Spontaneous outbursts of UP NEPA, UP NEPA across the neighbourhood have become a regular refrain as toddlers relished the restoration of public power supply.
That toddlers could chorus UP NEPA, UP NEPA, at the restoration of public power in 2025, thirty years after I similarly chorused, reminded me how little we had moved over the years.
How could we not have outlived some of our ugly past? More importantly, how did these kids know about NEPA, an acronym for the National Electric Power Authority, (and everything about it) – an entity that had long wound up before their birth
?
NEPA, a government-owned monopoly, managed the country’s electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization till 2005 when it lost its monopoly and was wound up.
Formed in 1972, its era was marked by low electricity supply, high transmission and distribution losses, and power theft. Low current and blackout were also vocabularies it made known – even to the unlearned.
Nigeria is endowed with large oil, gas, hydro and solar resources, and experts state that it has the potential to generate over 12,500 MW of electric power from existing plants.
Unfortunately, on most days, approximately only 4,000 MW, could be dispatched, a figure grossly insufficient for a country of over 200 million people (by UN projection), and boasting of numerous businesses and infrastructure.
It was clear that efforts made by the government then had not yielded much result. It was also argued that the sector needed huge investments for maintenance and expansion of generation, transmission and distribution systems, which it could not attract, with the result that electricity demand from existing customers could not be met.
A combination of these factors had led to the privatization of the sector by the Obasanjo – administration.
Its objective was, among other things, to go beyond attending to the numerous immediate needs of the sector then, important as they were, and ensure, in the long term, that such problems never rose again.
The enactment of the Power Sector Reform Act in 2005, transferred the public monopoly of NEPA to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) which was later unbundled into 18 Business Units (BU); vis 11 Distribution companies; six Generation companies and one Transmission company, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) that has remained state – owned.
It also saw the creation of the necessary regulatory frameworks and a regulator, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
However, despite several billions of dollars and schemes (rural electrification fund, Independent Power Projects, (IPP etc.), aimed at improving the electricity sector, it does not seem that much were achieved, considering the inadequate electricity supply today, leading to the sustenance of Up NEPA in the citizens’ psyche.
Though the country’s power generation has been increasing, many of the challenges that bedeviled the energy sector during the NEPA era, have persisted.
Technically and legally speaking, the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) ceased to exist upon the completion of the privatization process. Unfortunately, its memory has persisted in the nation’s psyche.
According to the current Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, Nigeria’s peak generation, as of October 29, 2024, has been 4,456.60 megawatts (MW) with the Minister announcing a goal of generating 6,000 MW by the end of 2024. The target was not met.
However, on March 5, 2025, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) announced a new peak generation of 5, 801.84MW.
Even at that, experts believe that generating even 6,000 MW won’t solve the country’s electricity issues.
Unfortunately, generation has not been the sole challenge in the sector. Evacuation of the energy so generated remains an issue with poor and weak transmission network.
Collection of accruing revenues from the end users / customers has remained even a bigger challenge. A major obstacle to efficient revenue collection has been the issue of estimated billing of customers’ energy use.
Estimated billing is a system of charging unmetered electricity consumers for electrical energy consumed based on their previous usage, without considering the actual quantity of energy consumed. Consumers in this system are mandated to pay an estimated amount, far above what they consumed on monthly basis. Consequently, customer – compliance is, to say the least, very low.
This thrives most in the semi urban and rural areas where energy supply is poor and accountability, on the part of the service providers, even poorer.
Indeed, issues of estimated billing remains a major hinderance to efficient electricity management in Nigeria., with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reporting in their latest Nigeria Residential Energy Demand-Side Survey (NREDSS), 2024 Report that about 85.2 percent of the over 58 percent of households connected to electricity national grid across nine states in the country use estimated billing system.
This is despite the ongoing campaign by the federal government to discourage the use of estimated billing system in the power sector. The NBS disclosed that out of this number, only 14.8 percent are using a pre-paid billing system.
Towards stemming this tide, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on June 21, 2024, announced that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had approved the sum of N21 billion for the eleven electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) to provide meters to end-use customers at no cost.
This represents the initial tranche of disbursement, focusing on unmetered Band A customers over the next few months.
Improvement in our electricity generation and utilization has been adjudged a critical stimulus that could effectively drive the economy and lift millions out of poverty.
To say that President Tinubu is determined to face these challenges and overcome them, is stating the obvious.
The Renewed Hope Agenda on sustainable energy seeks to ensure that Nigeria leverages on her energy potentials to unleash the inherent benefits such could provide for her citizens.
The signing into law of the Electricity Act 2023 (which repealed the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005,) by President Tinubu on June 8, 2023, was very significant and another testament of the administration’s determination to invigorate the sector.
The Act empowers state governments to participate in areas previously reserved for the federal government, particularly transmission and distribution. It also separated distribution from supply, thereby enhancing management.
Some states have latched on this Act to seek opportunities to generate electricity for their citizens, thereby increasing access to electricity.
More significantly, the Act prioritizes renewable energy through several initiatives. Feed-in tariffs offer financial incentives for renewable power generation, while local content development requirements and tax breaks encourage domestic participation in the sector.
Similarly, the administration’s acceleration of the Siemens Power Project through the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), underscores its commitment to improving electricity supply in Nigeria.
The World Bank estimates that as at date, over 85 million Nigerians – more than 4 out of 10 Nigerians – lacked access to electricity.
Businesses and households with access to the national grid have faced unreliable and insufficient supply, a gap often filled with power from petrol and diesel-run generator sets that are costly and highly polluting to people and the environment.
As President Bola Tinubu continues to redirect the nation’s development effort through the Renewed Hope Agenda, the energy sector, being a strong enabler for economic growth and self-reliance, remains one critical area central to the full realization of the administration’s other goals.
Towards improving on the nation’s electricity supply, government has scaled up her Off Grid and Renewable Energy drives.
Nigeria has also set a target of achieving universal energy access by 2060, with a short – term goal of attaining 30 GW of grid energy supply by 2030.
Recently, the World Bank approved $750m to Boost Renewable Energy in Nigeria, in a bid to expand access to clean energy for 17.5 million Nigerians through the Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project.
To further scale up the drive, President Tinubu has reinvigorated the Rural Electrification Agency, appointing an international energy and developmental expert to head the agency, with the charge to leverage his expertise to further the agency’s mission of providing rural communities with reliable electric power and contributing to the administration’s renewed Hope Agenda on sustainable energy and power.
As this administration continues with her reform policies and programmes, Nigerians cannot wait to see their impacts on the energy sector.
While the older generation are eager to consign NEPA – era to the past, there is no justification for a new generation of Nigerians to live in NEPA’s gloomy past.
Unfortunately, it does not seem that the sector’s new private managers have weaned themselves of the NEPA – mentality.
Power generation has neither met the expected national demand nor has the business modules of the Distribution Companies (Discos) been customer – friendly.
Despite the injection of government funds through various interventions and subsidies, Nigerians have continued to witness unsatisfactory services, with customers being compelled to replace faulty transformers, poles and service wires. Complaints from customers linger, due largely, to staff nonchalance.
As we expectantly witness the consolidation of the dividends of President Tinubu’s reformatory policies, the question is: Would Nigerians truly outlive the “UP NEPA” era? Shall “NEPA” ever be obliterated from our memory?
The time has come when Nigerians should no longer “hail” NEPA, on the restoration of public power supply.
