ABUJA – In a high-stakes bid to restore confidence in Nigeria’s perennially dark power sector, the newly confirmed Minister of Power, Olasunkanmi Joseph Tegbe, has placed his political career on the line, vowing to be held personally accountable if the recurring national grid collapses persist under his watch.
During a rigorous Senate screening in Abuja on Wednesday, Tegbe—a first-class Civil Engineering graduate and former KPMG Senior Partner—presented a roadmap aimed at ending the systemic rot that has left the nation’s electricity supply in a state of “recurring decimal” failure.
A 100-Day Ultimatum
Tegbe, who recently served as the Director-General of the Nigeria-China Strategic Partnership, did not mince words regarding the urgency of the task. He pledged a 100-day reform window to stabilize the grid and restore basic functionality to the sector.
”If there are no results in three months, there will be none in six. Nigerians should hold us accountable,” Tegbe declared before the lawmakers. To ensure this is not just another empty promise, he announced the forthcoming launch of a public performance dashboard, allowing citizens to track progress and grid stability in real-time.
Confronting the ‘Generator Cabal’
The screening took an adversarial turn when lawmakers, led by Senate Committee Chairman on Power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, pressed Tegbe on the “entrenched interests” that profit from the sector’s failure.
Tegbe acknowledged the existence of “saboteurs” and a “generator cabal” that benefits from a blackout-prone economy. He vowed to confront these elements head-on, describing the frequent vandalism of power infrastructure as a “national security threat” that requires a coordinated military and intelligence response.
The N6 Trillion Liquidity Crisis
Beyond the technical failures that saw the grid collapse as recently as January 2026, Tegbe addressed the staggering N6 trillion liquidity crisis paralyzing the industry. While he admitted that the current financial model is “unsustainable,” he proposed a delicate balancing act: implementing market-reflective tariffs while maintaining affordability for the most vulnerable Nigerians.
Key highlights of his reform plan include:
- Decentralization: Expanding mini-grids and solar solutions for over 70% of rural dwellers currently without access.
- Infrastructure Audit: Conducting independent diagnostics of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to bridge the gap between the 13,000MW generation capacity and the 4,500MW delivery ceiling.
- Aggressive Metering: Scaling up the national metering program to eliminate the “arbitrary extortion” of estimated billing.
Senate Issues Mandate
The Senate, presided over by President Godswill Akpabio, unanimously confirmed Tegbe but with a stern warning. Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin emphasized that the power sector remains the single greatest obstacle to Nigeria’s industrial ambitions.
”Our industries cannot thrive without reliable electricity. What we need now are results, not assurances,” Jibrin remarked.
With his background in global business strategy and institutional reform, Tegbe is seen by many as the administration’s “last-best hope” to fix a sector that has swallowed trillions of naira in investments with little to show but darkness. His first “accountability test” begins today.
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