Urgency is Not Panic Olarenwaju Modupe

Right of Reply

Adeola Akinremi’s “Joseph Tegbe’s Panic Response to Power Sector Reform” raises legitimate questions about the proposed national electricity complaints call centre. But using that single intervention to portray the Minister of Power as acting out of panic rather than pursuing a systemic reform agenda is a significant analytical leap.

Akinremi is correct that Nigeria already has an established complaints architecture involving Distribution Companies and the regulator. The pertinent question, however, is not simply whether a process exists, but whether it is sufficiently effective, responsive and accessible to the millions of Nigerians who interact with the power sector.

The existence of a process does not automatically establish its effectiveness. A proposed call centre is certainly not the power-sector reform. It is one possible instrument within a much broader reform process. To make it the basis for judging the Minister’s entire approach reduces a complex transformation programme to a single announcement.

Nigeria’s power problem is not one problem. It is an ecosystem of interconnected challenges involving generation, transmission, distribution, metering, financing, regulation, infrastructure protection, customer service and institutional coordination.

No serious reformer would imagine that one intervention can resolve all of these. The real challenge is to make the entire system work better. That is precisely where process management becomes important.

A process can exist on paper and still be slow, fragmented or ineffective. An organisation can have a complaints unit, an escalation procedure, and a regulatory framework while consumers continue to experience frustration.

The more useful question, therefore, is whether a national platform could improve the interface between consumers and the institutions that already have statutory responsibility.

Could it provide a single point of access? Could it track complaints? Could it improve escalation? Could it identify recurring failures? Could it generate actionable data for government? Could it ensure that complaints reach the institution capable of resolving them?

If properly designed, such a mechanism need not replace NERC, the DisCos or existing consumer structures. It could strengthen them. That is a legitimate policy debate.

It is not, by itself, evidence of panic. Nigeria’s electricity crisis also has a deeper dimension worth considering: public cynicism.

Years of unreliable power have conditioned Nigerians to expect promises without sustainable outcomes. Consequently, even when improvements begin, the government faces the added challenge of convincing citizens that the change is real and durable.

That requires more than infrastructure. It requires responsiveness, feedback, accountability and visible evidence that the old culture of failure is being challenged. In a system where failure has become normalised, reform may require what can reasonably be described as cultural shock—new expectations, faster responses and a visible disruption of established habits.

Urgency, therefore, should not automatically be confused with impulsiveness. A minister confronting a sector in distress cannot wait until every long-term reform is complete before addressing immediate problems. Generation, transmission, metering, vandalism, distribution and consumer complaints do not occur sequentially. They occur simultaneously.

Reform must therefore operate on multiple fronts. That is why the Minister’s early interventions should be assessed as components of a developing transformation programme, not isolated announcements.

Criticism is necessary. Indeed, Tegbe should be subjected to rigorous scrutiny over the cost, governance, statutory relationships and measurable outcomes of every initiative, including the proposed call centre. But scrutiny should also be contextual.

The proper test is not whether the Minister has found a single solution to Nigeria’s power crisis. He has not—and no serious reformer could. The test is whether his interventions collectively begin to change the way the system functions.

Power-sector reform is not a quick-fix policy document. It is a long-term transformation of a complex ecosystem. Tegbe’s first months should therefore be judged with both accountability and context. His professional background in management consulting and process transformation does not exempt him from scrutiny; it makes the architecture and execution of his reforms particularly important to examine.

Ultimately, Nigerians do not need a government that merely creates more places to complain. They need a system that listens, responds, fixes problems and learns from them. But neither should Nigerians be asked to reject an intervention simply because it does not solve the entire problem.

The power sector has waited too long for change. What it needs now is not paralysis disguised as prudence, but strategic urgency, disciplined execution and measurable results. That is Tegbe’s approach! Urgency is not panic. And one intervention is not a reform strategy.

Modupe, a public affairs and communication practitioner based in Lagos, wrote this in response to Adeola Akinremi’s opinion article published on Saturday, September 19, 2026