By Olugbenga Salami
Newly confirmed Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has said that Nigerians should expect measurable improvements in electricity supply within the next three to six months, as the government moves to stabilise the grid and modernise infrastructure.
Tegbe made the assurance on Wednesday during his screening by the Senate, stating that both President Bola Tinubu and Nigerians were demanding tangible results from the power sector.
“My promise to Nigeria and to this chamber is that Nigerians will see visible improvement in the sector,” he said, pledging to carry out an independent diagnosis of the industry while deepening transparency and accountability across the electricity value chain.
The minister‑designate outlined plans to strengthen coordination between the Ministry of Power, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, and other stakeholders.
He noted that Nigeria’s electricity challenges go beyond technical faults to include governance gaps, under‑capitalisation, gas supply constraints, and commercial inefficiencies.
Tegbe described frequent national grid collapses as a reflection of weak transmission systems, ageing infrastructure, unstable frequency control, and poor regulatory enforcement.
He added that gas shortages, transmission bottlenecks and weak coordination continue to keep actual generation far below the country’s installed capacity of over 13,000 megawatts, with supply rarely exceeding 4,500 megawatts.
On tariffs, he promised reforms that would protect vulnerable households while balancing sustainability, investor confidence and overall sector efficiency, pledging support for sub‑national investments in mini‑grids, solar expansion and greater state participation under the Electricity Act.
Rejecting what he called “failed past approaches,” Tegbe said he would pursue innovation, broad consultation and difficult but necessary decisions to tackle Nigeria’s long‑standing power crisis.
Senators warned that entrenched interests, including generator importers and underperforming distribution companies, could resist reforms, stressing that transmission and distribution systems remain the weakest links in the value chain.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged Tegbe to focus on lasting solutions rather than a contract‑driven maintenance culture, saying that stable electricity was critical to industrialisation, national security, economic growth and Nigeria’s development goals.
Akpabio also criticised exploitative billing practices by both electricity providers and DSTV, questioning why Nigerians pay for unused services while consumers in other countries enjoy pay‑as‑you‑go systems without arbitrary deductions.
He called on the new minister to address daily subscription charges and estimated billing to ensure fair consumer protection in both the power and telecommunications sectors.
