Nigeria has reached a historic milestone in its power sector, with the country recording a new peak generation of 5,543.20 megawatts (MW), the highest ever achieved. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) confirmed this achievement, which occurred on the night of Friday, February 14, 2025, at 11:00 PM, surpassing the previous day’s record of 5,478.73MW. This accomplishment reflects a steady upward trend in the country’s power generation capacity, marking a critical step in addressing Nigeria’s persistent electricity challenges.
In addition to this remarkable feat, the federal government has revealed an ambitious plan to increase the number of consumers benefiting from Band A power supply, with a goal of providing at least 20 hours of electricity daily. This move, which aims to address widespread power shortages, represents a bold step toward improving the nation’s energy distribution. Olu Verheijen, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Energy, shared details of the plan, expressing the government’s intention to ensure that the majority of Nigerian households and businesses will enjoy more stable and reliable electricity services.
While the peak generation figure signals a significant improvement in power supply, the issue of intermittent and unreliable electricity remains a persistent challenge for millions of Nigerians. Small business owners, for instance, continue to grapple with power outages that disrupt operations and hinder economic growth. Households, too, face difficulties in maintaining essential services like lighting, refrigeration, and heating. These ongoing struggles highlight the critical need for continuous reforms and investments in the sector to make power supply more dependable.
In addressing the sector’s long-standing issues, Verheijen also emphasized the importance of metering all electricity consumers to improve billing accuracy and ensure proper cash flow for the sector. This would help restore transparency, foster trust between consumers and electricity distributors, and create a more sustainable financial model for the power industry.
However, challenges remain. Verheijen acknowledged the power sector’s cash flow problems, particularly the difficulties faced by gas companies in recovering payments from power generation firms. Additionally, she pointed to the limitations of Nigeria’s privatized power sector, which, in her view, lacked the necessary financial and technical capacity to make the required investments to drive reliability. This legacy continues to hamper the sector’s ability to meet the country’s growing energy demands.
Despite these challenges, the recent power generation record and the government’s new plans offer hope for a brighter energy future. If the government can navigate the financial and technical hurdles facing the sector, Nigeria may finally be able to offer its citizens a more reliable electricity supply, thus paving the way for enhanced economic activity and an improved quality of life across the country.
