Power Minister Apologises To Nigerians Over Blackout

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has admitted that the current blackout across Nigerian cities is beyond his control.

He tendered a public apology to Nigerians over the crippling and persistent outages witnessed in the last month.

Adelabu tendered the apology in Abuja on Tuesday during a
press conference.

THE WHISTLER recalls that some cities and towns been experiencing erratic power supply in the past few weeks, the situation which has resulted in soaring temperatures across the country.

The minister also admitted that businesses, schools and industries have been affected by the erratic power supply across the country.

He said, “I want to apologise to Nigerians, officially now, coming from me as the Minister of Power, for this temporary issue that is leading to hardship being experienced, especially during this dry season, where there is so much heat everywhere.

“Businesses are being affected, schools have been affected, and industries have been affected. It is not our wish to find ourselves in this situation, but it is due to some factors that are actually beyond our control.”

Adelabu, however, assured Nigerians that relief is imminent, giving a definitive timeline for improvement in supply.

“I can tell you, with the committee that we have set up, and commitments from gas suppliers, and the timeline for repair of the gas pipelines, two weeks from now, we should start seeing improvements in supply. Two weeks,” Adelabu said.

According to him, the government already has visibility on when key repairs, particularly those involving facilities operated by Seplat Energy, will be completed, a development expected to restore gas flow to power plants.

He explained that a special committee has also been constituted to monitor compliance with domestic gas supply obligations by producers, a long-standing issue blamed for constraining electricity generation.

“We already have a committee that is working on this to track compliance with the domestic supply obligations of these gas companies to our power plants,” he said.

The minister added that improved payment flows to gas suppliers would further incentivise supply.

Adelabu acknowledged the structural issues, noting that while they were not entirely within the government’s control, efforts were ongoing to stabilise the system.

“We are working on it 24/7 to make sure that we go back to the trajectory of 2025, when Nigerians commended us for a good job well done,” he said.

He also reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to ramping up electricity generation to 6,000 megawatts before the end of 2026, describing the current disruption as a temporary deviation from a broader improvement plan.

“Power generation will improve, transmission will improve, distribution will improve, and that 6,000 megawatts will be achieved before the end of this year, and Nigerians will be better for it,” he assured.

He added that the government’s ambition is not just to recover lost ground but to surpass previous performance levels.

“If we could provide such service in 2025, this is 2026, we are willing to do more, to even do better,” Adelabu said.