Tinubu’s electricity pledge must be viewed in full context — APC
President Bola Tinubu
Abdullateef Fowewe
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has defended President Bola Tinubu’s 2023 campaign promise on electricity, insisting that recent public criticisms have selectively quoted the pledge while ignoring its full context and the administration’s subsequent interventions in the power sector.
In a press statement signed on Sunday by Dele Alake, spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, the body recalled Tinubu’s remarks at a meeting with the Organised Private Sector in Lagos ahead of the 2023 elections.
“Whichever way, by all means necessary, you will have electricity, and you will not pay for estimated bills anymore. A promise made will be a promise kept. If I don’t keep the promise and I come for a second term, don’t vote for me, unless I give you adequate reasons why I couldn’t deliver,” the statement quoted Tinubu as saying.
The council noted that some recent commentaries have reproduced only the commitment to end estimated billing and deliver stable power, omitting the qualification that the then-candidate would provide adequate reasons if the promise fell short before seeking a second term.
“A fair assessment of the pledge should consider the full statement alongside the administration’s record since 2023,” the statement said.
“This record should be assessed against measurable improvements in electricity supply, metering, infrastructure and market stability.”
While acknowledging that fixing Nigeria’s long-troubled power sector remains unfinished, the campaign council listed several steps taken by the Tinubu administration.
These include the signing of the Electricity Act 2023 on June 9, 2023 barely two weeks after inauguration which liberalised the sector and moved electricity generation, transmission and distribution from the Exclusive Legislative List, enabling states to participate. Several states, including Lagos, Enugu, Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Kaduna and Niger, have since established their own electricity regulatory agencies.
The administration also took on more than N6 trillion in legacy debts accumulated between 2015 and 2025, launched a Presidential Metering Initiative that has so far metered over 1.5 million customers, and introduced a N4 trillion bond programme to settle verified debts owed to generating and gas companies.
The first two tranches of the bond programme have raised over N1.2 trillion.
Additional measures cited include aligning tariffs closer to cost-reflective levels while protecting low-income households through service bands, advancing rural electrification projects, planning the modernisation of the Osogbo Grid Control Centre, and approving contracts for new and upgraded substations under the Presidential Power Initiative.
“President Tinubu has not deviated an inch from his commitment,” the statement concluded.
“As he seeks Nigerians’ mandate for a second term in office, he will proudly present his scorecard in the power sector and clearly tell Nigerians what remains to be done.”
Nigeria’s electricity challenges characterised by frequent grid collapses, widespread estimated billing, low generation capacity and liquidity crises in the market have persisted for decades across successive administrations.
Tinubu’s 2023 campaign placed heavy emphasis on resolving these systemic problems.
With the next general elections approaching in 2027, the campaign council’s statement forms part of an effort to frame the administration’s record on power ahead of a potential second-term bid.
