Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has claimed that President Bola Tinubu’s administration has finally adopted a power sector reform blueprint he proposed more than two decades ago.
Atiku made the claim in a statement issued on Sunday by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu.
According to the former vice president, the Tinubu administration’s recent position on decentralised electricity generation reflects the policy direction he advocated 21 years ago.
He cited comments by the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, who reportedly acknowledged that Nigeria could no longer rely solely on large, centralised power plants to address the country’s electricity challenges.
Reacting to the development, Atiku said the government’s position amounted to a belated endorsement of his long-standing proposal for decentralised power generation.
“It should not take a government three years in office to discover what was obvious more than two decades ago.
“A government that thinks before it acts would have fixed the system before asking citizens to pay more. Unfortunately, this administration has done the exact opposite—raising tariffs first and only now beginning to think about the reforms required to justify those increases,” he said.
Atiku recalled that while serving as vice president under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he consistently advocated decentralising electricity generation by harnessing Nigeria’s diverse energy resources, including hydroelectric dams, solar energy, natural gas and other viable sources.
“This has been my position for over two decades,” he stated.
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