Enugu, Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Kaduna and Niger as states already setting up their own regulators and drawing private investment.
On metering, he said the Presidential Metering Initiative has metered more than 1.5 million customers in three years. On debts, he said the government is tackling over ₦6 trillion in legacy debts built up between 2015 and 2025, and set up a ₦4 trillion bond programme to pay verified debts owed to 21 generation and gas companies. Two tranches have raised more than ₦1.2 trillion so far, he said.
He also cited the Presidential Power Initiative inherited from the previous administration, which Tinubu accelerated through a December 2023 agreement with German partners. The Federal Executive Council approved contracts in December 2024 for five Transmission Company of Nigeria substations, and another batch in June 2026 for eight new substations and four upgrades, he said.
Other items on his list include new electricity service bands and tariffs meant to keep distribution companies afloat while shielding low-income homes, solar connections by the Rural Electrification Agency for universities, hospitals and rural communities, a plan to modernise the 60-year-old Osogbo Grid Control Centre, and an East-West super grid.
Why it matters
Electricity is a pocketbook issue for most Nigerian households and small businesses. Many still face estimated billing and long blackouts, and pay for fuel to run generators. How the government handles tariffs and metering directly affects what families and shop owners spend each month.
Alake acknowledged that the job is not finished, saying major power projects need equipment and time that cannot be delivered overnight. "Fixing the electricity market and power sector is ongoing work," he said.
What happens next: The APC says the President will present his scorecard and explain the remaining challenges as he seeks a second term in 2027. Nigerians will be watching whether metering, billing and supply improve before then.
