As an outage persists for 11 days in Northern Nigerian states, Nigerians have demanded that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu fire Adebayo Adelabu, the country’s minister of power.

This was revealed in interviews on Monday by Eze Onyekpere, the lead director of the Center for Social Justice, and Kunle Olubiyo, president of the Nigeria Consumer Protection Network.

Adelabu’s dismissal is being demanded days after Tinubu reorganized his cabinet due to Nigeria’s frequent national grid failures.

Since October 21, 2024, Nigeria’s North East and North West have been mired in darkness.

Since insurgents damaged the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line, the region—which includes at least 15 Nigerian states—has been dealing with the crisis.

Although darkness still exists as of the time this article was filed, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday charged Adelabu, the Minister of Power, and the relevant agency with restoring supplies to the area.

According to Adelabu, the area would have power again in five days.

This follows days in which the Transmission Company of Nigeria promised a temporary return of power.

Despite TCN’s repeated promises that power would be temporarily restored via the Ugwuaji APIR 330kV Line, residents of the area are still waiting for power to be restored while they assess their financial losses.

According to earlier reports, the National Security Advisor’s office promised to work with other security authorities to guarantee the restoration of the Shiroro-Kaduna vandalized transmission line.

Northern Nigerian States’ eleven-day blackout is a national embarrassment: Olubiyo.

Speaking exclusively on Monday, Olubiyo said the blackout in Northern Nigeria is a national embarrassment.

He called for an emergency in the power sector.

He advocated that the country’s national grid should be decentralised into ten industrial hubs to ensure efficiency.

According to him, institutional corruption has crippled TCN, permeated by inefficiency.

Consequently, Olubiyo called for the suspension of the Minister of Power, TCN managing director, Sule Abdulaziz, to give room for a proper investigation into the sector.

“This is a national embarrassment to Nigeria. The president should not treat this with levity.

“Over 10 days without power supply in the Northern region is what constitutes a declaration of state of emergency in the sector.

“The blackout is demarketing the government. We had raised issues on emergency procurement by TCN without bearing or impact on the grid. There is institutional capture and corruption in the sector. Because all the loans collected to improve the industry are nowhere to be funded.

“If there is no proper investment in the sector, we cannot expect to have results in the power sector.

“There is a need to decentralise the grid into ten industrial regions. The problem of the industry is purely corruption and institutional inefficiency.

“We are saying that this should not continue. Whoever is at the helm of affairs, Mr. President should ask them to step aside for proper investigation. Whether it is the Minister of Power or the Managing Director of TCN, they should step aside.

“It is a national embarrassment that deserves a presidential fiat,” he said.

Sack Adelabu, others – Onyekpere

On his part, Eze Onyekpere said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should relieve Adelabu of his duty as the Minister of Power.

According to him, the persistent outage in the northern region of Nigeria would have been nipped in the bud by the country’s emergency response team.

He blamed the situation on the incompetency of Nigerian security chiefs and the Minister of Power, Adelabu.

“It is not surprising; there is a general security failure in Nigeria. The vandalization of the transmission line did not just happen overnight but was planned by terrorists.

“The expectation is that the government ought to be up to speed in tackling insecurity. There would be a quick response strategy on the part of the government to respond to the situation because an outage should not be allowed to happen above 10 days.

“It is a failure on the security and the minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu. He should be sacked. I am surprised he is still the minister.

“It is incompetence on the part of the security agencies and the Minister, that is why there is a power outage in the northern region,” he stated.

FG working to restore electricity to the Northern region soon – Adelabu’s Spokesperson

Meanwhile, Tunji Bolaji, the spokesperson to the Minister of Power, Adelabu, reacting to the development in an interview on Monday, said that the federal government, through TCN and NSA, is working to restore power supply to the region soon.

Although he did not state exactly when electricity will be restored to the region, he hinted that TCN engineers are on top of the situation.

The outage comes amid struggle with the high price of Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol), which increased to over N1,030 per litre in recent times.

With Nigeria’s inflation at 32.70 percent in September and the rising prices of goods and services occassioned by the fuel price hike and Naira floating, citizens wonder where lines the next plague.

The call for Adelabu’s come days after Tinubu reshuffled his cabinet over incessant national grid collapses in Nigeria.

The outage coincides with the high cost of Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol), which recently rose to more than N1,030 a liter.

Nigerians are wondering where the next plague will strike, given the country’s September inflation rate of 32.70 percent, the growing costs of goods and services brought on by the increase in fuel prices, and the floating value of the Naira.

Days after Tinubu reorganized his cabinet due to Nigeria’s frequent national grid failures, Adelabu was called in.