The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has said that power generation in the country increased by about 30 per cent during the 2024 fiscal year.
By Haruna Salami
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has said that power generation in the country increased by about 30 per cent during the 2024 fiscal year.
He stated this on Monday during the 2025 budget defence of the ministry before the Senate Committee on Power held at the National Assembly, Complex.
Adelabu noted that when he assumed leadership of the ministry, “we met an average of 4,100 megawatts of power generation in 2023.
“I can tell you authoritatively that by the end of 2024, we had a peak generation of 5, 528 megawatts of power from 4,100 megawatts that we met on ground.
“And the reason for this is not far fetched. We added a new hydroelectric power dam, Zungeru of 700 megawatts.
“There was also a tremendous increase in the generation lines by other existing generation companies”.
The minster said that the target for power generation was 6,000 megawatts, but due to some challenges that were experienced towards the end of the year in terms of grid collapses, the ministry missed the target by minimal amount.
He further said that apart from energy access expansion, the sector had plans to stabilise the grid and other transmission infrastructure.
“I’m happy to also inform you that out of the eight collapses of the national grid that we experienced during 2024, five were full collapses, while three were actually partial collapses.
“Out of the five full collapses that we experienced, three out of them were actually due to generation problems.”
“So, as against the 12 times collapse that’s been publicised, it’s just about eight collapses.
The minister said they been trying very hard to ensure that they manage the grid that was inherited, adding that “unfortunately, it is still very old. It is dilapidated. And we are just managing it until we are able to fix it permanently.
This is the focus of the Presidential Power Initiative, to ensure that the entire grid is revamped so that we won’t be having all this vandalism.
“So these are a summary of activities. And we are proud to say that we almost met all our targets for 2024. And our hope is that 2025 will be a better year for us, and we will be able to address all the existing issues in the sector”.
In his remarks, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe questioned the government’s continuous funding of power Distribution Companies (DisCos), suggesting a review of their contracts and possible government reclamation, if inefficiencies persist.
The committee requested that the minister return on a later date with all DisCos to discuss contract performance and obligations.
