Why Bayo Adelabu May Not Deliver

BayoAdelabu was never going to be Nigeria’s electricity messiah, but he was supposed to try. The former deputy governor  of the Central Bank, veteran of PwC, and now Minister of Power, Adelabu entered office in 2023 armed with expertise and ambition. But even expertise struggles in a sector where megawatts come second to mayhem.

To blame him entirely would be a mistake. By the time he arrived, the power sector was already broken, gutted by a 2013 privatisation so deeply compromised that even its architects have begun to flinch.

“We sold DisCos and GenCos to ourselves,” confessed former planning minister ShamsuddeenUsman. That single sentence unplugs the myth of reform: politicians awarded assets to allies, technical qualifications took a backseat, and oversight disappeared behind curtains of self-interest.

The results? DisCos with no financial backbone.GenCos tangled in ownership drama. Over N15 trillion in government bailouts later, over 80 million Nigerians still live in darkness. Even the president has disconnected from the national grid, literally. A N10 billion solar mini-grid now powers Aso Rock, a glowing indictment of a sector so unreliable that the state itself has installed a backup plan.

Adelabu’s strategy has been to blame the past, plead for patience, and promise revival. But promises do little in a system where transmission is fragile, distribution is dysfunctional, and every reform effort collides with vested interests. The Siemens deal? Still crawling. Tariffs? Still biting. Trust? Long gone.

This isn’t about a lack of competence. It’s about a man handed a sinking ship already halfway to the ocean floor. Adelabu may understand finance, but the power sector isn’t an Excel sheet; it’s a political swamp lit by private interests and public fatigue.

No sensible person would expect Adelabu to be patted on the back for the current state of things. But it is not all his fault, and that’s precisely why he may not deliver.