“Act now. Act decisively. Act with the urgency this crisis demands. Reject managed darkness. Deliver industrial abundance. Your legacy — and Nigeria’s economic take-off — depends on the choices you make in the coming months”.
BY EMMAN USMAN SHEHU
Dear Joseph Tenegbe, you have inherited the most consequential job in Nigeria. As Minister of Power, you hold the master switch for Africa’s largest economy. For far too long, that switch has delivered more darkness than light. Today, on your first full day in office, the country stands at a decisive crossroads. The Electricity Act 2023 and its 2026 amendments have given you the legislative weapons. Now you must choose: continue the polite management of scarcity, or lead a ruthless campaign for industrial abundance.
Nigeria’s power sector is not merely underperforming — it is the greatest single inhibitor of our national potential. With over 200 million people, we limp along on a pathetic 4,000–5,000 MW to the grid. The Service-Based Tariff (SBT) Bands have devolved into a rigged rationing scheme. Higher prices do not create new power; they simply redirect a fixed pool, breeding islands of comfort for a few while condemning millions of MSMEs to productivity wastelands. DisCos routinely miss Band A targets yet collect premium tariffs. This is not a market. It is an extractive failure that must end under your watch.
South Africa shows what determined leadership can achieve. Plagued for years by crippling load shedding from a broken Eskom monopoly, South Africa has turned the corner. Through aggressive operational recovery at Eskom — lifting the Energy Availability Factor and restoring thousands of MW of capacity — combined with sweeping market reforms, the country has logged over 300 consecutive days without load shedding as of early 2026. They are unbundling Eskom, establishing an independent Transmission System Operator, and launching the South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM) in 2026 to attract private investment and competition.
Nigeria has a structural advantage in its federalist decentralisation, yet we lag in urgency and execution. While South Africa fixed its existing fleet and opened the door wide to new generation, we remain stuck perfecting the art of sharing darkness.
Honourable Minister, the time for analysis is over. Here is what you must do — immediately: Declare war on the vertical supply curve. Within your first 100 days, launch a national Embedded Generation Acceleration Program. Remove every bureaucratic obstacle preventing industrial clusters from contracting directly with independent producers. Target not the management of 5,000 MW, but the rapid addition of thousands more through private capital. Emulate South Africa’s success in unlocking IPPs.
Supercharge state empowerment. Stop acting as a reluctant gatekeeper. Within weeks, issue a clear, standardised national framework for interstate power trading and wheeling. Make it frictionless for gas-rich states to supply industrial powerhouses. Publicly challenge and support the 15 pioneering states — and demand every remaining state follow suit by year-end. Turn federalism into a competitive advantage, not fragmented chaos.
Restore trust through radical transparency. Mandate a nationwide Digital Grid Intelligence platform by December 2026. Real-time public data for every transformer and feeder. Automatic rebates for undelivered Band A power. End estimated billing. Liquidity will follow trust — and investment will follow liquidity.
Prioritise productive use ruthlessly. Replace geographic bands with Productivity Corridors. Channel reliable power first to manufacturing hubs, agricultural processors, and tech clusters at rates that drive jobs and exports. Let premium residential tariffs subsidise high-multiplier economic activity. Power is not a consumption good; it is a production input.
Honourable Minister, Nigeria does not suffer from a power shortage so much as a leadership and market-design deficit. We have treated electricity like scarce water delivered through broken pipes for too long. The pipes must be repaired. The reservoir must be expanded dramatically. And the market must finally be allowed to breathe and grow.
The eyes of 200 million Nigerians — especially the millions of ambitious young people desperate to build businesses and futures — are fixed on you. History will not remember you kindly for refining the rationing system. It will celebrate you only if you dismantle it.
Act now. Act decisively. Act with the urgency this crisis demands. Reject managed darkness. Deliver industrial abundance. Your legacy — and Nigeria’s economic take-off — depends on the choices you make in the coming months.
The moment is yours. Seize it without hesitation. The nation cannot afford to wait any longer. Otherwise, to echo your own words, we will crucify you and the administration.
…Dr Shehu is an Abuba-based writer, activist and educator
