- After screening, confirmation
The Senate, on Wednesday, charged the incoming Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, to confront what it described as a powerful “generator cabal” profiting from Nigeria’s chronic electricity crisis, while also warning him against approving dubious maintenance requests within the ministry.
The charge came during Tegbe’s ministerial screening, which focused on structural and commercial interests believed to be undermining stable electricity supply across the power value chain — from generation to transmission and distribution.
Lawmakers said the generator market, driven largely by diesel- and petrol-powered imports, has evolved into a parallel energy system serving homes, businesses and public institutions, effectively filling the vacuum left by the national grid.
They warned that such entrenched commercial interests could resist reforms aimed at improving electricity supply across generation, transmission and distribution.
Speaking at the session, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, alerted Tegbe to the existence of a “two-layer cabal” operating both within the Ministry of Power and in the country’s multi-billion-naira generator import market.
According to him, the convergence of these interests has helped to sustain the cycle of unreliable electricity.
He added, “There is a cabal you must confront, both within the system and outside it. Those importing generators are thriving because power is not stable.”
Speaking in his capacity as a former Minister of Power, Senator Danjuma Goje reinforced the point, warning of what he termed a “failure economy” within the ministry. He alleged that some long-serving technical officials benefit from repeated grid collapses through maintenance contracts, emergency repairs and overtime payments, particularly within the transmission segment.
“When power goes out, some people see opportunity, not crisis,” he said, adding that “you must not allow a situation where inefficiency becomes a business model.”
He cautioned the minister against inflated and questionable maintenance demands, urging him to subject such requests to strict scrutiny.
“Be careful with maintenance figures coming to you. Some of them are not genuine. If you don’t check it, you will be sustaining the problem you are meant to solve,” he warned.
On the technical side, Goje highlighted persistent weaknesses across the electricity value chain. He noted that while generation companies can produce about 7,500 megawatts, the transmission network is unable to wheel more than about 4,500 megawatts without risking system collapse.
Lawmakers added that inefficiencies at the distribution level, including poor infrastructure, energy losses and limited metering, further compound the problem, leaving consumers with erratic supply despite available generation capacity.
“This problem cuts across generation, transmission and distribution,” he said. “Even when power is generated, it is not efficiently transmitted, and when it gets to distribution, it is not properly delivered to Nigerians.”
Corroborating the concerns, Senate President Godswill Akpabio stressed that the crisis is not purely technical, pointing to institutional overlaps and policy inconsistencies involving generation companies, distribution firms and regulators such as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Responding, Tegbe acknowledged the gaps in the system and pledged to address both structural and institutional challenges.
“We are open to solutions. We will engage widely and tackle the issues,” he said. “I understand the concerns raised, and I will work with all stakeholders across the value chain to improve the sector.”
The Senate thereafter cleared Tegbe by voice vote, asking him to “take a bow and go” before concluding his confirmation.