Atiku: Tinubu Finally Adopts My 21-Year-Old Power Sector Blueprint

Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has claimed that President Bola Tinubu has finally embraced a power sector reform strategy he proposed more than two decades ago to address Nigeria’s persistent electricity challenges.

Atiku made the claim in a statement issued on Sunday by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, following recent comments by the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, on the need to decentralise electricity generation.

According to Atiku, the minister’s admission that Nigeria can no longer rely solely on large, centralised power plants amounts to a validation of the electricity reform blueprint he championed over 21 years ago.

He argued that successive governments had ignored the proposal despite its potential to transform electricity generation and distribution across the country.

“It should not take a government three years in office to discover what was obvious more than two decades ago,” Atiku said.

He criticised the Tinubu administration for increasing electricity tariffs before implementing the structural reforms needed to improve power supply.

“A government that thinks before it acts would have fixed the system before asking citizens to pay more. Unfortunately, this administration has done the exact opposite—raising tariffs first and only now beginning to think about the reforms required to justify those increases,” he stated.

The former vice president recalled that while serving under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he consistently advocated a decentralised electricity model that would leverage Nigeria’s abundant energy resources.

According to him, the proposal recommended expanding electricity generation through hydroelectric dams, natural gas, solar energy and other renewable sources instead of relying mainly on large national power stations.

Atiku maintained that decentralised power generation would improve electricity access, reduce pressure on the national grid and stimulate industrial growth across the country.

He insisted that the approach remains the most practical solution to Nigeria’s long-standing electricity crisis and expressed hope that the current administration would fully implement the reforms rather than adopt them in part.

The Federal Government has repeatedly stated that ongoing reforms are aimed at improving electricity generation, transmission and distribution while attracting greater private sector investment into the power sector.