Adelabu: Nigeria needs $10bn annually in 20 years for stable electricity supply

Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, says Nigeria needs $10 billion annually for 20 years to have stable electricity supply. 

The minister spoke during an interview with journalists on Tuesday after commissioning the 2.5 megawatts (mw) solar hybrid power project at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna.

He said the infrastructure gap in the power sector has accumulated over the past 60 years due to inadequate maintenance, insufficient investment, and the inability to upgrade transmission grids.

“For us to achieve functional reliable and stable electricity in Nigeria, we need not less than $10 billion annually for the next ten to twenty years,” Adelabu said.

“But there are some foundational bottleneck that we experienced in the past that need to be fixed for the spending of this money to have meaning.”

He, however, said the present administration, led by President Bola Tinubu, is doing its best to tackle the challenges.

Adelebu said the signing of the energy bill into an act is one of the important steps taken by the government to tackle the challenges in the power sector.

“This bill has achieved liberation and decentralization of the power sector to enable all levels of government – federal, state and local governments to legally and morally play roles in the power sector to give their citizens at sub national levels electricity,” the minister said.

“This has given autonomy to more than eleven states and more are still coming. They can now play roles in the power sector from generation to transmission to distribution and even metering.

“Secondly, we talk about infrastructure deficit, then we talk about fixing infrastructure deficit which has piled up over the last 60 years due to lack of maintenance, lack of additional investment to revive our transmission grid.”

The minister emphasised the government’s commitment to delivering sustainable and dependable energy to key national institutions.

In his address, Abba Aliyu, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), described the unveiling of the project as “a turning point in Nigeria’s journey toward energy access for learning institutions”.

He noted that the agency is not merely commissioning projects, but also driving social impact, research and sustainable development.

Aliyu said the “EEP Phase II is not just an energy project, it is a national mission. We are delivering clean energy to power academic excellence, national security, and innovation”.