The Minister of Power, Adedayo Adelabu, has said that Nigeria would soon record significant progress in ‘Mission 300’ which aims at providing electricity to about 300 million Africans in 2026.
Currently, the Minister said approximately 150 million Nigerians have access to adequate electricity, even as about 80 million citizens still live without reliable power.
According to Adelabu, Nigeria’s progress in electricity access is largely driven by its involvement in “Mission 300,” a joint initiative of the World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB) aimed at providing electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030.
“The compact sets ambitious goals to enhance electricity access, increase renewable energy adoption, and improve clean cooking solutions for millions of Nigerians that is Mission 300, and we are making good progress on this,” Adelabu said.
Adelabu made this disclosure on Thursday in Abuja at the 2025 Ministerial Sectoral Update conference.
He added that Nigeria is expected to account for at least 25 per cent of the targeted population, representing about 75 million Nigerians.
“When we presented our compact, they agreed with us,” he said. “As it is today, Nigeria—a country with about 240 million people—has access for 150 million people already, while about 80 million lack access to adequate electricity.”
While celebrating the improved access, Adelabu stressed that the greater challenge remains the reliability and affordability of power supply.
“The real challenge lies in the stability and affordability of electricity. That’s how we measure reliability,” he noted. “We must ensure that those who have access enjoy consistent and affordable power.”
He warned against an over-reliance on off-grid renewable solutions, especially in urban areas, and called for more investments in strengthening Nigeria’s national grid infrastructure.
“Let’s not concentrate solely on renewable energy—which is more appropriate for rural communities,” he said. “Strengthening grid infrastructure is equally crucial. Otherwise, how do we explain the growing number of Nigerian companies opting out of the national grid to generate captive power?”
The minister also revealed a significant increase in Nigeria’s power generation capacity, stating that output has risen by 1,700 megawatts within the past one and a half years, bringing total generation to 6,003 megawatts.
“It took Nigeria over 40 years to achieve an incremental 2,000 megawatts of average energy. We achieved 1,700 megawatts in less than two years,” he said.
Adelabu projected that if the current growth trajectory is maintained, the country could reach 8,000 megawatts of generated and distributed power by 2027.
He also hinted that the Kaduna Power Plant would come online before the end of 2025, while declaring that the longstanding metering gap “will soon be a thing of history.”
On electricity pricing, Adelabu disclosed that tariff reforms had yielded an additional ₦700 billion in revenue. In April 2024, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) hiked tariffs for Band A customers — those receiving at least 20 hours of power daily — from ₦68 to ₦225 per kilowatt-hour, a 230 per cent increase.
The move, justified by the government as necessary to reduce its ₦2.9 trillion energy subsidy burden, has drawn sharp criticism. Even after the increase, ₦2.8 trillion was still allocated for subsidies in the 2024 budget. NERC projected that the hike would reduce subsidy obligations by ₦1.14 trillion.
Despite the progress reported in access and generation, Nigeria’s power grid continues to falter. So far in 2024, the national grid has suffered at least 12 collapses, plunging major cities such as Abuja, Lagos, and Kano into darkness.
The Minister attributed the frequent blackouts to ageing infrastructure, vandalism, and inconsistent gas supply to thermal power plants. He proposed regionalising the grid to prevent nationwide collapses.
“Until the national grid becomes truly reliable, Nigerians—both businesses and individuals—will continue to seek alternative solutions. Our task is to reverse that trend by fixing the fundamentals,” Adelabu said.