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Nigeria Targets 20-Hour Daily Power Supply by 2027 with Investment Reforms
Nigeria’s ambitious target of providing at least 20 hours of electricity daily by 2027 hinges on a significant boost in investments, especially in the oil and gas sectors.
Olu Verheijen, Special Adviser on Energy to President Bola Tinubu, recently underscored this at the Africa Energy Week in Cape Town, South Africa.
In a statement released by Abiodun Oladunjoye, the State House Director of Information and Publicity, Verheijen detailed the federal government’s plans to revitalize Nigeria’s power sector and improve electricity access for Nigerians.
Currently, Nigeria’s power grid is plagued by challenges, with its most recent collapse marking the 10th outage since the start of 2024.
The government has attributed these frequent failures to outdated infrastructure, a lack of regular maintenance, and chronic underinvestment.
Despite Nigeria’s impressive installed capacity of about 12,500 megawatts, only a fraction of this power is regularly generated, leaving vast areas of the country without stable electricity.
Verheijen noted that Nigeria is pushing to provide consistent power to urban and industrial areas as a cornerstone of economic development.
The government has a range of initiatives aimed at addressing these challenges.
For example, revenue collection reforms are underway to increase accountability, along with the deployment of seven million smart meters to minimize energy losses.
Additionally, there are plans to expand off-grid solutions to ensure remote communities have access to electricity, which will help bridge the gap in underserved regions.
Verheijen emphasized that recent macroeconomic reforms, including the removal of the petrol subsidy and foreign exchange liberalization, signal Nigeria’s readiness for a new era of growth.
She urged foreign investors to see these changes as an open invitation to partner with Nigeria, mentioning that the Tinubu administration is actively pursuing policies to attract investment.
As part of the broader Presidential Gas for Growth Initiative, the government is focusing on midstream and downstream investments, including in compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and electric vehicles.
The administration aims to reduce dependency on petrol and diesel, particularly in transport, decentralized power generation, and cooking, while fostering demand for cleaner alternatives like electric vehicles.
While discussing Nigeria’s oil and gas potential, Verheijen compared the country’s performance to that of Brazil, which has managed to produce 131 percent more oil than Nigeria, despite having only 30 percent of its oil reserves.
This gap, she argued, is largely due to underinvestment.
She lamented the fact that since 2016, Nigeria has attracted only 4 percent of Africa’s oil and gas investments, whereas other, less resource-rich African nations have managed to capture a larger share of investor interest.
To reverse this trend, the Tinubu administration is implementing reforms aimed at making Nigeria’s oil and gas sector more competitive.
For the first time since the beginning of deepwater exploration in 1991, Nigeria is introducing a specific fiscal framework for deepwater gas projects, as well as incentives to stimulate investment in non-associated gas production.
Verheijen noted that these new policies are designed to increase investor confidence and unlock Nigeria’s potential, enabling international oil companies to bring more capital to Nigeria’s shores.
TV anchor Rufai Oseni makes headlines as he speaks on fuel subsidy in Nigeria. He shared that Nigeria can have fuel subsidy without the long queues at filling stations.
“When we were still paying subsidies, there were no long queues. We were subsidising. So you can still have a subsidy regime going on, and there will be no long queues because production was close by. Dangote had it. That’s just it. That argument also falls flat.
“The biggest beneficiaries of subsidy are not Nigerians. They are crony capitalists that have big infrastructure, and they do contracts. They have been the biggest beneficiaries of the subsidy,” he said.
Lagos State Governor, Sanwo-Olu, speaks to those in the electricity sector about the usual blackouts in the state.
He speaks on ways things can change in the state and how electricity can be provided.
“We need to drop corporate egos, abandon long-standing excuses, and confront the harsh realities obstructing progress in the power sector.”
“We, state governments, used to give excuses that everything is centralised, so the Federal Government has unbundled it now. What have we done in a year and a half?” Sanwo-Olu asked.
“We take two steps forward, we go five steps backward,” he said.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared Thursday, August 20, a work-free day for public servants in the state to mark the Isese Festival.
Speaking on the celebration, he said “Ìṣẹ̀ṣe is not a relic. It is a living expression of our traditions and a celebration of Yoruba spirituality as an important part of Nigeria’s cultural and religious landscape,” he said.
He added “When the drums sound in Lagos on Thursday, they answer drums in Havana, in Salvador, in Port of Spain. Fifty-five million people and counting. Lagos is not observing a local holiday. Lagos is standing at the centre of a global heritage,” Aregbe said.
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