Transcription of Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu’s Opening Address at the 10-year Anniversary of the Nigeria Energy Exhibition and Conference on 19th September, 2023.

“It is indeed a great pleasure and honour for me to address you today as we gather to discuss one of the most critical issues of our time, which is energy. This conference marks a significant milestone in our collective efforts to shape the energy landscape in Nigeria. I would say I am the luckiest guy because I would like to start by thanking the organisers of this very, very important event.

I would like to say, I said my personal gratitude that this event is coming up nearly a month after my appointment as the Minister of Power. Thank you very much. This, of course, will accompany the opportunity to relate and interact with industry players and power sector investors.

It will not only assist in the pace of my fact-gathering and understanding the sector itself, it is also a good platform for direct feedback from industry operators. I thank you sincerely for giving me this opportunity to meet everybody in just this single point of contact and listen to you to understand what are we going to be discussing, what are the issues, what are the challenges, and how do we come together to build about workable solutions that will transform the power sector in Nigeria.

Therefore, I would like to congratulate and commend Informa Markets, the organisers of the conference for the complete efforts to provide a unique platform for stakeholders, both the public and private sectors to come together and discuss the challenges, opportunities, and innovations that lie ahead in the power sector. Your commitment to advancing the sector in Nigeria is truly commendable and your contributions are quite invaluable. Ladies and gentlemen, you will agree with me that energy is the lifeblood of any modern economy, of which Nigeria is no exception.

I can authentically tell you here that no meaningful economic growth or industrial development can be achieved without energy. We can talk about potentials from now till tomorrow, potentials of the human resources in Nigeria, the massive endowments with natural resources. If there is no energy or there is no power, all this amounts to nothing and it can never be converted into reality. Sustainable energy fuels our industries, powers our homes, drives economic growth, and is the cornerstone upon which the progress and prosperity of nations are built.

Nigeria, a nation blessed with abundant natural resources, a rapidly growing population, and an expanding economy, stands a pivotal moment in its energy journey because the demand for accessible, reliable, and sustainable energy has never been greater than we have it now. The national energy mix comprises of 80% and 20% of transitional coal and renewable hydro energy respectively, guided by national best practices such as IHA sustainability assessment control.

Despite this, our greatest challenges are the grid reliability and universal access to power for the unserved and the underserved. I am confident that the narrative in the power sector, which is confronted with several challenges, will change in the near future. The challenges we face, ensuring access to reliable and affordable energy for all, are quite complex. It ranges from issues of energy security, sustainability, to addressing climate change.

Consequently, it will require collective efforts to solve these challenges in order to realize our dreams of socio-economic development in our country. The ministry of power is focused on the balanced energy development that drives socio-economic transformation, thus satisfying the future utility and sustainable development nexus of energy security, sustainability, and affordability.

Thus, as we convene here today, we are united by a common purpose to address the critical challenges and see the immense opportunities in the energy sector in Nigeria. The goal of this conference is not just to discuss these challenges, but to collaborate and implement concrete actions that will lead us towards a brighter and more sustainable energy future.

We must therefore never underestimate the power of strategic collaborations in this bilateral sector. This conference should not just be another conference. We must arrive at workable solutions to resolve identified challenges and leverage on the opportunities provided at this conference. Let me reiterate that in these challenges also lie incredible opportunities, such as harnessing power from renewable energy sources, for example, solar, hydro, wind, etc., which will not only reduce our carbon footprint in terms of emissions, but also create jobs and stimulate economic growth.

Number 2, Investing in cutting-edge technologies and innovative solutions that can transform the way we produce, transmit, distribute, and consume power. Number three, collaborating, sharing knowledge, and building partnerships that transcend borders and ideologies. And lastly, other new opportunities, and means before subsoil removal, include bridging the transport system with electric vehicle and hydrogen technology.

Ladies and gentlemen, you may be aware that the Nigeria Power Sector was privatized a decade ago to establish a competitive market intended to improve management and efficiency, attract private investments, increase generation, and provide reliable and cost-efficient power supply to Nigerians nationwide. Although some progress has been made across the power sector value chain, they are still remains a deep gap, especially in delivering adequate and stable power supply to consumers nationwide. Let me tell you at this point that the truth of the matter is all these progress that we say we have made, they still remain an effort if energy that is reliable and affordable cannot reach the end consumers, I mean households, small businesses, institutions, and industries. I’m however glad that in the recent past, stakeholders in the sector, particularly experts and investors, have demonstrated reasonable interest and confidence in transforming the sector. I am confident that impact will soon be felt by all Nigerians.

Let me use this opportunity to emphasize that the Nigeria Electricity Act 2033, signed into law by His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Unogwu, GCAI, on the 8th of June, 2023, is a testament to our commitment to transforming the electricity landscape in Nigeria. As a game changer, that will prevent the Nigerian electricity supply industry from messing up, the Act will undoubtedly engender increased access to electricity, enhance regulatory oversight, clean energy transition, improve service delivery, and infrastructure development.

In particular, the Act will stimulate economic growth by creating a conducive environment for investment and competition. It will generate job opportunities, encourage entrepreneurship, and attract foreign direct investments. Let us work together to implement this legislation effectively, ensuring that its benefits are realized by all. On this note, let me emphasize that there is a good ecosystem in the Nigerian electricity supply industry to support companies’ journeys towards a more sustainable energy future. I urge you all to engage in meaningful discussions at this conference, network with fellow participants, and arrive at decisions, innovations, and partnerships that will not only benefit our nation, but also contribute to the global efforts to combat climate change and ensure a better quality of life for all. Together, we can power Nigeria into a brighter and more prosperous future for which our government is committed. This is one very important sector that our ever-working, passionate presidents, Ashuwa Ejigbola and Ese-Momo, D.C.E.F.O., are stressing to use to drive our much-desired economic growth and industrial development.

