Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of only recently adopting an electricity reform approach he proposed more than two decades ago after nearly three years of what he described as ineffective power sector policies.
In a statement issued on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the Minister of Power’s recent acknowledgement that Nigeria could no longer depend solely on large, centralised power plants confirmed the position he had consistently maintained for over 20 years.
He argued that the government’s new direction followed years of worsening electricity supply, increased tariffs and reforms that failed to tackle the country’s core power challenges.
According to Atiku, it was disappointing that the administration needed almost three years in office to recognise what he considered an obvious solution decades earlier.
He criticised the government for raising electricity tariffs before implementing reforms capable of improving power generation and distribution, insisting that Nigerians were paying higher bills despite receiving poorer service.
”The government increased tariffs without first fixing the problems in the sector. Citizens have been made to pay more while the necessary reforms are only now being considered,” he said.
Reflecting on his time as vice president under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku said he consistently pushed for a decentralised electricity system that would harness Nigeria’s hydro, solar, gas and other energy resources instead of relying mainly on a centralised model.
He revealed that although he was appointed chairman of the Power Sector Reform Committee by the Obasanjo administration, he declined the role because he disagreed with the committee’s emphasis on gas-fired electricity generation.
Atiku maintained that he had long believed Nigeria’s power future depended on a diversified energy mix rather than dependence on a single source.
He also alleged that the strategy adopted at the time attracted billions of naira in funding from the federal, state and local governments but failed to achieve its objectives, adding that several contracts received advance payments without delivering the expected results.
The former vice president recalled that when the National Assembly later investigated the power sector reforms and questioned former President Obasanjo, he was not invited because he had refused to head the reform committee.
Atiku said he had remained consistent on the issue, pointing out that he restated the same position during a 2022 interview with ARISE News and made decentralised electricity generation a central feature of his presidential campaigns between 2007 and 2023.
He argued that Nigeria’s dependence on a centralised power system had always been economically unsustainable and technically inefficient, adding that the Tinubu administration was only now recognising the merits of a policy he had championed for years.
The ADC presidential candidate stressed that reliable and affordable electricity was essential for industrial growth, job creation, economic expansion and national competitiveness.
He further accused the current administration of spending almost three years experimenting with policies while businesses struggled, manufacturers faced increasing challenges and households paid more for inadequate electricity supply.
According to him, the real disappointment was not that the government had finally embraced the right policy but that Nigerians had endured years of higher tariffs and poor electricity before that decision was made.
Atiku pledged that, if elected president, his administration would implement a diversified and decentralised electricity generation system driven by hydro, gas, solar and other renewable energy sources.
He added that his government would also prioritise expanding transmission infrastructure, strengthening distribution networks and creating an enabling environment for greater private sector participation to deliver stable and affordable electricity nationwide.
He concluded that Nigeria’s challenge was not a lack of workable ideas but the absence of leaders willing to implement sound policies at the appropriate time, insisting that Nigerians should never have had to bear the cost of delayed decision-making in the power sector.
Tinubu Finally Embracing My 21-Year-Old Power Plan After Years of Failed Policies—Atiku
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