‘What Peter Obi Did Not Know’ – Onanuga Lists Major Challenges Of Nigeria Electricity

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has asserted that the country’s major challenge in electricity is not the absence of generation capacity but structural bottlenecks, including inadequate gas supply, legacy debts owed to gas suppliers and an outdated national grid.

NEWSNGR reports that Onanuga made this known during an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, while faulting the recent pledge by the 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, to increase Nigeria’s electricity generation and distribution by at least 10,000 megawatts within four years.

However, Onanuga countered Peter Obi, stating that Nigeria already possesses an installed electricity generation capacity that exceeds the figure he promised to deliver if elected president in 2027.

According to him, the former Governor of Anambra State does not fully understand the country’s existing power infrastructure capacity, stressing that successive challenges in the power sector have prevented the country from fully utilising its installed generation capacity.

Onanuga noted that Tinubu’s administration floated the idea of the Grid Asset Management Company Limited (GAMCO) to optimise the performance of some of the country’s hydropower facilities.

He said, “What people don’t know, and which unfortunately Peter Obi did not know, when he came and said he’s going to generate 10,000 megawatts, we already have in Nigeria stored capacity of 13,500 megawatts.

“What are the problems? The grid is outdated, No gas. The players in the sector are owing the gas companies legacy debt over N4 trillion, which has become the problem of this administration, and it’s trying to clear it.” 

Onanuga also said Tinubu’s administration moved early to address longstanding constraints in the electricity sector through policy reforms and legislative action.

He noted that several states have already begun taking advantage of the new law, adding that power generation under the current administration has improved compared to the level inherited in May 2023.

He stated, “To show that he meant business, the first thing he did when he came to office, he signed the Electricity Act, which enables states to generate power, to transmit power, to distribute power.

“And some of the states are taking advantage of that, more are going to do so. That will make the electricity sector open, more competitive.

“Power generation has increased. We are not at the level that the president met it. You know I said we have 13,500 megawatts installed; some of them are not really functioning.”