Minister Laments Idle Power Plants as Nigeria Fails to Utilise 10,000MW Electricity Capacity
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has criticised the country’s poor management of its self energy resources, lamenting that over 10,000 megawatts of electricity generation capacity remain unused while millions of citizens continue to live without power.
Speaking at the Nigeria Energy Conference in Lagos, Adelabu described the situation as a national embarrassment, revealing that many government-owned power facilities across the country have been left idle for years despite their operational potential.
“In Nigeria today, we have over 10 gigawatts of stranded generation capacity. We have energy installed all over the country that we are not even using,” he said. “Generation will not be our immediate problem today, but stable transmission and effective distribution to households with full metering.”
The minister said the country’s challenge was no longer about producing electricity but about transmitting and distributing it efficiently.
According to him, energy that could power industries, create jobs, and even support electricity exports to neighbouring countries remains stranded due to infrastructural neglect.
Adelabu cited the Aluminium Smelting Company in Akwa Ibom as one of the most glaring examples of the country’s inefficiency. He said the facility houses six turbines of 90 megawatts each, totalling 540 megawatts, that have been dormant for two decades simply because of a short transmission gap.
“It’s been there for the past 20 years, not operating. Inside that factory, there is a 540-megawatt turbine for power generation in good condition.
Each of these turbines has a capacity for an additional 20 megawatts, which brings the total to about 660 megawatts,” he said.
“We are not even bothered, just because there are fewer than four kilometres of line to connect it to the substation. Can you see how wasteful we are in this country?”
He added that the Ibom Power Station, located less than two kilometres away and with a steady gas supply, could have been used to support the smelting company’s energy needs if properly connected.
Adelabu also pointed to another case of neglect at the Port Harcourt Refinery, where an 84-megawatt thermal power plant is underutilised.
“They have an existing 84-megawatt power capacity that is wasting away,” he said. “NNPC is not consuming up to 20 megawatts. We have 60 megawatts of power stranded in that location, and by extension, the facility has an additional potential of 120 megawatts. That’s 200 megawatts wasted inside Port Harcourt, while the local Disco complains of a lack of supply from the grid.”
The minister described such inefficiencies as evidence of Nigeria’s complacency, saying the country was “lazy and carefree” with its natural and infrastructural resources.
He said his ministry plans to visit more stranded power facilities across the country to highlight untapped assets and demonstrate that Nigeria has the capacity to become a power-sector leader.
“With this new Electricity Act of 2023, states can now generate, transmit, and distribute power. They are like sovereigns,” he said. “The subnationals must take the bull by the horn and light up their states.”
