Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to live up to his campaign vow of providing uninterrupted electricity within four years, insisting Nigerians must hold him accountable for the pledge.
In a statement shared via his X handle on Wednesday, Obi recalled Tinubu’s declaration during the campaign on December 22, 2022: “If I don’t give you constant electricity in the next four years, don’t vote for me for a second term.”
Describing the promise as one of the boldest political commitments ever made to Nigerians, Obi said it carried special weight because Nigeria has the largest number of people living without electricity globally.
“For a nation already stated to have more people living without electricity than anywhere in the world, there could not be any more firm comforting political promise than this,” Obi said.
He accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu’s administration of presiding over unprecedented power collapses and blackouts, despite billions invested in the power sector.
“Yet APC and its current Government have presided over more national grid failures and power outages than any government in our history. There are now repeated blackouts despite billions in power investments,” Obi lamented.
The former Anambra governor argued that Nigeria’s power sector has stagnated despite massive spending, noting that electricity generation has barely moved from 4,500MW to 5,000MW.
“Over the years, billions of dollars have been spent on the power sector in Nigeria. In fact, Nigeria has spent more on power generation with little or no increase in supply, than countries like Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. Yet, while some of these nations have proudly doubled their electricity generation, and distribution by adding tens of thousands of megawatts to transform their economies and increase their GDP, Nigeria has barely crawled from 4,500MW to 5,000MW,” he stated.
Obi stressed that Nigeria’s $200 billion GDP could significantly grow if the government prioritised electricity, adding that generating a minimum of 10,000MW would unlock industries and create millions of jobs.
“With a GDP of about $200 billion, Nigeria has the capacity to significantly boost its economy if it invests properly in electricity. Generating even a bare minimum of 10,000MW could raise our GDP by about 50%, which will unlock industrial growth, and create millions of jobs. But rather than focusing on this, which will improve our economy, we are focused on coastal roads that will contribute far less to our economic growth, while factories shut down, jobs disappear, businesses collapse, and ordinary Nigerians live in darkness,” Obi argued.
He called on Tinubu to urgently shift focus from vanity projects to power generation and distribution, especially for small and medium-scale businesses (NSMEs).
“Mr. President, it is time to prioritise generating and distributing more electricity to power businesses, especially NSME, which will create jobs and grow the economy,” Obi said.
