Nigeria Eyes 8,000MW Power Milestone by 2027, Says Minister Adelabu

Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu has declared that Nigeria is on track to generate and distribute 8,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity before the end of President Bola Tinubu’s first term in 2027.

Adelabu announced on Thursday during a ministerial press briefing hosted by Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation. The minister praised the rapid growth in electricity output under the current administration, noting a significant leap in generation capacity.

“In just a year and a half, we’ve added 1,700 megawatts to the grid—a feat that previously took Nigeria 35 years to achieve,” Adelabu stated. “We’ve now crossed the 6,000MW mark for the first time in our history.”

He emphasised that, if the current trajectory is maintained, Nigeria would not only reach but potentially exceed the 8,000MW target by 2027. “This isn’t just a projection—it’s a commitment,” he said.

Highlighting recent achievements, Adelabu revealed that on March 4, 2025, Nigeria hit a peak power evacuation of 5,801.44MW—the highest ever recorded—accompanied by an unprecedented daily energy output of 128,370.75 megawatt-hours.

“This is a major milestone. We’ve typically hovered around 118,000 to 119,000 megawatt-hours daily, but March 4 was a record-breaking day,” he noted.

According to the minister, the first quarter of 2025 saw an average daily power distribution of 5,700MW, up from 4,100MW recorded in Q3 2023 when the administration took office—a nearly 40% increase.

Adelabu criticized the slow progress of past administrations, pointing out that it took nearly four decades—from 1984 to 2022—for Nigeria to move from 2,000MW to 4,000MW.

“If every administration since 1999 had consistently added 1,000 MW, we’d be looking at over 30,000 MW by now. But we cannot dwell on the past—we must look forward,” he said.

Beyond generation, Adelabu highlighted significant improvements to the national grid’s capacity and resilience. “Two years ago, the grid would collapse at 5,000 MW. Today, we’ve successfully evacuated 5,800mw MW without any incident,” he said.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has commissioned 61 new transformers in 2024, totalling 5,589 MVA, with nine more added in Q1 2025 across major cities, including Lagos, Kano, and Kaduna. These upgrades, the minister said, have enabled the grid to carry up to 8.7 gigawatts of power.

In addition, a N25 billion allocation in the 2025 federal budget will support the completion of over 100 pending TCN projects, further boosting capacity and reliability.

Adelabu also revealed that Nigeria is moving toward regionalising the national grid. Approvals for eastern and western “supergrids” are underway—an initiative aimed at decentralizing the grid to minimize nationwide blackouts and improve regional autonomy.

“Grid disturbances have drastically reduced. We haven’t had a major incident in four months, and we’re working to ensure that even minor disturbances are resolved within one to two hours,” he assured.

The minister also credited the Presidential Power Initiative, executed by the FGN Power Company, for adding 700mw to the grid through pilot infrastructure projects in 13 locations.