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Some Nigerians and civil society organisations have called for the resignation of the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, over persistent electricity outages across the country.
They accused him of incompetence and failing to address the worsening power situation.
The calls followed a post by the minister on X on Saturday, in which he provided an update on electricity supply.
Tegbe blamed the power failures in some parts of the country on planned maintenance at the Egbin Power Station and gas supply problems affecting some thermal power plants.
He assured Nigerians that electricity supply would improve within 48 to 72 hours.
The minister also said the government was working with power operators to increase gas supply to thermal plants and repair damaged infrastructure.
“My team and I are working to return the affected generating units to service in phases, with the first units coming back online within the next 48 to 72 hours,” he said.
In another post, Tegbe disclosed that the ministry had secured the release of 98 out of 300 containers of transmission equipment that had been stranded at the ports for nearly 20 years.
He said the equipment would help the government complete abandoned projects, reduce pressure on overloaded substations and strengthen the national grid.
The development comes amid growing complaints from electricity consumers over reduced hours of supply.
The Nigerian Independent System Operator had identified inadequate gas supply and lower water inflows into hydroelectric reservoirs as major challenges affecting electricity generation.
The latest electricity distribution data showed that the 11 electricity distribution companies received a combined allocation of 2,926 megawatts as of 4:41 pm on Thursday.
However, many Nigerians took to social media to criticise the minister’s explanation, accusing the government of making excuses for the repeated failures of the national grid.
While some faulted Tegbe for not informing the public ahead of the maintenance work, others demanded his resignation and called for urgent reforms in the electricity sector.
The National President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Yinka Folarin, described the minister’s explanation as unacceptable.
He said Tegbe had shown a lack of competence and could no longer be trusted to manage the power sector.
Folarin called on the minister to resign, accusing him of misleading Nigerians over the persistent electricity crisis.
“The minister should be honourable to say, ‘Come, I am not competent,’ and give room for a more competent person. Those excuses he has brought forward are not sustainable,” he said.
The CDHR president also questioned the minister’s ability to find lasting solutions to the country’s unreliable electricity supply.
He said he was not optimistic that the situation would improve under Tegbe’s leadership.
“It will not be out of place to say that he should take a bow out of that office and give room for a more solution-driven person to man the affairs of that ministry,” he added.
Folarin also raised concerns about the financial burden on electricity consumers, saying Nigerians continued to pay high bills despite receiving poor or, in some communities, no electricity.
He described it as unfair and barbaric for electricity companies to bill communities that had gone for weeks without power.
He urged the Nigerian Government to intervene.
Speaking with media, the National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, Emmanuel Onwubiko, also criticised the minister’s handling of the electricity crisis.
Onwubiko described his performance as disappointing and accused him of making “unscientific claims about electricity supply”.
He recalled an earlier statement by the minister in which Tegbe reportedly claimed that Nigerians were asking the government to introduce load-shedding because of excess electricity supply.
Onwubiko also dismissed the minister’s promise to restore adequate electricity supply within 72 hours as another excuse.
He questioned President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to improving electricity supply, recalling his campaign promise to provide 24-hour power or risk losing re-election.
The HURIWA coordinator called for an investigation into the Ministry of Power.
He also accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission of failing to adequately hold those responsible for alleged financial abuses in the sector accountable.
On whether Tegbe should resign, Onwubiko said removing the minister alone would not solve the problem.
He argued that the government must appoint a competent replacement capable of addressing the challenges in the sector.
Also speaking, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Rafsanjani, said Nigerians were justified in demanding accountability over the persistent electricity crisis.
He insisted that the minister must take responsibility for the failures recorded under his watch.
Rafsanjani said Tegbe’s performance should be independently assessed against clear and measurable targets.
He added that continued failure to meet those targets should attract consequences, including removal from office.
On whether the minister’s resignation would resolve the crisis, the CISLAC director said the problems went beyond the person occupying the office.
He identified poor planning, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, gas shortages and weak regulation as some of the challenges affecting the electricity sector.
However, he warned that the systemic nature of the crisis should not prevent public officials from being held responsible for their individual duties.
Rafsanjani urged the Nigerian Government to carry out an urgent audit of spending in the power sector, address gas supply problems, upgrade electricity infrastructure and enforce strict performance standards for sector leaders and operators.
Social media reactions
Several Nigerians also expressed their frustration with the minister on social media.
An X user, Oluwafemi Ojo, said the minister had taken too long to explain the worsening power situation.
“It is unfortunate that the minister is just telling us this two months after the power situation had worsened. Please resign sir. Thank you,” he wrote.
Another user, Legendarytakes, also called for his resignation.
“In a sane country, you should be resigning!” the user wrote.
An X user identified as Official_dags also criticised the minister for allegedly failing to address the situation on time.
“Resign! This has been on for three months and you’re only now addressing it,” the user wrote.
Another user, Zamba, accused Tegbe of failing to anticipate and address problems such as infrastructure breakdowns and gas shortages.
“You are a very incompetent minister of power. You have failed in your duty. Are you not supposed to be proactive when discharging your responsibilities? Must you wait for the infrastructure to fail or low shortage of gas supply before swinging into action to do your job? Resign now!” the user wrote.
Michael Krusu described the minister as a “minister of darkness”, saying he would have resigned if he were serving in a country where public officials were held accountable.
However, some Nigerians called for wider reforms rather than focusing only on the minister’s resignation.
Wemimo Oluwalade urged the government to decentralise the national electricity grid and establish regional power grids, arguing that the current arrangement had failed to provide reliable electricity.
“Please decentralise this national grid, sir. Let’s have regional power grids as campaigned by APC. There is no excuse for this shambolic power situation,” he wrote.
Another user, Temiloluwa Awonbiogbon, blamed successive governments for failing to prioritise electricity supply.
He said Nigeria needed a government capable of generating, transmitting and distributing 10,000 megawatts of electricity within three to four years as an initial step.
Meanwhile, the Oyo State Coordinator of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights, Abiodun Bamgboye, said Tegbe’s resignation would not solve the electricity crisis.
He argued that the problems in the sector went beyond the person occupying the ministerial office.
Bamgboye described the minister’s explanations for the outages as lame excuses.
He also questioned the claim of gas shortages during the rainy season, when the country was expected to rely more on hydroelectric power.
“How can they be claiming a shortage of gas when we are in the rainy season? According to their usual explanations, it is during the dry season, when water levels reduce, that they depend on gas to generate electricity. During the rainy season, they often claim to rely on hydroelectric power.
“So, the argument about gas shortage should not arise at this stage. They can claim that there is maintenance, but maintenance should have a time frame, and Nigerians ought to have been notified before it commenced. There was no prior notification, and it is only now, when electricity supply has deteriorated, that they are coming up with that explanation,” he said.
Bamgboye also argued that Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity was too low for a population of more than 200 million people.
He noted that the country was still struggling to distribute less than 10,000 megawatts of electricity.
