Nigeria's electricity output is climbing, but the lights are still off in many homes. Grid data showed generation at 4,020.41 megawatts on Monday, up from 3,500MW, Vanguard reported through AllAfrica. Power Minister Joseph Tegbe's 72-hour deadline to restore normal supply has already passed.
According to the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO), 20 plants were connected to the national grid at 1pm on Monday. Output was below Sunday's peak of 4,253.6MW but above the off-peak figure of 3,862.17MW. On November 5, generation had dropped to 3,659MW from 3,996MW the day before. Afam VI led Monday's output with 519MW. The Egbin plant has an installed capacity of 1,320MW but supplied only 108MW.
The 11 distribution companies received a combined 3,195MW. Abuja got the largest share at 581MW, followed by Ikeja with 467MW and Eko with 458MW. Yola received the least, at 74MW.
Tegbe said power had returned to many communities in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Kwara and the Federal Capital Territory. He said the vandalised Benin-Egbin 330kV transmission line had been repaired. That raised supply to the Lagos area to more than 1,000MW. He admitted that some places still had outages. The ministry had earlier ruled out a systemic grid failure. It blamed maintenance and operational problems, as well as falling generation.
Speaking on TVC, Tegbe said he and President Bola Tinubu felt the pain of affected Nigerians. He said the government had paid N1.23 trillion of the N3.3 trillion owed to generation companies. It hopes to clear the rest next year. He added that Nigeria's installed capacity of 13,625MW yields only about 5,000MW. A $2 billion East-West Super Grid, designed to carry up to 19,000MW, is in procurement. Completion is targeted within two years.
Sunday Oduntan, head of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, apologised for weeks of outages. On Channels Television, he warned against a return to the "blame game" among power sector players seen between 2016 and 2019. He urged state oil firm NNPC to clarify whether unpaid bills were affecting gas supplies to power plants. Former NBET chief Rumundaka Wonodi told Arise News that the sector needs sustained, long-term execution rather than rushed fixes.