• Cautions against internal sabotage, calls for infrastructure investment by DISCOs
From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
The Senate, yesterday, charged the incoming Minister of Power, Mr. Joseph Tegbe, to go after what it described as generator cabal benefiting from Nigeria’s persistent electricity crisis, while also warning him against approving dubious maintenance requests within the ministry.
The directive came during Tegbe’s ministerial screening, which probed structural and commercial interests believed to be undermining stable electricity supply across the power value chain, from generation to transmission and distribution.
Lawmakers noted that the generator market, driven largely by diesel and petrol-powered imports, has grown into a parallel energy system serving homes, businesses and public institutions, effectively filling the gap left by the national grid.
They warned that such entrenched commercial interests could resist reforms aimed at stabilising electricity supply across generation, transmission and distribution.
Speaking at the session, chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, alerted Tegbe of the existence of a two-layer cabal operating both in the Ministry of Power and within the country’s multi-billion Naira generator import market.
According to him, the convergence of these interests has helped sustain the cycle of unreliable electricity.
He added: “There is a cabal you must confront, both within the system and outside it. Those importing generators are thriving because power is not stable.”
Speaking in his capacity as a former Minister of Power, Senator Danjuma Goje further buttressed his point, warning of what it termed a failed economy within the ministry. He alleged that some long-serving technical officials benefit from repeated grid collapses through maintenance contracts, emergency repairs and overtime payments, particularly within the transmission segment.
“When power goes out, some people see opportunity, not crisis,” he said, adding that, “you must not allow a situation where inefficiency becomes a business model.”
He cautioned the minister against inflated and questionable maintenance demands, urging him to subject such requests to strict scrutiny.
“Be careful with maintenance figures coming to you. Some of them are not genuine. If you don’t check it, you will be sustaining the problem you are meant to solve,” he warned.
On the technical side, Goje highlighted persistent weaknesses along the entire electricity value chain. He noted that while generation companies could produce about 7,500 megawatts, the transmission network is unable to wheel more than 4,500 megawatts without risking system collapse.
They added that inefficiencies at the distribution level, including poor infrastructure, energy losses and limited metering, further compound the problem, leaving consumers with erratic supply despite available generation capacity.
“This problem cuts across generation, transmission and distribution,” he said. “Even when power is generated, it is not efficiently transmitted and when it gets to distribution, it is not properly delivered to Nigerians.”
Corroborating their positions, Senate President Godswill Akpabio stressed that the crisis is not purely technical, pointing to institutional overlaps and policy inconsistencies involving generation companies, distribution firms and regulators such as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Responding to the concerns, Tegbe acknowledged gaps in the system and pledged to address both structural and institutional challenges.
“We are open to solutions. We will engage widely and tackle the issues,” he said. “I understand the concerns raised, and I will work with all stakeholders across the value chain to improve the sector.”
The Senate, thereafter, cleared Tegbe through a voice vote, asking him to take a bow and go, before concluding his confirmation.
