Presidency’s No Confidence Vote on National Grid

The plan by the Aso Rock Villa to exit the National Electricity Grid this month following the completion of its solar power project is viewed as a betrayal of the masses who have been abandoned to bear the brunt of persistent grid collapses and epileptic power supply, Ejiofor Alike reports

A major campaign promise of President Bola Tinubu was the supply of adequate electricity to Nigerians. In many of his presidential campaign rallies, Tinubu had urged Nigerians not to re-elect him for a second term in office if he failed to provide adequate power supply.

When Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, power supply hovered around 4,000 – 5,000megawatts.

As part of his efforts to fulfill his campaign promises, President Tinubu, had within less than one month in office, assented to the electricity bill, which authorises states, companies and individuals to generate, transmit and distribute electricity.

With the new law, state governments have been issuing licenses to private investors to operate mini-grids and power plants.

Tinubu’s administration has made other landmark interventions in the power sector to boost generation, transmission and distribution.

Despite the efforts of his administration to improve the performance of the sector, electricity supply to Nigerians have remained epileptic, still hovering below 5,000MW with frequent collapses of the national grid.

In its January 2026 Operational Performance Factsheet, detailing the performance of grid-connected power plants across the country, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had reported that Nigeria’s power plants recorded a Plant Availability Factor (PAF) of 36 per cent during the month under review.

This performance was an indication that an average of 4,901 megawatts (MW) was available for dispatch out of the nation’s total installed capacity of 13,625 MW during the month under review.

NERC’s factsheet also showed a strong Average Load Factor of 90 per cent, which implied that about 4,421 megawatt-hours per hour (MWh/h) of the available generation capacity was effectively utilised on the national grid.

It would be recalled that power supply, which was still hovering below 5,000MW in January 2026 had hit an all-time high of 4,502MW on December 21, 2012.

A previous peak of 4,237MW was first recorded on August 8, 2012, followed by the 4,454 recorded on December 19, 2012, before the new peak of December 21, 2012.

In February 2016, the all-time peak exceeded 5,000MW on two occasions.

Under Tinubu’s administration, an unprecedented peak generation of 6,003MW was achieved on March 4, 2025, while 5,801.8MW was transmitted, a record feat by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

Previously, a peak of 5,543.2 was recorded on February 14, 2025.

It is therefore frustrating that power supply that had attained a peak of over 4,500MW in 2012, and exceeded 5,000MW in February 2016, is still performing below 5,000MW in 2026.

Though installed capacity has continued to increase over the years, currently averaging over 13,500MW, what matters to Nigerians is the quantity of electricity dispatched to their homes and businesses, and not the idle capacity in power stations that cannot be wheeled to the grid and distributed to the users.

Many argue that the poor performance of the power sector since it was privatized and handed over to the private sector on November 1, 2013, may have vindicated the electricity workers under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), who had opposed the sale of the assets of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

The workers had argued that the private sector should rather be licensed to build power generation and distribution assets that would compete with the PHCN facilities.

However, rather than improve the capacity of the transmission infrastructure, which is still government-owned, the Presidency seems to have abandoned other Nigerians to their fate with its ongoing plan to disconnect from the national grid by this month.

Defending the 2026 budget of the State House before the Senate Committee on Special Duties, the State House Permanent Secretary, Temitope Fashedemi, had disclosed that the disconnection followed the completion of its solar power project.

He told the committee, chaired by Senator Kaka Lawan (Borno Central), that the solar installation was completed towards the end of 2025 and had been undergoing testing since December 2025.

The federal government had budgeted N10billion for the “Solarisation of the Villa with Solar Mini Grid” project in 2025.

The 2026 Appropriation Bill contains an additional N7billion allocation for the project.

These allocations had provoked widespread criticisms from Nigerians who argued that the decision to install solar panels at Aso Rock amounted to an admission that the Tinubu’s administration could not fix Nigeria’s epileptic power supply.

However, the Director-General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria, Mustapha Abdullahi, had defended the project in April 2025, insisting that it was unsustainable for the Villa to continue paying an estimated N47billion annual electricity bill.

In February 2024, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) had listed the Presidential Villa among the top government debtors with an outstanding bill of N923.87million, which was later reconciled to N342.35 million.

Also, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, had also cited the White House’s use of solar energy to justify the initiative.

Indeed, the White House uses solar energy as claimed by the presidency but Americans enjoy steady and uninterrupted electricity supply, unlike Nigerians who pay for darkness as the country’s erratic power supply is compounded by outrageous estimated billing of customers.  

The adoption of renewable energy by Tinubu’s administration is commendable and will boost power supply in Nigeria.

Exiting the national grid by major towns, cities and other entities will reduce pressure on the grid and enhance its transmission capacity for the benefit of other electricity customers.

However, the Nigeria’s seat of power in Abuja should not exit the national grid but rather facilitate the adoption of renewable energy by major towns and cities in Nigeria to free the grid.

By exiting the national grid, the presidency tends to isolate itself from the problems facing other Nigerians.

This does not show leadership by example; it shows loss of confidence by the government in the power sector and also discourages potential investors.

Many believe it will be difficult to convince investors to invest in a sector that the government has exhibited a lack of confidence.  

Reacting, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, recalled a campaign promise attributed to Tinubu, who pledged that Nigerians should not re-elect him if he failed to provide steady electricity within four years.

“Those were the powerful words then that inspired hope among Nigerians who longed for light in their homes, stability for their businesses, and growth for their nation,” Obi said. 

According to him, the decision to disconnect the seat of power from the national grid raises concerns about the government’s commitment to improving the electricity supply nationwide. 

“One would expect government institutions to lead efforts to strengthen and expand the grid so that other establishments, and ultimately, citizens can benefit,” he said. 

“You cannot tell the people to fast while feasting yourself, securing yourself while Nigerians remain unsecured,” he reportedly stated.

In addition to its current support to the adoption of renewable energy, Tinubu’s administration should also review the terms and conditions of the power sector privatisation.