Minister of Power apologises to Nigerians over outages, promises improvement in coming weeks

In a press conference on Tuesday, March 24th, 2026, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, apologised to Nigerians for the incessant power outages that citizens have endured amidst the hot weather. '

The minister added that the government is leaving no stone unturned and promised that the situation will improve in the coming weeks.

"We want to apologise to the generality of Nigerians officially as the minister of power, for this temporary issue that is leading to hardship, especially in this dry season where there's so much heat everywhere....It's not our wish to find ourselves in this situation; it's just factors that are beyond our control," he said.

"But we are not relenting. We are working on it 24/7 to make sure that we go back to the trajectory of 2025, whereby you commended us for a good job," he added.

Adelabu added that the government's wish was to improve power supply, especially as the election year is just months away. He promised that the government is making all efforts to ensure that the target of generating 6,000MW is met before the end of the year.

"We are close to the election year...I can assure you that in the next few weeks, all these will be over. Power generation will improve, transmissions will improve, distribution will improve, and that 6,000MW will be achieved before the end of this year," he promised.

Since the rainy season ended in late January and the hydro power stations no longer generate sufficient power, the country has had to rely on thermal power stations for the country's electricity needs. This has turned out to be a bitter experience for Nigerians as power supply drastically dropped over what the thermal power plants blamed on a shortage of gas supply.

In a recent interview, Dr. Joy Ogaji, the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Power Generation Companies, stated that the debt owed by the power-generating companies to gas suppliers currently stands at 6.3 trillion naira. This has forced gas suppliers to halt their services, which led to the closure of several power-generating plants nationwide.

The poor power supply has led to protests in several states, including Osun, Edo, and Lagos, where residents have seen a rapid drop in power.

Before Adelabu's latest apology and promise, he pleaded for patience from Nigerians regarding the ongoing power crisis, but the situation has further deteriorated since then.

President Tinubu recently announced his administration's first step to addressing Nigeria's crippling power sector after nearly three years in power. The president inaugurated an 11-member committee to drive the establishment of the Grid Asset Management Company Limited, known as GAMCO, a new initiative aimed at addressing Nigeria's persistent power sector challenges. The Federal Executive Council had approved the company's establishment as part of efforts to tackle stranded power generation, transmission bottlenecks, and grid management inefficiencies.

The committee, chaired by the President's Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila, includes the Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi, the Ministers of Power, Works, Finance, Communications, Science and Technology, Aviation, and the Minister of State for Petroleum, among others.

It is tasked with reviewing existing laws and regulatory frameworks governing the electricity value chain and identifying conflicts or gaps that may hinder GAMCO's implementation.

With the 2027 elections barely 9 months away, Nigerians have been recalling the campaign promise of President Tinubu, who told Nigerians not to return him for a second term should he fail to give the country a 24-hour power supply.