We cannot afford to fail here in these transformation efforts of Ese. In conclusion, I want to encourage all of you to actively engage, learn, and collaborate during this conference. Let us inspire each other, challenge the status quo, and work together to create a brighter, cleaner, and more prosperous energy future for Nigeria and generations to come.

I am reassuring you that you have my full support in achieving that political will required to implement all that will be agreed upon at this conference to positively turn around our sectoral performance. Let me at this point also make mention of the fact that achieving a reliable, functional, affordable power to all Nigerians is not a task that is not possible. It is quite possible, I must tell you this, Nigeria has a long-term energy expansion plan of 60,000 MW by 2016. We have a medium-term target of 30,000 MW by 2015. These are not targets that are not achievable.

I just came back from South Korea for a conference. They have an amazing story to tell. This was a country about less than 50 years ago. They were a net recipient of foreign aid. Even Nigeria was sending food aid to South Korea during the war before the ceasefire of 1953. They were generating less than 4,000 MW of power. But today, a country that is a little less than 50 million population, they generate well over 130,000 MW of power. It’s quite amazing.

They are not just generating, they are transmitting, distributing and getting to the doorstep of the end users. So who says 60,000 MW is not achievable in less than 40 years in Nigeria? It is. The collective effort of all of us is actually required for this. But let me mention the fact that it is not just enough to generate power. As I’ve seen that, we are actually in a very good position given the kind of expression of interest to invest in Nigeria by generating companies.

We are generating companies to achieve 30,000 MW by 2030 and 60,000 MW by 2060. But how do we get this to end users? Because it is the end users that they call the last man that pay for all the segments and critters in the value chain. If we cannot transmit as much as 80-85% of the generated power to distributing computing companies and then getting it to the customers, then we are wasting investments.

Beyond improving our transition and decision infrastructures, we must invest in metering technology. Today we have over 8 million meter gap in Nigeria. If we can reduce or eliminate this gap and come up with technology to ensure that collections are monitored and we are able to collect more than 90% of the generated power, then we can achieve the goal. Of course, liquidity is assured in this country. This is an industry that I believe has even bigger than the telecoms industry. Look at the telecom operators. Across all the segments in the value chain, all of them have a good and successful way to sell.

The same should happen with the power sector. From the gas companies to the power generating companies to the transmitters to the discos, we must be telling good stories. This industry needs liquidity. We need to improve communication to the general public who have a lot of role to play. The issue of vandalization, bypassing of meters, damaging to government properties. We need to let them know they have a role to play because this journey to achieve our targets is not something that just a single operator in the value chain can achieve.

We must harmonize our relationships, our activities, and our investments across the general to the transmission companies to the discos for us to achieve that power by 2030, 2060. Of course, a lot of investment is required. A lot of huge investment is required. From the three-weeks I have spent in office, I’ve seen so much humongous investment that’s gone into this sub-sector. But what we have to show for us, for those investments to only, for us to only prepare for those investments, additional investments in form of equity and debt capital need to come into this industry.

This is an industry that’s for short-term players. You come in, you don’t expect to start making profits in one, two, three years. No. It is a medium to long-term investment. Investors must understand that. But the moment you are able to break even and start making profits, sincerely, you will all be amazed. It’s a huge industry, and I can tell you that. As a politician, as a minister of power, I also have limited amount of time to spend, and I must make impacts. I am determined to make impacts. I’ve diagnosed the issues to a larger extent, and I’ve found out that the solutions are not as difficult as we all believe.

In setting targets for ourselves, we also need to set short-term targets. Between now and the next 30 years, my own vision is for us to increase the storage capacity of agrarian companies to at least 20,000 megawatts in the next 30 years. And it doesn’t stop there. We should be able to evacuate and transport this power at the minimum of 80% of its stock capacity to the energy class of electricity. Then the last issue there is we need to wrap up our investments in collection technology. We need to close the meter gap as much as possible. All households, small businesses, government institutions, and industries must be properly metered so that everybody accounts for the power usage and is able to pay for heat. I cannot do this alone. I sincerely request your support.

Let us see ourselves as partners in progress. I’ve attended a number of conferences, a number of summits, industry-motivated summits. A lot of them end up just being talk shows. This one, we must take something significant out of it. And I can assure you with the kind of passion and determination that I have to make impact in the industry, I will do my best to implement our action plans. I want to thank everybody for coming around here. It is a colorful setup and I’m happy to be among you today. The learning process is everyday. I’ve looked through the items of the agenda and I believe I’m not only going to learn here, I will understand the industry more because as of today, I have the responsibility for whatever happens in the industry. I want to thank all the agencies under the Ministry of Power

They are our foot soldiers. They are the ones that will make it on a daily basis. The management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCA, the MD of the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, and the management of the Nigeria Electricity and Refinery Commission. I thank you for supporting this event. Let us listen carefully. Let us be receptive to all ideas that come up here. Let us be sincere in our absorbing these ideas and our determination and passion to ensure that it works. Not just for the benefit of all of us here, but Nigerians at large. Thank you and God bless you.

Thank you.”